new/old

[Bigfish8]

Thanks Ken, Mr tubeophile. I will probably upgrade mine too. Very generous offer from Grover, considering the price of freshly minted.

My wife is going to kill me!  Just recently, 3 pairs of 6SN7s and one pair of tube adapters on top of all the 5U4g/GZ-34 rectifiers and 12AU7s I have purchased in the past year.  My gun safe is running out of room due to the tube boxes.   The good news is the value of NOS Tubes is better than money in the stock market.   Hell, I admit it, I love tubes.    I really do believe tube amps are in my distant future!

Ken

[richidoo]

Test drive the Snappers anytime you want Ken. They are solid 100W with only 1.5ohm output impedance, better than most 100W tubers. With the new tubes they are rock solid and stable. They are sitting idle now so you might as well enjoy until they sell. Hell I might just keep them, they are very special to me. 
Rich

[richidoo]

Carl brought his pair of Grover "SC no dot" RCA interconnects over today, we compared it directly to Grover charcoal S. The difference was immediately obvious. We did not have to switch back and forth, 10 seconds of each is all it took. Clearer treble, more palpable midrange, and louder bass, no harsh edge.  Impressive improvement! I am excited to move up to the SC dots which Grover says are even better. It's easy to make claims about wires, but this brother walks the talk. How does he do it?    It will be fun to compare them to jps SC3, because last time I compared SC3 to charcoal S and I though they both sounded pretty much identical except jps was quieter.

[dangerbird]

I have the "graphite" IIRC version,, anyway,,I just heard back from Mr. Huffman,,and I'll be sending mine back for the SC. 's Actually a very affordable upgrade. Thanks to all for posting/responding, and a big thank you to Roger for a very imformative/detailed pm--actually you guys seem to be most helpful and receptive,maybe one day we'll meet,, until then,,Rock on' 

[rlmacklin]

2 pairs one meter Grover "SC." interconnects arrived in mail from Grover Saturday and they got switched into my system that night.  Did some initial listening that night and yesterday and then ran the IsoTek CD track 2 on repeat during sleep time last night.  I will try to do the overnight IsoTek track 2 thing during sleep time rest of week.

Forgot to save a copy of the PM to Dangerbird in my outbox - basically I commented that the white /white Grover S were detailed and smooth; that the next revision charcoal/"graphite" had an edge/grain/glare to some; and that the Grover "SC" in black with the carbon nickel shield was more detailed/more focused than the others and just as smooth as the white/white.
I also relayed that the Grover "SC" Grover sent me with NO "direction arrow" seemed better yet after using for 5 weeks(I suspect maybe grover is using same mix of silver/copper ribbons in both "signal" and "return" legs for this one?).

I will report on the Grover "SC." ICs when they are broken in.

[shep]

This is excellent, to have knowledge of the new version at such an early stage. I haven't heard anyone hear speak of the ISotek before. I have it as well and am very impressed. Anything that can cut down on the boring burn-in time is worth it's weight in...I've yet to try the second track. Must do.

[rlmacklin]

Track 2 of the IsoTek CD has lower frequency bass content than track 1 and is intended for
long-term initial burn-in (these tracks are each ~29 minutes + , if I recall correctly).
Track 3 is shorter in duration and is intended as a sort of "booster shot" - to be used every so often.

I like the IsoTek burn-in speed-up:
I got the Van Morrison "Astral Weeks Live at the Hollywood Bowl"
when it came out a month ago and enjoyed his more mature voice,
but ordered up a Japanese Warner Bros. remaster of the original
young Van Morrison "Astral Weeks" and have enjoyed it even more over the last month.
Put the remastered "Astral Weeks" on over lunch
and the Grover "SC." ("SC dot") ICs seemed to draw me deeper into the music
than the Grover "SC" with no "direction arrow," which I have had since February 10th.
Young Van and the assembled players really created something special on that album.

[richidoo]

OK gents, the speaker cable group buy is open for bizzy bidness.

[rlmacklin]

I queried Grover as to whether he had upgraded my bi-wire speaker cables to his latest technology when I received them back from him on February 10th.  His 3/20/09 e-mail confirmed they were updated to his latest technology - separate carbon nickel shields over the low frequency and over the high-mid.
Mine are joined together at the amp end and terminate in a single solid silver wire (14 awg I believe) for + and one for - .
I would have to look to see if the label says Grover "SC." however...
but they are apparently the newest configuration ...

[djbnh]

This is excellent, to have knowledge of the new version at such an early stage. I haven't heard anyone hear speak of the ISotek before. I have it as well and am very impressed. Anything that can cut down on the boring burn-in time is worth it's weight in...I've yet to try the second track. Must do.

I've mentioned the IsoTek disc a number of times:

http://www.audionervosa.com/index.php?topic=720.msg6888#msg6888
http://www.audionervosa.com/index.php?topic=597.msg7177#msg7177
http://www.audionervosa.com/index.php?topic=781.msg7505#msg7505

Works very nicely. If I haven't used my system for a bit, I'll use track 2 to get things nice. For other times, a quick hit with track 3 then on to listening. For burn-in, track 2 has worked wonders for me.

YMMV

[rlmacklin]

I have now ordered upgraded ("SC." "SC dot") interconnects from Grover
and sent him appropriate number of older group buy cables
(mix of black Grover S and white/white Grover S) to cover "upgrading."

Ordered
7 cables (3 and 1/2 pairs) one-meter length Grover "SC dot" [upgrade fee  7 x  $25 = 3.5 x $50 = $175]
 
5 cables (2 and 1/2 pairs) two-meter length Grover "SC dot" [upgrade fee 5 x $37.50 = 2.5 x $75 = $187.50]
 
total upgrade fee = $ 175 +  $187.50 = $362.50
 
Shipping (flat rate priority mail box for similar weight  ~  $10.35)
 
So total of (upgrade fee + shipping) =  $362.50 + $10.35 = $372.85
was sent to Grover.

I will ask Grover to count these toward later AN group buy of Grover ICs,
but having 2 pairs of now burned-in Grover "SC dot" interconnects in my two-channel system,
I wanted to go ahead and get complete set for all positions in my multichannel system...
before Grover gets swamped with making orders for the AN Grover speaker cable group buy!!!
(which I will likely also join to get upgrades for 6-foot single Grover SR speaker cable on center channel and 15-foot pair Grover UR spekaer cables on surround speakers.)

[richidoo]

Wow you are a loyal Groverite!  That is a great testament that you own so much and are so happy with it.  Supposedly some are on their way to me right now. Will be fun to check it out.

[dangerbird]

Well, Roger,, that says enough for me,,get my order/upgrade in to Grover this weekend,, if Roger says there good,, then thats good enough for me. You have not steered me wrong yet,, my friend,, Congratulations,, and regards to your family

George

[mdconnelly]

New Grovers in da house!   Just got my SC. versions to compare to my SC XLR balanced version between pre and amp as well as an RCA pair between phono pre and pre.   It's gonna take awhile to break in that RCA pair since I no longer run RCA ICs between anything but my phono rig and really don't want to burn tube life breaking in cables... I'll have to figure out another breakin solution there.

Hopefully these will be fully burned in by the April 18th G2G!