Ron’s New System

[Argonaut]

WE 300bs were designed for exceptionally long service as they were used in the first amplifiers integrated into the early transAtlantic phone cables strung across the ocean floor.

I wasn’t cogitating upon WE 300B ! I was responding to …

“ left on continuously for a while (like 40-50 000 hours with some proper Telefunken, or Mullard NOS) “

Which I assumed to refer to 9 pin valves.

 

[hopkins]

...link to the review itself:
Aries Cerat Heléne DAC and Incito S preamp review, Hi-Fi Advice (Christiaan Punter) // this link opens at the beginning of the review, and gives access to the Comments too (scroll down).

Typical audiophile nonsense … the impact of a fuse!

“I don’t know why and I won’t try to find a reason but after swapping, all it takes is a couple of notes to hear that the Orange fuses make one heck of a difference. Yes, I’d almost be tempted to call it a day and night kind of difference! The impact is honestly as large as that of swapping a power cord.

What you notice instantly, is how the soundstage increases in size, becoming both wider and deeper, and secondly, how the sounds within it gain richness and finesse. With audio accessories that add richness, usually, you also lose some dynamics or attack but in this case, this does not seem to be the case, not in the midrange, at least. The overall resolution remains great – it does not seem to increase but neither does it diminish, but because the stage is imaged considerably more widely, the sounds within it are portrayed more in a free-floating manner and with gobs of surrounding air as opposed to the comparatively more clumped-together presentation of the standard fuses. Another notable change, and something that will make one gulp, is that the Orange fuses make standard fuses sound lean and tonally gray. It’s almost surreal.

However, once I got over the euphoria of the much luxurious sound, I noticed that the bass behavior had also changed. Even though the clarity and texturing in the midrange did not at all seem to be negatively impacted, and the bass actually seemed to have become meatier, there was now a bloom down below that made for a seductive and smooth feel but that also rounded off the transient behavior, making the sound feel arguably less urgent and rhythmic. For me, this was a deal-breaker and therefore, I reviewed the Aries Cerat components with standard fuses. But I know that I am quite specific in the way that I want my bass and imagine that there will be many for whom the benefits will greatly outweigh the downsides.”

I attended quite a few listening sessions with audiophiles were I witnessed these kinds of ridiculous tests - changes of fuses, of cables of all sorts - where listeners were convinced - and convinced each other - that the sound was immediately transformed - I rarely heard a difference… A waste of time.

The same reviewer is now a publicist for Taiko…what a coincidence!

 

[microstrip]

Fro those interested in tube longevity:

https://www.effectrode.com/knowledg...igations-into-the-causes-of-loss-of-emission/

Forecasting tube longevity was a challenging subject after World War II - tube stocks for telegraphy repeaters were low and they should be used just to replace tubes with an imminent failure, not in systematic preventive maintenance.

 

[DasguteOhr]

I wasn’t cogitating upon WE 300B ! I was responding to …

“ left on continuously for a while (like 40-50 000 hours with some proper Telefunken, or Mullard NOS) “

Which I assumed to refer to 9 pin valves.

Valvo has a color-coded yellow series (long-distance tube for communication transmission) supposedly min. 20,000 hours warranty)



You probably won't believe what kind of tubes you find in old tube radios that still work

 

[microstrip]

Valvo has a color-coded yellow series (long-distance tube for communication transmission) supposedly min. 20,000 hours warranty)View attachment 154932

View attachment 154933

You probably won't believe what kind of tubes you find in old tube radios that still work
View attachment 154934

Unfortunately most radios used the specific 100mA filament versions of the tubes, meant to be connected in series that are not used in the high-end, although some people replace ECC88's with PCC88's.

As far as I remember the old Tektronix tube oscilloscopes were a great source for the precious premium ECC88s/6922s.

 

[morricab]

I

[please forgive my poor English]

To sum up what I've read in various threads and on the Dutch HiFi-advice website's Comments section, in which Aries Cerat's designer Stavros Danos himself replied and brought clarification:
- the manual says: "it is advised to avoid frequent on-off switching of the unit to preserve tube life" (even if there are three chokes in the Incito (S), one for each tube).
- nevertheless, "2-3 on-off power cycles a day" is not considered as frequent [says Stavros].
- for instance, turning on the gear before a listening session and off after the last listening session, is fine. (During the weekends, this could go up to 12 hours on, but it is still much better than 24/7.)

---

You can find DETAILS and Stavros Danos' answer here (on that site, each reply has its own link, so you have to start with my question first; then scroll down to Stavros' reply then to the Dutch AC distributor's reply afterwards; his name is Ron too):
https://www.hifi-advice.com/blog/re...helene-dac-and-incito-s-preamp/#comment-16104 //from this link, weirdly you cannot scroll upwards to the review itself, so...

...link to the review itself:
Aries Cerat Heléne DAC and Incito S preamp review, Hi-Fi Advice (Christiaan Punter) // this link opens at the beginning of the review, and gives access to the Comments too (scroll down).

I leave mine on sometimes for a week straight or more…tubes sound the same and are dead quiet.

 

[AudioLibertarian]

Typical audiophile nonsense … the impact of a fuse!

“I don’t know why and I won’t try to find a reason but after swapping, all it takes is a couple of notes to hear that the Orange fuses make one heck of a difference. Yes, I’d almost be tempted to call it a day and night kind of difference! The impact is honestly as large as that of swapping a power cord.

What you notice instantly, is how the soundstage increases in size, becoming both wider and deeper, and secondly, how the sounds within it gain richness and finesse. With audio accessories that add richness, usually, you also lose some dynamics or attack but in this case, this does not seem to be the case, not in the midrange, at least. The overall resolution remains great – it does not seem to increase but neither does it diminish, but because the stage is imaged considerably more widely, the sounds within it are portrayed more in a free-floating manner and with gobs of surrounding air as opposed to the comparatively more clumped-together presentation of the standard fuses. Another notable change, and something that will make one gulp, is that the Orange fuses make standard fuses sound lean and tonally gray. It’s almost surreal.

However, once I got over the euphoria of the much luxurious sound, I noticed that the bass behavior had also changed. Even though the clarity and texturing in the midrange did not at all seem to be negatively impacted, and the bass actually seemed to have become meatier, there was now a bloom down below that made for a seductive and smooth feel but that also rounded off the transient behavior, making the sound feel arguably less urgent and rhythmic. For me, this was a deal-breaker and therefore, I reviewed the Aries Cerat components with standard fuses. But I know that I am quite specific in the way that I want my bass and imagine that there will be many for whom the benefits will greatly outweigh the downsides.”

I attended quite a few listening sessions with audiophiles were I witnessed these kinds of ridiculous tests - changes of fuses, of cables of all sorts - where listeners were convinced - and convinced each other - that the sound was immediately transformed - I rarely heard a difference… A waste of time.

The same reviewer is now a publicist for Taiko…what a coincidence!

I'm hardly a person to defend a commercial audio reviewer, however Christiaan Punter has been a very respected reviewer, if you ever read his reviews, he is not a glorify-er "equipment whore" (pardon my French sic) like many others in his field, and is a straight shooter. I ve gotten plenty of useful information about components from his very thorough reviews, and he even has replied to my direct inquires&comments with very helpful and critical info about the component in question. So, I highly doubt his other job with Taiko has had much of an impact on his critical faculties as a hi-fi reviewer. Of course, this is in mine a very non humble opinion

 

[morricab]

Typical audiophile nonsense … the impact of a fuse!

“I don’t know why and I won’t try to find a reason but after swapping, all it takes is a couple of notes to hear that the Orange fuses make one heck of a difference. Yes, I’d almost be tempted to call it a day and night kind of difference! The impact is honestly as large as that of swapping a power cord.

What you notice instantly, is how the soundstage increases in size, becoming both wider and deeper, and secondly, how the sounds within it gain richness and finesse. With audio accessories that add richness, usually, you also lose some dynamics or attack but in this case, this does not seem to be the case, not in the midrange, at least. The overall resolution remains great – it does not seem to increase but neither does it diminish, but because the stage is imaged considerably more widely, the sounds within it are portrayed more in a free-floating manner and with gobs of surrounding air as opposed to the comparatively more clumped-together presentation of the standard fuses. Another notable change, and something that will make one gulp, is that the Orange fuses make standard fuses sound lean and tonally gray. It’s almost surreal.

However, once I got over the euphoria of the much luxurious sound, I noticed that the bass behavior had also changed. Even though the clarity and texturing in the midrange did not at all seem to be negatively impacted, and the bass actually seemed to have become meatier, there was now a bloom down below that made for a seductive and smooth feel but that also rounded off the transient behavior, making the sound feel arguably less urgent and rhythmic. For me, this was a deal-breaker and therefore, I reviewed the Aries Cerat components with standard fuses. But I know that I am quite specific in the way that I want my bass and imagine that there will be many for whom the benefits will greatly outweigh the downsides.”

I attended quite a few listening sessions with audiophiles were I witnessed these kinds of ridiculous tests - changes of fuses, of cables of all sorts - where listeners were convinced - and convinced each other - that the sound was immediately transformed - I rarely heard a difference… A waste of time.

The same reviewer is now a publicist for Taiko…what a coincidence!

I have friends with quite good listening skills that swear by the fuse swaps. I haven’t gone down that road because on piece of gear has several fuses and the cost gets prohibitive.

 

[hopkins]

I'm hardly a person to defend a commercial audio reviewer, however Christiaan Punter has been a very respected reviewer, if you ever read his reviews, he is not a glorify-er "equipment whore" (pardon my French sic) like many others in his field, and is a straight shooter. I ve gotten plenty of useful information about components from his very thorough reviews, and he even has replied to my direct inquires&comments with very helpful and critical info about the component in question. So, I highly doubt his other job with Taiko has had much of an impact on his critical faculties as a hi-fi reviewer. Of course, this is in mine a very non humble opinion

i do not doubt his honesty. There are two possible explanation for this: either audiophiles imagine things or the equipment they test is so bad that some ridiculous tweaks they test alter ( sometimes randomly) the performance. I have witnessed the first many times. Some guy shows up at an audiophile gathering, swaps a cable, and him and his pals are convinced that the sound is transformed while in fact nothing has changed. It is funny to observe…

 

[AudioLibertarian]

i do not doubt his honesty. There are two possible explanation for this: either audiophiles imagine things or the equipment they test is so bad that some ridiculous tweaks they test alter ( sometimes randomly) the performance. I have witnessed the first many times. Some guy shows up at an audiophile gathering, swaps a cable, and him and his pals are convinced that the sound is transformed while in fact nothing has changed. It is funny to observe…

Yes, events like that place, and despite sometimes being ridiculous, they bring a degree of fun , entertainment and avant-garde thinking into our hobby . Can you imagine all audiophiles being like some folks on the audio science review site?! Some of the "crazy" things even do make quite an notable, positive difference. Physics is a vast and largely mysterious field, who knows what&how can affect circuits or acoustics, unless we try.
Lets hope the moderator won't throw us out of here for the off topic though

 

[Mike Lavigne]

I have friends with quite good listening skills that swear by the fuse swaps. I haven’t gone down that road because on piece of gear has several fuses and the cost gets prohibitive.

my friend commonly replaces most fuses with thermal couplers for critical gear. i always hear a positive difference. he realizes it's not warranty compatible.

i dabbled with swapping fuses back in the day and most times i did hear better. but sometimes those spendy new fuses had a very short life span. so i stopped going down that road. OTOH there are a few in my system now for over 10 years. my dart pre uses batteries (fuse on the charger box only), and the dart amps use thermal couplers.

 

[Holmz]

…. Physics is a vast and largely mysterious field, who knows what&how can affect circuits or acoustics, unless we try…

Physics is actually a science.
Magic is not a science.
We might be able twist Alchemy into being the grandfather of modern nuclear physics, however in terms of electronics Maxwell sort of removed a lot of mystery from the ‘equation’.

 

[microstrip]

Physics is actually a science.

Yes, but physics does not tell you that a fuse can't affect the sound quality of high-end equipment.

Magic is not a science.

But IMO it can be studied scientifically.

We might be able twist Alchemy into being the grandfather of modern nuclear physics,

I don't see how, and I consider myself an open minded person!

however in terms of electronics Maxwell sort of removed a lot of mystery from the ‘equation’.

In terms of electronics the Maxwell equations show us that current real high-end electronics is a lot more than just Ohm's law and common sense.

 

[AudioLibertarian]

Physics is actually a science.
Magic is not a science.
We might be able twist Alchemy into being the grandfather of modern nuclear physics, however in terms of electronics Maxwell sort of removed a lot of mystery from the ‘equation’.

Oh , really?! I did not know that magic was not a science, as my Auntie witch Hazel gave her flying broom designs and appropriate spells to Wright brothers for a mere two pounds of pure Beladonna powder from Oregon....

 

[AudioLibertarian]

Physics is actually a science.
Magic is not a science.
We might be able twist Alchemy into being the grandfather of modern nuclear physics, however in terms of electronics Maxwell sort of removed a lot of mystery from the ‘equation’.

Having been raised in family of 2 and half physicists, and having tried to copy some ancient Alchemy experiments (which led to an explosion in my friend's garage on Long Island) as I was sorta good at deciphering some ancient Jewish Kabbalistic cryptic texts on the subject (not that fake Gnostic crap) , I can tell you that those two fields have very little in common... Apothecary and chemistry may be

 

[AudioLibertarian]

Ron, hows it going with your new preamp? Any initial observations?

 

[Holmz]

Having been raised in family of 2 and half physicists, and having tried to copy some ancient Alchemy experiments (which led to an explosion in my friend's garage on Long Island) as I was sorta good at deciphering some ancient Jewish Kabbalistic cryptic texts on the subject (not that fake Gnostic crap) , I can tell you that those two fields have very little in common...

^Well done sir!^

I think Brookhaven is on Long Island…

Those old alchemy attempts at making gold from lead, sort of is actually on the right track of how things work in the nucleus of an atom, in which they absorb huge numbers of neutrons in cosmic events.
That just happens in milliseconds in the cosmos, whereas the old alchemists did not have Erlenmeyer flasks of spare neutrons to pour into the base material, like is available in neutron star mergers.

I don’t know any Aramaic, etc. which would be needed to read the other texts

 

[Holmz]

…
In terms of electronics the Maxwell equations show us that current real high-end electronics is a lot more than just Ohm's law and common sense.

Cables may be the best example.
The inductance and capacitance is geometry driven (Maxwell).

… I don't see how, and I consider myself an open minded person! …

r-process - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Kingrex]

The tubes used in transatlantic applications did not go off and on ,and lastly were not in a room producing large amounts of acoustic energy. Lastly music unlike a phone has a constant change . If you used a stethoscope you can hear your music pretty good
Same on SS transistors .
I washed a video with chand of his very nice home and many audio rooms . In one part he has a set of quad panels on an el34 amp
He was told he never needed to change the tubes ever . There is some truth to this , but this leaves out the slow death of sound quality being heard.
With tubes being turned off and on as anyone does a few things happen no matter what it's designer used to hold off things
one is inrush current on not just the heater . But the plates too
a chemical blackening happens and this can be measured in tube conductance
Tube have magic in many ways , as do various non tube devices.
I think the glow of tubes adds to a almost endorphin release to some .
Myself included.
The 2A3 is one of my favorite tubes as well as el34 types
Both to my brain show speed but speed is a made up term but seems real to me .

With my amps, you have to turn on the heaters and let them run for a minute plus. Best to wait till all the hazey fog is off the glass. Then you flip the high voltage on.

I think a lot of tube life also comes down to how hard do you run them...My Mercury rectifier gets run hot. As such, I seem to fry them about every 1000 hours. Good thing they are like $40 each. The drivers and voltage rectifiers can go thousands and thousands. Maybe 8000 to 10,000. Not sure about the kT88. They have run over 1000 and still sound great. I am told the should go 3000 to 5000 hours. Part of why I bought the amps. New power tubes are $500 for a quad which fills both amps. Thats good tubes like Shuguang Hidden Treasure 50th Anniversary. Or KT120 from Upscale. The KT88 is better.

In my preamp, the voltage tubes have been running for 6 years. The signal tubes maybe 2. I swap them out depending on the flavor of sound I want. But they should both go tor 10,000 hours plus.

 

[Ron Resnick]

Please cease on my system thread the irrelevant discussion of fuses.