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Great talk! I just adopted my first tube amplified stereo: Telefunken Hymnus from the 1950's. This is my first electronics rebuild and I want to replace the caps and resistors to really bring the most out. Do you have any recommendations on what kinds of caps and resistors will make my stereo shine?

Wow! Janos goes deep in this one. Resonance with the subconcious trumps specifications!

Hi thank you for the video! I hear more top end with guitar tube amp than guitar into solid state, is there difference for guitar amps or my hearing is wrecked?

Dear janos! How you manage your hi fi gear and cats? There so many videos out with cats messing up everything. And that is what I am afraid of. I'd like to have at least one kitten but then there is the carefully selected gear.

Moore Betty Hall Dorothy Martinez Sarah

I'm glad you mentioned how we've sacrificed fidelity and realism for size and convenience. I absoloutely love compression drivers and gotta say, if anyone out there hasn't experienced HLCDs, you don't know what you're missing. * there is no free lunch, there's always pros and cons of everything and HLCDs aren't perfect either. If I had to say why I like 'em, these are my reasons: 1.) CDs never sound strained when pushed to loud sound levels 2.) clarity 3.) efficiency (most will reach ear-bleeding loudness with fairly low input power) In a car, the average 75 watts per channel amplifier will do the trick 4.) replacement coil/diaphragms are available, so if you smoke one, it can be fixed Now, for the cons: 1.) large physical size makes them difficult to fit in mobile applications

Shame to use only half a valve in these designs. Unless they're paralleled?

I've seen these transformers pop up on ebay from time to time and have wondered about them. Thanks for the review.

What about the width of the speaker? It is the same dimension.

Thanks for your always thoughtful videos. I in no way intend to be dismissive of “hardware” burn-in, but I’ve noticed in my own listening that there is definitely a significant “software” aspect to burn-in, a period of mental adjustment to a changed sound signature. This wetware adjustment is a complex can of worms that I often minimize by only listening to recordings once… there is an enormous amount of music to listen to. As an unexpectedly wise man once told me over a beer, comparison is the thief of joy. Janos, do you think that, with practice, you could become satisfied with the new OTs, or are they forever a lost cause in your system?

What is that copper pipe your interconnect is running through? I've watched most of your videos with the exception of speaker builds and I don't remember that. Could you please do a short video on that and have a picture of it on the thumbnail so a scan of your videos shows that. Thanks.

Can you talk about the group delay of the vent and the phase relationship between the front of the driver and the vent output. Im assuming this is a 3rd order design?

HI Janos......What happened with the other comments I posted ..?

What is the copper “stick” in the holder? And thanks for all the great content so far!

There are too few likes and comments on this video. It's extremely helpful for understanding power supply ripple, as well as PSUD2. Thanks Janos!

Burn in / break in .............Slowly ...YES that's the correct way , that applies also to new and fresh TRIODES ..... A good evaluation of musicality is when your finger is ready to push the next test track , you can't move your finger because you are forced to listen to the end of the extinction of the very last note .....muisic you lknow well for decades being played on so many different amplifiers and system combination captures you as if you expereience it for the very first time, annoying passages become interersting by magic .......;and you become unaware that you are listening to reproduced music .........discovering that the magic of music is not hidden in numbers and ( audiophile ) measurements. Music is beatifull when there is harmony and connection to your soul instead of being an impressive performance for the brain . You may like the kick of benji jumping ......but that's not the same vas hiking in harmony with and in the beauty of mother nature ..

Hi Janos, you made some interesting observations here. I am not sure if you want to go there, but it would be interesting to see how the la Grande speakers will work with these OPTs. If your assessment is right, it would take those speakers to a new level. It would also satisfy a curiosity around a statement Snake Oil Audio made. He said that when it comes to the musicality of a system, it is all about the amplifier and far less about the speaker. That's a bold statement. Part two of my comment is a rant and a warning for people in Europe, specially Germany. When I saw Janos introducing these OPTs, I was so impressed that I bought a pair my self, thinking I will find something to do with them. This whole buying process became a nightmare and I am now trying to get my money back. I will have to go to PayPal (first time I had to do this). What happened is that the EU has made a new law in 2021 that all portals, Ali-express is a portal, must list prices inclusive VAT. This seller had to comply, but in his ignorance he listed the price including VAT and then gave a discount at the check out leaving the payment of VAT to me. This has angered the German customs and they have requested me to follow a procedure that is impossible to follow for a consumer. I have to provide things like the name of the ship varying the goods, the fright conditions, the weight and size of the package, which port it arrived, with what means of transport it arrived in the city I live. And so on and so on. I have already had to pay storage fees to the customs and the goods have been send back, because I exceeded the time to answer the questions. The seller also turned out to be much less cheerful then when buying from him. All of a sudden I am not "his friend" and more. And I have become a $tûped 1d1oT (community guidelines at play here) All in all this is not worth it, just give me some dämn Edcor or Hammond transformers and I happily do with a lesser sound.

Keen Ocean supplies Coda 😊

Joseph Esmilla ended up with similar conclusions as you did.. But he was playing around with AliEx C-Core Line Output transformers for his linestage using trioded pentodes.. He posted it in his blog with ‘scope measurements and comparisons to Hashimoto and re-purposed vintage Sony iron.. There’s still a chance the Ali-Ex OPT’s you have may be ‘saved’ if an experienced artisan winder could hack and rewind ‘em for you with high quality magnet wire like Cardas.. Layer wound.. The most you could do now if you decide to stick it out with the C-cores is play around with different types of ‘last psu caps’ feeding the OPT’s directly.. Maybe avoid high capacitance low esr lytics in there and use your trusty DC Links?

To supplement this great video, my experience with these amorphous cores is this (and I yet to try for example a Lundahl AM core OPT): (1) First, you can't 1:1 replace your iron core designs with these as an AM core fundamentally changes the tonal spectrum, level of detail and energy. Iron cores to me seem to love brighter tubes like the 801A which compensate neatly for the loss of treble nuance whereas amorphous cores seem to pair better with warmer tubes, like a type 26 which offsets the AM core tonal shift. There might be a reason Sakuma loved the 845 (on all amorphous Tamura cores) which others describe that tube as 'terminally dull'... that's a guess but it's to illustrate the point. (2) Second, the rated inductance needed to have a good bass response seems higher than normal with these; I've noticed that the lows and tonal balance improve quite a bit by increasing the load and lowering the plate resistance. My 26-4P1L dual PSE amp with AM core OPT and input step-up sounded really balanced (there's a soundclip somewhere on my channel). (3) Third, I would be hesitant applying more than 1 amorphous core of this type in an amp; even adding a Lundahl AM (like LL1690) input transformer.. to an amp with an AM OPT. I consider the whole thing a balancing act and these AM things are very affordable; if you get them to work - it's astounding value but you could struggle to get the tonal balance and harmonic structure right - just like people advocate against using the same tube twice in a circuit. One idea I am toying with is perhaps running an iron core for the woofers and a amorphous / high nickel core for the compression driver (like Romy the Cat or Sakuma's two channel amps) as both seem to have their ideal operating space. ..

Welcome back sir

Why don't you buy Audio Note UK output transformers? I've heard from a good source that even their EI core transformers out do other brand's Double C-Cores.

Appreciate the new content You were missed I have a KT88 power amplifier on the way with 25 watt Edcore transformers It may be able to do double duty as an EL34 depending how it tests that way

Comes back with a solid video!

These are fantasies not supported by any kind of evidence.

Hi Janos, those 807 tubes are beautiful... but why does 1 tube have a rectangular metal piece about in the middle of the bottle and the other a circular one, in each channel's pair ?

Hagerman Technology has a LC calculator on their site. YT won't let me link it, but Jim's calculator is f'ing brilliant! Removes a LOT of guess-work

Nedlab capacitors are neutral sounding.

Why power supply quality in field is so important?

I have a pair of mil-surp 17H potted chokes made in WW II. They're going in the PS of my SS preamp. Can't wait!

what are your thoughts about digitizing vinyl such as Technics does with the SU-R1000

Very nice discussion of the differences between engineering audio playback and the art of audio playback. The former focuses on the accurate reproduction of music, attempting to extracting every detail as correctly as possible. The latter is primarily concerned with conveying the message and emotion of the artist to the listener as fully and completely as possible. I agree that that these can be different things. Interestingly, one could argue that in the case of the art of audio reproduction, some of the burden is on the listener.

Very interesting to hear the philosophy behind the design of Mark's drivers. Amazing work. I just bought a pair of CHR-120s. These will go in a series of inclosures, until i find which sounds best. Open baffle, sealed box, Voigt pipe and BIB. But not a ported box... Too fluffy sounding.

21:18 Love this. Very accurate!! It's not a typing contest.

Could you post the vinyl details you mentioned in your presentation. Thanks Dusty

LMAO 🤣 I think it's time for another "Live" session, Janos. There's so much to talk about.

can your speakers out perform the encores extrems?

In a word:Turntables, tube amplifiers and home-made speakers.

Hi Janos, as someone only using digital sources and also did some massive test on DACs and Streamers, I'd never ever go back to Vinyl and I"ve hifi buddies with some extreme Vinyl setups 😊 Unfortunately the DAC chase is a BIG BIG TH-cam topic and you see on a daily Basis new Review. My experience is that the best I'd tested and now own are in one extreme FPGA-based (Grimm Audio MU2, very sophisticaed DAC chip and output stage) and in the other extrem full-vintage from Abbas Audio (TDA1541A and PCM63, he is using even using only old copper from vinatege devices ). YES, I only listen to Qobuz/Roon or DSD files (nativedsd downloads) and of course very special recordings on CD, because some CD records outperform certain HiRes which is just upsampled. So recording must be carefully selected, like with Viinyl 😉 I've to say, even I own very expensive DACs and Streamers many times 44.1kHz/16bit sounds better as many HiRes or DSD titles. I do highly highly recommend to listen to CDs/Vinyl from THE LOST R3CORDINGS (france), I own all of their CDs and this is 100% timetravel, those recordings are just a different league and mostly concerts which have been Lost for centuries! Best rgds from Germany!

A Video, thats worth to listen to. Thanks a lot. Did you listen to the Rachmaninoff-Album with a pure Mono-Cartridge, so that the noise doesnt matter? I listen to Monos only with pure Mono-Carts like Ortofon SPU/MPU oder Miyajima Zero.

Lots of different rooms, gear for HiFi, myriad of different engineers, and experiences, and mostly different opinions. I applaud your opinion. It's an opinion. All subjective. Thanks for a good video.

Very good points Janos! Thank you. You understand the magic music works on our souls. When we train ourselves to be critics, of the sound quality or anything else, we are deliberately stepping back from engaging and being immersed in the transformational experience. If you approach your meal with the mindset and vocabulary of a food critic, you might well enjoy the visceral experience far less. And possibly gain less nutrition as a result!? The problem with digital is that it has a finite sample rate and resolution. When the CD standard was established, the electronics were crude and storage was limited. Brick wall filters were used and dynamic compression. A very dynamic track (like most orchestral music) requires reserving headroom for the loud passages. This means quite passages are running on much less than 16bits.

.i think it is like science fiction films contra historical films. SF always will have advantage in unusual not seen before scenery but lack of true humanity due to created unnatural environment while historic films having usual scenery prioritizes humanity and psychology. Probably palette of mastered colors shold be also different for both

I don't understand anything.😂❤🤔 Maybe I have no feelings or no way to connect to them..😂 I have thousands of LPs. And I have optimized my room and system with my turntable and those LPs..😂 "optimized for analog.." I am logical and thinking audiophile terms all times. All the technical types of LP recordings. All from recordings starting from 1906 and forward. Tying "direct to disc" recordings, Direct to Metal, first pressings, modern pressings of old recordings, mono/stereo, special audiophile pressings and so on and on. After optimizing and modifying front end TT and everything else. What I can say with a certain is that reel to reel (R2R) of a old (analog) recording is SUPERIOR to any version of LPs issued of the same recording! The problem is that most of us think that R2R is so much better and LP is the next best sounding that we can lay our hands on..😅😅 That is true but nobody reflect over.. HOW MUCH MUSIC IS PROVED TO BE LOST WHEN MAKING A LP, AND PLUS ALL ADDED SHIT THAT WERE NOT PRESENT IN THE REXORDING SESSION OR IN THE R2R THAT WE GET FOR FREE!🎉🎉 The ting is when I have optimized my system with TT, RIAA and DSP. That LP LOFI that NEED ALL help it can get (that is why we make tonearms using silver wires, advanced stylus shapes, on the fly SRA adjustments and so on and on (the list goes on)...😢😂 So my system is optimized with all of those LPs and when I switch over to digital playback. Then wow!! 🎉🎉 All those optimizing (except the frontend of course) will also benefit the digital playback!! So what we can say that by optimizing with LP (LOFI) then you need tweak everything everywhere when the source is so poor that it needs every help it can get in any form it can get.❤❤ Yeah, I have not the latest and I am a DIY with 40 year old magnapans that are highly regarded so no wooden box either so no emulation of acoustic instruments or other brain ghosts to chase.😅😅 So my personal conclusion is coming from that everyone says that LP is wonderful, analog is the preferred version, this and that old recording is just wonderful and so on.. (How do you think that I got all of those old recordings.. Yes I listen to "experts" that says this is great because of this and that.. Yes, I am courios to learn what they hear and I just source that old pressing..😂😂 but it is not even my preferred genre..😂😂😂 but shows how far I am going to find out what is good..😅 I am so easy to influence and I have during many years collected, studied, tweaked and DIY optimized. 😅😅 So I know at least two or three ways to adjust every angle on the stylus plus which one is the most optimized using and trying digital microscope and other techniques.😮😮 When nothing is left to the chance I can easily say now after intensive many decades of modifications, optimization and tweaking.😢😢 That no LP is not the magic bullet😢😂🎉 And MY mistake to listen to those that says it is so "wonderful".😂😂 (Not that someone else is doing the same wasteful journey, if the goal is the "nirvana of sound quality"..) It is fun hobby anyway.❤😂

i realized that the DDC part brakes the musical flow. now I use tube DDC. custom made. closer to vinyl. much much closer. DAC and amp is NOT the limiting factor.

Music is life. I took piano lessons for the purpose of studying harmony and theory. Never got too far advanced in playing. The Bach Chacone is my favorite for piano (Busoni and Brahms editions) My instrument is guitar and I like many styles of music from different times. But one of my favorites is Musica Antiqua (Early Music). Imagine what the musicians sounded like during the times of kings, queens, gallant knights, and fair ladies. 🤔 Must have been an interesting time!

Would be great to see a visual walk-through of a crossover with a speaker. Thanks

If you find the time please speak about and show the builds of your amplifiers. Good video. Thanks

Great video! What I like about those early non-microphone recording, is that our stylus wiggles in the same way, the original stylus carved it into the shellac master... nothing beats such connection despite it's limitations.. the sense of 'registration' or being allow to pop into that performance is something that 'technology' can't provide as I feel it inserts to many steps between event and us to listen to it again. In some sense, what pro-digital people say is to get great music, let's digitalise it, then analogue it again... looks like saying to get the best steak, we must mince it first and then re-create the steak... that make so much sense ;-)

I listen to my LPs through an ADC. A superior LP (ex: recently listening to Ellington's Back to Back in mono) will still shine through.