Welborne Labs

Welcome! Need support, you got it. Or share you ideas and experiences.

Return to Welborne Labs

Welborne Labs

OK, we're back

69.3.55.100

[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ Thread: Display Email Next ] [ Welborne Labs ]

My head's still buzzing from being on the road for 22 hours but the No. TEN is starting to kick in and I'll be back in the groove by tomorrow.
Another great VSAC and a special thanks to all of you that made it by our room. Aside from the normal hotel room bass boom we had some pretty good sounds going down. Thanks to Chris Brady of Teres Audio for helping out in our room and providing the analog rig with his beautiful cocobolo model 265.
And as always, thanks to Dan and Eileen for hosting a really fun party. VSAC broke attendance records this year for both the number of exhibitors and attendees. Our room was jam packed the whole weekend...what more could an exhibitor ask for?
We've got some serious catching up to do so your patience will be greatly appreciated. Many thanks to those of you that took advantage of our sale while we were gone. We took close to a dozen orders for DRD amps so we'll get your kits in the cue and hopefully start shipping these things sometime next week. Once again...thank you!
Picture courtesy of 6moons.com. Click on the 6moons link below for exceptional show coverage.

Ron Welborne
Welborne Labs

http://www.6moons.com/industryfeatures/vsac03/vsac.html (Open in New Window)

Follow Ups:

Congratulations on a Great sounding room... - Ivan303 20:44:21 10/08/03 (10)
Oris horns were really dialed in this go 'round.
DRD 45's exceeded expectations.
- Thanks - Ron 19:27:20 10/09/03 (0)
  I'm glad you were able to squeeze into our room for a listen.
  Ron
- Re: Congratulations on a Great sounding room... - jusbe 02:29:07 10/09/03 (8)
  Ivo,
  What did you like about the DRD 45s (no chance to try before buying here).
  
  jusbe
  Share and save the World.
  - Re: Congratulations on a Great sounding room... - Ivan303 06:36:14 10/09/03 (7)
    You could contact Paul Barker or any of the other members of the UK contingent that visited VSAC. I am sure they would give you a fair opinion.
    I would buy it in a heart beat, if I had speakers that were sensitive enough.
    It is very close, if not identical to the circuit that Jack Elliano was building as a custom amp for much bigger bucks. Think he built it first for George Kwui (sp? sorry George). This is a really solid design, and sounds fantastic. Jack built it with a SS power supply, as he claims that the Ultra Path Cap takes the power supply out of the signal path.
    Plus, with the introduction of the new TJ Mesh Globe 45, you don't have to depend on the availability of NOS 45's.
    - Thanks Ivan - jusbe 16:23:17 10/09/03 (6)
      Ivan,
      What would YOU say is the minimum sensitivity required? Also, surely the PS must still be an issue, if somewhat diminished - otherwise how come SS and tube rectification sound different?
      Ta anyway,
      
      jusbe
      Share and save the World.
      - Re: Thanks Ivan - Ivan303 20:04:39 10/09/03 (5)
        
        In Reply to: Thanks Ivan posted by jusbe on October 09, 2003 at 16:23:17:
        
        Yeah, I guess would go with the tube power supply personally, but not for any real good reason. There are advantages to a SS power supply. Really is a "stiffer" supply. Sure, Mercury Vapor Rectifiers with low DC resistance power transformer and low DC resistance choke would be ideal, but really… I do agree that with Ultra Path a lot of the "bad" of the SS supply just isn't in the circuit, or is isolated so many dB down that it don't matter.
        Actually I don't think either power supply would be a bad choice, more taste than anything. I kind of like the sound of tubes, wherever I can get them.
        On the other hand, I guess there are a lot of "Depends" on the speaker sensitivity issue. Room size, music preferences, speaker type (full range, etc)
        I have heard 45 amps sound fine with single drivers in the high 90's (Fostec, etc). Always suspected that without a x-over, a full range driver hooked up directly to the amp with no passive components in the way to suck up the juice, you did not need to have the same sensitivity as a multi-way design with a lot of electronic components in the x-over. Not very scientific, huh?
        If you were to post what speakers you plan to use, I bet there are folks here that have experience with them that could offer good advice.
        
        I have a couple speaker systems based on Goodmans Drivers. Goodmans 301's in 350 Liter corner reflex cabinets and a pair of Goodmans 201's in open baffles. I really don't know the efficiency of the Goodmans drivers but about 95-96 dB would be my guess. Both sound great with 300B's and 2A3's, but I might be a little short on "punch" on full symphony performances with 45's.
        That said, if a pair of DRD 45's fell off of Ron's truck as he was leaving Silverdale, I might not run too fast to flag him down, and I wouldn't care too much what power supply they had;-)
        
        They'll most likely be for a new system I'm building. - jusbe 23:43:04 10/09/03 (4)
        
        In Reply to: Re: Thanks Ivan posted by Ivan303 on October 09, 2003 at 20:04:39:
        
        Horns will be Nagaoka D-58ES with Fostex FE208ES FRs (99dB/W/m) and T500A horn tweeters (102dB/W/m). Source to be predominantly a TD124 (if I can ever bag one - keep getting outbid at 3 in the morning!) or my current SCD-1. Dave Slagle autoformers to control the volume.
        Room measures 5.4m x 4m x 3.1m; not massive but comfortable.
        
        jusbe
        Share and save the World.
        
        Re: They'll most likely be for a new system I'm building. - JimBop 08:23:35 10/10/03 (1)
        
        In Reply to: They'll most likely be for a new system I'm building. posted by jusbe on October 09, 2003 at 23:43:04:
        
        Jusbe,
        Did you build the cabinets in the photo? Can you tell me about the wood you used? They look very nice. Is that a finished plywood or veneered MDF?
        I've been thinking about building something similar (from the Fostex plans on the Madisound site).
        Jim Dombrowski
        
        I wiiiish! - jusbe 09:22:53 10/10/03 (0)
        
        In Reply to: Re: They'll most likely be for a new system I'm building. posted by jimbop on October 10, 2003 at 08:23:35:
        
        In fact, if you follow the link below, you'll find an example of a firm producing Tetsuo Nagaoka's designs.
        In general, many Japanese builders have been using Luaun plywood (apparently quite dense and heavy, and therefore well-suited to the task) to build these horns. 21mm thickness is 'de riguer'. The bottom plate of the horn is sectioned to allow a little tuning with lead ingots, or believe it or not, large pebbles! Personally, I like: a) the idea of being able to tune in this way; b) the relatively wide front baffle as a means of fleshing out the midrange; c) the use of a whizzerless FR driver (something is beginning to bug me about the acoustical cross over of my AERs - I hear it as I listen to the more expensive whizzered FR drivers, which are otherwise very appealing); d) the reliance on horn tweeters which, whilst detracting from point-source coherence, allow even more independent tuning; and e) even more tuning possibilities with Fostex P-16 HP diffractor plates.
        
        jusbe
        Share and save the World.
        A Nagaoka workshop. (Open in New Window)
        
        Wow! - Ivan303 06:11:30 10/10/03 (1)
        
        In Reply to: They'll most likely be for a new system I'm building. posted by jusbe on October 09, 2003 at 23:43:04:
        
        I bet it will sound fantastic.
        Terry Cain was running the new TJ 45's in his Josh Stippich monoblocks at VSAC. The Cain & Cain Double Horns use a similar if not the same Fostex driver with a super tweeter of some sort.
        Needless to say, the 45's drove the Double "Ben's" (Big E Nuff) without any difficulty.
        Have fun!
        
        Re: Wow! - jusbe 06:19:39 10/10/03 (0)
        
        In Reply to: Wow! posted by Ivan303 on October 10, 2003 at 06:11:30:
        
        Thanks. Ron has still to hear from me though (should join the queue in the next 14 days), as I'm undecided on the wood base. And are the silver OPT's worth it? I don't know. You can buy a fair number of TJ 45's or records for the cost of the silver trannies.
        I think that Terry is using the new FE208 E-Sigma drivers, which were based in this limited edition version I've bagged. The version I'll receive is more sensitive by 2-3dB/W/m, so that's cheered me up a little.
        Bye for now.
        
        jusbe
        Share and save the World.

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:

You can not post to an archived thread.