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RE: Thanks again Abe...

No, let me explain as there's more to it than I described in my previous post. When I had the slight distortion on music peaks driving the ARC LS25mkII, I was using the Hagerman Cornet2 vacuum tube MM phono with a Bob's Devices Step Up Transformer (SUT) for my Benz Glider SL MC cartridge. That setup put out a pretty "hot" signal and over drove the ARC LS25mkII that had been set to HIGH gain. Simply reducing the gain to MEDIUM completely solved the problem. You might ask why I had it on the HIGH gain setting in the first place. I was using the setup with a much lower output Dynavector 17D3 MC cartridge that benefited from the additional overall system gain, which proved to be too much for the Benz.

The Rhea has adjustable loading and gain. So if I had the Rhea at that time, I would probably also run it at a lower gain setting the for Benz vs the Dyna cartridge.

I would say that the Rhea's sonic signature is more along the lines of the ARC vs the Manleys. It's fairly neutral sounding to my ears, not especially warm or rich sounding but airy and no grain, nice and smooth.

When I'm in the mood for an extra blast of that harmonically rich, robust, weighty and warm tube sound, I turn on the EAR 834P. To my ears the EAR has noticeable midrange presence and warmth along with an extra shot of bass energy. It's a very seductive sound but too much of a good thing in my setup. I suppose the EAR 834P would be an excellent fit in an otherwise thin sounding system.

Some additional comments on the VT100mkII. Prior to owning the VT100mII I had a couple other 6550 based amps but these were typical 4-tube units that put out about 60wpc or so... like the CJ Premier 11a. They were OK but when I heard the 8-tube VT100mkII I was immediately impressed with it's effortless dynamics and bass punch. It also has a nice midrange. I had the smaller VT50 for a while and I thought it would be just a bit less dynamic than the VT100mkII but I was wrong. It also seemed to lack the midrange presence of it's bigger brother sounding slightly thin in comparison. I had a Cary CAD 120S on loan for a while and this is also a larger 8-tube 6550 setup. As much as I like most Cary gear, I felt that the CAD 120S was lacking something in the midrange. It didn't have any warmth or glow in the mids. I preferred the old ARC VT100mkII.

But then it was time to move on. I discovered the AES/Cary SixPac monoblocks and these had 6 EL34 tubes per amp and put out about 60wpc. I was amazed at the midrange. I loved the sound of these modestly priced monoblocks but wished they put out more power for even better dynamics and impact. They were a big step up from the more costly CJ Premier 11a with 4 6550 tubes but I wanted even more. I then discovered the Manley Neo-Classics with 10 EL34 tubes per amp. So I had that EL34 sound that I fell in love with but with significantly more power.

I hope I didn't bore you to tears with my long rambling. ;-)


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  • RE: Thanks again Abe... - AbeCollins 20:45:24 12/09/10 (0)

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