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RE: the credibility was established at RMAF ...

Posted by drlowmu (M) on February 8, 2022 at 09:03:18

In Reply to: RE: the credibility was established at RMAF ... posted by awsjr on February 8, 2022 at 05:53:39:

Hello !!

That is a great post you authored. Especially pointing out my lack of "self awareness", ...... that really hit me between the eyes.

Please let me explain to you, something that you, and perhaps many others, do not understand :

(1) I don't need to hear other people's amps, I have heard other people's manufactured and DIY SE amps, and P-P amps, conventionally designed and built, "all of my life, almost everywhere ". Only a handful impress me.

(2) I have been rude and condescending to others, mainly - NOT treating others with respect. THIS I PROMISE I will do my best to change, to exhibit a positive demeanor, henceforth !!

(3) These people who I trashed, likely have ZERO experience hearing Serious Stereo amps as I have, in a variety of systems, over a variety of occasions.

(4) Allow me ask you nicely, and without trying to raise a fuss, what is your personal experience, and the extent of you hearing Dennis' amps???

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Let me tell you MY experience hearing Dennis Fraker's Serious Stereo amps.

I read the following 6 Moons article from Stephaen, in 2005. It piqued my interest and I decided in 2006 to start to attend RMAF, to directly hear what was going on :

https://6moons.com/industryfeatures/rmaf05stephaen/rmaf05_2.html

From 2006 on, I went to about ten shows over twelve years. Spent most of my show time in the Serious Stereo room, listening. Each show attended required 1,317 miles of a round trip, usually driving. Ten shows means I traveled 13,170 miles, and spent ten weekends of my life, to listen to Dennis' two stage Directly Coupled, SE 2A3 amps.

Are you getting the picture ? This was all on my dime.

Furthermore, in 2019 I did a round trip, from my residence to Livingston, MT, with my new DIY 12BZ7-KT88 SE DC amp. A 4,022 miles drive. So, in all, I have traveled 17,000 plus miles, and spent much time, hearing Dennis' S.S. amps.

Not only that, I was actively DIY building clones of the basic circuit topology, from 2006 on, to this day.

In 2006, I was eager to share my positive listening experiences of this amplifier topology. I alone, started to introduce on this Tube DIY A.A. Forum. The concept of a L.S.E.S power supply.

To newer Forum Members : L.S.E.S. stands for " Low Stored Energy Supply ". Since the concepts presented were in opposition to what was taught conventionally ( for maybe 100 years in all E.E. textbooks ). My posts, and manner, received a lot of " pushback " from many conventionally trained individuals. None of these people, to my knowledge, had heard the Serious Stereo amps, as I had at that time.

Between 2006 and 2008, the highly capable E.E., Mr. Henry Pasternak, came up with his own version of the L.S.E.S. concept, which he dubbed " The Flywheel ". ( it started out with a Triad C-56U, 35 mHY, 2 A.-rated, 0.79 Ohm DCR choke ).

During this 2006-08 time period, only two audiophile E.E.s on A.A., took the time to run a series of posts, fully explaining what they HEARD and did, using the concepts of L.S.E.S. These were Messers John Swenson and John L. Hasquin, both quite talented individuals.

NOTE : I have saved a great compilation of all their posts, and any A.A. Forum Member in 2022 who would like to receive a copy, please simply contact me by the Forum Messaging system, with your email address. I will gratis, promptly send it off to you.

It is easy to deduce that both these DIYers, " got it " and were extremely pleased with the new approach's sonics.

My very first DIY tube amp build was for The Absolute Sound's Classical Record reviewer, Neil Levinson, in about 1979. It was his Audio Note 300B kit, which we converted to 2A3 Finals. Golly, that was 43 years ago.

In 1982, my audio mentor at the time, the late and great Robert W. Fulton ( FMI-80s, Fulton J-Modular, Fulton Premiere speakers ) told me " Jeffrey, amps are the turkeys, and we could build something much better than that kit". He laid out several amp building guidelines to me. Things like " hopefully NO negative feedback." A second guideline was " all triodes ". A third guideline was that " all the chokes have to be 20 Ohms or less ". He ably explained all the reasons for each guideline.

So my A.A. audio friends, I have been aware of the need for lower DCR for four decades. The average tube amp out there, Manufactured or DIY, will world-wide routinely use chokes with DCRs of from about 30 Ohms to 110 Ohms.

For the past several years, I use two Hammond 159ZAs in series, as L1/C1/L2/C2. Each choke being only 6 Ohms in DCR. So, the TOTAL DCR to the output transformer's primary is only 12 ohms.

My point to you, awsjr, is that I have been hearing what LOW DCR does in any decent audio amp, .....for forty years now. I really do not have to hear other's amps, using 30 to 110 Ohms DCR inductors as their FINALS stage filtering. But OTHERS, who have not experienced L.S.E.S., etc., need to do so !!!!!!!!!

Furthermore, I have spent time, paid my dues, listening to Dennis' amps, using his own L.S.E.S. supply. This is, to the large part, the opposite of all who ( technically and theoretically only ) have given Dennis pushback on AA, over the last two decades.

In most cases, these people who are critical of Dennis, have little ( or in most cases zero ) listening experience to his builds. Notice how, after posting what I did above, no one has immediately volunteered their " extensive listening experience ". I was going to give it a week's time, but your post " called my hand ".

We are all unique, and we each have unique experiences. I hope this post outlines mine in a logical and reasonable manner, and creates some new and positive understandings. Peace.

Best wishes,

Jeff

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