Bay Area 3/26 SBAF Meet Impressions Thread

Discussion in 'The Meeting Place' started by velvetx, Mar 26, 2016.

  1. No_One411

    No_One411 Fired by Jude

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    Impressive, most impressive...
     
  2. TMoney

    TMoney Shits on SBAF over at Head-Case to be cool

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    Honestly, the highlight of the meet was the tube room. I've heard all of those amps individually, but having them all on one desk for direct comparisons all off a single source was a real treat.
     
  3. drfindley

    drfindley Secretly lives in the Analog Room - Friend

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    I want to hear his ECP amp out of my EAR pre amp. I bet that might be an awesome combo
     
  4. NoStream

    NoStream Acquaintance

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    Cheers, and thanks also to the others who offered kind words.

    Sony a7R II with a Sigma 50/1.4 in front of it. I shot all day at ISO 400, mostly f/2.0 but as wide at 1.4 and as narrow as 2.8. RAW files processed in Lightroom. Yadda, yadda, gibberish, gibberish.
     
  5. velvetx

    velvetx Gear Master West/Vendor Spotlight Moderator

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    That was the sigma art lens you had right?
     
  6. brencho

    brencho Friend

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    this mini-meet inspired the purchase of a Torpedo 3, with cinemags and caps. shit just got real.
     
  7. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Well, at least you have an idea how it will sound with your incoming turntable.
     
  8. brencho

    brencho Friend

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    @purrin haha yeah, thankfully i also hooked it up to Gungnir Multibit so i won't be heartbroken when i don't achieve the same sound from that amp going digital :) the whole waiting game for the table is really only making me love it more. maybe i should start sending it letters addressed to your house.
     
  9. songmic

    songmic Gear cycler East Asia edition

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    I envy you guys who were able to attend. The shootout between the 4 tube amps must've been a real treat. I was particularly interested in the comparison between ZDS and Stratus, as I own a ZDS but have also been contemplating to order the Stratus for quite some time for my modded HD800S (the Stratus is known to be the ideal amp for HD800). As superb as the ZDS sounds, I expected the latest iteration of Stratus to outperform it, but I found it rather unexpected that the majority of those who had attended ended up preferring the ZDS to Stratus. Perhaps the upgrade from ZDS to Stratus may not be an upgrade but rather a sidegrade as someone have pointed out. Still, I hope to hear the Stratus one day as I may find its sound signature more to my taste like Sorrodje does.
     
  10. brencho

    brencho Friend

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    @songmic you know that game "marry, f**k, kill?" anyway, i think short auditions at meets are tricky, because maybe we all just wanted to f**k the ZDS, but after a long time of doing so, might have opted to marry the Stratus. so yeah, it's complicated. i would love to keep going to these meets and spend more time with these big boi amps before ponying up for one of them.

    so, tldr, let's have another norcal meet before too long!
     
  11. brencho

    brencho Friend

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    btw, does anyone have advice on where to get some 7062 tubes? i'm new to this, and don't want to get fleeced or buy crap tubes from a shady corner guy.
     
  12. No_One411

    No_One411 Fired by Jude

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    As a result of this meet and @purrin's suggestions, I have sucked it up and ordered a pair of EML mesh 2A3 output tubes and an EML 5U4G rectifier.

    Time to hear what the Stratus is really capable of.
     
    Last edited: Mar 28, 2016
  13. bazelio

    bazelio Friend

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    See my PM. I've got a trustworthy source with three pair available and I was about to have him send two pairs to me... I can have him also send the third, and I'm not far from you.
     
  14. brencho

    brencho Friend

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    @bazelio siiiiqqqqqqqq thanks amigo
     
  15. brencho

    brencho Friend

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    @No_One411 when can I come over to listen to the Stratus again? LOL now we have to hold another meet. the revenge of the Stratus.
     
  16. knerian

    knerian Friend

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    @NoStream I was just about to ask if it was the art lens. I had the 50mm 1.4 art lens on a Canon for a little while and it was amazing to use.
     
  17. NoStream

    NoStream Acquaintance

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    Yeah, I realize that was ambiguous. It was the newest version, the "art" one. Mine is Canon mount with an adapter for the Sony body. (The glorious thing about mirrorless is being able to adapt almost any lens to your body.) I have a few of Sigma's other primes, and they're all great too.
     
  18. Donald North

    Donald North Friend

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    The potentiometers are used to balance the DC filament supply across the tube. Each tube is unique and needs to be individually adjusted. You do it by ear - it's pretty fast to do.
     

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