who repairs sonic frontiers?

Too bad Cosmic, I am always looking for a good game. I know a guy, Coyote who is 47, who still plays, so don't use the age excuse!!!!:)

I have used Amprex, Sovtek, Telefunken, Siemens, RCA and some off brand Soviet made tube (MIGs??). The Soviet tubes were horrible in every way; I didn't hear too much of a difference between the Sovteks and Amprex tubes, but will be doing some more comparisons this weekend now that I have a quiet house to myself. I initially heard more white noise from the tweeters with the Amprex, but plan on putting my tube dampeners on them this weekend to remedy that.

The Siemens were tremendous tubes (I just bought another set today) and were very comparible to Telefunkens. I did not have a chance to do thourough test between the Siemens and Telefunken, but just know I was equally happy between the two. The RCA were sweet sounding tubes, and were definitly closer to the Siemens/Telefunken rather than the Amprex/Sovteks.

I'd be happy to hear your experiences/suggestions with tubes.

m-

Mdomnick,

Ok, the guy beats me by five. Still, I've never been good at first person shooters. Besides, when I get into a game I tend to go off the deepend and forget about all other things in this world - like eating, sleeping....

I just picked up the Line 1 a week and a half ago used ($950US or $1500 in Monopoly money $C). I am enjoying the sound quite a bit. I had been using my Onkyo 747 SRS receiver as a pre into my Anthem MCA-20 and the Line 1 just adds all kinds of good things like high frequency extension and air. The soundstage depth has improved tremendously. I have ordered an Audition cable package from Virtual Dynamics ( http://www.virtualdynamics.ca ). They should arrive Tuesday (Monday is Thanksgiving here). I have the Power 3 and Power 1 power cords here and they made a tremendous improvement in low end dynamics and added a little extra oomph to the sound level in that range as well. What got me going to the Audition package was that I had to exchange the Power 3 due to a defect in the IEC end plus I needed an extra PC now that I've added the pre and the cost would have been about 40% for what I truly needed but for the extra I get a whole lot more. I will report back once I get them and have time to do a proper evaluation on them. I will probably start a new thread in the cable section at that time. Currently using HT Pro-11 for speakers and HT Truthlinks between pre and amp. Cardas crosslink between Musical Fidelity A3CD and pre. Should connect my tape deck one of these days... .

Keep me posted on the tube experiments. I currently have the original 2.5 year old Sovteks in. Perhaps it might be time to go around to some of the old TV shop and look for NOS tubes.

T^2

Hi all. Count me in one how great the Line 1 is (especially for the price one can pick one up for on the used market). I really believe they are an steal at $900-$1000. I've found that Cardas Golden Reference cables matched with a Pair of Ediswans I had bought from Kevin Deal were a fantastic match. The Ediswan really added a ton of high end sparkle and the Cardas just made every thing very smooth. Have fun all. Mike.

Void,

I have the Line 1 (by the way, just replace the rear most bank of tubes...gives the most improvement) and use the Anthem Amp 2 which I just sent to NY for repair:( It was kicking out a terrible hum in my mid range drivers. I use a Marantz changer as a transport running thru a Monarchy DIP then to Cal Gamma DAC. I also have a Marantz DV-18 DVD player, and CinePro Power Pro 20. All ICs are Transparent Music Link+ and Analysis Plus Oval 9 speaker wire. Speakers are currently Paradigm Studio 100s (you damn Canadians) but am just about to pay off my Tyler Acoustic 7Us. I recently sold my Lexicon DC1 for the Line 1, and agree...major improvements all around. I don't miss the HT at all!!!!!

M,

I also have the Studio 100's plus a PW220 plus a Studio CC plus a pair of Paradigm Mini Monitors on Atlantis stands in the rear. The Onkyo passes through the Line 1 for HT. I don't need the greatest fidelity for HT because I am more focused on the picture to worry overly much about the sound so long as it's adequate. Toshiba SD-5700 DVD. My critical listening is in the realm of two channel.

I've read about the rearmost two tubes trick. I am going to wait until the cables are in and settled before trying to determine what pair of tubes to order to tailor the sound just right. I can hardly wait as the sound is just about "that close" to where I want it.

The Musical Fidelity A3CD is a single disk unit I've been very happy with since picking it up in the Spring. I may go to a Musical Fidelity A3-24 DAC down the road but am not in any particular rush to do so, the sound is that good. I've spent too much money this year as it is - way too much. This is the nature of addiction I guess.

I have heard really good things about the Amp 2 and wanted one but took the MCA-20 instead. Couldn't find an Amp 2 as Anthem has dicontinued all their tube gear. The 20 is good enough for now. I may wind up using it for the HF down the road and biamp with a Bryston 4B SST on the bottom down the road but again no rush. I would really like to try some Oval 9's in my system in a bi-wire setup with the 9's of course on the bottom as I hear the do wonders on bass signals. I will wait until I evaluate this complete VD Audition cable package before continuing hunting for more cables.

There was an SE version of the Amp 2 released a while back. I wonder if Anthem was also doing SE upgrades to existing product. I might send my Line 1 to Toronto next spring for the SE upgrade.

One thing about the system now though is if I put on a badly mastered/EQ'd CD I won't leave it on because the sound is just too poor to listen to. A number of my older CD's are trash. This is mostly stuff from the 70's and early 80's transfered quickly to CD for the record companies to cash in on the new format. Fortunately some of the old stuff is being remastered and released once again. The early David Bowie is a good example. Don't get the feeling that I'm living in the past. For most of my friends there hasn't been any good music made since 1982. I on the other hand will listen to almost anything from classical to hard core so I have lots of musical options. Having said that there are still bad recordings being released in this day and age which is inexcuseable.

That's enough early Sat AM rant. Thanks for listening.

Peace,
T^2