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Dennis Had Inspire amps and preamps.

Recently acquired a lightly used LP27a and a SEP Firebottle HO amp after a recent dip into SET/SEP-dom.  I liked them enough to order a new LP3a preamp from the "auction site."  Hand-made in USA by an arguable hifi "legend" at, imo, comparably reasonable prices.

These pop up from time to time in various A-gon discussions.  I know there is an unwieldy and lengthy discussion on another site, but thought would try to open up a fresh one, here.

Curious about (good or bad) experiences, listening impressions, tube-rolling, mods/upgrades, speaker/gear pairings/synergies, etc.

Right now, I have the Firebottle with Omega 3 HOs, and am enjoying the result.  One immediate question would be what tubes can be used in the Firebottle and in the output tube in the LP27a.  I bought them used.  I have an inquiry to Mr. Had on that, but maybe others have first hand experience on what works well?  For example, the LP27a came with a 6sn7, but I've read that others have been able to use 6sl7 and even 6bx7 in that spot.

Thank you.

stfoth

Showing 4 responses by charles1dad

charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
6,996 posts
 
Wolf and John have such vastly different results with the same power amplifier. Either the speakers used account for this or Wolf has possibly a "later" or "improved" version of this amplifier.

Wolf is the Silverline Prelude a better match than your Sonist speaker with this Had amplifier? Best sounding amplifier you’ve had in 5 decades is quite a compliment, congratulations on obtaining this level of sonic bliss.
Charles
charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
6,996 posts
 
Intuitively you’d think that the Sonist is the better speaker match for the Had amplifier due to its specifications. The Silverline Prelude apparently must present a gentle and easy load in order for this amplifier to excel to such an extent. It will be interesting to see if swapping resistors in the Sonist makes an appreciable improvement. The Had amplifier must possess a pretty respectable power supply and output transformer for it to preform this well.
Charles
charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
6,996 posts
 
The Had SEP  amplifier mated to the Silverline Prelude could turn out to be a result of excellent synergy that may not be that easy to exceed within a certain price range .
Charles 
charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
6,996 posts
 

By all accounts the Tonian Labs Classic 12.1 is a superb sounding  speaker that utilized the famed Phy 12" driver. It is said to produce fantastic tone and timbre, very natural sound quality. This a 97 db sensitive 16 ohm load impedance speaker. The French builder of the Phy drivers died a few years ago but I believe the driver is still currently in production.

Charles

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