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 5 responses by wolf_garcia

No clue about the preamp except that they’re well regarded, but I’ve been raving about the Fire Bottle HO amp ad nauseum since I bought it a couple of months ago…my fave tubes are the supplied new version Gold Lion KT88s with an Amperex 6SN7GTB (NOS USA version I like enough that I bought another one), with a serious looking Shuguang 274B rectifier (the amp came with a JJ 5Y3S that sounded fine, but the other rectifiers seem more suited to the 88s). I tried KT150s in the thing but the 88s sound better to me, and KT77s are just OK in my rig but others have had good sound from those. The new Gold Lion GZ34/U77 is a great sounding rectifier tube also but the 274B just looks so cool…you can hear the tube differences immediately with this amp, and it seems you can stick nearly anything in it and it handles it fine. I use 91db Silverline Prelude speakers with 2 REL subs….best sounding amp I’ve owned in over 5 decades of this stuff….amazing…and FUN.
The 3,987 posts (true…likely more once I finish this post) on the Audioaficianado site are a treasure trove of info in this amp (and the preamps). The GZ34 and 274B rectifiers allow less "voltage drop" so seem to drive the 88s and similar tubes with more gusto. The Sonist speakers when compared to my Silverlines are somewhat reticent in the treble, and I'm swapping out resistors in the Sonists to fix that…we'll see…it might be some sort of system synergy issue, but it is kind of a drag as I really wanted to like the beautiful Sonists, but the Silverlines, although less efficient, seem efficient enough and have never sounded better…I was surprised when I put these back in my system at how utterly revealing and clear they sound at any level I need. I'm considering a pair of Klipsch Heresy IIIs as an experiment in efficiency since they're relatively inexpensive…but in no hurry as my system is working so well. There's an AE-3 DJH Dennis Had preamp with remote at a local shop that's interesting to me as the current Inspire preamps lack remote control…also the Shiit Freya seems like fun and I like the balanced bits (my current preamp is a dual mono SS balanced beast with isolated power supplies made by Kavent as a rebadged Vincent…strange but true).

Amperex labeled tubes were made in both Hicksville and Brooklyn. Look it up.

And although the Sonists are a couple of DB more efficient, the Preludes have a certain something that just sparkles…I was surprised really, but haven't given up on the Sonists yet…more resistors are goin' in!
Certainly synergy is the key with all this stuff, and having owned the Preludes for years used with SS and tube power amps it seemed they had become sort of boring (you know how that goes), but the Had amp really woke 'em up.
You have to post an Ebay message to Dennis and hope for a response.
My fave tube by far for the Firebottle is the Gold Lion reissue KT77. MUCH better sounding than the JJs for some reason...in fact the JJs put me off 77s until I read enough about the Lions to give 'em a shot. Great sounding tube in that amp. I (mostly) got rid of a weird low level hum (only in my RELs when cranked up much further than when in use) when swapping out a 5U4g for the 274B rectifier. Raymonda's experience with the older model Klipsch Heresy is interesting, but very different from my experience with Heresy IIIs...improved in 2006 with titanium drivers and a new 12...these speaker are magnificent sounding, with zero fatigue smooth treble, amazing soundstaging, and I have 2 RELs to cover the 58hz bass rolloff. Simply a well sorted coherent speaker that really sings, and 99db efficiency makes my little Had amp work like its supposed to, with no tendency to run out of gas.