TerryO

Agreed o2so specs are very important, but I would say not as important as ears. cheers Terry

While only hearing various entry level Benz carts (below$2500 rrp) for short periods of time I would say Rantan is correct and also to my ears they have a 'house sound signature'. The Hana SL is quiet different and as best as I could explain is far more open and detailed, which I prefer. I reckon the person to ask is Greg @Doppelgangerwho from memory has had both, as well as many many other lovely carts, phono stages and TT's. If you want to sample the Hana sound at a entry level price then might be an idea to contact @chimchimster who just yesterday came back from OS with a new TT which had a Hana EL cart fitted, which I understand he intends to soon move on. Out of curiosity o2so do you miss the Wilson Benech stand mounts? cheers Terry

Alan you are missing the point. By all means keep espousing your words of wisdom and enlightenment to us the poorly informed enthusiasts. regards, Terry

Actually you have been doing just that and across a number of threads, one recently was closed down after you took a very active role in commenting, if I remember rightly about a product that had not even been released yet which you were very vocal about. As I said it’s a interesting marketing strategy to keep telling potential customers they have little to no idea about what they are talking about in the manner that you do. regards, Terry

That sales success was that before or after you joined this forum in March this year and then started telling everybody about how much you know and how little they do? regards Terry

After coming across a number of your comments in a number of threads recently I would have to say I have seldom seen a marking strategy, such as yours, where a retailer spends much of their time telling enthusiasts in a hobby that they are trying to sell into that they, the potential customers, have little to no idea about what they are talking about. It will be interesting to see how that works for you. regards Terry.

I can only comment on how they worked in my system, to my ears the PS Vane Mkii 12au7's lacked bass and are kind of hollowish sounding in the mid's. I actually found the original OEM PrimaLuna (TungSol's I believe) 12au7 was a nicer all round tube, but still nothing special. Several SNA members have commented how good the PS Vane 12au7's sound in their system, so while they don't work well in mine obviously they do in others. cheers Terry

It will be interesting to hear what you think of the PS Vane 12ax7's once they have some decent hours up on them. I purchased some time ago their Mkii 12au7's and they were disappointing in my PL amp or PL CDP compared to various NOS 12au7's, so they sit in their box in a cupboard now. cheers Terry

No it doesn’t run hot, warm at best so far. cheers Terry

Well Decky .... the answer is those protrusions that you can see on top are the latest Dalek mod ... between songs you can hear the word Exterminate! .... Exterminate!! coming from the speakers in a strange metallic computer type voice. The fact that they look very similar to Lenehan Toppers is very sneaky. ... cheers Terry

To say I'm impressed by the new Australian designed and built Heschl is an understatement, it has to be heard playing to be believed how good it is. But first up I had to fall into my normal, but mistaken, lets see which amp has the most balls comparison mode that I tend to do when comparing amps and that seriously is a waste of time and something I must get over doing. The PrimaLuna / MF Supercharger combo delivers a little less than twice the power of Heschl so its easy to get more bass slam at higher volumes but that is not what good music or listening is all about. If it comes down to grunt then the PL/Supercharger combo kind of wins, then the Heschl, then the $30K plus Technical Brain TB-Zero, but again that is not a true reflection of what any of these amps deliver sq wise for normal everyday listening. To make it as close to a level playing field to start off with we listened to the Heschl using the DAC in the Droplet CDP so it was on level ground with the other amps. Next time we compare them seriously the Heschls's upgradeable builtin DAC will get a run. After Jeff left late yesterday arvo Gloria and I just sat down and listened to music at our normal volume levels using the Heschl, ok depending on the track we did turn it up a bit I'll admit, and the sound quality and enjoyment we experienced listening to quite a number of old favourites was way way beyond what I expected after having the earlier high volume listening session which if anything left me a little confused. This amp more than deserves a decent comparison against the likes of the much more expensive TB and some of my more favoured tube amp combo's, hopefully Simon and Rod will leave the HAL350 with us long enough to have that opportunity. For those of you going to the Hi-Fi show this coming weekend in Melbourne the Heschl HAL350 integrated will be playing in Mike Lenehan's room, I would strongly recommend having a listen, this is a very impressive amp and while my first thoughts were who in their right minds would start up a Australian Amp building business with a $25k integrated as their first model I would have to say my initial negative reaction was truly unfounded and at this stage I am now of the opinion its a bit of a serious bargain, after spending a little one on one time with the HAL350 my guess is it is going to be very hard to give this amp back. Anyway both Jeff and I are looking forward to our next session in a couple of weeks time with the Heschl along with a number of other impressive amps. Though I know this time I will have to surrender the volume control to Jeff so some serious comparison can take place without me trying to deafen the neighbours within a hundred metre radius. cheers Terry

@Aperalim is definitely the person to speak to if you are after various NOS 12au7’s that will make your phono stage sound it’s best. Cheers Terry

Thanks for the write up Wayne and the different perspective on the 994 and yes as we have discussed many times it’s all about synergy and what works in one system won’t always in another and vice versa. Talking about big powerful monster amps Cafad and I will be trying out and comparing one of the new Herschel HAL350 amps this weekend to the Technical Brain TB-Zero, the PrimaLuna/Supercharger combo and the impressive Mystere pre, Icon mono block combo. Now that should prove an interesting session. I’ll give you a call a bit later at a more reasonable hour, I’m guessing you will be working this weekend but if your not you could always jump on a plane and come up, if it helps we have over 40 bottles of Shiraz and 5 cases of Asahi left over after the wedding that need to be consumed. ... Talk soon. cheers Terry

Morning Steve, If still available can I have following please, Three Blind Mice Forty Licks Sailing to Philly. cheers Terry

The Vincents lasted very little time in my system, I purchased them new when all Vincent gear was being heavily discounted and run out by the then distributor. I had wanted to try the SP-998 mono blocks but they had sold out so I purchased this combo having not heard them, but at around $2800 asking price I thought it worth the risk. How did the Vincents sound. The pre, which was their top end ss version, was extremely detailed in its delivery but lacked musicality. The from memory 400w AB power amp just sounded, for the want of a better term fat and loose, even with its, from memory, 70w of class A option it wasn’t in the same league as other amps I had at the time. For me the Vincent combination just didn’t work in my then system or room. I wanted the Vincents to work, so I tried the pre with other amps and and the power amp with other pre’s but no combination I could muster worked so I sold them on. Now I’m not saying Vincent gear is not good because obviously it is but it didn’t work for me, maybe those SP-998’s I have heard so much about might have delivered a different outcome. At the time I also had the MF M6i and the PrimaLuna Integrated and both sounded excellent in comparison to the Vincent combo with my then pick being the PL tube Integrated that just got better sq wise as I tried different NOS tubes and had the amp recapped. Between the Vincents and the Technical Brain, on top of my above list of amps, I have tried at least another twenty different average priced amps in my system thanks to Jeff ((Cafad) who has over time collected and tried the most amazing collection of average priced SS Integrated amps you can imagine. Now for the Technical Brain, which again is Jeff’s, this amp in my system just sung. It takes a good twenty minutes to sound it’s best but once warmed up it delivers a sq that I have not heard from any other amp, even $100k mono blocks. Having said that it is an acquired taste, it has detail in spades, think of Focal speakers that deliver so much detail that at first your overwhelmed by what your hearing but within twenty minutes you have a headache. Not the case with the TB, the detail is way beyond that and you hear things you have never heard previously in recordings, missed notes, things that have dropped on the floor, loads of breathing from different musicians. This is the level of fine detail this amp provides but with no adverse health issues, you don’t get a headache listening to the TB it just sucks you in and you don’t want to stop listening, then add excellent well defined bass and a high level musicality and almost sweetness that you would expect is a contradiction to detail, but somehow with the TB it all comes together. If it sounds like I’m impressed by the TB then that is an understatement, it’s sound delivery is extraordinary. Now again this all comes down to synergy, my previously favourite PrimaLuna NOS tubed CD player doesn’t work well with the TB, but the Droplet that the PL player saw off does. The choice of interconnects is important as well, as is speaker cables. Every time I try a different bit of gear I go through the rigmarole of trying the many different combinations of cables I have collected and have I found the differences quite astounding, what works best with one component combo doesn’t always with another.. Another thing, which again comes down to synergy, I tried the TB through my PS Audio P10 Power regenerator for a while and it sounded crap, shrill and lost its musicality, where as the PL and Superchargers sound quality really steps up through the P10. Simply plug the TB into the wall and it sounds it’s best, I also tried it through a Gigabite power conditioner, with no improvement, but at least it didn’t sound worse like with the P10. I have been lucky enough to hear plenty of fine amps in my system and there are several that I’d gladly own but none have the magic of the TB. As I have said to others previously, the only real problem with hearing the TB is once heard never forgotten. cheers Terry