MJJW Posted January 19, 2020 Share Posted January 19, 2020 On 21/05/2017 at 9:16 AM, Ancientflatulence said: Amazing ...... I was this close () to starting a similar thread last night .... My bit of Earle magic is an Artisan KT150 about 2 months old .......... Hi, I also have a Artisan KT150 in fact one of the first ones he built. Can I ask are your transformer covers Polished or Painted/clear coat? I have polished copper and they seem to tarnish more quickly than I would like. Wonder what it would take to change the colour or clear coat them. Also the dark covers look rather smart. Cheers Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ancientflatulence Posted January 24, 2020 Share Posted January 24, 2020 They are a Black Chrome .............. I like them .... I was worried about the copper tarnishing, that is why I went with these. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Muon N' Posted January 24, 2020 Share Posted January 24, 2020 On 10/01/2020 at 2:46 PM, JPete9 said: Hopefully helpful for the next person. A faulty volume control was the cause. Replaced and now sounding perfect!. Around 3db difference i was told, which is probably what i measured above. Working like a new one now. Switching back to the CA1000 for a week and now i know why i love this weston amp!!! Was the original a Tocos Cosmos? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPete9 Posted January 25, 2020 Share Posted January 25, 2020 15 hours ago, Muon N' said: Was the original a Tocos Cosmos? Sorry no idea. Whatever Earle puts in the Topaz. On the covers, i like his default green ones best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJJW Posted January 25, 2020 Share Posted January 25, 2020 18 hours ago, Ancientflatulence said: They are a Black Chrome .............. I like them .... I was worried about the copper tarnishing, that is why I went with these. Nice yeh they have come up really smick! Mine on the other hand havent faired so well. Still sounds fantastic though 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJJW Posted February 13, 2020 Share Posted February 13, 2020 (edited) Restored! Well at least for now, polished covers back to how they were + plus a few sore fingers to add Tarnished Copper not the easiest to remove. Edited February 13, 2020 by MJJW 9 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Interface Posted February 13, 2020 Share Posted February 13, 2020 A thing of beauty. It looks great. A job very well done, definitely worth the sore fingers. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJJW Posted February 13, 2020 Share Posted February 13, 2020 On the topic of the Artisan KT150 has anyone swapped out the Driver tubes for something different? Mine has Tung-Sol 6SN7 GTB's, I've noticed a few had Full Music 6SN7s. Thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJJW Posted February 13, 2020 Share Posted February 13, 2020 3 minutes ago, Interface said: A thing of beauty. It looks great. A job very well done, definitely worth the sore fingers. Thanks Interface. I think so! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nzlowie Posted February 18, 2020 Share Posted February 18, 2020 On 13/02/2020 at 8:29 PM, MJJW said: On the topic of the Artisan KT150 has anyone swapped out the Driver tubes for something different? Mine has Tung-Sol 6SN7 GTB's, I've noticed a few had Full Music 6SN7s. Thoughts? I replaced the TungSol with Full Music on my Topaz and yes it was a nice upgrade. From what I understand the Full Music tubes aren't that reliable. Earle told me he once ordered 10 and only 7 were usable, thats why he stopped using them. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MultiplexMan Posted February 21, 2020 Share Posted February 21, 2020 @MJWW - that copper has polished up like a million $. Please share what you used to get that finish. I'd consider a Cerakote coating like the High Gloss Armour Clear if I was ever to specify a high gloss metallic finish. It is temperature resistant to 150 deg C and would save the need to polish in the future. I've been investigating various industrial clear coatings as I dislike the time required polishing chrome, stainless steel and aluminium. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagleeyes Posted February 21, 2020 Share Posted February 21, 2020 Does anyone know where my Weston pre amp and mono blocks is, its was Earles first in black and chrome and with a remote, I sold it 3 years ago and no idea to who. I would love to buy it back if possible or another pre and mono blocks , had Earle add 2-3 more inputs and double the output power. over the standard triple box system. If anyone knows or the owner reads this and wants to sell please let me know cheers Adam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buddyev Posted February 21, 2020 Share Posted February 21, 2020 On 13/02/2020 at 6:03 PM, MJJW said: Restored! Well at least for now, polished covers back to how they were + plus a few sore fingers to add Tarnished Copper not the easiest to remove. Looks great. Do the covers come off easily or did you do them in situ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJJW Posted February 23, 2020 Share Posted February 23, 2020 On 21/02/2020 at 9:07 PM, MultiplexMan said: @MJWW - that copper has polished up like a million $. Please share what you used to get that finish. I'd consider a Cerakote coating like the High Gloss Armour Clear if I was ever to specify a high gloss metallic finish. It is temperature resistant to 150 deg C and would save the need to polish in the future. I've been investigating various industrial clear coatings as I dislike the time required polishing chrome, stainless steel and aluminium. Hi MultiplexMan, Earle gave me some polish when I took delivery of the Amp Simichrome Polish, I dont know anyone that stocks it in a store up here in Brisbane or in other parts I would suspect it would be a internet purchase. The only draw back of not having clear coat over these covers is it wont last, the oxidisation will destroy the look at some point in the future. The Cerakote coating you reference is interesting but I'm not sure that it would work as I think it may get hotter than 150 deg. That was Earle's concern with his clear coat. He may have a solution now. I may reach out to him to ask the question. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MultiplexMan Posted February 23, 2020 Share Posted February 23, 2020 @MJJW - Cerakote also offer coatings up to 426 and 980 deg C. I had a room temperature application for the High Gloss Armour Clear and thought it might do for the transformer covers at 150 deg C. Earle tests his transformers to 140 deg C. (140 deg C is still very hot!) Q. The transformers are very hot. Is this normal? A. Yes. Because all my amplifiers run in class A mode they are drawing full power even at idle. The larger push-pull amplifiers power transformer can get almost too hot to touch. This is quite normal, all my transformers are tested to 140 degrees Celsius. http://www.westonacoustics.com/page010.html I'll grab and try some Simichrome too. A lot of clear coatings require the substrate to be polished before being "sealed". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJJW Posted February 23, 2020 Share Posted February 23, 2020 1 hour ago, MultiplexMan said: @MJJW - Cerakote also offer coatings up to 426 and 980 deg C. I had a room temperature application for the High Gloss Armour Clear and thought it might do for the transformer covers at 150 deg C. Earle tests his transformers to 140 deg C. (140 deg C is still very hot!) Q. The transformers are very hot. Is this normal? A. Yes. Because all my amplifiers run in class A mode they are drawing full power even at idle. The larger push-pull amplifiers power transformer can get almost too hot to touch. This is quite normal, all my transformers are tested to 140 degrees Celsius. http://www.westonacoustics.com/page010.html I'll grab and try some Simichrome too. A lot of clear coatings require the substrate to be polished before being "sealed". Hi MultiplexMan, Is the Cerakote application something you would apply yourself or is this something an entity offers as a service. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJJW Posted February 23, 2020 Share Posted February 23, 2020 (edited) On 21/02/2020 at 9:30 PM, buddyev said: Looks great. Do the covers come off easily or did you do them in situ? HI Buddyev, The covers do come off, but the problem is that you would have to disconnect the wiring that runs on one side through a hole. Not practical just for polishing. Edited February 23, 2020 by MJJW 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jakeyb77 Posted February 23, 2020 Share Posted February 23, 2020 Could have fried an egg on my transformer last night..... then swapped the amp out for a rest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeem Posted May 14, 2020 Share Posted May 14, 2020 Hi all, newbie here. Have a Topaz 6CA7 on order. Just wondering how loud it will go driving some Klipsch RP600m s. Currently using a Rega Brio and never go beyond 12 oclock. Lovely photos - they really are things of beauty. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buddyev Posted May 14, 2020 Share Posted May 14, 2020 6 minutes ago, jeem said: Hi all, newbie here. Have a Topaz 6CA7 on order. Just wondering how loud it will go driving some Klipsch RP600m s. Currently using a Rega Brio and never go beyond 12 oclock. Lovely photos - they really are things of beauty. Cheers 96 dB, 8 ohms - I should think it’ll go plenty loud. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeem Posted May 14, 2020 Share Posted May 14, 2020 Thanks Buddyev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smp Posted May 15, 2020 Share Posted May 15, 2020 I have a pair of Klipsch RP-600Ms - great little speaker and use 18 w valve amplification - they will doubtless be quite easily driven by a Topaz. However, their advertised specs appear to be suspect at the given 96 dB. In the Stereophile review tests John Atkinson found them to be only 89.6 dB which is in significant variance to the advertised 96 dB, albeit still above average. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markm1111 Posted May 18, 2020 Share Posted May 18, 2020 About 10 years ago I had a Decware CSP-3 tube pre/headphone amp which was great. I could use it solely for headphones, or occasionally drive my speakers through a a Burson PI-160. I've been looking at Earle's amps for quite a few years since then, always thinking about buying but never quit getting there because of the headphone aspect My question is, for those who have a Weston with headphone output, what is it like? How does it compare with equivalently priced tube headphone amps? I want to be able to use it as an integrated to drive suitable speakers, but also as a high quality headphone amp. I'm thinking something like a Topaz with headphone output if that was possible. Or would I be better off just buying a dedicated headphone amp? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highwaystar Posted May 18, 2020 Share Posted May 18, 2020 Hi All, A new Weston Acoustics owner (Topaz K120). To those who own one, curious what speakers are recommended, also if there is usually a burn in time for these amps? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buddyev Posted May 19, 2020 Share Posted May 19, 2020 I have a Topaz and use it with Proac 1s and Proac D18 - very nice with both. i also used it for a while with b&W 805d3 and it was ok, but not a great match with speakers which need a lot of grunt to get them going. It didn’t take all that long from new to sound good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.thumb.jpg.5aeac1749189ecd8ce5d93968af41f74.jpg){kind=logo}
Recommended Posts