CraigC Posted November 30, 2010 Share Posted November 30, 2010 I have heard a dodge 8 which is a valve preamp. approx $1400 and and absolute stonker. Highly regarded by Arthur Salvatore http://www.high-endaudio.com/RC-Preamplifiers.html#ClB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atavid Posted November 30, 2010 Share Posted November 30, 2010 Beat me to it Cheekyboy,i ammended my post after re reading it.I agree entirely with you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atavid Posted November 30, 2010 Share Posted November 30, 2010 DarrenW ive been doing a bit of reading about the Emotiva USP-1.There are a few ,admittedly subjective,reviews on some of the forums.It seems to be something of a "sleeper",with a lot of folks likening its sound to much more expensive pre-amps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Samuels Posted December 1, 2010 Share Posted December 1, 2010 Ray has now been in touch with me a few times and has asked me to send the unit back to him to inspect.He is sending another one to me,but it was going to be a silver with black knobs which i didnt want originally. I suggested to him i take the silver knobs off the one i have here and he forward the new unit "knobless". After thinking about it last night i asked Ray if he could just send the unit with the black knobs in situ and i forward him some $ for the extra knobs.This would give me another colour combo if i so chose. He has agreed to send it, 'black knobs' and all,but so far has not indicated an additional cost. My initial disappointment has subsided and am again looking forward to another unit he says he will build and run for a couple of days to fully test out.I cant be unhappy about the service,even though i found out about it the hard way. I actually prefer buying equipment and services off people like Ray.It adds a level of intimacy with the equipment you dont get with some of the major big brands. I had a similiar relationship with Kostas Metaxas many years ago and always experienced tremendous service and equipment from him.The same goes for people like J7 from Audio Oragami, and Seb from Vinyl Engine and i'm guessing its the same for many of you guys who buy equipment from people like Mike Lenehann,Stuart Ralston etc. So anyway,ive tried to look on the positive side and seen that its not that bad at all.To be honest i'm so busy at work just now i probably would not have had time to play much music anyway.Ive got about 8 weeks of accumulated leave coming up in another two weeks ,so i should be all set by then. Hi friends in Australia... This is Ray Samuels. I was sad knowing that one of the ten units just went belly up. This may happen some times due to all kind of parts variations & tolerances. I did build a new F-117 for our friend & was shipped two days after Atavid got in touch with me. I really feel bad, I made sure the second F-117 was inspect very well after fully charging it & letting it play for a day then shipping it to his address. Atavid you should be getting it any day now, the only problem is that I did not put any knobs on it as in my mind I some how understood that you will be taking the white knobs out of the bad unit & install them on the new unit. Being so bussy I also forgot to send you a set of the black knobs. If you have shipped the other unit I hope you have removed the white knobs other wise I have to ship you knobs now as your new unit will arrive with out them. I am so sorry for all this mess I created but promis you I will get it all taken care of. Both ways I will send you a set of black knobs free of charge. Ray Samuels Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheekyboy Posted December 1, 2010 Share Posted December 1, 2010 Good to see you posting here Ray..............I got my Nighthawk back in May this year and I've been very happy with it. Good to see you've jumped in immediately to help Atavid. Cheers, Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hgholden Posted December 1, 2010 Share Posted December 1, 2010 Onja Ray, other suppliers sure could learn from you in the customer service area. Seasons greetings to you. hgholden Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bunyip Posted December 1, 2010 Share Posted December 1, 2010 Thanks for the update Ray. There are a lot of Nighthawk fans already on this forum, (including myself now - even though I havn't had time to write up a review). Your message is very much appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaspert Posted December 2, 2010 Share Posted December 2, 2010 Ray, As one of early adopters of your Nighthawk and happy customer, it's heartening to hear of the excellent aftersales service. Hope Atavid will get his replacement soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atavid Posted December 2, 2010 Share Posted December 2, 2010 Well, true to his word Rays new Nighthawk F117 for me arrived yesterday and it still had charge in the battery so i promptly switched it on, and as expected it seems to be all good.Unfortunately i wont be able to listen to it for a while now until i can a)find a suitable pre-amp and b)find the $$$$ to pay for it. I picked up my old Metaxas pre-amp today and was basically told that unless i could source a considerable number of parts ,it was just going to be too difficult and lengthy a job to do. Isn't it funny how you can form an emotional attachment to a "thing".The pre-amp is sitting here beside me in all its polished stainless steel glory,and after nearly 20 years, its like the departing of an old friend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Hensa Posted December 3, 2010 Share Posted December 3, 2010 Just a quick question on the F117 (which I already purchased before the group buy) regarding grounding. I'm not at all electrically minded so please excuse naivity of the question! I have the grounding lead from my tonearm connected to the ground terminal on the F117 - Is the tonearm properly grounded when playing since the F117 is no longer connected to ground through the DC power supply? In other words, can the F117 be properly grounded running off battery and therefore ground the connected tonearm? Or do I need to run a grounding lead from the F117 to another grounded component? Again, excuse the naivity of the question but advice from someone more electrically expert than myself would be appreciated! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Hensa Posted December 7, 2010 Share Posted December 7, 2010 Following the flood of answers to my question regarding grounding of the F-117 :nana, I went directly to the source and Ray Samuels (an absolute gentleman!) responded almost immediately as follows (in case anyone was wondering...): F-117 has a voltage rail splitter which converts one voltage from the battery into TWO, positive rail when compared to the ground that the chip generates & the Negative voltage when compared to the same ground. The generated ground is the main ground for the entire F-117 PC brd. This is the same ground on the back post. Yes in some cases it is needed if your interconnector between the cartridge & the F-117 is not shielded properly. It is always wise to connect the arm's ground wire to back post of the F-117. Cheers. Ray Samuels Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atavid Posted December 7, 2010 Share Posted December 7, 2010 Hensa, thats the way to get the "good oil",go to the source.Glad you got an answer to that. Ray has been very helpful with my issues too.In fact he just emailed me with a suggestion to connect my F117 directly to my power amp with the F117 set on its lowest gain, as a way of at least letting me play my vinyl until my preamp issue is sorted.It hadnt occured to me to do this, and even if it had, i would have been too nervous about possible damage to the F117.I'm going to try this later today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Hensa Posted December 7, 2010 Share Posted December 7, 2010 Thanks atavid. Yes, Ray is very responsive and helpful - wish all were like him! Wouldn't have thought of connecting F-117 direct to power amp either - good luck with your test... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xtrachewy Posted December 10, 2010 Share Posted December 10, 2010 So does anybody have anything to share after receiving their recent F117? Will be switching to F117 shortly and interested to hear other's thoughts largely b/c I don't have much TT experience to know what is possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverWolf Posted December 11, 2010 Share Posted December 11, 2010 DarrenW ive been doing a bit of reading about the Emotiva USP-1.There are a few ,admittedly subjective,reviews on some of the forums.It seems to be something of a "sleeper",with a lot of folks likening its sound to much more expensive pre-amps. If giving thought to the Emotiva USP-1 they are soon to release a more flashed out stereo pre the XSP-1 stepping up quite a bit from the USP-1. I've not heard the USP-1 but folks are raving about it but I'm going to hold out to see what the XSP-1 is like in the new year first before I choose which one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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