davidjt
pfm Member
https://www.transcendentsound.com/slider.html
On the off-chance that it might be of interest to someone else out there I thought the following might just be worth posting.
As mentioned elsewhere, I stumbled across this kit by accident, checked the detail above and decided that it was worth a shot. The obvious stumbling blocks for those in the UK will be p&p from the 'States, VAT and the cost of the 6386. Mine was already on the right side of the pond and came with all the valves.
The build was pretty straightforward, albeit with a couple of amendments to the instructions handwritten, by whom I don't know. There was scope to upgrade some of the components, for which I had help; believe it or not the 'front panel' is made of linoleum, and I've put a cover over the toroid to lessen the half-finished look. So, maybe 5/10 for appearance.
The reasons for posting are first of all the sound, which imo is wonderful. My ESLs have never sounded this alive before. Second, and the main one, is that after reading the TS forum I began to experiment with different settings of the independent volume and gain controls. Having established that (for me anyway) it's essential to evaluate amplifiers and speakers together, the consequence was an awful lot of trial and error when attempting an upgrade. As suggested on the forum the characteristics of the 6386 are such that by juggling with the gain one can fine tune the sound. So, for example I can run electrostatics here and conventional speakers elsewhere (admittedly, running adjustable subs helps) and get the best of both.
The two listening rooms also have very different acoustics and to some extent I can adjust for those, also.
If absolute fidelity and zero distortion float your boat then this sort of adjustment will probably be anathema, but if you like warmth and detail, and you can either find one to audition or afford to take a punt, I'd say definitely worth the effort.
On the off-chance that it might be of interest to someone else out there I thought the following might just be worth posting.
As mentioned elsewhere, I stumbled across this kit by accident, checked the detail above and decided that it was worth a shot. The obvious stumbling blocks for those in the UK will be p&p from the 'States, VAT and the cost of the 6386. Mine was already on the right side of the pond and came with all the valves.
The build was pretty straightforward, albeit with a couple of amendments to the instructions handwritten, by whom I don't know. There was scope to upgrade some of the components, for which I had help; believe it or not the 'front panel' is made of linoleum, and I've put a cover over the toroid to lessen the half-finished look. So, maybe 5/10 for appearance.
The reasons for posting are first of all the sound, which imo is wonderful. My ESLs have never sounded this alive before. Second, and the main one, is that after reading the TS forum I began to experiment with different settings of the independent volume and gain controls. Having established that (for me anyway) it's essential to evaluate amplifiers and speakers together, the consequence was an awful lot of trial and error when attempting an upgrade. As suggested on the forum the characteristics of the 6386 are such that by juggling with the gain one can fine tune the sound. So, for example I can run electrostatics here and conventional speakers elsewhere (admittedly, running adjustable subs helps) and get the best of both.
The two listening rooms also have very different acoustics and to some extent I can adjust for those, also.
If absolute fidelity and zero distortion float your boat then this sort of adjustment will probably be anathema, but if you like warmth and detail, and you can either find one to audition or afford to take a punt, I'd say definitely worth the effort.
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