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Exposed to tubes?

I have my first tube amp in my system, a BAT VK-60. I am finding that with my VR4jr's the amp only sounds slightly better than my old DNA-1, don't get me wrong it sounds better but not by as large a margin as I had expected. Am I crazy or was the DNA that good? I'm glad I have the BAT because it is an improvement overall but boy the DNA really held it's weight against the higher priced competition. The amp is a monster but beautiful to look at with the tubes glowing.

The problem I have is with the exposed tubes, we don't have children yet but we do have two curious huskies that love to "sniff" everything. I would like to find a cage for the exposed tubes that can be removed at will when the dogs are out of the room. I would also like to find a clear plexi-glass cover for the amp to control the fur & dust when the amp is not in use, I saw them advertised in Stereophile once but can find by who.
fishwater
swampwalker's avatar
swampwalker
5,138 posts
 
RE: the plexi cover- there is a recent thread on customer dust covers. Run a search- there were numerous referrals. DNA 1 is quite a good amp. One question, do your CDP and pre have full balanced circuitry, or just XLRs out, or are you running adapters at the BAT end. If you can run fully balanced, the BAT should really shine. How do you like the Jrs?
ykk's avatar
ykk
124 posts
 
Check this out for dustcover:
http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?ymisc&1073666633&read&keyw&zzdust+teres
gjrad
145 posts
 
A much cheaper alternative, but only effective against dust is to go to a fabric store and find a silk like material and have them cut it so it completely covers your amp. I have Joule Electra Heaven's Gate mono amps which are at least as big as your VK 60. Been using them for for about 6 months for my all my amps and they work great keeping dust out plus it really does not look bad. Cost for 4 pieces about $3.50. For best results wait until the tubes in the amp cool off. Cheers
fishwater OP
178 posts
 
Yes, I have to run adapters to the BAT. I am waiting for my new pre-amp (Audible L2) but that will be single ended as well so I either have to continue use of the adapters or find some cables for RCA to XLR. I still don't think this will be as effective as fully balanced but it is all I can do unless I buy a different pre-amp.

The JR's are incredible, I have never heard any VSA speakers before these & (obviously) bought them sight unseen but it was worth it. They have incredible dynamic range while remaining fairly nuetral. Overall they are the best of all the speakers I have had so far (2Ci sigs, HR Kestrals & Tyler reference monitors) The VSA's are as close to a live experience as I have found yet in audio.

I have thought of fabric covers for dust protection but the tubes remain hot for sometime after use. A plexi dust cover & a steel mesh are the best fixes for my situation.
eddaytona
216 posts
 
One sniff on hot tubes should end the problem with the dogs.
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