2. amps-preamps
  3. 192205-171531

I hate to say it, but now I think maybe I like my amp in ultralinear mode versus triode

It's a Cary V-12; it features a dozen EL34s and each pair has a switch in between them that configures that pair to either triode or ultralinear. In full triode Cary listed in the specs that it makes 50 wpc and in full ultralinear 100 wpc.   For most of the twenty three years that I have owned this amp I have always felt that I preferred triode except for the occasions that I wanted to full out blast (it has literally been many years since I've felt the need to full out blast).

However, today I experimented with a couple of things in my system, and after listening to the same "Jazz Essentials" (compilation) red book CD a couple of times all the way through, the next thing I experimented with was switching to full ultralinear.

Maybe there was more "PRaT"?  (Which is a term I am still not sure that I completely grasp.)  Maybe . . . but what I do feel I noted for sure was that the imaging (particularly the imaging in the center) had more weight (meatier?) and was presented more forward, which I actually like.

I put a few more hours in (one more time with Jazz Essentials, Holly Cole/It Happened One Night, Dave's True Story/Sex Without Bodies, selected tracks from Rebecca Pigeon/The Raven and Once Blue/self titled and Norah Jones/Feels Like Home) after switching to ultralinear.  (No booze during this session, just coffee.) The jury is still out on this, but I do have some CDs in mind that I want to listen to over the next few days as I continue to evaluate.  

immatthewj
audphile1's avatar
audphile1
5,069 posts
 

I had a Rogue ST100 that I could switch between Triode and Ultralinear. 
I believe it was around 60w in Triode mode which was more than enough with the Martin Logan Montis speakers I had at the time (powered woofers). 
In Triode mode the sound was more laid back and the presentation was slightly more intimate. The mode I had the amp in was influenced by my mood most of the time. I can’t say one was better than the other.

Use whatever mode you like. When you get tired of it you have a second mode to switch to. Beauty of having a choice. 

immatthewj OP
2,023 posts
 

@audphile1 , I felt as if the instrumental work  (as I typed, particularly what was in the center) had a bit more texture and therefore was bit more palpable sounding when I switched over to ultralinear.  This was after listening to the same (instrumental) "Jazz Essentials" CD twice in a row.  After switching to UL I listened to most of it for a third time and I felt as if the instruments had more "bite" (if that's the right term).  

As far as vocals, I didn't start listening to music featuring a human voice until after I switched to UL, but vocal work is mostly what I do listen to, and in UL the voices seemed closer to me than I remember them sounding in triode. (Cary claims it is okay to switch that amp around "on the fly", so I guess I could have done that, but I didn't).   Anyway, I prefer the "up front" presentation, so today it was working.

But who knows with my bipolar hearing . . . tomorrow I wouldn't be surprised if it all   sounds like hammered dogcrap in UL; but for now it is striking me as a bit of a sonic revelation.

grislybutter
3,052 posts
 

fascinating (if only I understood more than 51% of it), but still... and I am on the same page about the vocals.

The only thing I can think of, your amp is more effortless in ultralinear?

More to discover