Cayin vs. Antique Sound Labs

Rwbadley,

The unit I have only has the external bias mod and I am running off a CD (NAD542).

I love the clarity and approachable sound of a tube amp! I have had many responses on how good my system sounds and I also don't go pass the 10:00 position very often. I have noticed that by taking the Thiel equaliser that came with the speakers off the signal path I loose bass but gain spacial quality. The Cayin makes the Thiels sound so sweet at low to moderate levels I just wish I could push it farther. Again, I know this amp and speaker combination is not ideal but it gives me 90% of what I need.

Is the focus control something worth getting. What does it add?

Buda,
I have a fully modded Cayin TA-30 and the focus control gives you great control of your unit. I recommend it.

Have you considered modifying your ASL 1003DT with better caps, resistors, wire etc. The parts in there are pretty crappy and the soldering job is probably horrible and needs to be cleaned up. I did it to mine and the results were stunning. This amp all tricked up holds its own against some of the mega buck amps that are similar to it.

Also dump the JJ and go with the EH or EI fat bottles not the the slim ones. You will be presently surprised.

Buda-

When I had a Cayin TA-30 I noticed exactly the same thing. It was a wonderful amp at low levels, but right around 10 o'clock things would start to go south. This wasn't too much of a problem for me since my speakers were only relatively inefficient (Onix Ref 1's @ ~88dB/W). Anything less than that though and it would have been a big issue.

Gary

I think the real question is "Why are you wasting time and money engaging in trying to match the wrong amplifier with the wrong speaker?"

Thiels are notoriously well known for being very inefficient speakers. Thiels need high current to get them to perform. Tube amps do not provide lots of current relative to solid state. I had to dig deep on the internet to find the specs on the CS3.5 and here is what I found:

S/N = 89 dB at 1 Watt-meter
Impedence = 4 Ohms
Recommended RMS driving power = 50 - 250 Watts

The recommended RMS driving power says it all; 30-35 Watts is not enough. I could not find information on whether the impedence rolls off excessively low in the bass range but if it does, that's another strike against using tube amps.

I have found that S/N data is not a very good measure of rating a speaker's efficiency. What is relevant is the recommended power to drive them (and knowing if the impedence rolls-off too low to be safe on tube amps).

I own a fully modded Cayin TA-30 with the factory Valve Art EL34s and 12AU7s (unknown Chinese brand). The Electro Harmonix 12AX7s were replaced with NOS Telefunken 12AX7s. The Telefunkens significantly improved the imaging of this amp vs. the EH 12AX7s. The amp is driving a pair of Infinity Reference Studio Monitors (RSMs) which have the following specs:

S/N = 88 dB at 1 Watt-meter (some publications claim 86 and 87)
Impedence = 4 Ohms
Recommended RMS driving power = 30 - 250 Watts

I have no problems filling a 14' x 16' room to very loud levels with this amp/speaker combo. The RSMs look more inefficient when using S/N ratings but its the recommended power that shows the RSM is much more efficient. I may be hearing some of the distortion you are describing once the volume hits the 12 O'clock setting but by that point, it's too loud anyways.

I do tip my hat to the ASL AQ1003DT at doing a better job than the Cayin on your Thiels. However, the bottom line is don't waste time and money pairing the wrong amp with the wrong speaker; you're just asking for a fried driver or amp component (and dissappointing sound as seen with the TA-30).

Mr. Kidknow