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
dogearedaudio's avatar
dogearedaudio
140 posts
 

@immatthewj

"Zero" feedback? Really? I’ve looked at the CAD-280SA V12 manual online and it doesn’t mention feedback, but perhaps that's a different model. Hard to imagine they use NO feedback. Maybe not global feedback, which encompasses the output transformer. Internal feedback can be used to good effect, but no feedback at all is hard to imagine.

@decooney

Oh sure, there are amps that will work well with different output tubes, and "non-optimized" can offer some interesting sound signatures. Like I said, nothing wrong with that. ;-)

knotscott
928 posts
 

Apologies if this came up earlier in the discussion...Do you guys re-bias and adjust for volume difference when you change between UL  and triode?  UL plays notably louder at the same volume setting than triode on my amps, and I'm assuming others too.

mapman's avatar
mapman
22,232 posts
 

It’s nice to have gear with different sound options. Why be stuck with just one sound unless sure that’s the one you like best.

immatthewj OP
2,023 posts
 

"Zero" feedback? Really? I’ve looked at the CAD-280SA V12 manual online and it doesn’t mention feedback, but perhaps that's a different model. Hard to imagine they use NO feedback.

@dogearedaudio , there should be a page labeled "SPECIFICATIONS" that interestingly is not numbered, but it looks like it would be page 5.  (I say looks like, because the pages are starting to come loose in that particular manual.)  Anyway, dimensions are listed. next weight is mentioned, next circuit type is mentioned, and then, under circuit type, it lists "FEED BACK:  Zero".

And I am not arguing with anything you say, as I truly have a limited understanding of most of this, but just telling you what the "CAD-280SA V12 OPERATING MANUAL"  that came with my amp says.

immatthewj OP
2,023 posts
 

Apologies if this came up earlier in the discussion...Do you guys re-bias and adjust for volume difference when you change between UL and triode? UL plays notably louder at the same volume setting than triode on my amps, and I’m assuming others too.

@knotscott , the owner’s manual says nothing about needing to adjust the bias when switching from triode to UL or vice versa, and I have checked the bias after I made this last switch and there was no noticeable swing in the bias.

As far adjusting the volume when moving from triode to UL, I would have expected that myself, but it seems as if I am mostly leaving the knob on my SLP05 where it was. Maybe turning it just a hair down, but if so, only a hair or so. Not much at all. Mainly what I noticed was a change in "the body" of the sound. (or maybe the "shape of the sound" or maybe the "location of the sound."  I am bad with terminology.) The gain on that preamp when using the balance ins and outs (and that’s all I have used so far, but I am thinking about experimenting with that also) seems pretty high to me, and with most CDs or SACDs it is about 9 oclock give or take a hair.

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