Tom Evens Groove Plus

The power quality fluctuates a lot here is the states. That can have a major influence on sound, however, nighttime is usually the best time for good power off of the grid. I am two doors from the main substation for Dallas and it can be hell. The spikes and dips are notorious. I have quit leaving my system on all the time as two of Tom's boxes have been impacted. I now have Isoclean transformers and power filters in line and am working on a new panel and a large in line transformer for the panel. It is amazing how important the quality of power has become for me. Both as a problem (power grid) and a joy (Tom's work). I have heard of the power controller that Tom and Bob have out. Bob is a real analog fan and pioneer. I bought a turntable ring clamp from him a while back. His turntable is quite a feat.

It's amazing thing with the noise floor. the more it drops, the more I am pulled into the music. It's not lava I get out of my speakers, it is almost a vacuum, leaving only the darkness of space and a strong feeling of calm. The calm thing is not something I would expect with rock and roll but it is there. The clarity of each note and the spacial quality of the music places you in the environment of a circa 1970's outdoor concert under the stars.

yes the old power supply is always a question, i have a few of the new ps audio noise harvesters spread around, also use a bpt bp2 unit for all but amps, which i use a brickwall unit, the harvesters have a light included and when flashing they are at work, there have been only a few times when they were not flashing, and its been during the day time of the work week, the night hours are the worst according to the harvesters, yes i dont turn anything off, only when we leave for a long period of time, in the new orleans area its still summer and the a/c is still cranking so as for temperature its in the low 70s in the house, the thing is its always been this way and the changes in musical presentation or not tied to that, tom recommends 72 hours for almost complete breakin as per the instruction manual, i guess i am going to have to look at some baseball and do some of g m c s 70s outdoor rock and roll tonight on the system, thanks guys and have a good one, mike

hang on in there mike
good things do come for those who wait
cmc
have you heard the linear Bs
they really are something special
after i heard the full te amp combo i found that i couldn't
listen to my own system for weeks
after plussing the groove, adding the vibe pulse
i feel i am much closer
i really cant wait to get those Bs though
they really do close the gap between being there and hifi
uktel

uktl wrote:

"many valve amps struggle with the groove because they thenselves are phase inverting which basicly kills the grooves performance"

uktl, I think this is unlikely because about 50% of all records out there are recorded with inverted polarity anyway... only a polarity switch will allow you to hear these correctly (and not everyone can hear the differences between absolute polarity anyway - channels out of phase are a different matter of course)...

... and multitrack rock recordings may have some channels recorded with absolute and some channels with inverted polarity.

For these reasons, if there is a mismatch between the Evans and tube amps it probably has to do with impedance and gain issues rather than polarity.

hi patrick
good post
much of what you say is indeed correct
however
in my experience
bandwidth, linearity ,dynamic range,phase integrity,neutrality are what makes the groove special to me
and lets not mentoin that inky black background
i have lent my groove out to friends and have had positive
and negative reactions to its performance
but all who have heard it in my own system understand why
i rate it so highly
today i had an interesting experience
a friend of mine has fallen in love with the performance of
the living voice aviator obxr loudspeakers
he has been offered an ex demo pair of mk1s for 2750
or he can buy a new pair of mk2s for circa 4000
he has ordered tead amps and asked me if i wouldn't mind
using my system for a home dem
obviously i agreed
the result was the mk2s worked in my system and the mk1s didn't

when questioning the dealer about this he replied
the phasing and linearity of the mk2s has been greatly improved via the crossover network which is now simpler.
the mk1s sounded flat and disjointed in comparison
my friend did order the mk2s [lucky so and so]
the point i do try to make in my posts is about system synergy
to get the best out of any product you must first fully
understand its potential and its limitations
for instance
if i place my groove+ upon a metal support my system instantly fails to perform
almost to the same degree as the living voice speaker demo
in my experience this is true for all other high end audio products as well.
have you actually heard the full tead amp?
or have i upset you with my phase nverting comment?
if so my most sincere apologies to you
what i should have said is phase linearity
we all understand that there is more than one way to create great music in the home
but we all have our own experiences good or bad.
thank you for correcting me on that one
best regards
uktel