Audio Horizons TP 2.0 Preamplifier

I wish i would have had better luck with my CCAs. I had them tested and 3 of the 4 were not even close. One of the 4 is acceptable barely. I ve had those in since early 08 and play a lot of music daily. Talking to Heinz he was surprised that my tubes had gone down that low in that amount of time. For now i m using 6H23 cryoed and for new they aint bad. I have about 50hrs now and music is sounding real nice. After day by day of listening i guess our brain gets accustomed to what we are hearing. I knew at the end that something was going because i know my system can sound better that it was. So if you havent checked those tubes lately you may be in for a surprise.

Interesting - thanks for the report. I have my system on for about 6-8 hours a day but playing music maybe two hours of that time

Well,
I finally found a deal on a tube tester on Ebay. It should arrive soon. In the meantime, I changed out my Siemens cca in location 1 and 3 with nos Siemens cca and the sound is so much more present and alive. I'm anxious to see what my old ones read at.

Sherod
I'll be interested in the test results of old versus new. There seems to be quite a variety in sound between cca's - your new ones appear to be some of the great ones, congratulations.

Audio Horizons Upgrade

My AH 2.0 unit arrived back in good condition via Fed Ex from “the works” upgrade to 2.2 status (Power supply, Vishays, Clarity caps, g upgrade, fuse holder and tuning fuse.) As always Victor and Joseph were a delight to deal with. Here is a first impression report. Context: I had avoided the upgrade for a long time due to my years of satisfaction with the 2.0. In my opinion the 2.0 is an excellent unit with departures from live music mostly benignly ommissive versus distorted. Both the old and the new units were set up on Hyperion Magnetic decouplers and mass loaded.

Well. I am thrilled with the upgrade even before break in is complete. The overall impression is that whereas the 2.0 eloquently spoke the music, the upgraded unit beautifully signs the music. Yet nothing is softened that should be sharp or edgy. There is distinct improvement in many areas and no downside that I can hear.

I notice a much improved three dimensionality to the sound stage, particularly front to back layering, less congealedness in complex passages and ability to sense small movements. For example with someone in the background clapping you can sense the swing in their body to the beat. The lower bass is more present and weighty without being louder or boomy. The most wonderful thing is an enhancement in the decay of notes: more natural, going on forever, second and third order harmonics more organically present and beautifully interacting with the leading edge of the next note with all timbral differences remaining intact through such transitions as one note faded and another begins.

I find myself lifted in spirit and heart while listening and eagerly wanting to hear all my recordings once again not so much for increase detail as for increased beauty, emotional impact and naturalness. Thanks to all on the thread that experimented where the meek to not tread to suggest many of these improvements to Joseph.