GRAMOPHONE DREAMS

The newest star of the Schiit show

- HERB REICHERT

I'd been building and repairing tube amplifiers for a few years when my first Altec A5 Voice of the Theater speakers arrived. I bought them to help me evaluate the sound of low-powered triode amps—but whoa! The moment I turned that VOT system on, I heard from 30' away the sound of either a waterfall or a large AM radio tuned between stations.

When I checked my amplification for hum and standing noise, everything was at or near what I considered “spec” for zero-feedback tube amps. Apparently those specs needed revising. Meanwhile, I was fascinated by how a very sensitive speaker could show me so clearly what free electrons were doing inside my amplifiers. What's the best tube tester? A 107dB/watt speaker.

One reason audiophiles like me use step-up transformers is to make that extra 20–30dB of moving coil gain as quiet and uncolored as possible. Accept and adapt is my mantra, so I switched from the Linn LP12 with a Koetsu amplified by WE 417A's to my Denon DL-103 with matching step-up transformer. With the Altecs, the Denon SUT made the system quiet enough for me, but probably not for audiophiles raised on the digital version of quiet.

Schiit Audio's Stjarna phono stage

To me, miniature ninepin small-signal tubes will always be the beating heart sound creators of tubed audio devices. Their job is to preserve the life energy of the recording, and the best ones are really good at that. But because of their glass size and the diameter of their pins, they can also be wiggly wobbly pingy screechy staticky hissy hummy. And unpredictable. Regardless, like most small creatures, miniature tubes are adorable.