Quickie Rising

[4krow]

  Guys, I missed her so much, I cried upon her return. Not far from it. I got my Q up and running in the system. She so easily beats out a fine little pre-amp that I built awhile back ( remember the ceegar box with 6sN7 tubes ). And yah I do like the ceegar thing. Quite impressive...until you hear the Q with copper Obbligato 630 volt caps, and metal film resistor/Gold Point volume controls. Damn! I missed the transparency.

[earwaxxer]

Yes, thank you Greg! The shoe is on the other foot for a change! Of COURSE the Q can not be resisted for long. We all know that. She will weave her way back into our lives sooner or later. Its the universe man, and just the way things work. She is so simple and seductive. A little tweak here, and a little tuck there. She's a beauty... But you know that...

[earwaxxer]

So, to follow up on some tantalizing details...  Tell us about where you have the Obbligatos, what values etc. I have not tried the Obbligatos in the Q. What did you have in there before, and how did the sound change? Just curious. For the data banks....

[4krow]

  I think that I had little Solen caps. You know, I have never heard the Q sound more veiled. I put in the copper Obbligato 2.2, 630V caps, and I am sure that I will stick with them. The treble is back, whew!  Now I may investigate the over-driving of the tubes, or just keep the volume lower. Probably close to zero gain.

[earwaxxer]

I was trying to figure out where to add this Q observation, and I found poor Gregs thread a bit lacking... Also pertaining to the subject at hand.. I was bored yesterday with no ready tweaks at hand. - A good time to do some A/B comparisons. Everyone LOVES the A/B. At least those that are honest will admit. it...

I thought, I want to volume balance the Q in and out of the circuit, in real time. Sure thats not hard. I have several DAC's now that can fill the bill. With two DAC's  downstream from my Wrd4snd Link, one over toslink and one over coax, I can use the digital volume control in JRiver and adjust the pot on the Q accordingly to get equal volume over RCA/Balanced input on my Emotiva. On the back of the Emotiva there are switches to go from balanced to unbalanced.

Even with Q over unbalanced (obviously), and the no preamp comparision over balanced the Q came out on top. This time it was easy (again, love the A/B). The vocals and related highs would go from "front" to "back" with the flick of the switch. I had the volume low and my ear about 2 inches from the ribbon tweeter. I couldnt really sit in the listening position for the test, because my arms are not that long! This is my hobby, so I dont get others involved in my "insanity". Its fine, I make due. The Q brought it out front. Not harshly. Right where it should be. This was also a bit of a revelation about how the Emotiva is "voiced".

Very interesting shit my friends! - peace, love, dope, tubes, etc. - Eric