Power To The Scintilla!!!

[User211]

[video]https://picasaweb.google.com/115553154151824436446/ScintillaBeg#5747338924578835042[/video]

Some unrefurbished, below par in need of love & attention Scintillas playing very recently. Notice the lighting.

Well, I thought it was amusing...

 

[tsv_1]

scintillating!

how goes your EAR eval?

 

[User211]

The amps being used are Denon POA 6600A. They are extremely squeaky clean sounding and I think you can actually hear that in the video. There's a shot of some driving my Duettas. Not my cup of tea, but hey, they are powerful.

The Scintillas are shagged, though - the bass panel foam has disintegrated, and someone decided to vacuum the ribbons - not good on an Apogee.

The EAR? Well, small bake off tomorrow with two of the www.hifipig.com guys coming round. Be interesting to see what they think.

In short, though, it is definately a very interesting circuit. It produces an absolute mass of unforced highly resolved detail. I'm sort of a bit bemused as to where it gets it all from It also produces a huge walk-in soundstage with great front to back layering.

If there is a weak spot, it probably is in the bass - which isn't the last word in tightness. More speed, control and slam to be had with the Air Tight passive. But you lose out on the qualities identified in the last paragraph.

Like everything, it is a compromise. But it is nonetheless definately without question "up there" in the realm of tube preamps.

More fun to be had tomorrow with the Parasound A21, a mains re-gen that one Pig reviewer thought superior to his PS Audio Powerplant at a total giveaway price, and some acoustic panels.

 

[Bernard]

Justin, have you tried any tube rolling?

 

[User211]

No but I will, Bernard. So much of what a tube preamp can do is a function of the valves in it. I expect any tube changes to be very audible in this circuit.

With the Teles, I'd say the sound somehow verges towards the warm side, but yet it still resolves and absolute abundance of detail. Not a common thing, in my experience. Usually loads of detail comes from bright and sometimes bright and harsh - of which this preamp, with the Teles, is neither.

I have a set of EAR branded PCC88s - will try those. God knows who actually made them, but if they beat the Teles, I'd be surprised.

 

[Necrosuit]

Very cool. I love vids of gear being driven!

 

[tsv_1]

The amps being used are Denon POA 6600A. They are extremely squeaky clean sounding and I think you can actually hear that in the video. There's a shot of some driving my Duettas. Not my cup of tea, but hey, they are powerful.

The Scintillas are shagged, though - the bass panel foam has disintegrated, and someone decided to vacuum the ribbons - not good on an Apogee.

The EAR? Well, small bake off tomorrow with two of the www.hifipig.com guys coming round. Be interesting to see what they think.

In short, though, it is definately a very interesting circuit. It produces an absolute mass of unforced highly resolved detail. I'm sort of a bit bemused as to where it gets it all from It also produces a huge walk-in soundstage with great front to back layering.

If there is a weak spot, it probably is in the bass - which isn't the last word in tightness. More speed, control and slam to be had with the Air Tight passive. But you lose out on the qualities identified in the last paragraph.

Like everything, it is a compromise. But it is nonetheless definately without question "up there" in the realm of tube preamps.

More fun to be had tomorrow with the Parasound A21, a mains re-gen that one Pig reviewer thought superior to his PS Audio Powerplant at a total giveaway price, and some acoustic panels.

That rifled-ribbon is a disturbing image!

 

[TomDac]

agree with tsv.. YIKES on that ribbon pic.. sad. I always loved Apogees.

 

[JarreYuri]

Yes, those Scintilla's are mine.
I bought them with those ribbons a bit wrecked.
The mistake was made by the owner before the one I bought the speakers from. He had vacuumed it.
I managed to flatten the ribbon helpfully to make it sing again.
It's not perfect by any means but it plays without distortion.

Yes, they want a great deal of power as they reach below 1 Ohm.
I have another video with them driven by a common Technics integrated amp and a Yamaha PC2602M.
[video]https://picasaweb.google.com/115553154151824436446/ApogeeScintillaBeg#5808547811311720450[/video]
The Technics sounds a bit hard in the upper regions but manages the 1 Ohm load without being burned to a crisp. Hot? Yes! VERRY!
The Yamaha is extremely fine with the Scintilla and sounds very nice to my ears. It has also a fan that cuts in if I play loud for a while. So it's protected well.

I sold my Denon POA 6600A because of instability in one of them.
I have read that the POA 6600 should be better in stability and sound. But I can't confirm that info.

Cheers from Sweden!