[jonathan c]

No, not really. More that I'm retired and can't spend more than 15 minutes a day doing actual work. I read that the first thing one should do after retiring is to set goals, so I did.

..... time management until Valhalla 3 (or III, for the snobs) .....

 

[jonathan c]

I believe I said I had a nice piece for the shelves lol. I may find a base with more eyes as well, that is Patagonian rosewood in the center but your choice on that. I will take this private so as to not bore people.

 

[Ohno Schiitizen]

I believe I said I had a nice piece for the shelves lol. I may find a base with more eyes as well, that is Patagonian rosewood in the center but your choice on that. I will take this private so as to not bore people.

Never bored, my friend ~

 

[Paladin79]

Never bored, my friend ~

I will try to show the finished product, all else is just Finnegan and I making sawdust.

 

[StimpyWan]

Wow… last track: Storms in Africa… Opening “thunderclap” woke Bismarck up (he’s been sleeping entire album). Yggy is it. All hail Yggy.

Now, if only Schiit made ribbon planars (my Apogees suspensions WILL fail, and it’s been 34 years so I’m on borrowed time. It’s about $6K to rebuild)

GRAZ in Australia makes replacement ribbons and bass panels. Bass panels have to be installed by an Apogee Acoustics tech. Bill Thalmann at Music Technology in VA, is the East Coast rep. A great repair shop. You probably know all of this, but it doesn't hurt to spread the word.

A beautiful room and system...!

 

[riffrafff]

I believe I said I had a nice piece for the shelves lol. I may find a base with more eyes as well, that is Patagonian rosewood in the center but your choice on that. I will take this private so as to not bore people.

Fine woodworking is never boring, IMO.

 

[mjstealey]

I will try to show the finished product, all else is just Finnegan and I making sawdust.

Photos or it didn't happen (in other words, the journey is just as important as the destination)

 

[Luckyleo]

Thanks @jonathan c ! Which tube do you recommend I start off for Vali 3 using the WE396a as a quality reference.

Much appreciated!

Leo

 

[RCBinTN]

Interesting article I came across this morning, and thought I'd share. While this forum is civil and kept fun, most in my experience aren't, and this article (opinion) really resonated with me.
https://www.headphonesty.com/2024/04/audiophile-snobbery-may-be-killing-our-hobby/

I left the Audiogon forum for this very reason a few months ago. As I was looking at Stereophile's AXPONA coverage this morning and adding up the system cost (several systems north of $500k and two well over a million). Throw in the snobby, obscure music, and YouTube reviewers talking about $25k components and $50k speakers like they are where "Audiophile" starts, and yeah no wonder it is turning off average people and new people. Hence a bunch of well-off, opinionated, old boomers pontificating is helping to diminish the crowd. (For reference median income in the United States is $37,585 annually). I assume many of us (myself included) do earn more than this to support our hobby - at least from the pics some of you post. But we should be welcoming of those who don't to the hobby.

That said, I commend the civility in this forum, and Schiit for producing quality Audiophile-grade stuff for less than a median-year's work. While I have a McIntosh system as well, I must admit my Schiit components are every bit as good - and I even intermingled them with Skoll providing phono-pre duty in the McIntosh system to sound even better! I have heard some of these "High-end" systems, and they are beautiful and sound good but aren't really that much better in my opinion. Though I like him in general, I disagree with Steve G saying there is no such thing as diminishing returns.

My point is if you have the money for a Bugatti and D'Agostino that's awesome! But, it doesn't mean everything else is junk just because it costs less and you get to talk down to everyone else from behind the screen. If someone enjoys their $149 Vali3, that is awesome and valid too. The more people we can encourage to get into this stuff, the more buyers there will be, the more competition, the more innovation, and the more enjoyment for us consumers. So remember - keep it civil.

Luckily, I didn't ever experience this hobby from the Audiogon viewpoint. When I got in, around 2012, the big thing was headphone meets around the local area. Nashville and Atlanta. At those meets, folks would just bring their HP gear and a few pair of cans, and we'd all walk around listening to each other's gear and music. Streaming wasn't a thing yet - most people had computers or DAPs. Back then, the Yggdrasil was quite new and people had BiFrosts and Asgard1 amps. A few had WooAudio 7 FireFlies. The first expensive rig I remember was owned by Dan Clark: Yggy, WooAudio 5 and Ragnarok amps. It blew everything else at that meet away, and we all started down the path to acquiring Schiit multibit DAC technology. It was a good way to get great sound at reasonable prices ... and still is. YMMV, as always.

 

[Bowmoreman]

Good article, thanks for sharing.

Part of me (the marketing part?) really wonders at the website domain name, though: easy to read as Headphone Sty… and that’s prolly not the image they want to paint…

Shutting up now

 

[Orange5o]

I will try to show the finished product, all else is just Finnegan and I making sawdust.

Also, thank you for mentioning pin protectors, didn't know they were a thing! Bought 100 pack of novals, though that won't be enough unless I leave them off the lower value tubes (but I only have a couple GE's)

 

[Bowmoreman]

Yep, “Mastered by Nimbus” super hard to photo these by the way

 

[Paladin79]

Also, thank you for mentioning pin protectors, didn't know they were a thing! Bought 100 pack of novals, though that won't be enough unless I leave them off the lower value tubes (but I only have a couple GE's)

Very cool, I can also recall those being called pin straighteners, I like them for tube shipping as well as keeping pins oriented.

 

[Bowmoreman]

GRAZ in Australia makes replacement ribbons and bass panels. Bass panels have to be installed by an Apogee Acoustics tech. Bill Thalmann at Music Technology in VA, is the East Coast rep. A great repair shop. You probably know all of this, but it doesn't hurt to spread the word.

A beautiful room and system...!

Yep, know all that, but thanks, other Apogee owners here may not. For them (should there be any) there is a pretty active Apogee Owners group on FB. They are NOT inexpensive, and the shipping cost to/from approved rebuilder would be, ahem, epic. They are large, over 100 pounds each. I do have OG packaging, but even the foam in that has started to degrade after 35 years, so I’d have to have custom wood shipping crates made. Or trailer them all that way myself.

The news on the FB group is that Bill retired, and there’s no replacement, that leaves only the dude on the west coast… adding to…

[Edit: Bill died a few months ago and they no longer do Apogee restorations. So only one guy in US: west coast. There’s another company in Switzerland that also does replacement ribbon sets, but does not require “professional” installation. I’m following them as well. They are active on the Apogee FB group]

It is really my only hobby nervosa at this point, “the day the Duetta’s Die” as it were. I dread it. It will happen. I pray I have the funds when it does

 

[jonathan c]

Thanks @jonathan c ! Which tube do you recommend I start off for Vali 3 using the WE396a as a quality reference.

Much appreciated!

Leo

For 12AU7 (I'm excluding 12AT7, 12AX7 because of their 60x, 100x gain) tubes:
.... an inexpensive start, RCA 'cleartop' 12AU7; further up, Sylvania 'yellow print' 12AU7; further still, Brimar CV4003, Lansdale 12AU7; nuts, Telefunken 'redtip, medical grade' ECC82; the cuckoo's nest, Telefunken G-73R.