The good news and some 'bad' news..

Okay, the good news is, I have completed the tube preamp, hurrah!!! That was about a a week ago.
It was worth the wait (and the agony of waiting)! The preamp was connected to a discrete 40 watter (nicked name,D'Bomb) and the sound is simply marvellous albeit some issue which is irritating me right now.

One, I have humming issues, then buzzing then 'crackling' issues.. After much googling and reading more about tube amp designs.. I managed to solve the buzzing by opting to use DC heater as opposed to AC heaters. BTW, I have read and done all the do's and don'ts about tube amps building thingy, like wires crossing at 90 degrees etc.
The humming and 'crackling' although very soft and only audible when I am not playing anything, it is just 'psychological annoying'... Since I used some 'alternate' (read cheap and what is avail.) parts to what was being specified in the original design, now that I have heard how good it is and believing that there is a potential for it to become 'better'), I think it's worthwhile to invest in quality/premium parts and I have decided to buy the 'good stuffs' online.. I also found the TUNGSOL 5687 is kinda 'microphony' and it is known for that! There are other drop in replacement for this 5687 but I would not do it till further listening. Since this is my first tube project, I just want to have some experience and maybe moving on to other popular tubes. More updates later..

The casing used (like a metal pizza box) was bought cheaply from a manufacturer excess stock meant for something else.. hehe

Pic shown the preamp during the 'wet-run'. Speakers used was the Gale 3030 floorstander and I could not believe the amount of good solid bass coming out!

GALE3030 Listening Impressions

I just had about an hour worth of listening with the GALE.
I'd say it's a 'smaller' version of my RTL3. Nice and sweet midrange and top. Sound stage was excellent and a very vivid depth! The bass if compared to the RTL3 is not overwhelming and sufficient for the complete enjoyment of the music. However the lower end were a bit 'woolly' probably because it is not on the spikes. The spikes was not installed as I do not want to scratch my well polished broken marble flooring!
Picture shows the GALE taking the place of the RTL3 position. Source was from a DIY CD transport using an IMATION CDRW drive with drive controller digitally feeding an Audio Alchemy's Digital Decoding Engine v1.1(DAC) powered by my DIY STK hybrid amplifier with a buffer preamp. All interconnects are DIYed including speaker cables.
I would have agreed with the second reviewer on the speakers being suitable in a 'small' room. But do not be misled the term 'small' and the size of the speakers! For a small speakers it sure sound BIG/HUGE! Reminds me of the ProAc Tablet speakers...

More later... need to hear more music on this baby.. ;)

GALE3030 Speakers

The latest HiFi gadget I just bought, a pair of GALE3030 speakers! Not new but a very good condition used unit. Picked up from the owner's house this afternoon. A YAMAHA AV amp was thrown in for 'free'! This is the third pair of speakers in my possession after the Monitor Audio R252, and TDL Electronic's RTL3. All of these are british made speakers! They don't make speakers like they used to, eh? ;)

Some description from the Net:
These finely tuned floorstanders are designed to give a deep, punchy bass, without compromising the sparkling treble response. And, boy do they sound good.

Features of the Gale 3030 include:
Nominal Power - 100 Watt RMS
Frequency Reponse - 39 Hz-20,000 Hz
Sensitivity - 90 dB
Impedance - 8 Ohm
Magnetically Shielded
Bi-amping
Woofer Material - Paper
Woofer Size - 5.5"
Tweeter Size - .98"
Indoor
Mounting - Floorstanding
Exterior Color - Black, Brown

REVIEWS:
1. "Reviewed by gary gilbert on 26/01/2008
As every ones ears, like their taste in food differ! i think i have a great taste in speakers. so three years ago`ish i visited my favorite sweet shop for grown ups! and sampled their wares. i was looking for a slim pair of speakers to fit nicely in my bed room. listened to the gale 3030s and knew straight away they were just right. i paired them up with a pair of missions i also use and the sound is excellent! from jazz to classical even dance music. these speakers are powerful enough and smooth enough for anyones taste! i have owned quite a few pairs of speakers over the years and these are precise, tight and the base is just right. i admit the missions are a bit too bassy when the volumes up! but these gales are more refind and balance my system out quite nicely. i think these 3030 gales are well worth every penny the £150 i spent! but as i say we all have different taste!"
(4 STARS)

2. "Reviewed by Angryman on 24/06/2006
I've had these for over a year and i cannot get over at how good they sound. Bass, Trebble, Mids... these speakers can produce it all at an affordable price in a nice compact package perfect for Bedrooms or smaller rooms. Will not shatter your windows as they distort at loud volumes but for my liking they are loud enough and the sound quality allows me to appreciate every style of music. Highly Recommended, except for really large Rooms.
(5 STARS)



The 'soft dome' tweeter.. high frequencies sound good on this... ;)

The single woofer (as opposed to two on my current RTL3). Not a huge unit, but I guess it would be sufficient.. we'll know when I test it tonight!

The back showing the terminals for biwiring/biamping.. note the missing metal connectors. Need to 'manufacture' 2 pairs so that I can test/audition the speakers tonight!

Update - status

Some good news.
1. Akita has responded finally! He was away on holiday! I got the quotes and transferred the money for 2 boards and 2 bags of goodies. I should be getting it sometime this week. Will post some pix.

2. I finally concluded the purchase of the GALE 3030 floorstander! The owner will make some arrangements before I pick up the hardwares. The seller is in London right now, working. Parents is in KL...