Cactus Tube Dudes of Arizona

Get together.

We listened to Richard's bone stock Paramours driven by Richard's Foreplay  (with anticipation mod) for a bit (Elvis and Patricia Barber). We then did the cathode mod to Richard's Paramours. This was a very noticeable improvement. The bass was tighter and the mids and highs became much cleaner. Richard had a big smile on his face after we put in the cathode mod (see my Web page for the "other way to parafeed a Paramour".)

Voltsecond brought AVVT 2A3s, Full Moon 2.5V 300Bs, Sovtek 2A3s to put in Richard's stock Paramours. The AVVT's hummed the most and were the sweetest sounding, the 2.5V 300Bs had the best bass and bass impact, the Sovteks were a great compromise between the AVVT and 2.5V 300Bs. We all agreed (again) we could live with any of them and we could all afford the Sovteks.

Note: I though that with DC filaments, the AVVT's would probably be the best.

We then switched from the Paradymn speakers to the (stock Fostex) Horn Shoppe Horns with rear reflectors. We liked the horns, they were just a bit shy on bass compared to the Paradymns. We played with several different setups with the reflectors. The reflector "close in/ one side only" position was the best. The left speaker is shown below. The open side faces the side wall. (The white fluffy stuff is polyester batting.)
 

We also listened to Royce's "North" speakers. Richard's Paramours did not like the 4 ohm load very much. Royce says his 15W push pull drives them very nicely.

Unfortunately, nobody's straight 8's were not competed.

We also listened to VoltSecond's Paramours and Chaperones. They sounded good. Richard even asked how he could convert his Foreplay's to Chaperones (That was a quite a compliment. . .Blush.) Voltsecond said it was easier to start with a new Foreplay kit; however, there were partial instructions on his web site on how to convert to a cathode follower only version of the Foreplay.

Then the solder flung again. We put a partial filament snubber on Richard's Paramour (0.1 uF cap pin B9 to terminal 14, Richard will put the bleeder resistors in tomorrow.) We also upgraded the coupling cap from the SRPP stage to the 2A3. Both of these changes were another definite improvement.

We stayed way too late but had lots of fun. Improved meeting minutes won't occur for a while due to everyone's heavy work load.