Paradigm 5SE Speakers

Mid 80's Paradigm busted onto the audio scene with their original "S" series speakers, it was not until the "SE" series did the audio world take note.

I remember the Paradigm 7SE was directly competing with the Energy 22 and Mission 770 Freedom IV's but at a much better price point.

A Pair of Paradigm 5SE speakers were dropped off with some woofer surround issues and I was asked to work some magic. For some reason the butyl surround was cracking and separated from the cone. Trying to find the proper surrounds is difficult.

Lucky for me I had secured a pair of donor Vifa woofers from a  pair of Angstrom  Radix 300 speakers, these are a direct drop in with a much larger magnet structure, black polypropylene cone and rubber butyl surround.

This woofer was a perfect upgrade, I was surprised to see the build quality of the cabinet with proper cross member from the front and back baffles, also the crossover was built with metalized polyester caps with twin bypass caps for the tweeter. This is a well built speaker with great attention to the small details that make a great speaker.

I have had a few days of listening to this speaker and it sounds fabulous, the bass is nice and tight for a Paradigm ported system. I have had the 3SE's in the past and always found them to be boomy/muddy in the bass and I tend to pass on those speakers when they come up locally.

Aesthetically this pair looks better than the original, I have been listening to these for the past few night connected to the Noresco 2570 and they sound sweet together, I could listen and have listened to this combo for hours without ever a hint of fatigue. In fact it begs me to put on more music and to listen well past my time to retire.

The highs are spot on with smooth mid range, the bass is full and tight without any hint of boom or muddiness. Although it does not go as low as the 10 and 12 inch speakers I have I am not missing anything.

The front to back imaging depth is perfect along with the side to side imaging. I tried these speakers with the tube amp but these speakers are better suited to a solid state unit.

I am very impressed with the way this project turned out and I am sure the owner will have years of listening pleasure with these speakers.

Kenwood KD-2055 Turntable aka "The Rock"

Another sought after piece of vintage audio goodness to show up recently is the granite composite Kenwood KD-2055 turntable, better know as "The Rock".

This is an exceptionally heavy belt drive turntable with a plynth that makes this unit weigh in at a hefty 26lbs.
The idea behind a heavy turntable is to dampen the bass feedback below 30hz that can rumble a turntable for those with higher quality speakers. Hence the invention of the subsonic filter.

This is one of the cooler turntables on the market and unique in its' build quality which makes them highly sought after and rarer to get than a typical Dual or other main stream Japanese brand vintage platter. Not Thorens or Oracle quality but the best of the belt drive turntables.

Noresco 2570 Receiver

Re branded for the Canadian market, this Noresco 2570 is a Rotel RX-402 from the 1974-1976 era.

Conservatively rated at 25WPC into 8 ohms this little receiver sports a robust power supply with a hefty transformer and two Elna 6800uf filter caps. It is unusual to see such large caps in a 25WPC receiver. Rotel rated the RX-402 at 40WPC into 4 ohms which this unit easily sounds like.

The build quality is exceptionally clean on this unit. With such large capacitors for its' rated WPC the sound is very robust with the loudness switch off, similar as a tube amp.

My first foray into Rotel was back in the early 80's with the purchase of my first budget audiophile amp the Rotel RA-840BX amplifier. I had this unit for over 25 years and was a formidable, over built 40WPC unit capable of driving any speakers I could throw at it.

 
So far I have paired this unit up with the Mission 770 Freedom IV's and this unit does everything right, tight full bass, clear mid range and nice sparkling highs. I always opt to run these units without the loudness switch on as it gives a proper indication of how robust the power supply is.

(The difference with tubes vs. transistor amps is tubes give you a full sound stage at low volumes where as transistors usually sound best when they have some power coursing through them, Tubes sound amazing from the 1st. watt all the way through to they peak out. Transistors usually do not give you that fullness until 5-10 watts per channel.)

This unit was in exception condition, super clean on the inside, the wood case was immaculate, only one bulb needed replacing although the stereo indicator bulb will not work even though I soldered in a new bulb. The silver brushed face plate is blemish free. Once apart I cleaned all the pots and switches.

Noresco is probably a brand that gets ignored in the used market which is good for anyone wanting a fantastic Rotel receiver that was built with quality first. Unlike those who clamor over the same era Pioneer, Marantz, Sansui and Kenwood should find incredible value in either the Noresco line or Rotel's of this era.

Clements 300si Speakers

A friend of the blog was kind enough to stop by one evening with his pair of Clements 300si speakers. He was originally interested in the NAD Model 30's and felt that the Clements infinite baffle design had just as much bass as the NAD's. The Clements had pretty solid bass right down to the 40hz level from a 61/2 inch woofer, pretty impressive for its' size. The Clement's gave the NAD"s a run for the money in the bottom end.

We ran the speakers through the Creek 4040s2 which did not match well with these speakers. We switched up to the Yamaha CR-400 and the sound was night and day. The Yamaha opened up these speakers, the detail in sound with the Clements and Yamaha was a better pairing..

We finally switched to the tube amp and these sounded good at first with the speakers near the wall I knew they could sound better if we brought them in to within 4 feet.

Now we were enveloped with sound, Clements are not the most efficient at 88db's so we had to push the tube amp a little herder.

All I can say is WoW! for such a small speaker these had an incredible smoothness, from solid clear bass into the luscious mid range and sparkling highs that were never harsh or shrill.

Up close the speakers enveloped you into their sound stage, left right, front and back it was like being in the room with the musicians. We listened to about 4 hours worth of music and my friend has just reached out for some tube amp advice, he was taken aback with the silky sound of the tubes, they paired very well with the Clements although they do not go earth shaking  loud, which is perfect when kepping other happy.

This speaker reminds me of the sound of the Paradigm Control Monitors I had at one time, incredibly polite, smooth, a very nice speaker and worth seeking out when they come up for sale.

TubeCube 7 tube amplifier

I picked up this little desktop tube amp for my son's Christmas present this year, replacing the Realistic System 11.

This fully assembled unit was well packaged and the fit and finish is really nice. It feels like a solid little amp in your hands.

I am just listening to my Electrohome Marseilles tube amp for the past few months as my only source of amplification. I was pretty excited to see what this 3.5 watt would sound like in a comparison. I burnt the amp in for 12 hours before giving it a serious listen.The Tube Cube 7 can be found on the Tube Depot site and runs for $179.95 with free delivery in the USA.

I first had a listen with the stock Chinese Sino EL84's with the Sino 12AX7B connect to a pair of Tannoy Oxford Gold's. The Tannoy's are very efficient so it was best suited to the 3.5 watts per channel.

The sound was very clear and transparent in the mid range and high's. The midrange and highs were not warm even having a bit of shrill at times. Although imaging side to side was excellent, back and for depth of the sound stage was not as deep as the Electrohome.

I also tested the TubeCube 7 with the Sound Dynamics Concert 500's, these are another efficient horn loaded speaker that pairs really well with tube amps. The sound was a bit better in the bass along with the same traits in sound as with the Tannoy's. Last up were the NAD Model 30's of which this little unit was striving to drive with clarity, the bottom end was very muddy.

I opted to replace the Sino tubes over to J/J EL84's and a J/J 12AX7B

The change over in tubes had an instant impact on the sound this little amplifier could achieve, it was like a veil was removed from the sound. Back where the sweet luscious mid's and high's with the bottom end filling out. The Tannoy's had their shine back, the warmth was there along with the depth of sound, next was the Sound Dynamics, where the bass was clearer and much more refined. Any shrill associated with the original Sino tubes was gone.

Overall this is a pretty cool entry into tube amps for a small space, we still have them hooked up to the Minimus 11 speakers. When trying to fill a larger room with bigger speakers this little amp tries and does a surprising good job, I found this amp best suited for a smaller office or bedroom. The output transformers are obviously not as robust as you would find in higher power units, I found it shy on the bottom end.

My wish list that I had for this amp is a headphone jack being a priority, it would be great to listen to through headphones. Two inputs would be nice too, but I would take the headphone jack first.

I would recommend one of these units as a starter into the tube world. I had mine shipped to a US address which help keep the cost down with the exchange rate.

The TubeDepot will also supply better tubes for this amp which I would step up to the J/J tubes all around.

The TubeCube 7 can be found here and the tube upgrades here.

Tube: Shuguang EL84 2pcs, 12AX7B 1pc

Power Output: 3.5W+3.5W @ 8 ohms

Frequency Response: 30-40Khz (+-1db)

Input Sensitivity: 500mV

Signal-to-Noise Ratio: -80dB / 3.5W

Residual Noise < 1mVac

Input AC Voltage: 100-250Vac

Power Consumption: 38W

Input Impedance: 50K ohms

Output Impedance: 8/6/4 ohms (Japan Z11-EI48*24 Output Transformers)

Dimensions: 130mm (w) x 130mm (d) x 130mm (h)

Weight: 2.6KG

Input: RCA Jacks

Output: Banana Jacks

AC: Standard IEC Jack with Fuse protection (2A Fuse)

Color: Black

 

Braun L830 Speakers

Another fine example of Deiter Rams iconic Braun L830 speakers, if you ever get a chance to audition a pair of these wonderful speakers do so. The detail and depth of sound is like the finest set of headphones on your ears.

This pair was full re capped with Solen polyester caps and new speaker terminals added.

The clarity of the mid range dome is unreal and the dome tweeter sparkles while the 10" woofer takes care of the bottom end with plenty of oomph..

Tannoy C-10 Speakers

Another set of speakers showed up this week, Canadian made Tannoy C-10, manufactured under license by API, the same makers of Energy, Mirage, Sound Dynamics, ESM, Image, DB Plus, and probably a few more.

These Tannoy's use a 10 inch woofer pair up with a Vifa dome tweeter, the crossover is a simple first cross on the woofer and a second cross to the tweeter. This pair needed a new 6.8uf Solen cap installed as no signal was getting through to the tweeter. New foam surrounds were also installed as the old set had sen their day.

This is my second pair of Canadian made Tannoy's, I had a pair of Tannoy C-6's a few years back.

I am impressed with this Tannoy offering from API, the bottom end is full and with any Vifa tweeter the upper mid range and high end is crisp and clean.

At 92db sensitivity these Tannoy's run well with a tube amp and sound right at home with the rest of my speaker collection. They are non fatiguing with a great open sound stage. the imaging, although not as precise ad the Tannoy Oxford Gold's is pretty good, API really do make good consumer orientated speakers.