ET3 and LP66S

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Re: ET3 and LP66S

Post by eagle6014 »

Just wanted to say that the Oppo 105 is just awesome. I'm so happy w/ it. If you have the means, get one. Thx to this player, I'm able to re-incorporate a center channel speaker. I hooked back up my Legacy Cinema HD & Marantz MA-700. This amp has it's own input level control on the back so getting the balance just right is a pain, but it's a straight simple way of doing it. Of course I had to place the player on a lower shelf, and duh! I needed a longer HDMI cable. So I logged onto Music Direct and bought some more Cardas RCA covers, a 1.5M Cardas HDMI cable, & a pair of caps for the balanced outputs to isolate the player. Anyway, keep your eyes open for one. I've seen one dude selling his 105 simply b/c he wanted a Darbee edition. OK then. Pat
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Re: ET3 and LP66S

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Coming soon: I've made arrangements today to buy a used ET3-SE. Now I will be able to compare the regular ET3 with the SE model. The one I'm buying was purchased new originally in Jan this year. It's my long term goal to send it to C-J eventually for a phono board. I've yet to select a turn table, but that will be much later. Oh, and I will take a pic of them side by side with their hoods off so everyone can see the difference in parts. Pat
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Re: ET3 and LP66S

Post by Joe Appierto »

Best of luck with the new preamp. One thing to keep in mind is that the Teflon capacitors take a while to break in so if you can find out how many hours are on the ET3-SE that'd be a good thing. I've seen estimates ranging from 300 to 1,000 hours before the caps are fully formed. Personally, I thought it took between 300 - 400 hours before my Premier 140 plateaued after c-j did the upgrade.

By the way, I purchased the Oppo 105D and couldn't agree with you more regarding its sound quality.
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Re: ET3 and LP66S

Post by eagle6014 »

Thx Joe. The ET3SE has arrived. I put in a new 6922 from EH that I got from Upscale Audio. It's their Platinum rated gold pin one. Right now I'm running a CD signal through it w/o the amp on. Just a 24 hr burn in period before I have a listen. I took 2 pics of my base ET3 and the SE model. The pic of the SE turned out great, but I wrecked the pic of the base model. Oh well, photographer I am not. Pat
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SE s/n 1881322
SE s/n 1881322
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Base s/n 1861111
Base s/n 1861111
ET3 Base.JPG (497.56 KiB) Viewed 1207 times
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Re: ET3 and LP66S

Post by diwakarv »

Hi eagle6014 ,
How is your new ET3SE coming along ( breakin etc) and how does it compare with Base ET3 .
Did you compare Nordost Red Dawn with cardas NR/GR in your system ?
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Re: ET3 and LP66S

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The most notable difference between the two is the increased depth of the music. It just seems a bit more realistic. Not to say the base ET3 didn't do the same, but w/ the SE is takes it a step further. There's also a noticeable difference in vertical perception. When something sounds like it's above the speakers, you can tell that it really is. I'd love to spend more time w/ it, but my work load this summer has been unbelievable. Had I known I'd be working this much, I could have budgeted for a used GAT. I still may do that eventually. I've been keeping my good eye open for one. I've made no comparisons w/ Cardas. Aside from one HDMI cable from them, I have none. I'm using Nordost Heimdall interconnects on my source components to the pre and Red Dawn LS to the amp. It seems to be the way to go. I like what I'm hearing w/ a more refined low end. I ended up selling my base ET3 for $1200. I put it up on A-gon and it was sold in 30 minutes. Have a good day y'all! Pat
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Re: ET3 and LP66S

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Updates: I have on order the new C-J MF2550 solid state amp. I decided not to go with the SE model for two reasons: The extra $2K just isn't there. Also, I doubt where I live in my little listening room that it would make a huge difference. The glowing review on audioaficionado.org of the amp convinced me that with my ET3SE, it would be an ideal match. Nothing wrong with my LP66S, it's just that I've always been more of a rock n' roll man than any other genre. No I will not sell my LP66S. I have every intention of keeping it and when I want a tube amp, I will have it. I don't expect the new amp to arrive until after the holidays. My check has yet to clear. Other things goin' on is I bought from Music Direct the EAT - cool valve ECC 88 (aka 6922) for the pre. It's not installed yet, but will be soon. I will after the entire system comes apart for the new amp and I clean everything. Also another new Nordost Red Dawn LS interconnect and that's about it y'all. Pat
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Re: ET3 and LP66S

Post by joeinid »

Big Congratulations Pat. So exciting. Please let us know when it arrives. I like alternating between tubes and SS for variety. Can't wait for your opinion, maybe a photo and your thoughts.
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Re: ET3 and LP66S

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Congrats on the new purchase. When you get it up and running I would love to see some pics and your thoughts on the sound.
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Re: ET3 and LP66S

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Re: ET3 and LP66S

Post by jasper »

Great thread, appreciate the comments, and look forward to hearing about the sound with your new amp!. Also, I was using an Oppo 105 for a while in my main system and was very impressed with its sound. Then I heard about the Modwright tube upgrade for the Oppo that Dan Wright provides. I was familiar with Modwright because I bought one of their original tube preamps a few years ago (SWL 9.0SE) and really liked it. (But its been sitting in the corner since I got my ET3 SE). Anyway, I read some comments and the review in the Absolute Sound about the Oppo mod, took a chance and sent mine in for the upgrade, and bought the tubes they recommend from Upscale Audio and Galen Carol. It has taken a couple of hundred hours to finally break in but I cannot believe what happened to the sound; entirely transformed and all for the better. Not a hint of glare, the soundstage is huge, deep, and wide, the tone is gorgeous with a lot more detail, and the dynamics are stunning. It totally smokes my Bryston CD1 and a Cyrus DAC/mapleshade mod that I had been using, and completely refreshed my feelings about listening to digital. Highly recommended for the Oppo, and others with more experience than I have said, with this mod the Oppo is as good as it gets.
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Re: ET3 and LP66S

Post by eagle6014 »

The new amp has arrived today!!! I suspect that it will need 24-48 hours to readjust to room temp after being in transit for many days.
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Re: ET3 and LP66S

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Re: ET3 and LP66S

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Take it out of the box and let it sit for an hour or two. That should be more than enough. Enjoy!
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Re: ET3 and LP66S

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Any update?
eagle6014 wrote:The new amp has arrived today!!! I suspect that it will need 24-48 hours to readjust to room temp after being in transit for many days.
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Re: ET3 and LP66S

Post by eagle6014 »

Torus pic.jpg
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Just another update here. I've obtained a Torus IS-10 power conditioner. I'm flipping through different power cords as well. Even with the new solid state amp, I still have some transformer hum. It's really hard to hear but I can. The next step is to get a dedicated ac line. That's a project for the summer when I can get under the house. The new amp, MF2550, sounds great just the same. I put a generic cord on it that is only a two prong. I'll have more on it when I'm done breaking it in. Pic attached.
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Re: ET3 and LP66S

Post by admin »

Very nice. The torus makes a nice addition to the system. Did you notice any effect on the sound.

I had some ground loop issues with my old Martin Logan Vantage speakers. Took awhile to figure out. One nice thing about building your own listening room is you can supply ample power. I have three separate AC lines going into the room so I can experiment with different power configurations. Luckily, since upgrading to the magnepans I have not had any issues but it can be very frustrating to deal with hum.
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Re: ET3 and LP66S

Post by Joe Appierto »

I had hum problems with both the Premier 11A and the 140. Even with the two Shunyata power conditioners I used. Once I introduced the Power Wing by Audio Excellence, it went away. Ground loops went away once I put an isolation transformer into the mix.
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