EC Aficionado (was: The Studio Jr.)

That's gonna be a no. If it's a BA with Elrogs then it's got to be a 300B BA which will sound entirely different from an Af. You're looking for a more romantic sound and Af is not that.

BA = old EC = more wet, more sexy, not a linear sound.
AF = new EC. (and 2a3 instead of 300B)= straight lines, no bullshit, very clean and clear.

I haven't heard a 300B Studio B but just because it's a 300B which is rounded regardless (and less so if it's an Elrog but still rounded) would be the closest "new EC" will get to "old EC" sound.

There's no way to bake the roundness of 300B out of an amp, so when you say Studio B is dry, are you referring to the 2a3 variant, or is there some magical wizardry afoot?

 

Thanks for the advice friends. I guess I am out of luck because I almost never see Balancing Act amps for sale. That’s why I asked if the Aficionado is a good substitute…

About the Studio B. Correct I was referring to the 300B version but I also haven’t heard it personally, just going with others impressions that it seems to be dry sounding. About the ECBA that I tested it also didn’t seem to be that wet sounding. I think in terms of wet/dry it seems to hit my sweet spot nicely because I found DNA amps (early Stratus, Starlett) too wet for me.

 

Stratus V3 or Stellaris would likely be the way to go. Possibly Studio B 300B but I haven't heard one so can't confirm.

 

@Erroneous The DNA "house sound" didn't really seem to do it for me so I'm not sure I want to risk it (note: my personal preferred sound signature is a bit brighter than the average in this forum I noticed). I guess I will see if I can test the Studio B. I am pretty sure I want something that can accept the Elrog 300B tube.

 

Perhaps you could give Elekit 8600/8900 a try? Should be easier to source in Asia

 

Best value for money upgrade ever:



Two bits of stone on the top plate. It's not magic rock, just rock I had lying around. One is a knife stone, one is a bit of paving. Doesn't need to be heavy. The left one is about 12oz and that is plenty. However it is important that the contact surface is flat. Any bit of rock you have on hand will do, you can lap it flat enough with loose sand on a concrete paver if necessary. Anything that is fairly dense and inert would also do, but dunno what else fits that description than rock.

Noticeable improvement, like switching from a bad digital source to a good one, bigger delta than messing with cables. More clarity, much less wooly in the bass and low mids. Like turning off the snare on your snare drum. Why? Well, the top plate of the Af rings like a bell. This dampens it a lot. More effect than the tube dampers.

 

I hope you have something between the rocks and the top plate. If that top plate is prone to vibration/ringing, then even if it's damped out it's going to produce scuffs/marks at the contact points with those stones.

 

No I do not! These are flat against a straight edge so I would have thought the contact area is enough to stop this happening?

 

Huh! I've got a few of these sitting in a drawer that i've used in the past to weigh down lighter components (like RPi, tiny phono preams, etc.) that I'll try on Af:

https://www.amazon.com/Sumnacon-Stopper-Durability-Stainless-Anti-Skid/dp/B07BGYK245?th=1

 

It's basically a coarse whetstone on top of a vibrating surface. Put a layer of felt in between. Same weight, should still damp vibrations, won't scuff the finish.

 

Yeah, I have some of these. My recommendation was going to be to try them over stones - they have a rubber bottom, no scuffs.

 

Point taken! Though the surfaces are heavily burnished, so I think they are more likely to polish it than scuff it. I actually use the piece of paver to polish my wedding ring. Brings it up nice and shiny.

 

Some quick impressions on mass-loading the Af using the aforementioned door stoppers from Amazon: on the top plate of the amp itself I could detect no difference whatsoever. Where I did notice a slight difference, however, was on the top plate of the power supply. The difference was about 50% of the change from swapping out an Eclipse-Pioneer (Bendix) 2c51 to a WE 2c51. Slight calming of the upper midrange while keeping the increased sense of space and "lit from the mids outward" that the Bendix tube imparts. Sort of like blending the WE and Bendix tubes, without getting too much mush from the WE tubes. I don't notice any difference in the lower frequencies like you usually get by swapping rectifiers. NB, my PS is about 4 feet away from the amp, sitting under my desk.

 

Yeah my thought was to give the door stopper a try with the power supply on the Studio B, also. I’m sure the OPT’s might “ring”/hum but nowhere near the amount the trafo for the power supply does, since it’s audible when there’s higher voltage on the mains. Haven’t bothered to get a Variac yet, though.

When you say “top plate of the power supply” do you mean on top of the actual transformer or the chassis of the PSU?

 

I tried both, but the top plate of the chassis made the most (albeit slight) difference.

 

Nice!

Yota I would humbly suggest that to get the maximum perceived benefit from my amazing mod you need to duplicate the other carefully tuned features of my setup: