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MW
Hi Arthur,
You do not need a subscription to tnt-audio.com.
We are that rare phenomenon, a free-to-access audio zine where your data is not the product and our reviews are not driven by advertising.
We do it for love and therefore we are complete amateurs and you can contribute to our running costs by donating here
Enjoy reading and happy listening,
Mark, The Old Scribe
Mark Wheeler

Marchand Class A amplifiers
Hi TNT,
Marchand (reviewed here on TNT-Audio) is one of those small companies very few people know about, and the crossover is probably their most popular product.
Phil Marchand has made some interesting amps over the years, but most only have a life of a year or two. I would love to read a review of his MB401 class A amps.
Please think about it...
Thanks!
Mabry - E-mail: maluhia (at) myself.com

MW
Hi Mabry,
TNT-audio.com runs entirely on voluntary contributions and accepts neither advertising nor payola. Hence, we rely on either buying things that we really want to use ourselves or accept loan samples for the review period. Very small businesses usually cannot afford to loan out samples that they cannot then sell as new. Small businesses might also struggle to meet demand after a favourable review.

This is why you often see reviews on TNT-audio.com of less well-known equipment. As a schoolboy, your Old Scribe read articles, in backnumbers of audio and electronics magazines, explaining that most HiFi audio amplifiers in the valve era were push-pull Class A and most of the (then new) tranistor amplifiers were Class AB. These articles suggested that this alone might be as important a reason for the fundamentally different character of valve and transistor amplifiers. Hence your old scribe has always had a liking for Class A amplifiers and enjoyed many valve and transistor examples.
Given the build quality and keen price of the Marchand XM126/PS127 the Marchand MB401 looks like a worthwhile product. Please let us know if you try it and what you think.
Happy Listening,
Mark, The Old Scribe
Mark Wheeler

Downgrading - Part IV
Greetings from Adelaide, Australia. Downgrading. Downsizing. Certain words can trigger opinionated people - they believe it will never happen to them. Have recently moved house + cleared out DIY fully active 3 way system (valve amps + 18" +12" + 2" horns) Latest system uses SMSL dac and Presonus active monitors. Bass assist is coming, 15" OB in beehive kit boxes + active c/over + cheap power amp.
Clap your Hands c/- Reverend Peytons Big Damn Band, New Age Blues c/- Cam Cole, Burning Down the House c/- Paramore, Things Have Changed c/- Dylan , Can't Shake It c/- Angels( La Trobe Uni. 1979) + everything else that gets a Repeat Listen all sound great then and now...
I am thankful Music still moves me.

                                                                                                                                                                                               Is it the Singer or the Song?

running down a dream
It never would come to me
Working on a mystery, going wherever it leads
Runnin' down a dream.

Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers - Runnin' Down A Dream

DRH
Hi, Tony,
Thanks for reaching out. Yes, that's ultimately what matters: the music. If you love and respond to the music, the equipment fades in importance. All the best as you enjoy your new setup and your new digs!
David Hoehl

Fosi Audio
Hi Lucio and TNT-Audio team.
I read your reviews of various Fosi audio products. I had one of their earlier amps (via Amazon) and had already taken a punt on their V3 amp via Kickstarter before I saw your review. So trying out their SK02 headphone /preamp via Kickstarter was an easy choice. Early days yet. But coupled with my stock Sennheiser HD600s I am very very pleasantly surprised. My previous comparison points are a Graham Slee Solo and a Headroom Total Bithead. I am currently in the “new Toy” phase.
But if they offer you one for review I'd be delighted to hear your thoughts.
Regards,
John - E-mail: johngagardner (at) gmail.com

LC
Dear John,
thanks for the feedback and the suggestion. Yes, I'd be curious to test some new headphone amp, let's see if Fosi is willing to ship a test sample. Considering my recent findings (their P3 and ZA3) I'm afraid they will be reluctant to submit something else to review. In any case, I'll try whenever possible.
Thanks for the feedback,
Lucio Cadeddu

Nobsound/Elegiant F900s opening?
I built a new gaming PC at the end of 2023, and I used my Elegiant mini-amplifier (F900S) bought a few years ago to connect to it (with small Jamo speakers). My desk is mainly composed of black and white elements: I wasn't happy with the "pink gold" color of my amplifier, and I didn't like the volume knob either. As a tribute to the great game development studio "Valve", I decided to replace the volume knob with a red valve, as well as a black paint job. I didn't know how to disassemble the F900S, so I looked for it on the web, and came across this great website of yours :-) With your help, I was able to quickly do my customization, and... "voilà"!
For any people interested: I had to enlarge the hole in the valve to 6mm, and used teflon tape for the grip. It works just fine.
Thanks a lot for your advice!
Guillaume - E-mail: glaurent78 (at) gmail.com

LC
Dear Guillaume,
I'm glad to know my help in dismantling the F900S has been successful. As bizarre as your idea might seem, I find it quite amazing and certainly NEW :-) Perhaps an F900S with red sleeve/cabinet would be a better match for your “flux valve” volume pot!
Keep us updated if you plan to apply similar mods to other components!
Lucio Cadeddu

Brassed Off - Measurements and sound don't always agree!
Dear Lucio,
I am very grateful for the wise advice I have received from TNT Audio, especially about interconnect and speaker cables. Thank you! I made an inexpensive 1m pair of the TNT AirCoil Interconnects with parts from eBay.

LC
Dear Phil,
thanks for your kind e-mail. Yes, in any HiFi component even tiny details can make a difference. As for connections, copper and silver are the best materials to use, as is silver&tin soldering wire for putting things together. Even better, you could try crimping, as well, hence no soldering at all. There are also expensive rhodium-plated copper connectors in the market (Cardas, Viborg etc.), plus the pretty unusual Eichmann plugs, if you dare to try something different. You can experiment with these alternatives, and report back. Finally, do not forget that brass and gold are not good conductors. Gold plating is widely used just because it has an excellent oxidation resistance (plus, it looks expensive ;-)) though brass is easy to work with and inexpensive.
Hope this helped somehow,
Lucio Cadeddu

Drivers parameters
Hello,
I found this article on air volume acceleration as I'm in the planning phase for a new DIY speaker project.
I created an excel sheet of the midranges I have in mind and encountered following problem:
The BL units are somtinmes in TM and at some manufacturers are using N/A.
So my question is: what unit to use for the formula? BL or N/A and is there a way to convert?
Regards,
Richard - E-mail: richard.thomiszer (at) hotmail.com

MW
Hi Richard
I believe two parameter expressions are interchangeable. I'm sure there'll be letters if they're not!
Good luck with your loudspeaker construction project. Do keep us informed of progress.
Happy sawing and gluing,
Mark, The Old Scribe
Mark Wheeler

DVD or multidisc player
Dear experts!
I want to expand my hi-fi setup to acquire a DVD or multi-disc player. The only DVD player reviewed that I see listed under your reviews is the Sony DVD-NS900V which at Euro 800 when tested is far above my budget. Do you have any other recommendations or is DVD and Blueray generally regarded as non hi-fi? Most of my present equipment is from Creek UK with Epos speakers and a Technics turntable all of which I am very satisfied with...
I am what you might call at the middle or lower end of the scale but I really enjoy reading your weekly updates and reviews.
Best wishes,
Mike - E-mail: michael_shanahan (at) telia.com

LC
Dear Mike,
it all depends on your needs and budget. If you need to play Bluray discs as well, a simple DVD player will not suffice. You could consider any good Bluray player such as the SONY UBP-X800M2 (±€350) or the PANASONIC DP-UB820 (±€400). Otherwise, even the Denon DBT-3313UD could be a good choice, considering it's a real multiplayer (it plays even SACDs!) for just ±€550. Do not be concerned about audio quality: modern digital players use high resolution DACs and circuits, and the differences are negligible. Eventually, you could even plan to use an outboard DAC, just in case you will feel the need for a future upgrade. Considering your system, I would be much more concerned with the quality of the loudspeakers, which are the best place where one should start planning an upgrade (not that your Epos need to be upgraded soon...).
Hope this helped somehow,
Lucio Cadeddu

Tonearm and cartridge
Hi TNT Audio,
I enjoyed reading the adventures of fitting a new cartridge to the Linn Basik turntable, Vinyl frontiers, Audio Technica AT95E vs Linn k5 on Linn Basik/Akito on TNT-Audio.

Back in the day I had (and still have) a couple of the Linn Basik yellow cartridges and also an AT-95E. Could I just point out one mistake in the review? The Basik cartridge is, in fact, based on the AT-95E and not the AT91. The AT91 has a different detachable plastic stylus element (see this website: https://audiogold.co.uk/product/audio-technica-at-91/).

I got excited about this because I've just ordered a new AT-95E replacement stylus which I was hoping would fit the Linn Basik body (for reasons that are too complicated to go into here), and your reference to the AT91 sent me into a tailspin thinking I'd ordered the wrong stylus.

Some info on the Basik, gleaned from the hi-fi dealer who supplied it:

• Spherical diamond stylus
• 1.6 - 1.7g tracking weight
• Moving Magnet type

I bought 2 of these rather than replacing the stylus, before moving to the AT-95E which of course has an elliptical stylus. The current plan is to fit a 78rpm stylus to one of the Basiks and keep that as the "sacrificial" cartridge for playing 78s - of which I have quite a few.
Great website - keep it up :-D
Eric - E-mail: enrico_94 (at) hotmail.com

MW
Hi Eric,
Thanks for this information and for the kind words about TNT-Audio. For the original article I fact checked with an aftermarket stylus manufacturer who reckoned all the AT9* models fit each other & it is the internal coils that are different. I also spoke to someone at AT who (from memory only) thought that the Linn Basik was AT91 internally and the K9 & K18 were AT95 internally. I saw different ideas about the K5 which is why I was vague about it's origins but it looked like an AT95 superficially.

I'm very happy to be corrected as the web is often a dismal sump of misinformation. Your information and photographs are evidence that the Linn Basik looks more like an AT95C than any other model.

The EN (elliptical nude) stylus is even better and very much a value sweet spot in the AT range.

Thank you for the pictures, an article on the various derivatives of Audio Technica AT9* would be really helpful to long term owners looking for an easy upgrade path. Obtaining accurate historical audio information is always challenging. Accessing various iterations of Audio Technica's own historic websites (using portals like Wayback Machine) for various markets offers different information for the same designated models. This inhibits the task.

We will keep up this correspondence.

Happy Listening
Mark Wheeler

Hagerman Audio Labs Bugle MC Review
Hello,
apologies the direct inquire. I enjoyed very much your review and in fact I got me one Bugle MC, currently working with a Fosi Audio V3 (also positively reviewed by TNT-AUDIO). This is supposed to be a transition system to a new one as I recently sold my previous Unison Research electronics...but so far is sounding good! I am quite new to separate pre-phono and quite ignorant in electricity / electronics and confused also by non consistence vocabulary on those matters I tend to find on line and on the instructions.
I was just wondering which setting would be better to start with on the Bugle with my 2 cartridges here below.

Bugle MC
Gain 40, 52, 58, 64dB
Input Impedance 47k, 470, 220, 100Ohm
The 2 switches on the Bugle are named Gain and Load instead 

Goldring 2200 
Output 6.5mV
Load Resistance 47k Ohm
Load Capacitance 100-200 pF

Sumiko BluePoint No. 2
Output 2.5mV
Load Impedance 47k Ohm
Load Capacitance 100-200 pF

MLG
Dear Fabio,
Thank you so much for your kind email. Both the Goldring and Sumiko cartridges are well-suited to the Bugle MC. I am happy you have both on hand at the same time. I think, early on, it's very important to have the opportunity to compare brands. You will likely find that you prefer the "family" sound of one brand over another. And, you can expect the family sounds of the Goldring and the Sumiko to be quite different.
Gain is no problem for either cartridge. You will have abundant gain with both the Sumiko and the Goldring on the lowest gain setting. Note that both cartridges require a load of 47k ohms. Unless something has changed since the time of my review that would mean that the left (Load) switch would be set all the way to the left for 47k ohms and the right (Gain) would be set all way to the left at 40dB of gain.
The wrong load won't cause any damage. It will just sound awful. The 470/220/100 ohm loads are only for low-output moving coil cartridges. If you eventually grow into a low-output MC you'll be happy that your Bugle MC allows you to accommodate them from the faceplate. Be certain to have the volume control on your system at ZERO when you make any changes, especially gain. Damage to your speakers could occur if you were playing music and accidentally increased the gain, so take care.
I hope this helps. Please let me know which cartridge you enjoy the most. And, thanks again for reading and writing. I appreciate the time it takes to do both.
Hope this helped somehow,
M. L. Gneier

Denon DVD player set up
Dear Arvind,
I purchased a used Denon 3910 DVD Player. I need instructions how to setup PCM 2 channel output to an external dac. The remote control that came with it blacks out the setup steps to adjust the player for proper 2 channel output.
Regards,
Richard - E-mail: babydock (at) bellsouth.net

AK
Hello Richard,
I had never used the Denon as a transport. Especially since I had a modded unit, the real value in the player was in it's analog output.
You will probably need to refer to the user manual, and hook the unit upto a monitor to read the menus to see if what you are trying to do is possible.
Best of luck.
Hope this helped somehow,
Arvind Kohli

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