Holy moly! If I show my wife these pics, she'd insist we move up there. Very beautiful setting. You're a lucky man.

Spectacular all around photos.

Notice that I didn't include any pics when we under our frequent winter monsoons.

Although we hardly ever see snow down at sea level, the winters can be quite dreary, wet & windy. And of course we live under the threat of earthquakes, so it's not all roses...

TAM

Yeah, I always play up the earthquake threat, too.

Unfortunately, it doesn't phase the Californians.

So, how does it sound??

Do you like it?

Yup, I do like it; however, I haven't listened to a whole lot of different material yet. While I don't hear a huge difference from my el-cheapo Sony Stereo Receiver, it does impart some smoothness to certain material but it still maintains good bass & high end detail.

It especially shines with music like Sade, Chuck Mangione (1983 'Journey to a Rainbow' never sounded better) & Salsa that has lots of horns. I haven't tried Rock, Classical or Clapton yet.

I haven't quite figured out the differences or benefits of Ultralinear vs Triode modes yet. Both modes sound fine & provide good volume considering that the Triode mode halves the power for supposedly smoother sound.

The pic is of the amp in all its glory in subdued light (I should have used my tripod). It is way too cool to look at & is worth having it in the room even if there is no music playing.



TAM

Lab, is your wife still not liking the amp?

Let me put it this way, she's not enthusiastic about it. She does not like seeing the innards of things such as speaker drivers & tubes, etc. Perhaps it's because she is a nurse, ha!

I do have the option of moving everything downstairs or doing surgery on the back of the cabinet so that is mostly out of sight inside the unit.

Or perhaps it will just grow on her where it is. Given the amount of heat that it puts out, being in the open would be best.

TAM

Those tubes are beautiful. Also, your Sony won't keep you warm on a winter's night. The tubes sure will.

Triode trades output power for pure sweetness. I keep my ASL MG S1 15DT on triode mode all the time, pentode, never.

I have some favorites which show off my tube amp - Loreena McKennett's "Elemental" Ed Gerhard's "The Live Album," Stan Getz/Jobim, Girl from Ipanema ...

Of course the other thing about tube amps is their ability to turn pets into smoking raisins. Careful.

Beautiful location. The only thing better than water or mountains is water AND mountains.