Conrad Johnson: New Preamp Flagship - ART88

[Big Dog RJ]

230 volts is fixed in germany, most of the time 237 volts come here out of the socket. For old devices(220volt), I have a variable transformer so that I don't have to tinker with the device.
Did you ever mesurement what comes out?

Ah, that sounds like you've got it under control.

Re. To voltage measurement/ fluctuations
Most definitely so! That's a whole other topic which I've debated over great lengths here on WBF and on other forums as well. So I won't go into great detail about this because it will derail this thread.

However, since you asked, just to summarise:
About 5 years ago, we lived in an apartment/ unit type of house, which had terrible AC mains power. The voltage would vary from a very low point to around 170v to as high as 270v! And with CJ or any tube gear for that matter, biasing the tubes to required specs was an absolute nightmare! So I used three different power conditioning systems (power conditioner, power blocks and finally power station). Only the last one really helped with voltage swings and it made an improvement but not anything significant. That one was by PS Audio, before it was Tauras and Shunyata. Anyway, regardless of these makes, they only made small marginal improvements. It wasn't after 2019, when we finally finished building our new home, I installed dedicated AC mains wiring for the Audio system, and cricky!!! Now that's a big big significant improvement, such that I didn't require any of those power conditioning systems at all. Plus I tried a few newer items and in fact those very power conditioning systems limited the overall performance and dynamics of the Audio systems' capabilities, so I stopped using them, no thanks.

Now the voltage is far more stable and over here we're quite fortunate to have enough resources to supply stable power to the grid. *** First and most important aspect to install in any highend system *** regardless of gear, the AC mains power and your distribution CB (circuit breaker) board. If you have more than one phase of AC mains coming into your house, even better! Dedicate that whole one phase just to your Audio system and you'll be truly amazed! It's a beautiful thing.

Then again, how many people have dedicated AC mains phases just for their Audio...? Hardly any. They're all shared circuits wired throughout the house. Therefore, separate AC mains lines would suit best if dedicated phase cannot be installed. You would also require council approval in your country.

Cheers, and enjoy those fine tunes!
RJ

 

[DasguteOhr]

I completely forego filtering or anything like that. You described it very well. A separate line for HiFi from the distribution box, the only thing I have installed is lightning and overvoltage protection. (Dehn a German company with industry standards*) and an old DDR variable transformer for old devices, massively heavy and robust.
*Picture

 

[2ndLiner]

After reading the Sircom review again, I picked up four EH 6922s from Viva and found them to further the SQ of the ART88. Maybe it's just my expectations but they have been in the 88 for a couple of hundred hours now and are great. No noise from the tubes so far. Ron, I'll send you a PM on your my perceptions about your question if It's possible here. Nothing dramatic.

Did you place the EH 6922's in all four positions?

 

[Big Dog RJ]

Attn: Coppy

Great to hear the EH 6922's are your preferred choice of tubes in the ART88.

However, it doesn't "improve" SQ... rather it's just a different flavour. IF SQ was to improve then JF would be doing back flips.

Cheers mate, and enjoy those finest tunes!
RJ