View Full Version : My Candela is back! :)
Man... I missed how this thing sounds...
Smokes the Shanling by itself anyday. That is for sure!
Anyways... there ya go!
engtaz
05-01-2009, 09:38 PM
Congrats. Your babies back in town.
danz1906
05-01-2009, 09:43 PM
Congrats-you can't go wrong with Odyssey:D
lol, thanks guys...
Yeah - just to give you an idea ---
I pulled it out of the box... wired it up real fast and just pushed play -- sat down and immediately could hear a difference. The Shanling will definitely have to go after listening to it directly for a week and a half... lol
The Candela sounds alot better than it did - the mods Klaus did to bring it to spec worked great!
pearsall001
05-01-2009, 10:06 PM
It sounds like you're in for a real treat. Congrats & enjoy!!!
george daniel
05-01-2009, 10:21 PM
what did Klaus do to it?
Honestly - I do not know...
The things that were wrong with my unit --
1) Outputs were swapped Left/Right
2) High noise floor
3) HT bypass only worked with certain preamps
These upgrades fixed 1 and 3 and reduced 2 -- tube preamps have a "tube rush" to them, and a light static is normal (about 1 ft away) - but I was hearing this about 6 feet away. But I have great ears either way...
But he said since the release, the Candela has had several updates that improved staging and clarity...
So I went ahead and had that done too... very impressions would say whatever he did definitely worked.
george daniel
05-01-2009, 10:31 PM
Happiness is a quiet tube pre,, have fun Trey.:cool:
yeah, before today - my Candela had some rediculous noise in the mix (for whatever reason) and it really got in the way of the music..
Glad to finally sit back and here silence! :)
Thanks!
engtaz
05-02-2009, 10:27 AM
Pics of the guts would be nice.
I guess that would answer some questions. I have pics of the old guts and I guess new guts would help
danz1906
05-02-2009, 11:29 AM
lol, thanks guys...
Yeah - just to give you an idea ---
I pulled it out of the box... wired it up real fast and just pushed play -- sat down and immediately could hear a difference. The Shanling will definitely have to go after listening to it directly for a week and a half... lol
The Candela sounds alot better than it did - the mods Klaus did to bring it to spec worked great!
Klaus is the Best:D
engtaz
05-02-2009, 12:43 PM
Cool, post both for comparison.
Serendipity
05-03-2009, 10:33 AM
Congrats! Can't wait to see the pics.
danz1906
05-03-2009, 10:38 AM
Awesome system-I would like to hear you system sometime:D
I ordered some paired RCA Clear tops for the candela --
Time to start tube rolling...
Probally will pick up the JJ Teslas Longplates
and RCA blackplates if I dont dig the clear tops...
hmmm
george daniel
05-03-2009, 05:30 PM
You just might like the blackplates.;)
Serendipity
05-03-2009, 06:58 PM
Trey -
When you ran your amps without the Candela, how exactly did it sound? I'm considering running a Stratos Extreme with the Onkyo in "Direct" mode, but I'm not sure if this would be desirable.
This question does not make sense...
The Onkyo I am assuming is a receiver. In which case it would be a preamp - and you would have to run it with your amps regardless....
Direct function is a term in which the receiver shuts off extra features for the best sound quality. So yes - I would recommend that. Now if you are talking about running a CDP direct to amps - I only recommend this if your CDP has its own volume control...
But the Stratos did ok, the Shanling - not so much.
Serendipity
05-03-2009, 07:38 PM
Let me rephrase it... the Onkyo is a receiver. I am happy with the amp section's performance, but the preamp section is too bright. If I were to use a Stratos Extreme with the Onkyo as the preamp, in direct mode, would this be good or not?
Itd be better but your weak link is still definitely the Onkyo.
Serendipity
05-03-2009, 07:42 PM
Thanks. A while back I tried an Adcom with the Onkyo as a preamp and it sounded worse than just the Onkyo by itself. Which led me to believe that the amps in the Onkyo were solid, but the pre section is just too bright.
Thanks for confirming.
You are probally more so finding the Adcom accented the Onkyos negative aspects more than anything...
Like the Stratos, the Adcom is designed to amplify a signal, not alter it...
Early B.
05-03-2009, 07:56 PM
Thanks. A while back I tried an Adcom with the Onkyo as a preamp and it sounded worse than just the Onkyo by itself. Which led me to believe that the amps in the Onkyo were solid, but the pre section is just too bright.
Nah. The Adcom sucked, and that's no surprise. The Onkyo as a pre sucks, too, so one suck plus one suck equals...[add your own here].
Trey -- we're still waiting for the before/after gut pics.
Ill take pics when I swap out the tubes --
That cover is a bitch to get off... You had a khartago you know what I am talking about.
Serendipity
05-03-2009, 10:22 PM
Nah. The Adcom sucked, and that's no surprise. The Onkyo as a pre sucks, too, so one suck plus one suck equals...[add your own here].
Trey -- we're still waiting for the before/after gut pics.
Actually, in "Direct" mode the Onkyo sounds quite good on CD and great for DVD-A playback. It's when coupled with an external amp that it sounded very harsh.
Trey - The Candela is an AWESOME preamp and must sound unbelievable.
You've got an awesome system... rock on!!
Still waiting for the pics though:)
I just swapped out the tubes -- I looked at the insides with a fine tooth comb and I cannot find any differences that stick out.
Everything looks about the same. I do not know what he did differently... lol
So -- I didnt take any new pics, but I will post old pics..
hoosier21
05-07-2009, 10:54 PM
did you ever try different tubes before? kind of sounds like you had a bad tube before, who knows
SolidSqual
05-07-2009, 11:16 PM
I just swapped out the tubes -- I looked at the insides with a fine tooth comb and I cannot find any differences that stick out.
Everything looks about the same. I do not know what he did differently... lol
So -- I didnt take any new pics, but I will post old pics..
Yeah, and get in writing what Klaus actually upgraded. Seems he just restored it to working condition.
Just a small factoid for everyone.
By contract, Klaus is not allowed to touch, modify, anything to the Candela preamp. Infact, I would go as far to say that the Candela is not really an Odyssey product. It is really not based on a Symphonic Line preamp, maybe just a little bit. But it is voiced/designed/built/worked on by Alex G.
And while I am still an Odyssey customer, I am, like a lot of people, kind of leary of Klaus after my Mono Extreme situation I had a while back. So I understand the concern.
I have swapped out 3 pairs of tubes in my Candela, all featuring the same problem. A very audible static - I would guess being 50db or more at all times. Incredibly loud and annoying. It was almost like an interference. It is literally dead quiet now, I can get right up to the tweeter and only hear a faint static.
But most of the "upgrades" were issues with the initial design. HT bypass, the noise, the RCA outputs being swapped - stuff like that. Now as far as the upgrades? I honestly do not know - I just know it works and I am willing to pay anything right now to get this thing nipped in the bud.
I trust Alex, his communication is flawless, he is honest and up front and its not a big sales game. So I do not feel he has ripped me off.
But then again, like I said, I understand the questioning. :)
heiney9
05-08-2009, 12:38 AM
Let me rephrase it... the Onkyo is a receiver. I am happy with the amp section's performance, but the preamp section is too bright. If I were to use a Stratos Extreme with the Onkyo as the preamp, in direct mode, would this be good or not?
Well, you;d be using only the pre-amp section of the Onkyo so however you determined the pre-amp section was bright.............that isn't going to fix that by using different amps.
Just curious, how do you know it's the pre-amp section that is bright?
SolidSqual
05-08-2009, 01:24 AM
Just a small factoid for everyone.
By contract, Klaus is not allowed to touch, modify, anything to the Candela preamp. Infact, I would go as far to say that the Candela is not really an Odyssey product. It is really not based on a Symphonic Line preamp, maybe just a little bit. But it is voiced/designed/built/worked on by Alex G.
And while I am still an Odyssey customer, I am, like a lot of people, kind of leary of Klaus after my Mono Extreme situation I had a while back. So I understand the concern.
I have swapped out 3 pairs of tubes in my Candela, all featuring the same problem. A very audible static - I would guess being 50db or more at all times. Incredibly loud and annoying. It was almost like an interference. It is literally dead quiet now, I can get right up to the tweeter and only hear a faint static.
But most of the "upgrades" were issues with the initial design. HT bypass, the noise, the RCA outputs being swapped - stuff like that. Now as far as the upgrades? I honestly do not know - I just know it works and I am willing to pay anything right now to get this thing nipped in the bud.
I trust Alex, his communication is flawless, he is honest and up front and its not a big sales game. So I do not feel he has ripped me off.
But then again, like I said, I understand the questioning. :)
Good response.
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