Tube DIY Asylum Do It Yourself (DIY) paradise for tube and SET project builders.

---

[ Follow Ups ] Thread: [ Display  All  Email ] [ Tube DIY Asylum ]

---

[ Alert Moderator ]

---

Dennis Fraker - As It Is

Posted by Joseph Cohen (M) on July 26, 2006 at 23:35:12

In Reply to: The Emperor has no clothes posted by mach1 on July 24, 2006 at 01:27:08:

The Tube DIY forum is not a place I would normally venture as my knowledge of tube electronics is rudimentary, but in this case that gives me an advantage: I cannot possibly have any axe to grind. I do, however, have years of listening experience - in the evolution of my own home systems, at many CES shows as an exhibitor going back to 1993, and as a designer and builder of my own series of cables. I have heard hundreds of systems both at shows and at other designers’ listening rooms. I also have one further advantage that very few can claim: I own the Serious Stereo 2A3 amplifiers.

My first encounter with them was in Terry Cain’s room at RMAF ’04. Dennis brought in his diminutive fire engine red amps that were stone cold brand new with no break in time on them whatsoever, yet what I heard, hard and un-broken-in as they were, offered a glimpse of dynamics and power and subtle gradations and layering hidden within that was intriguing and left me wanting very much to hear them with more time on them.

The second encounter was at RMAF ’05 – the room that Alan Kafton and Stephaen Harrell wrote about. I spent as much time in that room as I could because, (a) the sound was the most relaxing and natural that I heard at the show, and (b) because Dennis and his brother Bryan are really fine people that made me feel welcome and at home. Dennis really cares about people and it shows in his every action, and if you are fortunate enough to meet him you should take the time to get to know him. Yes, he has very strong opinions, and when I don’t agree with him I tell him so, but you have no idea of the breadth of his knowledge and experience.

The sound at RMAF ’05 was relaxing and natural. Normal audiophile buzzword type attributes did not stand out. It didn’t have the best imaging I had heard, nor did it deliver the last word in detail retrieval. But it felt good to bathe in the sounds, which worked on me in a subtle almost subliminal way. I couldn’t help but focus on the music rather than the system. I offered to bring a set of interconnects down from my exhibit room for Dennis to try, and he accepted. Once in place they remained for the rest of the show. After the show Dennis wanted to take them with him. I wasn’t in a position to part with them just then, but later I agreed to send him a set. He wanted to arrange for an outright trade that would include more than one set of cables. I was reluctant. I had to hear his amps in my own system before I could commit. Dennis was of the opinion that I didn’t need to hear them first. I should just commit, because I wouldn’t find another amplifier like it. Finally, I convinced him that I could not commit until the amplifiers had some time in my system. As it turned out, it didn’t take much time for me to make a decision.

Dennis built heath kits as a kid and learned more about electronics from his local radio station engineers, who were only too happy to teach him what they knew. He studied electrical engineering formally at university and was placed in the Coast Guard’s advanced electronics program. He worked on the Montana Electrical grid, installed mega-sized blowers for the mines under Billings and maintained a number of movie theaters where he learned everything there is to know about Western Electric, Altec and JBL. He also worked the oil fields, mined silver and did heavy contracting. He maintains a Ford Diesel Pickup with 300,000 miles on it that’s never needed a battery change (through Montana winters!).

In my system (Highly modified TEAC VRDS 10, de Havilland Mercury II Pre-amp, Cain & Cain Abbys with 2 Alon Thunderbolt subwoofers, PranaWire Cosmos interconnects and speaker cables and PranaWire Kensho and Satori power cables) the Serious Stereo 2A3s just kick very serious butt. Any parameter you care to name, they have it in spades: power, drive, speed, bass, bandwidth, spatial resolution, layering, detail, richness, rightness, musicality, etc. They have ultimate delicacy coupled with raw power. The cost? – A smidge more hum when no music is playing than one might prefer, but there is no hint of it in even the most quiet passages, and, since the tubes are not driven hard, you can run it 'til the cows come home and not worry about failure.

Dennis explained to me in detail his thought process when designing these amps. I can’t repeat it all, because I didn’t absorb it all. Suffice it to say that the main point is the delivery of the appropriate amount of energy every step of the way. That’s where his knowledge of engines and horses comes in handy as he knows from observation that they give their best when run at ½ to 5/8ths of their capacity - too slow and they get in their own way and bog down, too fast and they burn out quickly. Dennis knows all the formal rules and history of design. He also knows that to get it “all” from an amplifier - you have to do what hasn’t been done before.

My most recent encounter with the Serious Stereo 2A3s outside my own system was at Dennis’s home in Montana where he’s either running his turntable with Grado arm and ClearAudio Virtuoso Wood into his modified VAC pre or his VRS computer through his passive attenuator into re-wired JBL Paragons.

The Paragons are an acquired taste and I can’t claim to have gotten all the way there, but what I did hear was impressive on yet a new level. The Paragon uses very serious drivers and puts out truly wide band sound. The textural density, richness and alive-ness of each sound were among the best, if not the best I’ve ever heard. This experience showed me that I’ve yet to unleash the full capabilities of these amps in my own system. You want the output of your amp making love with the voice coil, delivering just the right energy. This way your speakers will give you everything you could possibly want.

I suppose it's infuriating when a guy is right most of the time and lets you know it, but Dennis has done a lot of the heavy lifting. When he speaks, it’s worth one’s while to listen.

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:

VH Audio

---

[ Top of Page ] [ Contact Us ] [ Support/Wish List ] [ Copyright © 2025, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]

---

[ General ] [ Speakers ] [ Tubes ] [ Vinyl ] [ Digital ] [ Hi-Rez ] [ Video Asylum ] [ Cables ] [ Tweaks/DIY ] [ Music ] [ Films ]

---