I just bought some Hammond made in Germany tubes (quad) for my se84 which is basically a non rectified pendant. Haven’t tried them yet but will very soon. Picture is all my el84’s right now. Have been using a Telefunken pair with Siemens 12au7 for the last week.
A good friend of mine’s favorite tube is the el84 so luckily I got to pick through a good pile.
I’m surprised this hasn’t sold but I’m sure most people would a)rather have the ZMF name as well as the ampsandsound stamp and b) the added rectifier in the pendant c) buying from a badass small boutique company like Zmf!
Pretty good reasons to opt for a new one from Zach and Bevin.
From the designer’s comments here it seems the Leeloo was significantly redesigned to create the Pendant:
One of the main reasons for getting a Pendant would be its reputation for great matching with ZMF headphones. Because that comes out of of the redesign work ampsandsound did together with ZMF, I wouldn’t assume the Leeloo would be as good a match.
That link had some good info with Justin and Zach answering questions. I still think/hope the leeloo is a great match as it’s very similar to the pendant but yes, I agree the pendant was tailored heavily to Zachs taste. I just wonder how different did his taste change the leeloo (different transformers and choke with a rectifier instead of a ss power supply) would be fun to get a pendant and try the two next to each other as I have an upgraded leeloo with better Mogwai level transformers In it.
For those of you with Pendants that have a wooden enclosure, is the top of the wood more or less flush with the top of the main amp or is there a substantial lip? From the pictures above, it looks flush.
While I’m waiting for my Pendant to be built, I’m buying some new interconnect cables ahead of time because the 6 inch Schiit Pyst interconnects I currently use will not be long enough. I was thinking of buying some right angle RCA adapters so that the cables won’t stick up in the back and spoil the view of the tubes, but since I’m looking at boutique cable manufacturers that will make the cables from scratch (trying to support small businesses), I might ask if they can terminate one end in a right angle connector. But that would only work if there’s enough space for the cable to clear the edge.
Excuse my poor art skills but something like this:
Right angle connectors will work, someone recently here or over at Hifiguides forums did it and showed pictures.
Thanks @ProfFalkin and @Nick_Mimi!
Just curious: what interconnect cables are you looking at? I need to think about this as well, as I’m expecting my ZMF package (Verite & Pendant) to come sometime this month, if I’m lucky. It’d be nice to have all cable considerations worked out beforehand.
Never liked those adapters. They fit too loose and just add more contacts to the path.
If you let them hang naturally it works out ok. Having good, well built cables helps (Cardas & Audience pictured here.
FYI, if you suspect you have noisy tubes, first make sure you didn’t park your cell phone to close to the amp.
Ask me how I know 
Agreed, for the reasons you stated, I am not looking at separate adapters. But since I was looking at boutique cable manufacturers that are making cables from scratch, it occurred to me that I should ask if they can terminate one end with a right angle connector for a nominal fee. After all, I would have to pay for an adapter anyway, so hopefully it’s a wash to pay to have it soldered on.
I just started researching cable companies that are recommended on various forums and have just started sending emails out. I don’t have quotes yet, but so far Blue Jeans and Cullen have replied back to me confirming they can do it. Cullen can also do a right angled power cable.
I’m about to reach out to Schmitt Custom Audio and Douglas Connection (veteran owned business).
I’m not going to spend huge amounts of money, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised at the number of small boutique cable companies who charge reasonable prices for their regular cables, so I’m hoping they don’t charge much for the alternative termination.
I can check with Cardas to see which cables they can use the GRNO plug with if you like. Some of their lower end cables like the Parsec (what I use) are quite reasonable, but still excellent quality.
Cardas GRNO
Thanks for the offer @ToddR, but I am quite committed to supporting small businesses where possible. On the other hand, I did see that Douglas Connection does sell the Cardas GRNO as a component for DIY cable makers, so I bet they would stick one on one of their cables.
Actually, they are a small business. Just a handful of employees.
Thanks for pointing that out (for some reason, I thought Cardas must be a huge company), and for offering to reach out to them. I’ll shoot them an email myself.
On interconnects, its Iridium or higher for the good RCA plugs. There is also an upgrade option for the better plugs starting with Cygnus. The high end stuff is already upgraded. I just bought some Cygnus ICs and some Parsecs. Cardas makes good stuff. I don’t mind the R90 RCA adapters, just be sure to use good ones like those made by Audioquest.
Also, if you know what you want, I’d jump on purchasing them, since a price increase is forthcoming per my dealer.
Cardas parts are available at a variety of dealers.
Thanks for this. If you need any help on connecting with vendors, I’d be more than happy to support. Whatever you get, I’ll want to buy the same exact thing, and it seems you have the same customer mindset of wanting quality without busting the bank, and supporting the little guy too. Just let me know, otherwise I’ll just ping the vendors you’ve listed.
Nice. Evergreen cables are awesome. Was thinking of getting the Forest USB A to B for the Bifrost 2. Think it’s worth it? I just use the A to B cable from Schiit’s website.
I’ll tell you what, when all the vendors get back to me, I’ll post the options and you can decide. I did a lot of research and they all appear to have solid reputations for quality and value.
But I might decide on a vendor for a different reason to you. For instance, Patrick Cullen from Cullen Cables has been very good at getting back to me when I’ve sent him questions, so that might sway my decision. The infamous mastering engineer Steve Hoffman endorses Schmitt, so if you’re an admirer of Hoffman’s wonderful mastering (or the “intense” audiophile forum that he runs), you might want to go in that direction. Douglas Connection is owned by veterans, and that is a valid reason to support them. And I’ve never gone wrong with Blue Jeans in the past.
