justinsweber
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Posts posted by justinsweber
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Thanx everyone... I will have to put in on my own equipment... but I trust the work of who I sent it too... (Much smarter than I). Ill be needing to send it out to a few people for a listen. I do liek the purpose built nature of it.
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Months after building my 1st dedicated headphone amp I was plagued… yes I mean a pelage! with hum/noise issues… I think we tore the amp down 5 times trying simpler and more complex grounding sure that was the issue. Although the amp was on the website I didn’t have for sale until it was right. After consultation failed, I sent the amp out to friends much smarter than I… Seems the problem was solved by replacing 4 caps. The Kenzie headphone amp is based on the Darling circuit, offering no feedback, SET yuminess. Trying to bring this same sound I used the same power supply values… Normally this is where I go to town and make all sorts of crazy changes to get lower noise floors, and significant sonic improvements. We are not sure if the headphone specific transformers just needed more power supply filtering or we had a bad cap, but going from 47uf x4 to 100uf x4 with lower ESR has fixed the issue… We now have a headphone amp which is silent with even the most sensitive of phones. J Happy day.
The amount of time and worry this caused was silly. $10 worth of caps…. Fudge…. I have a 300b project that haunted me like this. I discovered then that the caps were bad in the power supply. Lesson learned… assume nothing and always start with grounding or power supply.
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Id do it... considerings the cost... Many new high tech tube amps offer this... Mcintosh, Prema luna, etc... Given the difficulties with the amp, Id ask that they do it for much less... say 250?
All that said... you should not need it. There are old school ways of doing similar stuff... but this is your horse to ride... make it the best you can.
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I have few tube amps of various sizes... SET 1watt vs 100watt push pull.
All sound great... I cant say I have a pref but the 1 I play the most is my 1watt SET no feedback.
The cornwall is hyper-efficient... 1 watt is a wonderful size for smaller rooms or causal listening... Any Dynaco you chose from the ST35 (personal fav) to the ST-120 will rock... sound amazing) and will load even your floor joists.
If steping into tubes.... VTA offers a SCA35 (Dynacos only integrated which has some AMAZING updates.... REALY REALY REALY should consider unless you love your pre. (17watts is more thsan enough... just like 35watts is.) The ST35/SCA35 is well thought of in Dynaco circles.
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2nd the AIFF.... uncompress is best... seriously lots of debate over FLAC vs AIFF. AIFF is natively supported in itunes... Change Itunes pref to AIFF... its like WAVs but with meta data.
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You've taken a road less traveled... So wish you were closer... Love hearing systems that well thought out.
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WOW..... Thats some audio porn if ever there was.
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Selling off my plywood eliptrac 400 horns and 3/4ply cabs I built for them... will include binding posts (2 per cab), no driver included.
Cabs are stained in med mahogany/stain finish. (face of car is laq. black, comes with grills. )
Justin 323-868-9722
$500
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After some bad luck with edcor I wanted to source iron elsewhere... transcendar and Hammond.
The 10watt top mounted iron freq ext is a bit lower... :-( at 33Khz but lower distortion on the scope.
The under mount iron goes higher at 36Khz and is super clean too... but comparing wave forms has some distortion at the freq extremes... why I’m measuring beyond 20-20khz is beyond me... Well I did want to know if the iron or the circuit would be the limitation... pretty sure it’s the circuit...Now I just need to add a heil tweeter to hear it.
Im so looking forward to going to the Newport show... the wife gave permission for 2 days of audio show fun... Do wish the Yields and 1 of my amps had made an appearance too.
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Full power on test bench with load matters is 3 watts rms.
Bandwidth is 20 to 20k at full power. Usable peeks of 10watts.
1 watt freq. response is 10hz to 36khz.
With inputs shorted output noise is less than 5mV Peek to peek.
The redo has come out better than expected. I’ll be taking some photos of the Black unit and then it’s being sent off to Joe for some comparisons listening to the orig.
We have been able to lower the noise floor and significantly increase bandwidth. Not sure it will translate into a better listen exp, but I think it will. The quite passages are velvet black and the HF is pretty amazing. All testing was with Solvtek EL84Ms and 1 new Mallard 12AX7s.
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So I went really left field with my final choice. The Emo came in and was sold off to a customer before I even got a listen... I them took a mosey into turners gun store... I ended up getting a target pistol Rugger 22/45 which has eaten into my budget. That said, I was going to reorder the CD player and I got notice that audio advisor was selling the Parasound Zcd for $200. So Ive ordered one... Im 100% sure its not as nice as the Emo and may be as nice as the entry model from Marantz. Anyone looking for a Dac/CD player the Parasound $200 seems pretty hard to beat... has vol control, USB (thrumb drive), 3.5mm in and fixed/variable outs. Obviously if it sounds bad its going bad, but Im hopeful it sound pretty good :-).
$200 for a dedicated player is a great suggestion for the budget conscious amongst us.
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My exp from customers has been that their report of 97db effic is not realistic... more likely 94db. So there soundstage becomes dependant on how much power is driving them.
I think 15watts to 60watts is realist for most Zu speakers in moderate sized rooms.
Regarding the sound... many seem to enjoy tramendiously... There bookshelf/stand mont looks like a winner for smaller rooms, but there are tons and tons of speakers in that range so personal pref becomes most important.
The lager floor standers with the sub would are nice due to the small footprint, but should be compaired with similar speakers (size and price wise) Vandersteen 2Cs :-).
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what do you mean by hollow chamber? I use a set of the 250X and would love to know any improvements which can be made.
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The D220ti is a great driver... Ive used it with the H25-25 crossing at 1200hz.
You might want to try:
Eminence Eminator EM:200S 1" Bi-Radial Horn 90 x 90
Eminence APT 200S 90x90 1" Horn Flare 1-3/8"-18 TPI
Dayton Audio H07E 6" x 6" Elliptical Waveguide 1" Threaded
Dayton Audio H45E 4.5" x 4.5" Elliptical Waveguide 1" Threaded -
Greg,
Looking forward to meeting you!
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Not really a true integrated, but very hard to beat if your want SS.
Emotiva Stealth DAC (has 1 analog input) So you have coax for CD, USB for PC and RCA for LP :-)
Then the Emotiva XPA-2 300watts per side... super bad *** as SS goes.
All in for 1400... a real giant killer.
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really torn... I have the Emo comming but is the marantz a better player? and why?
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VPI Classic, Grado Reference Sonata. DIYtube SUT (best bang for the $ in a long time... can't say enough good things.) The Grado VPI combo is a really winner... all the warmth and detail I could ask for.
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The underside is hiding the PCB, outputs, vol and choke :-). I absolutely swear by the iron but not a pretty as Id like.
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Its three days. Im planing on going on friday... hoping less crowded.
Most interested in New DACs and Carts :-)
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T.H.E. Show Newport Beach May 30 - June 1, 2014
Anyone in the Los Angeles/ Orange County area going. Ive gone now for 3 years... lots and lots of fun.
Is Klipsch going to have a room?
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Ive been asked a ton to buid more of the SE-84s, but was trying to talk people out of it... really more time consuming that it should of been to build... hands not small enough... so I set out to give the same great sound on a chassis which made more sense. The silver one will be off to testing with Joe. So far, same great sound with great freq extention... product of better iron. The Black unit is my Sp edition... when I get silly with parts :-). I think Im done with prototypes for the summer. Time to build my bass bins and go to the park.
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Many a speaker builder will state tube amp friendly to mean 94db and above efficiency. I think most SET buyers are using speakers, single driver, horn loaded etc that are 96db and above and generally pair with amps of 1watt to 3watts or 8-12watts depending of cost/ and circuit choices. Most here have suggested that 30watts will give you all the dynamic head you could ask for and others have stated that lower power esp with Klipsch speakers provide room filling sound… it’s a personal choice more than anything. On my own speakers I run aware from .75watt to 100watts tubed and all are incredible pleasing. The 2 I most frequent in the fleewatt do to its warmth and the 8watt due to overall balance. (No matter what you choice… make sure its quite).
Sometimes the ansers are too obvious.
in Technical/Restorations
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If memory serves me... it was ~ 12hz to 35khz @ 1db but I don't have my bech results... its in transit back... As soon as I get back... Ill put back on the bench.