Pocket Power

[thebes]

Ok, so the t-amp craze comes along, I buy one, the volume control is all over the place. Sounds barely ok. I lend it to Skonopa who puts it a drawer and promptly forgets about it for two or three years. Last summer it lands back in my house. A couple of weeks ago I'm ordering some parts for a couple of other projects and invest the healthy sum of about $10 in parts for the t-amp. A few hours with a saw, some tools, and solder and boom, a modded portable toy which could come in handy for traveling.

I burn in the caps on a small set of speakers for about 20 hours and put it into the main system. I'm surprised. This thing really does sound good. It doesn't give you most of the subliminal distortion of all the best of ss gear. Instruments are natural, voices are clear. Shortcomings? Depth and detail of the stuff that hides in the back of the music. It's also about a beat too fast in speed and I've often wondered if the real reason ss has punch, over tubes, is because they've speed up the clock a tick.

One build shortcoming. the recommended 100k pots need to be upped to probably 500k because the gain rises too sharply.

With the wall wart I've got maybe $50 bucks in this thing and as a line level integrated that can fit in your pocket, it'll kill anything in the under $500 bill range. Quite impressive, but nothing to live with longterm.

So if you've got one of these stashed a drawer, a few rainy day hours and you will surprise yourself.

[thebes]

Another pic.

[thebes]

Last one.

[seti]

Wow very coool. I got mad at my tripath and killt it trying to upgrade the caps. It was a worthy death.

BTW Your package will be in the mail tomorrow. Sorry I got distracted by something shiny.

[Marvel]

One build shortcoming. the recommended 100k pots need to be upped to probably 500k because the gain rises too sharply.

Did you use linear pots or audio taper? The audio taper pots are log, so the adjustment would be smoother.

It's also about a beat too fast in speed and I've often wondered if the real reason ss has punch, over tubes, is because they've speed up the clock a tick.

How can it be faster than the playback device? This actually made me laugh out loud, but was erminded of why some don't loke horns, because they really are faster in response than DRs.

[dtel]

You must have some big pockets ?

For a minute I thought you were talking about the twins again.

[thebes]

One build shortcoming. the recommended 100k pots need to be upped to probably 500k because the gain rises too sharply.

Did you use linear pots or audio taper? The audio taper pots are log, so the adjustment would be smoother.

It's also about a beat too fast in speed and I've often wondered if the real reason ss has punch, over tubes, is because they've speed up the clock a tick.

How can it be faster than the playback device? This actually made me laugh out loud, but was erminded of why some don't loke horns, because they really are faster in response than DRs.

I do believe I used audio taper but I'll have to check. I've got a couple of 500k's around here I'll throw in and see what happens.

As far as the clock, you've got a good point, but I'm Thebes.I call them as I see them weather they make any sense of not. Thinking more about it, it could be the source because I do feel anything on cd sounds a bit faster than a properly adjusted tt (it's a conspiracy I tell ya). Believe it or not, I'm very sensitive to playback speed. I can actually feel it in my gut when the records too fast or too slow. Considering all my other audiophile shortcomings, I'm really surprised that I'm so accurate at this aspect of the hobby.

Dtel, OK I'm exaggerating just a bit, something I almost never do.[] Yeah the gadget is 4" by 5 and 1/2". So pocket sized if you are a marsupial. Still, it's a decidedly bigger sound in a smaller package than anything out there I'm aware of, including those god awful ipods.

[Marvel]

Thinking more about it, it could be the source because I do feel anything on cd sounds a bit faster than a properly adjusted tt (it's a conspiracy I tell ya).

That makes more sense (can't believe I just said that...)

Believe it or not, I'm very sensitive to playback speed. I can actually feel it in my gut when the records too fast or too slow.

You've always come across as a sensitive guy, so THAT doesn't surprise me at all. [:#]

So... if you burned some vinyl to cd, would they sound the same when you played them both back?

[thebes]

Excellent idea my friend. It just so happens I have copied a Manitas de Plata (they don't call him "Silver hands" for nuthin) four sided lp set to my computer and could easily burn a cd.

Need a stop watch though. People may not believe my gut. Maybe there is a software stop watch. I'll report back!

[oldtimer]

"People may not believe my gut." That's what the twins told me. Except they believe it. Who am I to object?

[skonopa]

That's cool. I was wondering if you did anything with that. I toyed with it briefly and just kept forgetting to bring up to give back to you during those various gatherings we had. It was fun to play with, but nothing to write home about. What you did with it is actually really cool, though. At least I was finally able to put that turn-table you gave me a few years ago into use. I need to set all that back up down there in the basement (I had to pull that two-channel rig apart to get at the window to replace it).

I didn't quite get the thing about the clock speed of an amp. I figure any amp worth its salt would simply just play whatever is fed it. Could it be that SS (which, yes, I do use - a B&K Reference 200.7 amp) are just faster in the transients than tube amplification?

[edwinr]

I'm impressed, Marty. I didn't know you were such a talent... []

[thebes]

Hey Steve, yeah finally got around to playing with it. Glad the TT will see some service and you can spin those 80's mullet platters I also gave you.

Transients? Could be, but I still think it's some kind of speed issue. Suitable experiments that may, or may not, follow standard scientific methodology, will be undertaken for a future report.

Edwin, it's my stomach. I treat if very, very well and I expect certain things from it in return.

[mike stehr]

My T amp passed on many moons ago.

[LarryC]

Could it be that SS (which, yes, I do use - a B&K Reference 200.7 amp) are just faster in the transients than tube amplification?

I've thought something similar at times, that SS transients are different. Being a tube guy, I've felt that tube transients are purer and more natural, at least in the treble and midrange (bass might be a different story). To me, SS adds an edge to transients, but I haven't considered whether they sound faster or not.

[100dB]

I'm very confused about "fast", as well as the "clock" in SS analog gear.

[100dB]

If the issue is a shift in tempo w/o pitch change, in an analog piece of gear, I believe you may have stumped the "psychoacoustic band". It's your band though.