livewire

WAT You didnt thank him like the chorus of warbling fanboyz over there? Dude you were throwing silver dollars on the tracks... Nice post, finally a breath of brutal honesty among the gaggle of geese. And he was HAPPY to hear your criticism. Hmmm..... Glad he doesnt belong to the Stax Mafia. Just sayin.

Steampunk T2?

Poor wallet...

Nice work! I hope it ends up working nice. Looks like you are on your way to having the first KGSSHV outboard. (off-board?)

Ok, so do what spritzer said. I was stating what I did. If you dont care to do step one (burn-in), that's up to you. With the outputs checked for correct voltages, your psu will prolly be good to go as is. @ wink - For my 450VDC PSU - 4K ohms @ 50W. One each between each output rail and ground. (2 total) Vishay p/n: RH0504K000FE02 For the 500VDC PSU, figure 5K ohms @ 50W. If you do decide to burn-in the PSU, keep in mind this procedure will stress some of the components to their design limits. (and possibly beyond) This is done to expose any potential weakness in the PSU and ensure a strong unit later on when operating under a normal load. I recommend bolting the dummy loads to a large chunk of aluminum heastsink to keep them from overheating while running at max load. Also while under power for eight hours, use a fan blowing air over the whole test set up. (i.e; transformer, psu board and dummy load.

This is what I did. Disclaimer - I am a DIY stat amp n00b. So take what I say here with the proverbial grain (or 50 pound sack) of salt. I will not be held responsible if you blow up your amp or headphones. I know that I am preaching to the choir here, but all the regular B.S. about following safe build and test procedures without electrocuting yourself apply here too. 1) The psu is to be burned-in for eight hours at 125% of rated power output. [with a dummy load attached - simulating the load of both amp boards] After burn-in, ensure that both the high voltage and low voltage +/- rails are outputting the correct voltages and are stable. 2) Short the signal inputs on the amp board to ground, or if already hooked to an attenuator, set it to zero (volume). No source input signal should be applied at this time. 3) Initially, only hook-up and test/calibrate one amp board at a time. Important: Ensure that the +/- 15VDC and +/- 450VDC* output voltages from the psu along with ground are connected to the amp board before powering on. (*make that +/-500VDC in your case) If any of the LEDs do not light, or are very dim or are blinking upon power-up, something is wrong! Remove power immediately, then troubleshoot. 4) Assuming that all LEDs are glowing uniformly, perform the following calibration procedure to the amp board(s): [note: this is copied from KG's HeadWize article on the KGSS. Same stuff applies here.] "The two pots balance the output voltages to 0V referenced to ground. Begin the adjustment by putting a voltmeter between + output and - output and setting the first pot for zero volts. Then put a voltmeter between the + output and ground, and set the second pot for 0V. After the amplifier warms up for 30 minutes, adjust the pots again. I adjusted my unit once, and keep checking it every so often. The output voltages on my unit are less than ±200mV. Compared to the 580 volt bias, that is close enough to 0V. And that is over a 1-month period." 5) Repeat steps two through four when the unit is cased with both amp boards connected along with the input and output jacks. This time, final test & calibrate the output voltages through the Stax jack(s). [without headphones connected] 6) Hookup a source and your headphones and enjoy! At first, I recommend using a "cheap" set of cans for a while. Sure would hate to fry them 009's!

Congratz on the Omegas deepak. Were those immtbiker's set?

Run a search in this thread for "PEEK". These are the plastic screws that have been discussed and recommended previously. M3 ceramic have a torque rating of 0.6 Nm, the PEEK plastic screw is half that. Yeah, you are gonna need a new torque screwdriver. As you have already learned the ceramic screws are very brittle. Not what I would use for this application, where heating expansion of the clamped TO-220 could break the head off. In general, ceramics perform better in a compression mode, not under expansion. (as a torqued screw would be)

+7 Happy to hear this news!

Oopsie!

Where is WarriorAnt when we need him?

Indeed!

I agree on the Grados, especially the MS-1. Great sound for a cheap phone. Not very comfy though and definitely not BIG enough. Oh well....

Just for YOU. Budget Beats. You cant beat THIS. http://lowesshop.com

I'm out. Removed myself from the spreadsheet.

I would like two of the five pin please.

http://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/h334/yessylooove/BB/7c00fb71_tumblr_lsu833mNYt1qbvaudo2_250.gif]

What? No velvet poker dogs at the last supper? Velvet Elvis, now you're talkin.... Nice score KG. Wish I had your luck.

WTF - I am curious to see how well this works with my music server & DAC. Amazon currently has these for $119 including shipping. The newer Mk II model is due out next month. Dont know yet what improvements it brings to the table. Initial retail is said to be $189 plus shipping.

Thanks for posting this info. Xicons it is. I know most people are tight lipped about selling things. It would be interesting to know what the market would bear for an original KG DIY T2. I'm sure it wont go for cheap. If you post it for sale in a forum with an asking price, please let us know.

The fourth season of BB is in the can. Last night's closing episode was a blast!

Breaking Bad