spritzer

Same Chinese stuff as you can buy on ebay. It's normally pretty nice if the seller can be bothered to package it properly...

That looks good. I still don't know why we made the front end filaments 6.3V though. They really should have been 12.6V or even 25V. Hell a LM7824 with a diode on the ground pin would be perfect for that.

No problems with the mini but for a first build, it will bite you and bite hard. I'd do an onboard as then it can be tested safely and then assembled.

Ditto but sometimes it is just a pain.

This shit happens to me all the time. I keep getting notices from customs about some packages that I don't have a clue about.

Happy Birthday!!!

This one does have to be fixed as there are a number of issues. Heatsinks should be soldered down and grounded, the ground plane in a mess so not working properly and one resistor per side is running right on its limit. There are also some small changes to part values and ideally they should be put right plus the transistor mounting to the heatsinks needs work.

Indeed...

Minor detail...

I forgot about the tiny heatsinks.

Not sure about the low voltage caps but the high voltage supply should have no problem with higher AC input voltage. The PSU is regulated so the output is fixed, the only issue being the prereg DC voltage not being excessively high for the filter caps. Try to ask SumR to use a larger core. That seemed to help when I was working on this with him. As others have said, tubes aren't just tubes in the same sense that not all transistor devices are equal. To think of tubes being different to transistors would be a fallacy as they both do the same job and can often be used in very similar circuits. There are differences in the same sense that bipolar transistors and mosfets aren't the same thing but the key difference is how any component is used. The Stax 007t and the BHSE are both hybrids with similar rail voltages and many parts of the solid state circuit are similar. How the tubes are used couldn't be more different though. The 007t tube stage could just as well have been designed in the 50's and is just about as simple as they come. The later version have added bits here and there but the final design is always the same. The BHSE on the other hand is radically different. Active circuits set the correct operational area for the tubes so they don't rely on the massive drift found in passive devices. The tubes are also wired differently for even lower distortion so this is far from a normal tube amp. Moar expensive doesn't mean better tubes. Shuguang is a good example of that and I for one would never use anything they make, in any of my amps. The old Mullards were simply better made than anything today so that is the biggest factor.

Yup, that's correct and it has been fixed.

I'm happy that I finally sent Kevin something he likes. Last time was a Liquid Lightning which he wasn't too happy with... Is the pot a real Alps unit or a fake? Can't tell from the pics...

Please don't compare anything here to HF. Here we can state our opinion, backed up by copious experience, and it is accepted as such. The LCD-3 isn't bad by any means but the model released three years ago is far from the current offering.

The shipping for the KGSS was just over 113$ for a 6.5Kg package. The transformer is a Talema unit so odds are that it has dual primaries. We are famous... http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a230r.1.14.72.YKuenw&id=37960660378 I say a new project with a new thread. Make it easy for them... Seriously, the only thing stopping us are those damn P-channel Jfets. Are any of the Fairchild parts usable?

Have a head banging birthday Justin!!

The KSA-5. Nobody had completely reverse engineered it until we did so. Speaking of which... http://www.ebay.com/itm/KRELL-ksa5-Class-A-8W-8W-amplifier-in-case-220V/271466031172?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222003%26algo%3DSIC.FIT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20131003132420%26meid%3D6872961694781196531%26pid%3D100005%26prg%3D20131003132420%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D151276393019&rt=nc Not very subtle in their thieving...

I agree, the HD800 is simply better than any ortho I've ever heard. The Dynalo drives it perfectly and even better with some output resistance added. The Dynalo or a balanced one will drive the LCD-2 and 3 very well but a balanced Dynahi would be utter state of the art.

Stax really don't want to sell the sockets so not sure where this guy is getting them. They are genuine alright and the newest spec. First KGSS? I used Cart100.com but there are a lot of deputy services out there. Cart100 have been great on the two occasions I've used them, even reminded me that China is 230V so there might be a problem with that.

That's an issue with the bright nature of the phones, something which I know can be fixed without taking a sledgehammer to the top end. I'd have no reason to use the 009 if it mean making them less resolving... Just so it's clear, I've never felt the 009 offered any resolution bonus over a well fitted 007. It's even the opposite as the 007 just gets out of the bloody way and is in no way apparent.

I do like the build quality over all. Pretty nice parts and the correct ballast resistor for the phones. Even carbon comp like Stax still use. The transformer is 230V only so that is not good for US users. Still, easy enough to swap out. So the second Chinese copy this year, we must be doing something right.

Given how big a factor the output impedance is to the HD800 sound then that should be compensated for when comparing amps. Then again I'm a crazy purist... Sticking the HD800 on a WA5 is a bit like sticking the SR-009 on the Liquid Lightning, having a highly resolving transducer dumbed down by a highly colored amplifier. Didn't catch that SRD box. Do you have a link? Funny thing though, I recently found a box I'd put into storage years ago with a pile of SRD-7 transformers. No idea I had that so I'll have to find some use for them. Perhaps show Woo how the WEE should have been down with a regulated PSU and relay switching?

I just threw up a bit looking at that site... Anyway, the price difference is probably due to the weak Yen against the USD.

Poor or simply broken. Chewing up tubes might just be a design choice...

Happy Birthday!!!