spritzer

You are right, it changes fuck all. I guess it does mean I have to start building more amps so that Justin and I will cover the entire market. It must me nice for them in the short bus...

Didn't know about that and as usual they are too cowardly to discuss anything with me. Doesn't surprise me the least though but can anybody explain to me how I can be an MOT when I don't make any money on what I sell? Sure seems profit should be a factor in this with me more adopting the Spectral Audio business model. Looks like I'll have to send the half-wits a PM today and demand an explanation. I don't mind the label though as it means I can now have posts by others about my stuff removed. I don't think they thought this one through... That's exactly my problem with him and his ilk. Clueless idiots that can't draw meaningful conclusions at any cost. They seek acceptance like an addict seeks his fix but they are never going to find it.

Many tubes have claimed to equal the XF2's over the years but it's never even close to being true. Large part of why the XF2's are so good is the build quality, very thick plates which are welded by hand. Nobody can match that...

Yup and add to that the amps simply don't sell on the used market. Last I heard the LL1 is closing in on 1k$...

The BHSE hits the last bastion of good audio press: There is a good article in there too about headband resonance in headphones.

Well Mercer takes being stupid to new levels so none of this is surprising. It's typical Cavalli though, the product is crap that doesn't sell so have some idiots shill it for you.

Happy Birthday Jeff!!

The whole goal of the KGSSHV was never the high voltage, that was just a side product of the parts available. The main focus was the new PSU design and indeed the CCS for the third stage where the old KGSS had resistors as current sources. Given that we could push to +/-500V we did it but there is nothing wrong with +/-400V. The higher the voltage swing, the further away from the limits of the circuit is the "normal" listening volume and the circuit is thus more linear. Now if 4686A's were still in production then it wouldn't be a problem to run at +/-450V but they are already in short supply so we need to look ahead. The fets do work but very high input and output capacitance makes them a less than ideal choice for this role. The new Moto part is promising and I'm looking everywhere for high voltage BJT's and might have some news on that front soon. It will cost me more than a BHSE to secure them (f it is even possible) but it will also mean a lot of new KGSSHV's can be built. I'm a pragmatic man though so with parts like the Fairchild F5027 in current production it makes sense to extend down to +/-400V with no performance hit.

The offboard one? It was a special version done just for my uses so no need for the IXYS parts. It's also a 400V version so it can use BJT's that are in current production.

I doubt you upgraded the power transformer. The Keen Ocean transformers Craig uses are pretty nice once you force them to build it not "china style" i.e. I'm willing to pay more than next to nothing.

No conditioners actually work unless you are completely regenerating the AC. Better stick with a good isolation transformer. Ahh the evils of background noise, well if the amp has any then it should be fixed and properly at that.

I wonder why people never upgrade the transformers in the components instead of the cables. They are a crucial part and all that. Well I guess that would take some resemblance of brain activity to do so why bother with something like that...

Most of our designs are finalized. There are some offshoots which are discarded but the general idea is finished and then either improved with a later version or put aside. Most have PCB's that go with them, either rough drafts or finished boards which is great when we revisit the designs.

Hand painted sinks... that would be a neat idea... Having some very mild hum issues in the amp so time for some trouble shooting. I'm guessing the input wiring from the pot to the PCB's as it's unshielded.

Yup, trackpads are a no, no for delicate PCB work.

There are quite a few that haven't been released....

Yeah, always better to do that. Though with a KGSSHV psu it is almost impossible to overload the input...

Can't go wrong with Antek. Dirt cheap and very well made.

Well the big brother of the mini KGSSHV I posted above is up and running. Huge sinks on this one so I could play with the current a bit. Running at almost 12mA now @+/-400V... Not happy with the quality of these boxes though so this one will be a one off. Managed to wash some of the anodizing off the heatsinks...

845's aren't a problem, the EML tubes Kevin used in the front end of that other amp are.... Around 4-5k$ in tubes alone. The Beast is a pretty neat design. The quality of the choke is crucial but it's nice to have CCS loaded front stages.

The last paragraph of that Stereophile test report says it all. In the circuits DHT's are mostly used (i.e. as old as the hills) they are simply painting a pretty picture that's not truly accurate. Similar in many ways to vinyl which has its issues and can't ever match the resolution of redbook but sounds "nice". The whole notion that tubes have a "sound" bothers me no end, just look at the BHSE distortion data Justin posted on HF. Here is the Beast. The quality is pretty crap as it's a huge schematic taken off a single page in a small book. Bonus points to anybody who sees why this one works but the WES fails so miserably? Kevin also has a design with a dozen DHT's but he hasn't even let me see it. Says I have to promise to build it before he does so....

The 3296 line would be a better fit in that spot. We never do the BOM's so no control over them...

They always used mylar until they switched to what I can only assume is PEEK. None of the other plastics really work for this role...

Even better.

My reply would have been: "DSD? That's so last year, now everybody is for retro red book. Aren't you keeping up?"