spritzer

6SN7's are never going to work in that role. Mikhail already tried that and it doesn't work. Here's the thing, meet impressions are utterly useless. The noise level in those rooms is very high so even with closed headphones it would be difficult to make any meaningful impressions. You can tell if something is really not to your taste but there are too many variables to say that this headphone X sounds like this. This has been a pet peeve of mine as these same people obsess over the most minute of details in terms of assembling system but take meet impressions as a gold standard. If there had been another real CanJam then I would have setup a test for people to try. Three identical looking amps with three identical Stax phones and ask people to say which is the best. One would be a true high end design, one would be a basic but good design while the last one would be as bad as they can be. It would be interesting to see if people could pick the good one... Well, there are a few of them. The Stax SRM-323S is excellent for the price. It's scaled down to meet the price point so don't expect it to do the 007 justice but for the rest of them it's excellent. It may be a bit too matter of fact for some though. Both the 727 and 007t are excellent designs but let down by some questionable choices. Close the feedback loop on the 727 or swap out the tubes in the 007t for 6S4A's and both are excellent amps. Unless Woo have done something recently to the GES then it is also a great amp. Don't bother with the upgrades or other such BS and stick with JJ ECC83's for input tubes. It's a cracking little amp for somebody wanting tube flavor. A more refined version of that sound would be the Headamp Aristaeus. Now the actual HEV90 ranges from "what the fuck were they thinking" to decent but Justin simply does it better. BHSE naturally and the Stax SRM-252S is pretty amazing for something so tiny. That's about it though... I saw you asking for the schematic for the Alo piece of crap and the shill enforcing agency getting all hot and bothered. You are right about the Woo though, it deserves a place there with the WA5 (utterly flat and lifeless) and the WA22.

The sole ray of light in that abyss.

Better safe than sorry...

I don't like lists or care at all about dynamic stuff but here are a few: Woo WES, took a good circuit and utterly fucked it up. Basically a quad single ended amp with no option for adjusting anything so everything drifts like mad Any of the Rudistor SS amps. All based on the same circuit and again, a quad of single ended amps that drift all over the place. All of the Rudistor electrostatic amps, all based on the Egmont circuit. Fine 500$ amp but 5K€? Terrible build quality and a bias supply that will destroy your headphones as a bonus. Alo Studio Six. Joke of a circuit and they think using a TKD volume control and 20cent Koa SPR2 resistors (aka Kiwame) makes up for the crappy transformers. Rule one for tube amps, budget everything for the transformers. Anything RSA though the A-10 and the Darkstar are the standout performers. The A-10 has to be witnessed by anybody looking for the ultimate "how is this crap possible!!??" EC Electra is utterly fucked but then again everybody knew that. Zane Deux also gets an honorable mention. Stock it is nothing special but then he did a "low impedance" version which simply takes the cake. Probably missed a few as I've been up for way too long... The Zana Deux

I think they are just caught up in the hype. This is heavily plugged into the verbal diarrhea that are those online "review" sites. Just look at those endorsements, Mike Mercer? That guy is 6moons quality

Here's the thing though, they aren't well regarded. It's just the same people (who don't pay full retail for the product) who hype it up. They will sure look like idiots when we post what the Liquid Gold really is like. Ultra high end it is not... The LF is a dud now, nobody will touch one and they are worthless on the used market. That was well before this thread.

Here is an update, both PSU boards have been worked on and we dare to call them the final versions... Here is the updated "k" version: Red is the top layer while blue is the bottom. The major changes are more clearance around the entire ground plane, less chance of a short around the rectifier diodes (different footprint), no ground plane or traces on the top layer under the main PSU caps and all traces on the top layer cut down as much as is possible. There is now the provision for a fuse for the bias supply when running it off the prereg (500V version) as the voltage doubler naturally limits current for the 450V supply. Also added is a bias test point before the ballast resistor to check the bias supply. No CT connections for the HV line as nobody used them. Also we added markings to make the setup clearer, what should be used where and all that. Here is the new version of the large board: Same changes as above but also moved the mounting holes to decrease the chance of shorts. The design was also updated to the same spec as the "k" boards. I'll order up some proto boards later today.

Best would be to abolish post count.

Could very well be. Well either that or they just don't know any better. The M-20 would certainly point in that direction...

They could be pulling a KingSound M-20 on this and running a 300V max tube at 600V. What I don't get is why would anybody use these tubes when there are still dirt cheap TV tubes out there that will do the trick.

Something like this might work: http://www.audiotubes.com/damper.htm

EL95? http://www.hebertech.com/view/1287-philips-el95.pdf That anode resistance isn't high enough, 20K won't cut it.

Here are the old ones, SS first: Notice the output caps and a Stax clone all the way Looks familiar? Same circuit but different output tubes.

I will order prototype boards as the design is pretty much ready...

Very similar to the GES but 7 pin output tubes? None spring to mind that can handle 600V... He did build some amps back in the day, the SS one was a bastard version of the SRM-001 and the tube amp was a GES clone.

Why are you going to sue my lovely k boards...? I'll postpone the KGST PCB work and see if I can't find the latest large board version somewhere...

Having been at the center of that mess, how it was handled at HF was highly suspect. When we initially posted about it with just internal pics from owners as evidence it was all removed and all our claims refuted by Mikhail. The pics were good enough to fully redraw the circuit but it was made abundantly clear that without a unit to rip apart nothing could be said about the matter. It took close to a year to source an ES-1 and by that time Nate has posted about the Extreme and shit had hit the fan. How many new amps were sold and how many owners sent in amps for repairs in that time frame is the real question though. An open discussion could have changed some of that. The issue of the cheated owners taking legal action against HF (as well as Mikhail) has been brought up a few times over the years. I've never wanted to be a part of it aside from providing all the data I have from that time (everything was saved for posterity). I've had enough of legal BS to last a lifetime. The monetary amount is certainly sizable as there were enough of 10K+$ amps that never worked. This also applies to this thread and any other detailed discussion about a commercial product. The consumer should be presented with as much info as is possible, not just what the MOT wants them to see.

The prereg voltage probably rose due to the fubar transformer which means the zeners had to burn it off. Normally they just split open when they fail but here they just cooked a bit. In other news we've worked on the HVk PSU a bit more to make it even safer to use. Now there is nothing under the main caps but empty FR4 material so they can sit on the PCB. The CT connections for the HV inputs have been removed plus a bunch of small fixes and alterations. The ground plane clearance has also been increased so this one should be trouble free. Now a question, would somebody like us to do the same to the older style of the PSU boards? This could be useful to have in amps that suffer damage etc. so the old mounting holes could be used but the board would be safer to use.

That sounds about right...

Happy Birthday Marc!!!

I also truly don't get this utter delusion of "discussing the issues" with the manufacturers as a way of getting anything done. This is not how the world works and never has. That said I have tried this with both Cavalli and Woo Audio, neither have listened. This was also the basic stuff that any competent engineer should have avoided in the first place. Seriously, exposed pins on the PSU of the WES carrying +600V with more than enough current to kill you and the Exstata being designed to throw away parts on purpose. Something that springs to mind are the guidelines Hifi News and Record Review used back in the day when reviewing gear. They were the first to test the operational parameters of the gear so what should they do if the gear was way out of the published spec or simply sounded horrible? This was in the 60's so the components quality and build standards were not as consistent/good as they are now. They decided that the manufacturer was offered a chance to supply a new unit that worked to spec as shit happens but failing that, the full review was posted with all the gory details. As is clear to everybody we do our projects out in the open with nothing to hide. If there are issues then we address them but don't try to hide it. Shit happens is a good motto to have but it's hard to accept when one does have a god complex...

No, that just applies to the current sources. The 2SC4686A is the BJT output device, you are thinking of the 2SA1968 which is the PNP BJT used in the CCS.

So it's basically, add enough zero's and it must be awesome? God I hate these clueless blog idiots.

No change would cause such a dramatic difference. Did you manage to balance the output at all?

That is indeed it. There are plenty of halfwits that claim this is all some personal vendetta of mine but I've done the same for Woo Audio products, RSA, King Sound, Stax and even Headamp. Some of these may not like me but at least they haven't sent the paid shills to try and bully me, not that I can be bullied or intimidated. That said, the actions of fanboys in general are not good as people are stuck with barely functioning gear and just supposed to suck it up. Tow the party line which is led by people who haven't got a clue. It's all quite sad... As it stands now we've turned the LL into something useful. The circuit is still exactly the same but improved with better components, proper assembly technique, some basic common sense and an actual analysis of the circuits. We don't try to bend some cheap parts off Mouser to our will, we just use what's best for the job. The sound now is much improved and I'd compare to a modded 727. Doesn't have the sheer presence of a KGSSHV let alone the BHSE but bass and treble anomalies are gone and now the amp is linear. Far less distortion and now the bloody thing is safe to use. Easy to service too as there are only 4 wires soldered in at both ends and they are the outputs. Easy as pie to remove them from the output socket PCB's. Now I would actually feel comfortable to sell the amp on but I'm not going to. Nice to have in all the "post pics of your rig" photo's...