spritzer

Sorry for leaving you hanging like that but work called. Thanks Kevin for stepping in and stating rightly that it isn't wise to fuck with the Mafia. We've always known that the A-10 was bad but it is shocking just how bad is is. Ray states a voltage swing 600VP-P (roughly 210V RMS) which is just barely meets while generating way too much distortion so it is clearly clipping at that point. To put this into context the BHSE swings 1500VP-P (530VRMS) and it costs a lot less than the A-10. Hell,the SRM-252S swings 280VRMS and never comes close to clipping... hen we have the issue with no adjustments at all in the amp. Ray states on the top panel that you need matched ECC83's for the diff amp and 6SN7's for the preamp output but this will never work to balance out the amp properly. The diff amp has to be adjusted and ditto the phase splitter. There is also no offset adjustment so that 600VP-P voltage swing is purely theoretical. The amp will never reach that in practice... To make matters worse these are not enough amplification stages so the gain is driven to the max with bypass caps on the cathodes so this thing is noise central. Massive amount of gain with no voltage swing is never a good idea. Then we have the over all layout of the amp, it's just a mess with stuff run all over the place, it's like auto routing gone mad. As for the PSU, it is pure shit but Ray was clearly looking at Mikhail for inspiration there. Two bias lines run from the PSU to the headphones when a simple voltage divider in the amp chassis would have done a far better job. Mikhail did the same in the ES-1/2 wasting "precious" umbilical wires on nothing. Then we have the Cincon CMF40/60 switching PSU's used to run all the low voltage stuff from relays to the tube heaters. Grounding the heaters in the 5687 is a shockingly bad idea same as it was in the ES-1/2. Now the real question is, should I leave the circuit as it is or apply fixes so that it at least sort of works. Isolated heaters are a no brainer but I really want people to appreciate just how bad this amp is.

Who needs low distortion and high power? What about some high distortion, high noise and very limited power output. Apparently some people want that in an amp... This has been a long time coming but this one will bear a striking resemblance to certain production amps but combine dynamic and electrostatic output in one amp. More to come...

Happy Birthday Nate!!!

But... but... it's so much fun!!??!!

Happy Birthday!!!

The input selector is a toggle switch to the extreme left of the amp. The small knob is a balance control. So fucking true... Still it's a Bryston so it's certainly better than most of the crap out there.

That would be plausible but idiots over on HF will not like it...

Is is me or does that look like a 2-gang Noble AP-25? http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/ces/2012/images/Bryston-innards-DSCF6579-1200.jpg How are they doing a fully balanced amp with only two gangs and a dual gang balance pot? Hmmm....

The hum can be either the bias supply's lack of a transformer causing hum or just residual hum in the amp. Older amps. especially tube amps, are very prone to hum. AC heater wiring just adds to this issue.

Indeed. I don't understand why a SRD-7 Pro works but not a Mk2 since they are essentially identical.

I've never seen any Stax box with a shared ground.

The HV can handle quite a bit more current so go nuts. The circuit is also very linear when the current is scaled up and down.

I'd guess these are from 1999/2000 so fairly old and using the old material for those parts. I have one of the first 007's ever made here and the parts have a similar wear but not nearly as bad. The drivers on that one were missing all but one of the dust covers though...

Moar distortion particles FTW!!!!

Congrats!!

60W of this caliber will be way more than sufficient as the power rating is a bit of a joke.

Pass XA-60.5?

Reminds me of my old school where only five Casio models were allowed, nothing else.

Happy Birthday Dan!!

Yeah that is quite a difference but it really is worth it. I do use my PS-800 more though but that's only because I'm too lazy to install a smaller tip on the 900...

PS-900 then. I have both...

Arghhhh!!!! As it happens I just spent an hour at work today discussing the only large scale battle ever to take place in Iceland with my cousin which was a large turning point in the collapse of the old republic.

I'm finally resurfacing after a PITA weekend at work. No day under 12 hours for a week which culminated in a 19 hours yesterday without sitting down or taking a single break. Looks like I have a lot to catch up on...

Nah, just get a proper one. Oki PS-800e has no trouble with those sinks even with a small cone tip. Pretty cheap too given how good it is...

Odds are that I do...