MASantos

X-altra MM/MC phono stage. A project published on audioexpress a few years ago and a different design approach compared to my Simplistic phono designed by Salas over at diyaudio.com Will be fun to compare both.

I haven’t read through the tech specs of the amp, but is the volume actually controlled by the alps pot or is it done in the digital domain with the pot only acting as a controller?

Looks great!! Count me interested in a group buy!

Got these b22 and o2 boards over at diyaudio for the price of the input jfets alone. Will have to review them and get the needed parts and case.

Happy Birthday Kevin!

Refurbishing my old Pete Millett hibrid. The electrolitcs are over 15 years old, Should I replace them all or might they still be good? Building a new wood and aluminum case.

Don't forget that a transformer shouldn't work near max output current. Most recommendations for Class A amplifier are to use something with at least double the output current capability.

That's quite a compact build, what is the size of that case? Looks good! What VA is that transformer? It looks quite big.

I replaced the opamp and now it reads as the other 3. The offset still drifts around below 10mV. All other amplifiers I built (cfa, ckk3) with dc servos were very steady once the servos were installed. Is this drifting normal in the dynalo mini? I can't seem to find any solder bridges, it is as if the servos are not doing their job at all. Sound is now centered and similar in both SE and BAL ouputs, it is just the drifting that is puzzling me.

So I found a dead resistor in the R+ channel and replaced it. The L+ channel is the one acting up. I removed the servo jumpers and dialed the offset to less than 5mV on each channel. All fine. When I reinstalled the jumpers the L+ dc offset jumped to around 350mV while all the other channels remain below 2-3mV (but still wondering between 0 and 2-3mV, not ultra stable). The servo opamp for the L+ channel is getting power as it should. Might the IC be damaged and causing this? On further inspection, the 100k resistor next to the opamp measures 28K when soldered (I removed it and it measures 100k as it should) The opamp is measuring 1.1ohm between pins 2 and 3 (input + and input-) this is different from all the other opamps so I'm ordering a new one.

Those are dc offset mV indeed. long day yesterday... I'll take readings on the resistors and check the biasing circuits to start!

My dynalo mini started acting up. Balanced output works fine, but SE output had low volume and distortion. I did another thorough clean up with alcool, double checked everywhere for solder bridges and it started working again, probably some bridge of flux I didn't spot before. It now has almost even level between channels, but just a bit lower level on the left channel. It could almost be due to a potentiometer inbalance but it is perfect in balanced output. Dc is 0.1-0.2 on the right channel and 2.4-2.6 on the left. When starting up the bias goes down quickly on the right channel but take a bit longer on the left one. this is with servos in the circuit path. I took VDC measurements around the board on most transistors and servo opamps and I couldn't spot any differences between the 4 channels. Any ideas of what might be causing this? Thank in advance for your help!

Done! Neutrik 4 pin xlr mounted from behind with blind taps. all in all went well considering it was done all with a hand drill. No drill press around 😔 The on/off indicator led was mounted underneath the case, makes for a nice effect. Quite happy with the result! Now the quest for a better streamer starts!

Thanks! I've listened to the CFA and dynalo mini for about 2 hours this afternoon trying to compare them. I liked the cfa better I believe but will keep listening. They are both great amplifiers but I can only keep one.

What is the SS/ZF thing?