n_maher

From where I sit I'm not sure there's a person on this site that qualifies as a minimalist. My definition would require one, very small rig that you used everywhere and cost would certainly be a factor. But that's ju me...

You're just saying that because it's your flavor.

Heh, I'd need two 0350s which run about $250 each and shipping is still $100+ with insurance, each way.

Not even if you paid shipping, deepak. Packing up on Sunday at the meet took the better part of 3hrs. Not going to do that for a good long time, not to mention the $300 or so that you'd be on the hook for. Packed weight is near 70lbs...

you should write professional reviews.

Well, as loath as I am to post impression of something I built I've finally gotten to put in some quality listening tonight so I might as well put something down. Setup: Arcam CD73 (transport only) -> Hertsens DAC -> Menace -> HD650s w/ Oehbach cable Tubes: GZ34s, CBS 5692 driver, Tung Sol 421A outputs Material: a bunch of stuff - Draconian, Goldfrapp, The Decemberists, A Fine Frenzy, Opeth, Patty Griffin Random Thoughts: I think my favorite part of this amp so far is the midrange, it just has amazing amounts of texture and depth. Covering all the way from male vocals, female vocals, and guitar (ohhh the guitar) it just sucks you in so deep. If I had to guess I'd say that the frequency response is pretty uniform with no obvious humps or bumps, nothing strikes me as particularly exaggerated. And despite what some would refer to as undersized output coupling capacitors (200uF per channel) I have no issues with the bass response. With the current tube compliment I think the caclulated -3db point is right around 5Hz w/ the Senns and around 33 with the HF-1s. Works for me. Then again, I'm not the pickiest guy about stuff like that - I just want whatever it is I'm listening to to put big grin on my fact, and in that regard this amp is a complete success. The other thing that I really happy is the background noise, or distinct lack thereof. After dialing in some of the wiring just prior to CanJam I didn't even have enough time to properly evaluate the amp before shipping it off and it'd be safe to say that there was enough ambient noise at the meet to cover just about any normal level of back ground noise. Last night at Ian's I thought I was hearing just a bit but give the amp a little while to warm up and it goes dead silent (to my pretty picky ears anyway) in the range of the pot that I would use (and a fair bit beyond). Wide open there is certainly some noise but if you listened to this thing wide open you'd be deaf in a matter of minutes. Right now I'm listening a bit louder than normal which corresponds to around 70db which translates to ~9 o'clock on the pot, lots of room left. And before someone makes the usual church mouse comment you need to understand where I live and the fact that there's literally no ambient noise in my house. Anyway, at some point I hope to run RMAA tests on the amp and see how it measures but for now I'm just happy it passes the listening tests. So I think that's enough out of me about my own gear. I really wish that there was a way to send this thing around for folks to listen to but after CanJam it'll be a year or more until I pack this sucker up again. I might have to make a portable power supply for it or something... I may update this tomorrow night if I get Neotech Senn cable repaired, it has a flakey left channel. Remind me to yell at the builder. But I only expect things to get better based on what I've heard of that cable with other rigs.

Oh fear not roomie, I've got a plan, it'll probably be a year or more in the making though.

FOTMFOTMFOTMFOTM If I didn't have the Menace and finally feel like my dynamic rig is reasonably complete I'd be headed down that path as well. As it is I'm pretty damn content, oh and there's that whole stat rig in the basement that I still have to unpack as well...

Ha! Can't afford it, by a large margin. And given the tube collection that I'm amassing for the Menace I can never go back.

I think that if you look closely you'll find you got something out of the deal.

shit. must...not...buy...

You heard the Dragon, right? They should be comparable if not rather similar based on my understand of that amp. At this point I'd really like to hear a Zana to compare it to.

Of course he did, and added that I should have let it run all night. I explained that I had no desire to burn down CanJam so people were just going to have to suffer its inadequacies. I figured that since the output caps only cost ~$50 total that they need proportionally less burn-in than your typical $400 blackgates. Oh, and I added an additional heatsink last night to further aid in heat management. I'll take more pictures this weekend of the finalized wiring of the amp, the PS is staying where it is. I'm sick of moving that 50lb beast around.

Well, I got the amp home last night and made my first attempt at installing it in my permanent home rig. Wouldn't you know, it doesn't fit where I thought it would - problem #1. So I tear half the rig apart (I love not having access to the back side of the rack :|) and try installation, take 2. It fit, but just barely and would only allow me to use short bottle 6AS7 tube (not enough height) but it was nearing 11pm so I said f'it and wired it all up so I could get a listen before bed. Flip the power switch and watch as the left 6AS7 starts to arc between the plates... cue much profanity As quick as I can I shut it down hoping that I haven't friend or cooked anything. These were brand new (well, NOS) tested tubes. WTF?!?! So now that my only short bottle tubes are clearly f'ed I realize that in order to set the amp up I'm going to have to pull 80% of my gear out of the rack. more profanity So I start pulling wires and gear for installation, take 3. Finally get it set back up only to find that the umbilical cables are basically too short for this install but damnit, it'll work for now so I finally get to fire it up. Bliss, glorious bliss. No arcing, no damage, just sweet-sweet music. Tonight I'll see about making longer umbilical cables so it can sit more comfortably in the two spots but I'm still not really pleased about the setup so I may tear down the whole mess again and see if I can get it done right. At least I can listen to it as it is, as Ray said to me at the meet, "It needs more burn in."

Ahhh, good to know. It almost has to be that he kept B+ on the amp then since I don't think the Plitron that he uses in the platinum has the capacity for the output tube heaters and using the 6528s shouldn't put any additional strain on B+ so it'd make little sense to me to separate it from the primary trafo. I'm now really curious to hear what he tells Vicki.

That makes two of us, and that's exactly what I asked him. Of course, he was pretty out of it (long days and nights of flights) so he may have just gotten it wrong. Sure would make a lot more sense to me that way.

No way, did it not survive the trip home? The thing worked flawlessly throughout the meet.

Pete is taking my hand-drawn schematics and putting them into an official form as we speak. As soon as I have them I'll post them. Not yet, unfortunately because they share the same base as the 6528 I have to use an adapter - they don't fit the sockets that I used. The guy who designed this amp was a moron and forgot to check stuff like that...

I don't know what he's got in her amp for a filament trafo, I would doubt that it's the same Plitron since he's no longer using the HV section. And right you are, I'm sure it's not AC, but rather the DC already rectified and smoothed. Serves me right for not forming a complete thought before typing. The whole point of the external supply is to allow the use of 6528s and their massive 5A heaters. So I'm guessing, and it really is just a guess, that he replaces the plitron with a beefy filament trafo and moves all the HV stuff to the external box.

I actually talked with Mikhail about the external PS on Sunday. The external PS is the HV supply, not the heaters (although like you I expected the opposite) so it's not something you can use the amp without. And no, Vicki's amp doesn't have a voltage selector. The connectors are Neutrik Speakon types, although he has said he gets special versions that are black w/ gold plating. I've seen them for sale before, although only once, and I'm not sure I'd feel all that great about using them for HV AC. I haven't read their spec sheets close enough to see if it's anything worth worrying about. Just found the link to the gold speakon plugs - http://www.audiogear.com/Neutrik-Speakon.html - part no. NL4FC-B

I'd ask if they have ebay feedback. Just about everyone has it these days and you could use the contact form to verify it's authenticity (i've done this before with new users). Otherwise, it is a gamble and I'm not sure I'd do it.

Based on your love of a certain band I'd beg to differ that EAC has produced many a bad disc for you posty.

You want more pictures, I'll give you more pictures!!! Gratuitous Shot of Vicki's "Head-Fier of the Year" Stand My Source First Rig - Ipod Touch -> Menace Tyll and Queen V philodox's wounded, but still excellent rig Vicki's Lector (so close to being my precious...) Vicki's Exemplar 2900 (nice, very, very, nice) Vicki's Extreme Platinum w/ external PS Jack Woo's WA-5 Rudistor Table Smyth's Ultimate Gaming Rig Moon Audio's Cary and modded Original CD Player Meet Master Mike's rig (pay to listen, sheesh!) highlife's rig Voltron's New Beta22 asr's Beta22 asr's seriously sexy bel canto dinner friday night aka my first vegan meal (pretty good) Smyth's Surround Demo Smyth's Secret Black Box TTVJ/Millett Phono Stage Todd's Seriously Cool Posters TTVJ/Millett 307A MONSTER (one of my top 2 rigs of the meet) no caption required... Tyll and his Audiophile Desktop (me want BAD) Headroom Speaker Stands (pics just don't do these a bit of justice) My Ultimate Office Rig The Main Room (as seen from my table) The Main Room (from the far end) - side note I would not like to be around when the hotel gets there power bill... Pete Millett's "Starving Student" Hybrid Amp - way cheap, doggone good, pure DIY fun Voltron's Jitter Reduction Device (or something like that...) Justin's/Headamp's Prototype Blue Hawaii Special Edittion (my other favorite rig of the meet, geez this sounded spectacular) Thrice is going to post detailed impressions since he can't escape the fact that I caught him listening here... Thrice missing his old amp Thrice checking out Mike's current rig Thrice w/ the Headamp Aristaeus (man this guy was everywhere, post some impressions already!!!) The Single Power Odyssey (drool) and to close things out, DanG checking out the soon to be released PJ530 IEMS (yes, you can get the whole frog in your ear for maximum bass and isolation)

It's the only place I'd buy an apple refurb if only for the Applecare option.

I'd go w/ a refurbished Macbook ($1000) or 15" Macbook Pro ($1500) and definitely get the warranty for a college kid.