Mal Valve Head Amp Three

[blessingx]

Anyone heard this thing? "For electrostatic + magnetostatic + dynamic headphones." Just showed up on a Todd email.

Edited June 19, 2013 by blessingx

[Knuckledragger]

O_o

 

All the headphone jacks are on the back?  

[livewire]

Dunno.

 

Mal translates to bad. Valve translates to tube. Nuff sed.

[cetoole]

Dunno.

 

Mal translates to bad. Valve translates to tube. Nuff sed.

Wait, so it is Steve's amp?

[n_maher]

Mal translates to bad.

 

Does not agree with your translation.

[tkam]

This seems to be the only interior shot they show on their website:

 

 

With that many tubes on the inside how the hell doesn't this thing overheat/melt?

[blessingx]

Maybe that's why their Head Amp One and Two are MIA.

[livewire]

This seems to be the only interior shot they show on their website:

 

 

With that many tubes on the inside how the hell doesn't this thing overheat/melt?

 

I was thinking the same. Must have a lot of holes up top.

 

Nate, not my translation. Webster's.

[spritzer]

So one way to get rid of the heat is not to produce any in the first place.   Run the tubes far from the levels you see in the Blue Hawaii would make heatr far less of an issue.  Then we have the switching PSU which is very efficient.  I mean, just look at the output transformers, they are quite small. 

[Hopstretch]

However implemented, seems like the solution to a problem that doesn't exist.

[luvdunhill]

So one way to get rid of the heat is not to produce any in the first place. Run the tubes far from the levels you see in the Blue Hawaii would make heatr far less of an issue. Then we have the switching PSU which is very efficient. I mean, just look at the output transformers, they are quite small.

This

[spritzer]

However implemented, seems like the solution to a problem that doesn't exist.

 

It will always be a huge compromise, no matter how one tries to spin it.  No magic to it really though, just switchable secondaries on the output transformers.  Use relays to leave the secondary open and take the ESP signal directly off the tube plates through caps and for dynamics you just engage the secondary. 

[kevin gilmore]

not so sure there are output caps.  This may be very similar to the eddie current electra which has a center tapped inductor as the

output device. also could be similar to the woo audio wes if they would pull their head out of their ass and use a center tapped inductor

instead of a pair of inductors as the plate load. Clearly its push pull, same as the electra.  How they control the output tube bias

is another issue, as there are no didle knobs.

 

If they actually load the secondary when in electrostatic mode, it may perform more linearly than the electra.

Edited June 19, 2013 by kevin gilmore

[spritzer]

Inductors would certainly be possible and one could pot them all in one piece. 

[Sherwood]

I get the impression that you guys are in mild support of something Steve Guttenberg likes.  Understandably, that makes me uncomfortable.

[spritzer]

It was bound to happen as the guy likes everything... 

[Torpedo]

Does not agree with your translation.

 

 

I was thinking the same. Must have a lot of holes up top.

 

Nate, not my translation. Webster's.

Mal, in Spanish, actually translates more as Evil than Bad.

 

Has anyone listened to the thing or even read a mildly reliable comment? The idea of having an amp for every headphone sounds great to me, but I thought it wouldn't be possible unless you used trafos on one of the output types. Or on both as Birgir suggests. Interesting nonetheless, unsure this is a decent implementation.

[spritzer]

The "easiest" way would be an amp with two separate output transformers.  Now the problem is switching between them but sort that and one pair steps down with multiple taps while the other steps up a bit and has a CT on the secondary.  With large enough tubes it could drive speakers too. 

 

It's also possible to do this with SS too and it would be interesting to build a HV SS amp and then use transformers. 

[wink]

Would this be classed as malware?

[eggil]

No bueno