MPX3 Preamp Use

[Salt Peanuts]

Damnit, I want my SP amp!

[tyrion]

Looks good to me. Of course, I have no idea what I am looking out, so they all look good to me.

[luvdunhill]

nate disregard my PM... nothing new there... time to experiment!

[Voltron]

aw man, it's a PCB version, i was hoping to see some spaghetti

The SDS-XLR PCB is really fascinating. Mikhail brought one over just to show it to me because he is so proud of it. It is round and about the same size as an LP. Thick as a brick and really gorgeous even without anything attached to it.

I vote deal of Oughts, minimum, as well. That is a sweet amp for under 6 bills. Lucky bastard.

[tyrion]

Once you add shipping and pp to the deal, it was over $700 but still a good deal.

[guzziguy]

Good? Good? I see that you are going for the understatement of the oughts too!

[luvdunhill]

ought? add that to my spelling grievance list

[tom_hankins]

Nate,

Any tube combos that have hit the spot with the 650/Zu?

[guzziguy]

ought? add that to my spelling grievance list

That list must be huge by now. How many times have you had to upsize your disks to hold it?

In this case though, you don't have to make it any larger. www.dictionary.com seems to think that "ought" is an acceptable variant of "aught". I am assuming that's how you'd like to see it spelled.

[luvdunhill]

Nate,

Any tube combos that have hit the spot with the 650/Zu?

I'm not as cool as Nate, but I'd say the pinched-waist Amperex 7062 input with 6BL7GT(A) tubes hits the spot with the 650/Zu. Also, the Sylvania 5687 (extra points for gold pin) work quite nicely with the 650/Zu.

[n_maher]

Nate,

Any tube combos that have hit the spot with the 650/Zu?

I rather enjoyed the combo I was using last night.

[1] Sylvania 6SN7WGT + [2] JAN Philips 5687WB's

Haven't had a chance to roll much yet but I can say that I didn't really care for the first combo that I tried with was [3] EH 6SN7's w/a gold-pin EH in the input position. Pretty fuzzy, unfocused sound.

I'm going to have some fun with Grados tonight probably and see how the MPX3 does driving low-ohm loads.

[luvdunhill]

nate:

there should be a way to take a stop out of the rotary switch and then just add a third jack to back and then wire that to the newly created position. Are you going to try this?

Also, what do you guys think of the Audio Note copper foil caps? Thinking about throwing those in there. I originally had the Jensen's and didn't care for them. I just finished getting the old leads out and the solder cleaned up and ready for the new caps.

I wish I could afford those new teflon Auricaps ...

Also, any idea of the function of the axial electrolytics near the tranny?

[n_maher]

nate:

there should be a way to take a stop out of the rotary switch and then just add a third jack to back and then wire that to the newly created position. Are you going to try this?

Why would I do this? My goal is to add preamp functionality to the amp, and an active preamp at that. So my plan is to take the output from the switched headphone jack and wire it to a third pair of RCAs on the back. I'm told this is exactly what Mikhail would do.

[n_maher]

with the 5687s it should do a pretty bang up job driving your Grados, Nate

It did indeed drive the HF-1s well, until the bowl pads raped my ears into submission after about 2hrs. Had to switch back to the all night comfort of the Senns and it's still sounding good. This weekend I'll roll some of the other 6SN7's that came with it into the driver position. I wonder if Mike knows how many tubes came with it? :evil:

Speaking of tubes that came with it, there are some random 6CG7's in the box, will these work with the adapters?

[tkam]

Nope the 6cg7 will not work with the 5687 adapters

[n_maher]

Thanks guys, not sure why the seller included them. And the MPX3 is quite nice with metal.

[luvdunhill]

Why would I do this? My goal is to add preamp functionality to the amp, and an active preamp at that. So my plan is to take the output from the switched headphone jack and wire it to a third pair of RCAs on the back. I'm told this is exactly what Mikhail would do.

nm.. makes sense

[tyrion]

Nate, make sure you put instructions in the box on what tubes go where. I'm glad it sounds good with the Grados as I hope to have an RS-1 or ms-pro to use with it.

[Voltron]

Nicely done. I know Nate got the scoop earlier in this thread, but I recall when I first had an MPX3 and found various different descriptions of where the input/driver tube went compared to the output. At the time, I was not aware of the toaster version and the posts did not distinguish or explain which they referred to. Found it quite frustrating at the time.

Mike, print out Jacob's drawing as your instruction manual.

[deepak]

For completeness sake

[n_maher]

For completeness sake

I died as a result of a coconut to the head? That's kinda sad.

[tom_hankins]

I died as a result of a coconut to the head? That's kinda sad.

I think it was murder. Jamato8 was seen in that tree just prior to the coconut falling.

[n_maher]

I think it was murder. Jamato8 was seen in that tree just prior to the coconut falling.

Now that was funny. I heard vcoheda gave him a leg up to help.

[luvdunhill]

so, I'm staring at http://www.fastener-express.com trying to add some replacement screws like the above to my order, but cannot for the life of me find them. Any ideas?

[tyrion]

I died as a result of a coconut to the head? That's kinda sad.

Don't be so sure, it could be me under that coconut. Think about it, it's my amp. Florida = palm trees. The last time I was in NH, I don't recall any palm trees up there.