Zana Duex news from Eddie Current.

[Chrysanthemum]

Reports from Craig as follows:

The Zana Duex: Yes I am making the ZanaDuex, it will be firm at $1800.00. Separate power chassis. The caps used are the paper, poly soy caps. You will not find them on line. They were made custom for Moth, in America. I have enough to make 12 Zana Duex's. The first proto will be hand wired from the input jacks to the front switch. The production amps will use relay switching at the rear panel. The tube compliment is one 6SL7 and two

6C33C-B's, and two 6DM4A damper diodes.

Now onto the new EC-H:The EC-H does not sound as good as your ZanaDuex, but may offer an alternative for people not wanting to get a second mortgage to support this hobby.

There you have it, straight from Mr. Eddie Current himself.

[tkam]

Well thats some good news. I'm almost tempted to get one, almost.

[Chrysanthemum]

Also to note, this thread was killed at HeadFi. See "cassino" posting......IM ROYALLY PISSED NOW.

[909]

On occasion, it can feel like walking on a tight rope of sorts. Sometimes I wonder why the rope seems to widen for certain products and individuals.

[acs236]

Is there a cost estimate for the EC-H?

[Chrysanthemum]

Is there a cost estimate for the EC-H?

$800

[909]

I think Craig found a way around having to use a battery with the EC-Hy ...

and $800 is the ballpark figure Craig is putting out at this time...

[recstar24]

Sorry guys, but I got bad news for you all. The EC-H is on hold. Craig had developed a stripped down version of the EC-H that didnt use lead acid batteries to power the JFET or the special coupling caps, which he would retail at 395. In his words, the version that 909 heard with the special coupling caps and battery power on the power JFET sounds "first cabin", and that the Zana was only slightly better for a grand more (Craig's words). Also, the stripped down version at 395 was superior by far to the EC-01, and would essentially kill it. Craig wanted to send me the hybrid to compare against my HD25, but that was put on hold...

...for a solid state amp Craig said he wanted to compare the hybrid to his all solid state design before going further with the hybrid. Well, he seems pretty keen about the solid state and should be sending it to me pretty soon to test drive. Here is a copy of the email Craig sent that highlights what it has to offer:

"The problem with the JFET is getting it to work as a power device for audio service. np as he signs his emails makes his F3 with a slightly different approach than me. The problem I had was the power supply sonic signature. The current source np uses to get the JFET to work has a bad power supply rejection ratio, so you will hear it. I came up with DIB today, dual isolation buffer, for the power supply. It works well, and the battery supply sounds like the solid-state supply now. This means the amp can be all solid-state. I grew up in the sixties, and I had an LSD flash back listening to this all solid-state amp tonight. It is very good. The cool thing when you get the EC/DC is that the whole amp will fit in the same chassis. I need to try one more thing, and then I will layout a pcb and make a real sample. If I was np this would be in a hogged out solid aluminum chassis bla bla and sell over the pond for $3500.00. But because I'm EC it will be around $300.00. The topology is SE class A. It has gain with no feedback, and it is DC coupled on the input. "

FYI, "np" is Nelson Pass. Craig got wind of the power jfet he has been playing around with through him, they live pretty close by and Craig has visited him and they have a pretty good relationship. Craig has told me personally that he has a lot of respect for Nelson Pass, which means a lot because Craig is traditionally a tubes guy and hardcore about it. The JFET that Craig uses is the same I believe in the FirstWatt F3. You can go to the Nelson Pass website under the FirstWatt banner and read all about the power JFET, sounds very promising.

Will post here again when I have a chance to listen to it. I think its a good move. Not much available in terms of single ended class A solid state, which has some inherent advantages over a tubed single ended class a design. Exciting stuff nonetheless and for 300.

[hungrych]

Sorry guys, but I got bad news for you all. The EC-H is on hold. Craig had developed a stripped down version of the EC-H that didnt use lead acid batteries to power the JFET or the special coupling caps, which he would retail at 395. In his words, the version that 909 heard with the special coupling caps and battery power on the power JFET sounds "first cabin", and that the Zana was only slightly better for a grand more (Craig's words). Also, the stripped down version at 395 was superior by far to the EC-01, and would essentially kill it. Craig wanted to send me the hybrid to compare against my HD25, but that was put on hold...

...for a solid state amp Craig said he wanted to compare the hybrid to his all solid state design before going further with the hybrid. Well, he seems pretty keen about the solid state and should be sending it to me pretty soon to test drive. Here is a copy of the email Craig sent that highlights what it has to offer:

"The problem with the JFET is getting it to work as a power device for audio service. np as he signs his emails makes his F3 with a slightly different approach than me. The problem I had was the power supply sonic signature. The current source np uses to get the JFET to work has a bad power supply rejection ratio, so you will hear it. I came up with DIB today, dual isolation buffer, for the power supply. It works well, and the battery supply sounds like the solid-state supply now. This means the amp can be all solid-state. I grew up in the sixties, and I had an LSD flash back listening to this all solid-state amp tonight. It is very good. The cool thing when you get the EC/DC is that the whole amp will fit in the same chassis. I need to try one more thing, and then I will layout a pcb and make a real sample. If I was np this would be in a hogged out solid aluminum chassis bla bla and sell over the pond for $3500.00. But because I'm EC it will be around $300.00. The topology is SE class A. It has gain with no feedback, and it is DC coupled on the input. "

FYI, "np" is Nelson Pass. Craig got wind of the power jfet he has been playing around with through him, they live pretty close by and Craig has visited him and they have a pretty good relationship. Craig has told me personally that he has a lot of respect for Nelson Pass, which means a lot because Craig is traditionally a tubes guy and hardcore about it. The JFET that Craig uses is the same I believe in the FirstWatt F3. You can go to the Nelson Pass website under the FirstWatt banner and read all about the power JFET, sounds very promising.

Will post here again when I have a chance to listen to it. I think its a good move. Not much available in terms of single ended class A solid state, which has some inherent advantages over a tubed single ended class a design. Exciting stuff nonetheless and for 300.

So does that mean the Zana is on hold too?

[recstar24]

So does that mean the Zana is on hold too?

No, the Zana as far as I know is definitely going ahead. Craig is pretty hardcore about it and is working his butt off to get a production model ready for the stereophile show. He has set the price firm at 1800 and seems keen to let it go ahead.

[909]

Plans change-

The Zana is probably going forward. Actually, most likely without question, but due to some stuff that it isn't my place to publicly proclaim on Head-Case Craig decided against going to the Home Entertainment Show in Los Angeles (stereophile).

[recstar24]

i've been a bit confused about the point of the lead acid batteries in the EC-H. yeah, i understand that it's cleaner power, but i find batteries in home gear to be irritating. i would rather have a really big, beefy PSU, myself.

The fact that it is cleaner power is only the first part of it. Really big, beefy power supplies have huge capacitors rated at very big values, filtering, inductors, so on and so forth. A lot has to happen to convert the AC to DC and even more to keep it clean and regulated. Those capacitors and inductors have a large effect on the sound. Using batteries its pure clean DC right there so you can avoid those issues with it sounding better and being cheaper to boot. Both parties win.

However, it apperas Craig has found a way other than using batteries to power the JFETS without impacting the sound signature and sounding just like the battery supply with a normal AC-DC power supply. Can't wait to hear it myself personally

[acs236]

How was it going to work? Would you plug the amp in and it would constantly charge the battery?

[recstar24]

How was it going to work? Would you plug the amp in and it would constantly charge the battery?

I believe that you kept it plugged in. When not in use, the batteries recharge. When an input signal is detected, the amp shunts off the AC recharging the batteries and the DC is used to power the circuit

[909]

I believe that you kept it plugged in. When not in use, the batteries recharge. When an input signal is detected, the amp shunts off the AC recharging the batteries and the DC is used to power the circuit

If the battery proto goes forward this is what Craig told me too.

Craig will be at the HE show today and one of his designs will be used in the Belkin room/booth, which is his iPod amp with a neat little full range speaker that might be released.

I plan to the Vacuum Tube Valley Audio Expo show. I know that they have a few systems and quite a few tubes for sale and vendors on site. Thereafter, I'll meet up with Craig and then go to the Stereophile Analog Clinic with Mike Fremer.

[Guest sacd lover]

I believe that you kept it plugged in. When not in use, the batteries recharge. When an input signal is detected, the amp shunts off the AC recharging the batteries and the DC is used to power the circuit

That is how the dack ack is designed to work.

[recstar24]

well that isn't too bad.

Nope, not at all - and remember the whole point of the batteries is that it sounds better in that particular implementation. Nothing wrong at all with huge capacitors and inductors, but those can color and congest the sound. DC is DC, doesn't get any simpler than that.