morphsci Posted March 30, 2009 Report Posted March 30, 2009 So the A10 is aimed at competing with the Aristaeus That would be my conclusion, but I did not ask directly.
Duggeh Posted March 30, 2009 Report Posted March 30, 2009 So the A10 is aimed at competing with the Aristaeus Is there a point in competing with an amp that isn't being made anymore?
grawk Posted March 30, 2009 Report Posted March 30, 2009 It's easier than competing with one that IS being made?
morphsci Posted March 30, 2009 Report Posted March 30, 2009 Is there a point in competing with an amp that isn't being made anymore? Sounds smart to me, as most people are too impatient to wait for one to come up for sale.
Duggeh Posted March 30, 2009 Report Posted March 30, 2009 I suppose that if you can afford an HE90 you can afford to buy this amp for it. And buy a new Jade when the one you have falls to bits.
n_maher Posted March 30, 2009 Report Posted March 30, 2009 I'm really curious to see how he prices this thing. It had to be pretty expensive to do, just in terms of the chassis since he only borrowed limited bits from the B52/Apache design. I have mixed feelings about the casework, there are parts I like and parts that I don't.
The Monkey Posted March 30, 2009 Report Posted March 30, 2009 I dislike the bling aspect of the casework, but I otherwise think it's fine. I generally like Ray's casework. It's interesting to me that he did not voice the amp for the O2. The gold/champagne bits would match pretty well.
Guest sacd lover Posted March 30, 2009 Report Posted March 30, 2009 Pair of balanced input tubes, likely 12ax7 or similar. Pair of cathode follower output tubes, likely 12ax7 or similar. Balanced outputs. a cathode follower tube for the unbalanced outputs. pair of balanced gain tubes for the output stage, likely 12ax7 or similar. 6sn7's as the output tubes. Likely capacitively coupled. Single filament supply for the whole thing which is ok for this circuit. Speaking of which this circuit has been published many times before. Its possible that the small tubes in the back are single triodes instead of duals which means they could be phase splitters instead... Restricted output voltage swing, max 500 p-p. Low current outputs. 68k or higher plate resistors... Yep, typical ray. Kevin, will two 6sn7s have enough juice? Moreover, can the 6sn7s reliably handle 500 volts p-p?
Dreadhead Posted March 30, 2009 Report Posted March 30, 2009 Sounds smart to me, as most people are too impatient to wait for one to come up for sale. Justin is planning on making some more I believe but I don't know when or how.
pabbi1 Posted March 30, 2009 Report Posted March 30, 2009 A-10 will always be 'warthog' to me - and, true to form...
jinp6301 Posted March 30, 2009 Report Posted March 30, 2009 It's interesting to me that he did not voice the amp for the O2. The gold/champagne bits would match pretty well. not going head to head with the BHSE seems like a good idea to me
nikongod Posted March 30, 2009 Report Posted March 30, 2009 Kevin, will two 6sn7s have enough juice? Moreover, can the 6sn7s reliably handle 500 volts p-p? the 6sn7 does not have enough juice, but the 500v is stator to stator, so its only 250v p-p per section, which the 6sn7 can do. it just cant do the current necessary for the O2 and that voltage swing at the same time. Im a little upset (although not surprised) that ray used the connector for the HE-90, rather than the connector for the more obtainable he60 or easily obtainable koss ESP-950. he could have really gone out on a limb, and sourced 5-pin XLR's for the jades directly [sarcasm]much harder to find than the stax connectors...[/sarcasm] bummer, it was made to look pretty and impress people who have never heard anything else.
grawk Posted March 30, 2009 Report Posted March 30, 2009 The problem with putting a 5pin directly on the amp is someone will stick a 5pin xlr to 2xXLR3 adapter in it, plug in their fancy headphones, and kill themselves.
jinp6301 Posted March 30, 2009 Report Posted March 30, 2009 Thats a problem? Sounds like a way to speed up evolution to me
The Monkey Posted March 30, 2009 Report Posted March 30, 2009 If I follow Kevin's analysis correctly, the A10 could also pretty easily have a regular single-ended HP out, right?
n_maher Posted March 30, 2009 Report Posted March 30, 2009 If I follow Kevin's analysis correctly, the A10 could also pretty easily have a regular single-ended HP out, right? Single ended or balanced as far as I can tell. Of course I have no idea what the Zout is of the preamp stage.
The Monkey Posted March 30, 2009 Report Posted March 30, 2009 He should have done it. That would be a real differentiator and likely would really appeal to his fans. Although I guess it could be somewhat cannibalistic within his product line.
Elephas Posted March 30, 2009 Report Posted March 30, 2009 This is great, we can comment about the A-10 here instead of in the official thread. What's wrong with an amp having an HE90 output and a 5-pin Stax output? I have two amps configured like this, and also requested the BHSE this way. I figure if there's anything wrong with this Justin would slap me upside the head and refuse to do it. Having an HE60 output is useless for those like me who have reterminated their HE60's with a 5-pin Stax plug. Same thing with a Jade XLR output. I look forward to the A-10 showing up at some meets and reading some impressions, especially versus an Aristaeus when driving an HE90 or Jade.
spritzer Posted March 30, 2009 Report Posted March 30, 2009 The 6SN7 is a bad choice in the Egmont (the reason I'm using 6S4A's) just as the 6CG7 is a bad choice in the Stax amps. According to Ray he did not voice it for the SR-007. He voiced it for the HE-90 and the Jade. I think the only voicing Ray did was not understanding what a CCS is and thus made an amp that Stax could have sold in the late 60's. By pure chance that works brilliantly for the HE90 and Jade and they really don't need a ruthlessly reveling and powerful amp behind them. ...Same thing with a Jade XLR output... Well you are just about the only one with a Stax cable on your set...
TomB Posted March 30, 2009 Report Posted March 30, 2009 the bubble canopy helped, too.Yep - that's what I thought, too. The massive four-bladed prop was standard from the beginning (special extension struts on the landing geat to get ground clearance). The D model was still a "razorback" in the beginning, but adding the bubble canopy was a significant improvement. The N version brought back a dorsal fin on the vertical stabilizer because they lost a bit of stability from removing the razorback.
kevin gilmore Posted March 30, 2009 Report Posted March 30, 2009 (edited) ... or easily obtainable koss ESP-950. I've never been able to find the chassis mount esp-950 connectors, if you know of a place, i would certainly like to know. Kevin, will two 6sn7s have enough juice? Moreover, can the 6sn7s reliably handle 500 volts p-p? No and NO. The guess is that the 6sn7 is running at 600 volts, which is only a guess. Could be less. Even rudistor ran theirs at 450. At least the filaments are at ground because it is a capacitve output design. (mikhail's major mistake) Of all the tubes ray could pick as electrostatic output tubes, ray picked the worst one. In the smaller size the 6s4a is absolutely the clear winner. In the bigger size a 6ca7/el34 is absolutely the clear winner. In even bigger sizes well it gets expensive in a hurry. when we see the inside pictures we will know for sure, but ray doing a solid state constant current source as a load for the tubes is beyond his level of understanding. One can only hope... Really sad that ray made yet another amplifier that i have absolutely no desire to own. He could have done much better. And one more thing, ray's latest piece is going to have major trouble driving the increased capacitance of the jade's. Edited March 30, 2009 by kevin gilmore
nikongod Posted March 30, 2009 Report Posted March 30, 2009 What's wrong with an amp having an HE90 output and a 5-pin Stax output? I have two amps configured like this, and also requested the BHSE this way. I figure if there's anything wrong with this Justin would slap me upside the head and refuse to do it. If you have the headphones for it, there is absolutely nothing wrong with those plugs, and the plugs are outstandingly awesome. on the other hand, if you dont have the HE90, you paid for an expensive socket that you cant use. for these people (and I think that people who DONT have the HE90 are going to be the majority of buyers for this amp, on the assumption that people who DO have the He90 already have gear they are happy with) something else would serve their needs better. putting the HE90 plug on is impressive because its a statement that this amp is good enough for them. sort of like running the R10 out of a portable amp.... I've never been able to find the chassis mount esp-950 connectors, if you know of a place, i would certainly like it. I dont have a source for chassis mount EXP-950 connectors. I was referring simply to the headphones.
spritzer Posted March 30, 2009 Report Posted March 30, 2009 I've never been able to find the chassis mount esp-950 connectors, if you know of a place, i would certainly like it. The only source I can think of is the Koss extension cable but they have to be modified. Cheap as chips though...
Guest sacd lover Posted March 30, 2009 Report Posted March 30, 2009 I've never been able to find the chassis mount esp-950 connectors, if you know of a place, i would certainly like to know. No and NO. The guess is that the 6sn7 is running at 600 volts, which is only a guess. Could be less. Even rudistor ran theirs at 450. Of all the tubes ray could pick as electrostatic output tubes, ray picked the worst one. In the smaller size the 6s4a is absolutely the clear winner. In the bigger size a 6ca7/el34 is absolutely the clear winner. In even bigger sizes well it gets expensive in a hurry. when we see the inside pictures we will know for sure, but ray doing a solid state constant current source as a load for the tubes is beyond his level of understanding. One can only hope... Really sad that ray made yet another amplifier that i have absolutely no desire to own. He could have done much better. 6SN7s, even the later 6SN7GTB, have a max plate voltage of 450 volts. 600 volts would be a killer. People using expensive nos 6SN7GTs for sound quality would detonate them in no time. I dont understand why he wouldn't use a 6S4A. Another 9 pin tube would have looked a lot better. The symmetry would be so much better and the 6S4A can take seriously high voltage. Given his supposedly limited knowledge of stats maybe he enlisted the help of someone to help him with the design. But, then again, thinking about the 6SN7s .... probably not.
GPH Posted March 30, 2009 Report Posted March 30, 2009 Maybe I'm crazy, but I think I remember seing a Koss female plug on a McAlister amp. I don't know how he did it though.
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