New Millett Hybrid Maxed Amp - Page 171

haha well i wouldnt like to think that your planning to be spilling liquids all over your amp or anything! but it seems like it would be a clever idea. and yea, im not sure EXACTLY where the option is, but its on the menu where you select the dimensions and color etc for your plate. theres a little checkbox that says "use my own material". ive never tried it personally but i assume its just a simple matter of choosing that option and shipping them the plate to be used. i think you would DEFINITELY save some money that way as opposed to like you said, getting them to plane out one entire side so that the z-bends are present. i find lettering and whatnot isnt too expensive, mostly cutting and drilling etc is. but yea, i really woud not be surprised if cutting trapezoidal slats like you said is cheaper than drilling 20 precision holes. good luck with it man, if you are careful and measure everything meticulously, i have no doubt u will be receiving a brilliant looking case from them. best of luck

Another option for the top plate, is to use black plastic 1/4 inch square stock and cut a thin channel for the top plate. The 4 plastic pieces are screwed into the top of the box at the corners and after sliding the top plate in place, the front piece is screwed down. This provides about another 1/4 clearance for capacitors, without expensive bends on the top plate.

Is it possible to have a bass boost with millett hybrid? Like the one in PPA v2?

Put some nice big Caps in there, and IMHO there is no need for Bass boost! Plenty to go around already!

Yeah plenty of bass in the Max. Well nothing to work on right now. I can't commit to a 4 board design like the Beta-22 right now, so here I am with gears in neutral. My Max sounds awesome with the new Walkman as source(1410KBPS files). No further refinements neccessary on the Max. ;-)

TomB YGPM

I'll go in w/ whoever to get some nice endpannels done. It would probably be cheaper then doing it all individual anyway. Let me know.

The discount isn't that great. If 20 people went in, they'd each save about $5 per panel.

x2, ive looked into that option as well but its just not really worth the hassle of rounding up 20 people who want to commit to such a thing as opposed to just getting it over with and paying the extra 5 yourself. plus having something unique is well - unique!

Definitely not in the way the PPA or M^3 do. They use op-amps to 'amplify' the voltage from the source with a feedback loop with some resistance that controls the gain. The opamp has 2 inputs, one from the source and one from the feedback from the output. It tries to equalize the 2 inputs, so it will alter the output in any way necessary to do this. With a resistor in the feedback path, the outputs voltage drops on the way to the other input, so the opamp just increases the outputs voltage so the inputs are equalized. If one puts a high pass filter on that feedback loop the lower frequencies are 'muted' a bit, so the amp compensates more for the lower frequencies in order to equalize the inputs. The output is also connected to a current multiplier stage, like the BJTs or the MOSFETs, which complete the amps voltage/current amplification.

The MAX uses a tube for voltage amplification, which has no feedback. it basically uses the source voltage to create a field which excels expelled electrons from the heater element into a cylindrical anode that absorbs them, where they continue in a 'completed' circuit whose current is in proportion to the input voltage. This current is 'amplified' in a similar current amplification stage as the other amps (the transistors are more like dimmers, so the small current controls a circuit with more current, creating a proportional, 'stronger' current. The gain is an inherent property of the tube that cant really be altered, though one could supply it with an efficient stock of electrons to disperse as it needs, which is what the capacitors function is, along with the capacitors own inherent response. so basically, all you can do is try compliment it with a sufficient circuit so that it can work at its optimal inherent manner.. no more. as far as I know.
But I don't know it all too well, and I'd love to learn more, or otherwise, so please excuse inaccuracies and my misconceptions, though its the basic idea. sorry I couldn't be as explicit 'bout the tube bass bit, but hopefully the insight to the differences will help you understand why it cant be the same :P
Maybe something else could be done that I don't know about?.. Though.. I must say, I'm happy with my bass Py black gates took some time, but they're thumping now , probably not like ES's (I'll soon find out though..)...

ruZZ.il is absolutely correct. His technical explanation of a solid-state amp with feedback and bass boost is much better than anything I could explain.

However, I'm full of jargon :
If you build one of the "Can't Miss MAX Builds" on the Tweaks -> MAX Boutique on the MAX website, I would be shocked if you'd want a bass boost.

Bass boost is one of those artifacts from the solid-state amp community. Solid-state clips so readily and so harshly that it takes massive amounts of power and over-sized power-to-load ratios to accurately reproduce the full strength of bass notes. When people refer to bass slam, they're talking about a low frequency transient. A transient like that requires massive amounts of current burst or voltage swing, depending on the impedance of the load. Unless the solid-state amplifier is built to supply this current burst or voltage swing, the bass suffers quickly.

Obviously, some of the very best (and expensive) solid-state amps have no issue with bass at all and will out-perform the MAX. However, the MAX does it at a very low price - perhaps more competitvely than any other amp. I'm a certified basshead and have always wanted a bass boost with the solid-state amps I've built - but not with the MAX. The MAX has so much bass already that any kind of boost (or equalization) makes it immediately sound fake and artificial. I can still remember that after I built the first MAX prototype, I turned my equipment's bass equalization down to zero for the first time. At that instant, I was sold on the MAX!

As ruZZ.il says, the Black Gate version of the MAX may seem a tad light on bass by comparison, trading enormous detail for slightly less bass - but only slightly. However, when building one of the ES versions of those "Can't Miss MAX Builds," I would guess that you can't get more or better bass with any other amp at this price.

tomb, I understand your enthusiasm for tubes but your statement above is flat out false in the case of the Millett Hybrid (MAX or otherwise). When the amp clips, it does so just as harshly as any SS amp. Have you looked at a spectrum analyzer and/or a scope to see what happens before you wrote that paragraph? Also, on what basis do you claim that SS amp clip more readily than the Max (given the same supply rail voltage)? I don't need to remind you that the Millett MAX design has a SS output stage that's lifted straight out of the PPAv2...

I'm curious, how much would you have to spend to get a commercially produced amp that is definitely better than the Millett Max?

i think you are generally going to get a wide variety of (somewhat meaningless) answers to a question like this. as is the case with most DIY amps, there is a wide range of components that people choose to incorporate into their builds. id say some have spend around $180 to put together a MH hybrid, where as i wouldnt be surprised in the slightest if some of the more modded builds including boutique caps and what not are closer to the $500 or above range. and as is always the case with audio, ultimately its purely subjective preference when deciding on which is "better". then you have to also factor in synergy of the amp with the remainder of your setup (source, cans, etc). i could be wrong, but i have a feeling most will agree with me on this one

I understand, but as an example, most people would agree that the Sennheiser HD595 is a good headphone but not quite in the same class as the top models from Beyer, AKG, the HD650 etc. This is general and not universal, but still useful information. An Acura Integra is pretty much better than a Ford Taurus, etc.

I'm kind of wondering what the analogous "higher class" of non-balanced headphone amps would be, compared to a typical Millett Max build. I mean, would it take $600, or more like $2500 to beat the Max? I'm just looking for generalities, not trying to start a debate.

It would just be nice to have a point of reference, in regards to DIY vs. commercial/professional amps.