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Bijou All Tube Futterman Headphone Amplifier - Page 128

post #1906 of 3981
11/23/08 at 12:44am
Quote:
Originally Posted by pabbi1 View Post
but the Bijou presents exactly what is there in a 'stat way (Stax mafia alert).
what are you using for IC wiring from your source to Bijou, and also amp hook-up wiring? i'm looking to experiment. i've never heard the Azure, but from what i've read, the sonic signature/presentation is fairly similar to the BM DAC1?

i like the Oyaide PA-02 feeding my Krell/ATC speaker kit, and am using it currently with the Bijou. i have some extra lying around that i will replace my silver plated copper for hook-up wiring as well.
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post #1907 of 3981
11/23/08 at 12:55am
It is APS v3 copper cored silver, where the silver is in some rough proportion equal to the amount of copper, not just a thin silver plate, and some voodoo teflon over the top in multilayers. All very proprietary to APS, and he does not sell it standalone. It is my xlr i/c as well as my preferred Senn cable.

Alex at APS made them - that isn't a place where I have found DIY has served me very well.

All my internal wiring is Navships SPC, and some 1kv 16878/5 (200c) milspec from Allied W&C. That is just what I have to use on the 'stat amps, so I always have that in abundance.
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post #1908 of 3981
11/23/08 at 1:09am
Quote:
Originally Posted by pabbi1 View Post
It is APS v3 copper cored silver, where the silver is in some rough proportion equal to the amount of copper, not just a thin silver plate, and some voodoo teflon over the top in multilayers. All very proprietary to APS, and he does not sell it standalone. It is my xlr i/c as well as my preferred Senn cable.

Alex at APS made them - that isn't a place where I have found DIY has served me very well.

All my internal wiring is Navships SPC, and some 1kv 16878/5 (200c) milspec from Allied W&C. That is just what I have to use on the 'stat amps, so I always have that in abundance.
yes, i too used Navship's wiring in the Bijou. excellent stuff to work with.
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post #1909 of 3981
11/23/08 at 1:13am
I have built both the MHMax (many versions of it and 2 minis also) and the Bijou. I love the presentation of the Max (all varieties), as it seems to round off the rough corners on inferior source material. The Bijou is in a differnet league, with more power and truer to the sound of the source. This all comes thru comaprison with same digital front end feeding both amps (Cambridge 640 cdp > ML 360s dac > amp and computer > Alien or BantamDAC > amp). I also have a Beta22 that is totally different from both, but that is a different discussion.

I love all the amps and think they all have their special place, and they all haveb their own faults. It is a matter of what you like in sound: traditonal tubey sounds with rolled bottom and top ends; or more refined tubes with great detail and refinement; or solid state with tight, deep bass and airy top end.

Why not build all and change the amp with your mood.
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post #1910 of 3981
11/23/08 at 1:29am
Quote:
Originally Posted by rhester View Post
I have built both the MHMax (many versions of it and 2 minis also) and the Bijou. I love the presentation of the Max (all varieties), as it seems to round off the rough corners on inferior source material. The Bijou is in a differnet league, with more power and truer to the sound of the source. This all comes thru comaprison with same digital front end feeding both amps (Cambridge 640 cdp > ML 360s dac > amp and computer > Alien or BantamDAC > amp). I also have a Beta22 that is totally different from both, but that is a different discussion.

I love all the amps and think they all have their special place, and they all haveb their own faults. It is a matter of what you like in sound: traditonal tubey sounds with rolled bottom and top ends; or more refined tubes with great detail and refinement; or solid state with tight, deep bass and airy top end.

Why not build all and change the amp with your mood.
cashe
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post #1911 of 3981
11/23/08 at 2:26am
Ok, she is holding up, with just an occasional bit of naughtiness (a second or two an hour) so I threw 'Joe's Garage' at her - stunning. Period. Telefunken U47 goodness all around, with texture, layers, and hidden gems everywhere, which is no surprise as this is one of the best produced albums ever. Oh, and Frank playing the Hendrix 'Monterrey' strat helps with the jena sais quois.

This is am amp I could really fall in love with if I am not extremely careful.
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post #1912 of 3981
11/23/08 at 8:21pm
That is great news. ;-) I'm not sure what direction to pursue for the odd static that shows up intermittently. An oscilloscope can find it in the hands of an experienced tech/engineer. I think you are able to get 99% enjoyment, as it stands. So the 1% will come eventually, with a divide and conquer approach, breaking up potential problems into segments and checking them off. Edit: the amp is worth any parts upgrades that you can throw at it, so maybe you will go with goldpoints/w pcb in the future. Very easy to solder those in on the pcb vs soldering to the connections on the rotary area of the attenuator.
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post #1913 of 3981
11/23/08 at 9:19pm
I am looking at TKD - the 41 position stepped 2P65S - my only real criticism of the Goldpoints is the 23 steps.

But, it is still astounding how crappy some really well known works are (Radar Love, for instance), and how spectacular Dylan sounds on "Blood on the Tracks'... in the working my way through the collection (just 400 more discs to go - still 30 Zappas alone), this amp identifies the pretenders, and makes me appreciate a good producer all the more.

I made two mistakes on this build - using the wrong sockets (next build is getting teflon with 3x grips) and cheap attenuators (never again on a quality build) - all Goldpoint or TKD from here on out.
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post #1914 of 3981
11/23/08 at 9:31pm
You know, Pabbi1, it is not impossible to replace those sockets. You may not want to fool with it in taking the amp apart, redoing the boards, and then putting it back together, but . . .

If you pulled just one board at a time, with a good solder sucker, it would be easy to get the solder out of the holes for the sockets. And just doing one board at a time would allow you to reinstall that board with its wiring without having to just disassemble the whole thing.

OTOH, with your broad experiences building this amp, you may just want to start fresh and do many things differently.

Just a thought for you . . .
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post #1915 of 3981
11/23/08 at 10:25pm
I am really inclined to leave it the way it is, especially if it stays settled down, mainly because it is painful to pull 3 of the boards, as they are on a seperate plate, and everything has to come apart to get to any of them. And, my track record on rework is less than stellar.

So, I take it the idea of fattening the pins with solder was not reasonable?

The real issue is, as you may well remember, we are pursuing the stat amp (in prototype stage starting in about 2 weeks), so, if this holds up, I'll not have any time to 'fix' it until sometime in January or February. But, the annoyance is becoming less and less, so the cost benefit isn't there just yet.

And, I have a functional Blue Hawaii sitting idle... how many people can say that?
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post #1916 of 3981
11/23/08 at 10:40pm
OK. Makes sense.

Regarding the pins, the risk to adding solder will be that you heat the pin so much that you break the vacuum seal with the glass. In fact, I think it's probable that this will happen. But you can always try this on a cheapo throw away tube to see what happens.
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post #1917 of 3981
11/24/08 at 1:17am
the tube sockets i bought from Radio Daze are phenolic as well, but the pin holes are tight. i think i paid about $4 a socket.

could you also try heating the pcb contacts with an iron and feed a tiny drop of solder into the pin socket itself? you could also do this from the top? might also need a toothpick to keep the hole open. maybe, i don't know.

another possible approach to remove the sockets would be to use a small flush snipper from the top side of the boards and snip off all the pcb contacts you can reach. i would think that if you could snip at least half of them, de-soldering the rest would be much easier with less risk of pulling of a pad. either way, a huge PITA.
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post #1918 of 3981
11/24/08 at 2:04am
I'm also looking to see if I can brush on a thin layer of JBWeld to fatten the pins... desperate times... :-)
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post #1919 of 3981
11/24/08 at 3:46am
Quote:
another possible approach to remove the sockets would be to use a small flush snipper from the top side of the boards and snip off all the pcb contacts you can reach.
You read my mind Fishski. Snip from the top side and solder sucker, with caution and determination. Well, as you say Pabbi the fix can come later after you have enjoyed it for awhile and have run out of material to listen to. You could do 1 board and listen for quite awhile before taking on another one. No pressure though, you are getting plenty of enjoyment.
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post #1920 of 3981
11/24/08 at 12:52pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by adamus View Post
I am building a push pull el84 stereo amp, specifically going to do a version of the 'baby huey' design that is floating around.

most of the cost is the iron! tranformers are so expensive.

I'll look forward to your design, drop me a pm if you want prototypers when the time comes...
So, Adamus, how's your new amp doing?
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