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$140 desktop amp recomendation - Page 2

post #16 of 30
4/4/09 at 5:15pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ericj View Post
Does he have jfet pairs too?
There is also ampslab as a possible source if you're willing to match them yourself. 2SJ74; 2SJ74BL Toshiba LOW NOISE JFET - Buy Online @ AmpsLab

Looks like they also have the 1015 and 1815 http://www.ampslab.com/trans_2sc1815.htm
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post #17 of 30
4/4/09 at 8:10pm
AMB audio shop

Quote:
Matching service for two 2SK170BL and two 2SJ74BL (JFETs not included) $4 (quad)
amb will match them for you.
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post #18 of 30
4/5/09 at 6:13am
CTH
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post #19 of 30
4/5/09 at 1:55pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by pinkfloyd4ever View Post
CTH
Uh dont these run just as warm as the starving student?
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post #20 of 30
4/5/09 at 2:31pm
Can vouch for both the CKK111 and the CTH, they both sound amazing for their price and are relatively easy to build.

The CTH does have 1/2 of a hot tube sticking out of the case, so you would need to add a tube protector to keep little fingers away. Apart from that the amp runs fairly cool and the variety of tubes you can roll into it mean you can tweak the sound to suit various phones and adds to the enjoyment(you can also get the tubes, plenty out there to try).

The CKK111 should meet all your requirements including low running temp and would be my pick of the 4 you listed.
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post #21 of 30
4/6/09 at 3:28pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Forte View Post
The CTH does have 1/2 of a hot tube sticking out of the case, so you would need to add a tube protector to keep little fingers away. Apart from that the amp runs fairly cool and the variety of tubes you can roll into it mean you can tweak the sound to suit various phones and adds to the enjoyment(you can also get the tubes, plenty out there to try).
The CTH has 1/2 of a tube with up to a 600ma heater sticking out of it.

There aren't a lot of 600ma tubes you'd want to stick into it, but even if for some reason you did want to use a 6n1p, that doesn't get hot enought to be dangerous.

Most 12au7 and 6dj8 types only get a little warm.
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post #22 of 30
4/6/09 at 3:47pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ericj View Post
Most 12au7 and 6dj8 types only get a little warm.
I don't know about that, in the SOHA2 the 12AU7 gets pretty damn hot.

I don't think you'll build a PPAv2 or M^3 at that budget and if you try HARD you might fit the CKK-III so that's what I would recommend.
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post #23 of 30
4/6/09 at 4:39pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by FallenAngel View Post
I don't know about that, in the SOHA2 the 12AU7 gets pretty damn hot.

I don't think you'll build a PPAv2 or M^3 at that budget and if you try HARD you might fit the CKK-III so that's what I would recommend.
The Soha II burns like a fire largely because of the Super SE buffer. A 300ma heater just isn't that hot.

If you like i can fire up a 12au7 tonight and get a surface temperature reading but i don't think it's hot enough to hurt small hands.
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post #24 of 30
4/6/09 at 4:56pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ericj View Post
The Soha II burns like a fire largely because of the Super SE buffer. A 300ma heater just isn't that hot.

If you like i can fire up a 12au7 tonight and get a surface temperature reading but i don't think it's hot enough to hurt small hands.
Don't have mine anymore, but the tubes certainly did get hot. Maybe not "burning" hot, but hotter than you want to touch.
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post #25 of 30
4/6/09 at 5:25pm
Thread Starter 
Well i did a bom on the ckIII and it should be within budget (dam you transformer,case, $3 knob...)

The compact tube would only work if its finger safe (lets see, it the only glowy thingy on the desk, which part should i poke at?). A shield isnt going to help much. With the starving student the mosfets connected to the case was hot enough to warp plastic that would rest against it (and thats with a p3 heatsink on top) and im sure the tubes were to hot to touch. If the compact tube is only like 5 watt with a low heater (recommend a cool running tube?) it should work, but the starving student was 14watts...


Aw man i i dont know what to get now, the compact sounds like its got alot more resolution then the starving student (which had alot more then my comoy) but the ckIII is looking good with a all in one box, nothing hot, and i get to use mill resistors and nichicon muses...
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post #26 of 30
4/6/09 at 6:21pm
Touching something hot is an entirely self-correcting behavior. I'm just saying...

More seriously, I have a CTH and 12au7 varieties don't get hot enough that a quick touch is going to burn, or even a not so quick touch. The higher heater current ones like 6n1p do get hot, but even these I have managed to tap my finger against, if only to find out how hot they really are.
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post #27 of 30
4/6/09 at 9:33pm
Thread Starter 
Well i went with the ckIII after building up my gamma dac alittle.

wallet dammage

mouser=$74.76
digikey=$29.63
amb=$32
beazer for alps/muses=$27


$163.39

As per head-fi policy, im over budget
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post #28 of 30
4/13/09 at 4:30am
CTH!

.... darn, a tad too late...
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post #29 of 30
5/8/09 at 9:45am
Thread Starter 
Well Shes built. Honestly i didnt think it was going to be much of an improvement over my micro amp 107 (amp is an amp right, they just get higher in watts). Well i was wrong. Both my 770's and my m-audio q40's sound much better. It got rid of the sibilance from the q40 entirely. And the best part, even at 40 current (between 16-17.5mv, it was hard to tune because it drops more then 2mv in the 3min it take to tune them with the lid off) it is barely warm to the touch. And i mounted the outputs to the case bottom so the whole case is a heatsink.
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post #30 of 30
5/8/09 at 10:58am
Congratulations on a successful build.
You can build a CTH next time..
Cause' you know there is always a next time in DIY..
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