Warning About The Singlepower Extreme - Owners Please Read - Page 6

Well, quite clearly I made a good decision to stop using my Extreme once I heard about this problem.

In a month, I have gone from using SP amps in 2 of my 3 headphone rigs to none. Now the MPX3 is gone, and the Extreme looks wrecked. That flat out SUCKS. $2K down the toilet. That is the worst loss I have taken in 30 years of being an audiophile.

I know this is a mainly a discussion about Extremes, but I had a correspondence with SACD-Lover a little over a year ago when I was trying to establish the build date for my standard MPX3. I'd bought mine used, and Earl was trying to guesstimate to help me out.

He theorized that PCB's were launched some time in early 2006. He said he'd taken delivery of two new MPX3's in late 2005, and they were P2P, but quite soon afterwards, SP went to PCB's.... however, my board is dated "Jan 2005". I only found that out after cracking the box because of this fiasco.

Sky, my condolences. It's no consolation, but I'm glad it's only money.

Hand wired models were an extra cost option. Significantly
extra cost.

Pretty sure i have pictures of a mpx circuit board circa 2005...

Wow. Sorry to see those pics Skylab. What a piece of crap build. My wife solders better than what I saw in those pics. As good as they sound, I would not recommend another SP product again.

My Extreme has a PPX3 board marked as Rev3 2004. It looks much like Skylabs but has no extra heater capacitance tacked on to the PCB and instead of wires connecting the tube sockets to the main PCB it has some small round adaptor PCB boards. The boards look good but make it nearly unworkable to take the entire mainboard out. I got the transformer cover off yesterday and saw similar yellowing on the bobbin. My SP has relatively few hours on it so it did not have time to literally "burn in" yet. I got to the TX cover screws by drilling through the PCB. The screws are torx head and drilling did not compromise any PCB traces. I may also replace the heater rectifier with a higher spec'd one. 25A should do. Mine looks like it might be 10A.

Overall the soldering looks better than some photos I have seen and there are fewer wires going through holes in what seems like it was an ill-concieved after thought. Whoever built it was having a lucid day.

I am probably going to call Jack at Electra-Print tomorrow and get a quote for a nice over spec'ed tranny. Depending upon his price I will buy one or else get one of the Edcor ones. In my case I believe that the TX is all that separates the amp from being safe. I figure that if I do the work myself it will cost me about $150 to be back in the game.

Who knows, maybe it will sound better

Best,

Paul

Maybe you SP guys could start a group by on custom transformers?

Do I need to be worried about my SP Square Wave XL balanced SS amp?

Needs more than just the tranny, unfortunately. But yeah.

And I really owe Nate a debt of gratitude - my transformer had actually already started to short. It was truly and literally an accident ABOUT to happen. I stopped using it pretty much just in time.

We aren't sure about that one, it really depends on what boards are in your actual unit. It would certainly be worth the time to open it up and take a few pictures.

I know it truly sucks seeing good money go down the drain. But seeing a lot of the pictures that have been showing up here and elsewhere makes me downright fearful for anyone using a Singlepower amp. Too many of these things are turning up with shoddy build quality to trust any of them. I am sure some were quite well made before Mikhail turned into Mr. Hyde, but why take chances? SP amp owners should stop using their amp until they get it checked out by a professional who really knows what he's doing.

Skylab, I think you made the right choice. It's better to be safe than sorry.

--Jerome

Much thanks to N.

Much thanks, Nate, for all help to all. Right now, the EDCOR is the recommended replacement, as I understand. Based on some posts here and there, they make a nice sounding tranny.

good idea

Do realize that the transformer cover will never fit on any of the replacment transformers,
and that extra holes in many of the chassis will be visible around the area of the transformer.

If icariums unit is any indication, sooner or later one of the transistors
inside is going to short out, then a couple of resistors toast. Since
its capacitively coupled output, no damage to the headphones will occur.
And hopefully the wall brick has a fuse inside.

Thanks for that info Kevin.

Sorry to hear about your misfortune Skylab. I'm having an outboard
transformer built for my MPX3 by an electrical engineer here in the UK.
Far from what I expected after a few weeks of ownership but a small price
to pay for peace of mind.

[QUOTE=kevin gilmore;5918543]......
If icariums unit is any indication, sooner or later one of the transistors
inside is going to short out, then a couple of resistors toast. Since
its capacitively coupled output, no damage to the headphones will occur.
..........QUOTE]

Kevin, hypothetically, if it didn't have capacitively coupled output, what
would the typical damage be?

(sorry if I'm speaking OT)