NOW SOLD! - 27/8/10

Now officially for sale! See this post below for more info......

It is with great regret that I am considering selling my beloved Millett MiniMax

Ever since building my Exstata and getting some old SR-Lambda's fully functional, my M3 wasn't getting much use at home. Since the M3 just edges out the MiniMax for the very sensitive low impedance phones that I use at work, the Audio Technica ESW9, the M3 has been swapped into my desk rig and the MiniMax isn't getting used.

The regret comes in because this little beasty is fully loaded, and very rare for several reasons. Firstly, it contains BlackGates at all boutique positions which are now literally impossible to get hold of. Secondly, it has genuine Toshiba 2SC2238/2SA968 output transistors; again, almost impossible to get hold of, and there is a very good chance that any you do find will be fake. Lastly, she comes in a silver MiniMax case. Only a very small handful of these were ever built because machining issues meant they often suffered nicks and scratches in the finish. Mine does indeed have some marking on the top surface, but IMHO it still looks much better than the black version.

I would dearly love to hold onto the amp because of its rarity, but I just can't justify having it sit on a shelf or in a cupboard...... it deserves to be listened to, and I would love to free up some funds to challenge myself with a new build, something point-to-point. But I am still IC at this stage, because I really don't know how much money it would take for me to part with it, or what it is worth to other people, considering its rarity.

Anyway, here is what she looks like all cased up and powered on.

There are also some naked amp pr0n pictures featured on both the MiniMax PCB Construction and Wiring & Assembly websites. Yes, my build quality is that good to be featured on the website!

The amp currently has 33R output resistors in there to help keep it suitable for my very sensitive phones, but this amp would ideally be suited to somebody with less efficient Grados, AKG K701s, or any of the high impedance Sennheiser or Beyer models which is where this design really shines. I will quite happily jumper the outputs to suit these phones, or possibly install 10R or 22R resistors if the buyer is interested.

Questions or comments, please ask. Feedback is in my signature. Thanks for looking!

Pending......

No problems, free bumps are good

In any case, my sale fell through - my buyer was given another MiniMax - so this is still available......

I can't say I've ever specifically used a HF-2 or an iMod with this amp...... but the Millet Hybrids are all highly regarded for use with Grados, and I can't see one particular source that you enjoy suddenly becoming 'offensive' because of the amp used

Just some more info after checking my records...... I actually built two of these exactly the same - one in black that I sold while still in Australia, and this one in silver that I kept for myself. I have got an image of them both together here. At the time I sold the black one for my exact parts plus shipping cost to forum user 'Darek' for AU$600, which was ~US$380 using the exchange rate of the day.

You can still get a brand new Whiplash audio version with BlackGates at just one of the boutique positions and with lesser transistors for considerably higher at $449. So the BlackGates are less rare than I thought - I suspect that perhaps Whiplash bought up the last of the BlackGates for their builds. But the silver case, two sets of BlackGates and better transistors still make my amp much more desirable IMHO.

So I think that the original price of US$380 I sold the other one at is a fair ask considering that was the original parts/shipping cost and that it would be impossible to re-build another one now, particularly a silver one. I would include my 115VAC input power adapter, have it pre-biased for my favourite Sylvania 12FK6 tubes, plus another three sets of 12FK6 tubes I picked up along the way (though one pair is pretty microphonic and a touch scratchy). I would have to check how much shipping is going to be depending on your exact location and shipping weight..... but I expect that within Canada and the US, we can split shipping 50/50.

I am currently discussing with someone outside Canada/US and they currently have priority...... but I think that shipping charges may prove prohibitive, so if you are interested then please let me know!

Wow, lot of activity since going full for-sale!

Pending......

Like all Millett Maxes, power comes from an external 24VAC power brick that is rectified and regulated inside the amp. So I have a 115VAC power pack now, but people can just as easily buy any 24VAC output supply.