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Any DIY builders in the SF Bay Area?

post #1 of 7
1/23/12 at 6:21pm
Thread Starter 

I'm looking to start on a new project and was hoping to get in touch with some seasoned builders that live near San Francisco.  Let me know if you are!

 

 

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post #2 of 7
1/23/12 at 9:20pm

I live in Santa Barbara, but I'm often in the Bay Area. What sort of project do you have in mind?

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post #3 of 7
1/28/12 at 5:28pm

Looked at your profile and noticed you're an industrial designer as well. Now you have to elaborate :)

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post #4 of 7
1/28/12 at 6:24pm
Thread Starter 

I was hoping to do a collaborative upgraded amp based on the Bottlehead Smack amp kit.  My goal is to drive my pair of HD800's using balanced outputs.  I was interested in a custom designed enclosure but I doubt I'll have the funds to allow for what I'd like to do.  I don't have any engineering experience which would allow me to make any major tweaks myself. 

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post #5 of 7
1/29/12 at 8:56am

well for starters it would have to be psuedo balanced or SRPP/circlotron; they dont make P channel tubes, only N-Channel ie. its impossible to have a truly complementary balanced tube circuit. the circlotrons and totem-pole configurations alike, do a pretty decent imitation though.

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post #6 of 7
1/29/12 at 9:07am

ahh, just checked up on the SMACK, so it uses a center tapped transformer as a phase splitter, still not a balanced amp imo. interesting design though and i dont mean the above as a slight, just being pernickety as i see lots of people talking about balanced tube amps when it really isnt strictly possible

 

yes i'm aware that the SuSy opamp in the VAS of my transportable rig below kinda disqualifies it as well. agreed though, it simplifies description as people understand 'balanced'. in fact, give the proliferation of psuedo balanced designs due to the inverse proliferation of P-channel parts even in solid state, perhaps the definition should be rejigged to include things that are balanced in effect. does this include the SMACK though?


Edited by qusp - 1/29/12 at 9:28am
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post #7 of 7
1/29/12 at 5:06pm
Thread Starter 

I understand that the Smack is not a truly balanced amplifier and only has "balanced" outputs, not inputs.  I chose this amp for its ability to work well with a variety of lower impedance headphones however my primary headphones will be the HD800.  My source is not balanced either which is another reason I did not a truly balanced amp.  Im also wondering if it would be possible to make it into a 3-Channel amp with active ground similar to that of the B-22.

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