markl
Hangin' with the monkeys.
Member of the Trade: Lawton Audio
- Joined
- Jun 22, 2001
- Posts
- 9,130
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Hee hee. Stealing a page from MRael's playbook, I'd thought I'd tease you a little with a little face-off of my own.
My Melos SHA-Gold is here! I've got her hooked up to my Sony R10's right now. The battle is joined!
The SHA-Gold is the upgraded and newer version of the Melos SHA-1. Since Melos is kaput, it's hard finding info on the evolution of the Melos SHA line, but for the curious, here's what I was able to find out:
"The Sha-1 was a very popular Headphone/Line stage preamplifier that was actually designed to work with complete line of GRADO headphones. It had very innovative circuitry employing the use of two 6922 tubes as amplification. The early models had only two inputs one headphone output, and one set of line level outputs. The majority of them, however, had three inputs and dual headphone outputs that would cut out (automatically) the sound from the line level outs when a headphone was plugged in. It originally sold for $995.00.
The Sha-Gold was a giant step up from the Sha-1 as it employed the use of a light controlled volume and balance system called the PHO-tentiometor. Using light, there was actually no potentiometers in the signal path and making this type unit the first of it's kind anywhere. The unit was completely remote controlled and used an analog meter to check the balance level. It had six inputs and one headphone output, one line level output and one passive line level output. It also used a pair of 6922 tubes for amplification. (SHA-Gold was $2K-- markl)
The Sha-Maestro was a much more streamlined version of the Sha Gold having the same inputs but instead of passive outputs, it had two sets of line level outputs and one set of balanced outputs. It also no longer employed the use of the PHO-tentiometor circuitry. The unit was still completely remote controlled but did not use an analog meter for the balance. Both the volume and the balance controls were accessible from the front panel as well as the remote control. It too, used two 6922 tubes for amplification.
(SHA Maestro was also $2K-- markl)
This info via the MELOS AUDIO RESTORATION. They'll service your Melos and tweak it too.
My SHA-Gold's insides do not look much like the pictures of the guts of the SHA-1 that someone posted here. The board with the Headphone section in my Gold is larger and has more "stuff" on it. There's also additional boards with more componentry in the gold, presumably for the remote. I'm very technical
I'll give you this little tidbit now, the Melos and the ZOTL are two completely different sounding amps. No doubt about it.
What a fun weekend this will be for me!
markl
BTW, having a remote volume control for your headphone amp is every bit as cool as it sounds!
My Melos SHA-Gold is here! I've got her hooked up to my Sony R10's right now. The battle is joined!
The SHA-Gold is the upgraded and newer version of the Melos SHA-1. Since Melos is kaput, it's hard finding info on the evolution of the Melos SHA line, but for the curious, here's what I was able to find out:
"The Sha-1 was a very popular Headphone/Line stage preamplifier that was actually designed to work with complete line of GRADO headphones. It had very innovative circuitry employing the use of two 6922 tubes as amplification. The early models had only two inputs one headphone output, and one set of line level outputs. The majority of them, however, had three inputs and dual headphone outputs that would cut out (automatically) the sound from the line level outs when a headphone was plugged in. It originally sold for $995.00.
The Sha-Gold was a giant step up from the Sha-1 as it employed the use of a light controlled volume and balance system called the PHO-tentiometor. Using light, there was actually no potentiometers in the signal path and making this type unit the first of it's kind anywhere. The unit was completely remote controlled and used an analog meter to check the balance level. It had six inputs and one headphone output, one line level output and one passive line level output. It also used a pair of 6922 tubes for amplification. (SHA-Gold was $2K-- markl)
The Sha-Maestro was a much more streamlined version of the Sha Gold having the same inputs but instead of passive outputs, it had two sets of line level outputs and one set of balanced outputs. It also no longer employed the use of the PHO-tentiometor circuitry. The unit was still completely remote controlled but did not use an analog meter for the balance. Both the volume and the balance controls were accessible from the front panel as well as the remote control. It too, used two 6922 tubes for amplification.
(SHA Maestro was also $2K-- markl)
This info via the MELOS AUDIO RESTORATION. They'll service your Melos and tweak it too.
My SHA-Gold's insides do not look much like the pictures of the guts of the SHA-1 that someone posted here. The board with the Headphone section in my Gold is larger and has more "stuff" on it. There's also additional boards with more componentry in the gold, presumably for the remote. I'm very technical
I'll give you this little tidbit now, the Melos and the ZOTL are two completely different sounding amps. No doubt about it.
What a fun weekend this will be for me!
markl
BTW, having a remote volume control for your headphone amp is every bit as cool as it sounds!
