kevin gilmore said:

  circlotron is capable of more than double the output current
(subject to heatsink size) up to 50ma per driver
 
lower distortion by a little bit
 
faster in general with a very extended frequency response
(>250khz)
 
Lots more parts
 
4 floating ONE THOUSAND VOLT power supplies
 
basically a Ragnarok on steroids.
 
Jason might want to comment about doing a circlotron at
these kind of voltages. (or he may run away screaming)

Click to expand...

astrostar59 said:

  Hi Guys
I know it's early in development, and I am not sure how far it has got. It might be too early, but has anyone actually heard a KGSShv carbon with the 009s yet? If so, how it is, and where does it sit as regards the KGSShv off-board?
 
I for one am very interested in the carbon version. I am also very happy with my current KGSShv and the 009s, but as this hobby is about learning and hearing new gear, the carbon has got my attention!

Click to expand...

kevin gilmore said:

all of the circlotron boards have now been published and i believe that they are all
final versions. There were a couple of very minor changes in the last few weeks
related to moving connectors to various places etc. i'm super happy with it.

there are a total of 4 floating high voltage power supplies, 2 high voltage power supplies
referenced to ground, 2 low voltage power supplies referenced to ground, and a bias
supply also referenced to ground. Then there are 2 driver boards and 2 output boards.

the final piece of the design is an opto isolator controlled adjustable output stage
bias. likely similar to the nelson pass design that uses an opto isolator for bias
control, although i have never seen that design. As designed, 20ma minimum,
25ma maximum, although the bench prototype has been tested to 50ma.
This amplifier will do full voltage swing at 20khz into a standard headphone load.

what is a circlotron output stage..

a fully balanced push pull output stage with 4 devices.
2 of those devices are (npn,mosfet,jfet,tube)
and the other 2 devices are floating power supplies

this is the first production push pull otl electrostatic amplifer
that i know of

a circlotron output stage has no voltage gain, but has
lots of current gain. it could be class AB or class A.
(sumo9 was class A, my amp is class A, the atmaspheres are AB)

a circlotron output stage is VERY fast. hundreds of volts per microsecond.

a circlotron output stage is very low distortion, cancelation of 2nd harmonic
distortion exceeds 6db.

the output dc voltage is fixed at 1.8 volts with respect to ground.
For an electrostatic amplifier, this is of no concern. I could add
a bunch of extra parts to deal with this issue, but there is no
reason to.

this amp is as much fun for me as when i listened to a T2 for the first time.
the tendency to crank it to 11 cannot be ignored.

and the best part, 100% available mouser parts and it fits in
a standard chssis (the 5U thing)

Click to expand...

kevin gilmore said:

all of the circlotron boards have now been published and i believe that they are all
final versions. There were a couple of very minor changes in the last few weeks
related to moving connectors to various places etc. i'm super happy with it.

there are a total of 4 floating high voltage power supplies, 2 high voltage power supplies
referenced to ground, 2 low voltage power supplies referenced to ground, and a bias
supply also referenced to ground. Then there are 2 driver boards and 2 output boards.

the final piece of the design is an opto isolator controlled adjustable output stage
bias. likely similar to the nelson pass design that uses an opto isolator for bias
control, although i have never seen that design. As designed, 20ma minimum,
25ma maximum, although the bench prototype has been tested to 50ma.
This amplifier will do full voltage swing at 20khz into a standard headphone load.

what is a circlotron output stage..

a fully balanced push pull output stage with 4 devices.
2 of those devices are (npn,mosfet,jfet,tube)
and the other 2 devices are floating power supplies

this is the first production push pull otl electrostatic amplifer
that i know of

a circlotron output stage has no voltage gain, but has
lots of current gain. it could be class AB or class A.
(sumo9 was class A, my amp is class A, the atmaspheres are AB)

a circlotron output stage is VERY fast. hundreds of volts per microsecond.

a circlotron output stage is very low distortion, cancelation of 2nd harmonic
distortion exceeds 6db.

the output dc voltage is fixed at 1.8 volts with respect to ground.
For an electrostatic amplifier, this is of no concern. I could add
a bunch of extra parts to deal with this issue, but there is no
reason to.

this amp is as much fun for me as when i listened to a T2 for the first time.
the tendency to crank it to 11 cannot be ignored.

and the best part, 100% available mouser parts and it fits in
a standard chssis (the 5U thing)

Click to expand...

1. When will this be available for purchase?
2. Where can it be purchased from?
3. What will the name of the amp be?
4. What will the price be?
5. Does it sound better than the Mjölnir KGSSHV Carbon?
6. How does its sound compare to other TOTL electrostat amps such as the DIY T2, BHSE, etc.?
7. Will there be an option for it to work with both STAX and the Sennheiser Orpheus HE 90?