[Daveze]

  Quick question: aside from price, would there be any situations where the MiniMax would be preferred over the Torpedo? I'm looking to build a pretty solid amp to act as my audio centerpiece for the next few years while I build up a nice headphone collection. Am I correct in assuming the Torpedo is more flexible in terms of what headphones it'll work with?

 
A situation that I prefer the MiniMax is for office listening. Australia is fairly strict on who can fiddle on the 240V (120V) side of the transformer (for anything at all), so the ability to have a tested and tagged 24V transformer means I can have my handbuilt amp in very safety conscious office environment. Based on a very short listen, I actually prefer my MiniMax to Torpedo for my Grado SR225 (what!? Sacrilege!) or maybe I wasn't as blown away by the differences between the MiniMax and the Torpedo (with the AKG 240 Sextett and Studio...Torpedo, no competition, truly mind blowing).

 

[Blze001]

Alright, turns out my patience couldn't hold out, I decided to go with the Torp I, especially since the Torp I was stretching my budget a little and the Torp III will cost a bit more on top of that. Still, it's not like the Torp I is the "wrong" choice and I can't wait to build it. Then I can start buying a plethora of headphones, since power won't be too much of a concern!
 
In the long run, my wallet is going to hate this purchase. 

 

[UKToecutter]

what your wallet may hate your ears will love

 

[diego]

I don´t think Torpedo III will substitute Torpedo I as they will have different sound signatures. Many people will probably want to keep both.

 

[Blze001]

The worst part about ordering a new hifi toy is waiting for it to finish processing so you can stalk it through the mail. 

 

[tomb]

  The worst part about ordering a new hifi toy is waiting for it to finish processing so you can stalk it through the mail. 

You will be able to stalk it first thing tomorrow. 

 

[Blze001]

  You will be able to stalk it first thing tomorrow. 

 
*Sets up lawn-chair next to mailbox* 

 

 

[Blze001]

   
*Sets up lawn-chair next to mailbox* 

 

 
I got the box on Monday.
 
Two evenings, a burnt hand and a few creative curse words later, my Torpedo is singing away!

 
It may or may not have a slightly crooked tube, but I call that character. The important thing is there's no smoke, the house's circuit breakers are intact, my headphones didn't explode and I'm not hearing any oddities. Fingers crossed, but I think she works!
 
I was really nervous plugging it in, this was my first high-voltage project and I had visions of smoke detectors going off and that lovely acrid smell of electrical smoke filling the house, but Tomb and Dsavitsk have made a largely idiot-proof kit here. I should know, I'm a pretty talented idiot.

 

[tomb]

 

   
*Sets up lawn-chair next to mailbox* 

 

 
I got the box on Monday.
 
Two evenings, a burnt hand and a few creative curse words later, my Torpedo is singing away!

 
It may or may not have a slightly crooked tube, but I call that character. The important thing is there's no smoke, the house's circuit breakers are intact, my headphones didn't explode and I'm not hearing any oddities. Fingers crossed, but I think she works!
 
I was really nervous plugging it in, this was my first high-voltage project and I had visions of smoke detectors going off and that lovely acrid smell of electrical smoke filling the house, but Tomb and Dsavitsk have made a largely idiot-proof kit here. I should know, I'm a pretty talented idiot.

 
Dsavitsk is the only reason I've been able to build high-voltage stuff.  I still do things like use a meter to measure the case to ground voltage after I've built a new one - before I touch it.  Dsavitsk knows what he's doing, though, and he's always Safety First.
 
So, how's it sound? 

 

 

[Blze001]

   
Dsavitsk is the only reason I've been able to build high-voltage stuff.  I still do things like use a meter to measure the case to ground voltage after I've built a new one - before I touch it.  Dsavitsk knows what he's doing, though, and he's always Safety First.
 
So, how's it sound? 

 

 
Fair warning, I'm still an audio newbie, so these are inexperienced observations.
 
I was honestly shocked by the change. I knew my Q701s were under powered coming off my DAC directly, but they still sounded pretty stellar. I did notice a lack of low-end and some mids and treb frequencies sounded a little spikey. Just adding the Torp sounded like someone took a smoothing tool to the frequency graph: the few spikes I was hearing vanished and the spots where it was lacking seemed to come back a little and the whole thing felt fuller and warmer. I'm sure a lot of this is simply the Torp giving my headphones the power they crave, I know the Qs are more power-hungry than their specs would make you think, but I've always been able to tell when audio has a tube component and I can definitely hear the tubes in this.
 
I'm going to run it the rest of the week on the 6J6s just to make sure there aren't gremlins hiding somewhere, then try the E90CCs... I want the cheap tubes in the line of fire if something goes wrong.

 

[Pingupenguins]

I was always a little irked by the Torpedo because of the fat warning that says "HIGH VOLTAGE". But glad they are sounding great on Dynamic driver AKG's! One of these days when I feel courageous enough I'll give the high voltage crowd a crack. Gotta start with the little stuff first though.

 

[tomb]

  I was always a little irked by the Torpedo because of the fat warning that says "HIGH VOLTAGE". But glad they are sounding great on Dynamic driver AKG's! One of these days when I feel courageous enough I'll give the high voltage crowd a crack. Gotta start with the little stuff first though.

 
Well, the biggest concerns were taken into account with Dsavitsk's PCB design.  No other high-voltage tube amplifier has such a complete PCB.  There is no wiring whatsoever except for the ground wire to the pot and the safety ground from the PCB to the case.  That takes away the biggest concerns in building a high-voltage amplifier - there is no wiring of high-voltage, anywhere.

 

[Blze001]

  I was always a little irked by the Torpedo because of the fat warning that says "HIGH VOLTAGE". But glad they are sounding great on Dynamic driver AKG's! One of these days when I feel courageous enough I'll give the high voltage crowd a crack. Gotta start with the little stuff first though.

 
Yeah, my 701s love the amp... my K550s don't really get a drastic boost from it, however. The background is blacker and there is a little less harshness, but otherwise my K550s run the same on the Torp as they do on my cMoy... then again, the K550s are half the impedance of the Q701s.
 
To put in perspective the difficulty of this build, my experience with a soldering iron prior to this was a cMoyBB kit from JDS labs. That's it. Just take it slow and methodically, and it'll go together just fine. One trick I picked up: find a small alligator clamp and attach it on the component lead between where the lead goes through the PCB and the component itself, the clamp will siphon off a good bit of the heat, so you can stay on the spot a little longer and get a nice joint without worrying about torching the part. Not really needed for the little resistors, but some of the capacitors have seriously chunky leads and take a bit of heat to get the solder flowing properly.

 

[Pingupenguins]

   
Well, the biggest concerns were taken into account with Dsavitsk's PCB design.  No other high-voltage tube amplifier has such a complete PCB.  There is no wiring whatsoever except for the ground wire to the pot and the safety ground from the PCB to the case.  That takes away the biggest concerns in building a high-voltage amplifier - there is no wiring of high-voltage, anywhere.

Thats true. It's definitely a lot cleaner than some of the amp builds I've seen. Any comparisons vs the MiniMAX? I've been eyeballing that amp for about 2 years now.
 

   
Yeah, my 701s love the amp... my K550s don't really get a drastic boost from it, however. The background is blacker and there is a little less harshness, but otherwise my K550s run the same on the Torp as they do on my cMoy... then again, the K550s are half the impedance of the Q701s.
 
To put in perspective the difficulty of this build, my experience with a soldering iron prior to this was a cMoyBB kit from JDS labs. That's it. Just take it slow and methodically, and it'll go together just fine. One trick I picked up: find a small alligator clamp and attach it on the component lead between where the lead goes through the PCB and the component itself, the clamp will siphon off a good bit of the heat, so you can stay on the spot a little longer and get a nice joint without worrying about torching the part. Not really needed for the little resistors, but some of the capacitors have seriously chunky leads and take a bit of heat to get the solder flowing properly.

 
I basically have the same experience. cMoy and GrubDAC. I've got a "3rd hand" from harbor freight that I use every day. Infinitely useful, I don't know what I would have done without it. Everyone who's any sort of DIY needs to get a "third hand".

 

[tomb]

 

   
Well, the biggest concerns were taken into account with Dsavitsk's PCB design.  No other high-voltage tube amplifier has such a complete PCB.  There is no wiring whatsoever except for the ground wire to the pot and the safety ground from the PCB to the case.  That takes away the biggest concerns in building a high-voltage amplifier - there is no wiring of high-voltage, anywhere.

Thats true. It's definitely a lot cleaner than some of the amp builds I've seen. Any comparisons vs the MiniMAX? I've been eyeballing that amp for about 2 years now.

 
The MiniMAX is being phased out.  I only have 1 kit left.  You will find some that still prefer the MiniMAX for certain things (in this thread, even - just a few posts back).  However, the Torpedo I is superior.*  The parts count is much higher than the Torpedo.  It takes about 3-4 hours just to pack a MiniMAX kit.  I don't have the kind of time it takes to support that anymore.
 
 
* Torpedo III may be in the Summit-Fi category with Cinemag OT's.