[preproman]

That Leben integrated amp looks interesting..  

 

[kothganesh]

Talk about the right polarity. Two weeks ago, my cousin got the polarity reversed on the connection from the Hifiman Speaker adapter box to my Odyssey Stratos. I had the fuses blown and 4 audio transistors fried on the amp. Waiting for replacements. Be very careful !

 

[NoxNoctum]

Ok you guys are scaring me now, I can't imagine a worse situation than blowing an amp in a high end audio store

.
 
So just to confirm if is + to + and - to - and red>red white>white right? 
 
@NZtechfreak So you're saying to connect the female-to-bananas cable to the amp, turn on after zeroing, and then plug in the male end connected to HE-6?

 

[NZtechfreak]

 So you're saying to connect the female-to-bananas cable to the amp, turn on after zeroing, and then plug in the male end connected to HE-6?

That's it, yes. Then to change amps zero volume, unplug HE-6 from adapter, power off amp and finally remove the adapter.

 

[NZtechfreak]

Oh, regards polarity it is +ve to +ve and -ve to -ve in each channel. Both channel and polarity connections need to be correct.

It's all pretty straight forward in the end, although I think we probably all remember the anxiety and triple checking connection information before we first connected to speaker amps. I must've asked for clarification about a half dozen times until I felt I had a grasp solid enough to risk connecting my expensive headphones to a speaker amp.

Once you get comfortable with it the key becomes not getting too complacent!

 

[svo360]

I didn't' t change anything from the purchased PCB.
There is no volume control so that it is fed by Soloist.

sorry i took for granted u purchased a complete ready to go, as i have no idea in electronics I'm thinking a complete version might be a option.

 

[punit]

  Talk about the right polarity. Two weeks ago, my cousin got the polarity reversed on the connection from the Hifiman Speaker adapter box to my Odyssey Stratos. I had the fuses blown and 4 audio transistors fried on the amp. Waiting for replacements. Be very careful !

Why do you use a Hifiman adapter box ? You  have a Parasound pre for fine volume control so will not blow the HE 6 if you exercise normal caution. The box adds unnecessary elements in the signal path IMO.

 

[kothganesh]

Punit,
 
absolutely right. I had ordered the box some time ago and completely forgotten about it. I received it like a week after the Odyssey. I hooked it up but it was working fine. Then my cousin came in, thought he knew better, reversed the damn connectors and kaboom !
 
Add: I've ordered the audio transistors from HK but its taking an awfully long time to get here. So I decided to something even more crazy. I got myself a Mark Levinson power amp, the 532H. No boxes this time.!!

 

[kothganesh]

Oh, I forgot to add why I introduced the box in the first place. Before I got the Parasound, I was using the Burson Soloist as a pre. Man, I was getting deafening sound with the volume pot on the Soloist around like 7 or 8 0'clock. So I actually put the box in thinking the resistors would add some more attenuation and I would get more play with the volume. I later realized I should have just dialed down the gain on the Soloist. Anyway, I replaced the Soloist when I got the Parasound and the rest is sad history. Well, this is an expensive live and learn.

 

[preproman]

  Looks like a beast..
 
Congrats on the purchase..
 

 

 

[kothganesh]

Darryl, thanks. Very nice neutral sound with plenty of detail and a wide dynamic range. Over the years, I've gone from a basshead to a neutral preference. The bass quality on this is amazingly good. So much that I am slowly gravitating to speakers.

 

[Happy Camper]

Darryl, thanks. Very nice neutral sound with plenty of detail and a wide dynamic range. Over the years, I've gone from a basshead to a neutral preference. The bass quality on this is amazingly good. So much that I am slowly gravitating to speakers.

I've gone back to speakers. Don't know what I was thinkin.

 

[preproman]

I've gone back to speakers. Don't know what I was thinkin.

Dave - are you using your Big Martin Logans?

 

[negura]

Darryl, thanks. Very nice neutral sound with plenty of detail and a wide dynamic range. Over the years, I've gone from a basshead to a neutral preference. The bass quality on this is amazingly good. So much that I am slowly gravitating to speakers.

 
To be fair most headamps are not doing the transducers any favours. I came to similar findings on getting both the 3Fs and HE-6s on my speaker amp: dynamic range, bass, sound stage are just better. If you get a clean background with your dynamic headphones, very little reason to go back to headamps. The other good thing is that it sets a benchmark to rate them headamps.
 
I am not using any resistor box with my HE-6s btw.
 
I slowly drifted to speakers too, except that I listen to some obscene music to family members, like metal, where I have to switch to headphones. Plus late night listening. The really good speakers are unmatched by headphones imo.

 

[Happy Camper]

Dave - are you using your Big Martin Logans?

Glory days revisited. Got the ML/Velodyne HT rig back up and singing. Took the time to cal. the room. Forgot how music lives in the lows. HPs are another tool in the audio bag. Specific listening and environmental controls in particular. But once outside of the headband, speakers.