[Questhate]

Oh my, LFF has unleashed the Kracken. 

 

[purrin]

LOL.
 
Anax has heard it. I haven't and I wish I did before it got shipped out.
 
I'm not too familar with the technicalities, but I do know that there are $2.5k worth of Tango transformers. The "smaller" ones are interstage. It's a speaker / headphone amp. It's another option for the OP to consider if he wanted to drive the power sinks known as the HE-6 or K1000.
 
Anax (he's banned) asked me to post additional photos:
 

 

 

[KingStyles]

Is that aboce E.C. amp a prototype he is planning to release later?

 

[Radio_head]

It was a one off but discussions are (sort of) in the works for a small run, 5 or 10 units.  I heard Craig liked it so much he's been ticked ever since he had to send it out to the customer.  Others have mentioned it to be the best they have ever heard with the fickle HD800.
 
Edit- and from my crappy investigative work that involves using the url bar as "the google", thats about 3K in transformers unless someone can find them cheaper than $750/EA X 4.

 

[purrin]

It's a custom job. Six watts into speakers (don't know what load.) Anax knows more than I do, I'm just getting up to speed on it. He said it was the most ******* resolving thing he'd ever heard with the vast openness of the BA (HF filament heater) but with the tightest pin-point imaging. I have no reason to doubt Anax as many others such as RD (also banned for being a bad boy) have said that he has golden labias.
 
Supposedly Mr. EC likes it enough that he's making one for himself, but with much less costly Lundahls. I think Anax is trying to get a group buy together for a similar custom job to get the price down. I think it's going to be kind of like BYOT (bring your own transformers.) 
 
All of the above is heresay tho, so I could be wrong on certain points.
 
My purpose in getting it would be for high efficiency full range speakers.

 

[Radio_head]

This is all definitely heresy.  I'd be all in if Craig lets me name it.  I'm thinking either A-7 like the plane a la RSA's naming MO (and its accompanying nickname) or Moon Unit.  

 

[MorbidToaster]

If that's the 200g Analogue Productions Norah Jones LP I'm going to rob him and steal just that. God I want that record. Gonna settle for Blue Note, soon.

 

[SleepyOne]

Is that the custom tango 2A3 speaker amp? Didn't realise it has interstage transformers (& headphone output). I wonder how big is the power supply. From the internal pic, most likely those are 4, 8 ,16 ohms terminals.

 

[SR-71Panorama]

Quote:

@ SR-71
 
What brand is the CD case? Has a nice look to it. Thanks.

 
"TransDeco TD120S Frosted Tempered Glass Rack Multimedia Storage"
 
This is the non-frosted version.  I think the frosted is discontinued.  The glass on mine seems quite strong.
http://www.amazon.com/TransDeco-TD020S-Tempered-Multimedia-Storage/dp/B000YA1G3Q/ref=sr_1_5?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1357266621&sr=1-5

 

[rgs9200m]

I said in another post that I had cycled thru some high end preamps (some higher priced than the Pinnacle from well known names, tube and solid state) and the Pinnacle beats them all as a preamp.
It is worth its price as a preamp alone if you don't mind not having a remote. That's what makes it a real bargain in the high end world from a purely sound quality perspective if you need 
both a preamp and a dynamic headphone amp. Add this to the fact that you don't need 2 sets of interconnects or 2 powercords and the value in this situation is very high.
The price for this level of performance for a dual purpose component is low, even at a used level.

 

[pmillett]

Ah, OK, that is correct.  
 
The issue is not that the Pinnacle cannot drive the K1000's very well... the issue is more that the gain is a little on the low side. 
 
For me, with a normal consumer CD player as a source, it is more than loud enough.  But if you need 120dBSPL, it might need more gain (like a preamp in front of it).
 
Quote:

Your words were "well, but not to ear-splitting levels." 

 

[pmillett]

Quote:

Semi related, I was wondering if the Pinnacle used an AC heater or DC heater?  That it's SS is already a big plus but the description doesn't pin down what '[size=small] a sophisticated filament supply'[/size] entails.  If AC, does it also go the out of audible band route?

 
The filament supplies are DC.  There is a rectifier and filter plus a constant-current source in the power supply box.
 
In the amp box, there is a common mode filter and finally a shunt regulator very near the power tubes.
 
The idea is that the CCS and filter isolates the supply (and the rest of the world) pretty well from the filament, which for a DHT is part of the signal path (and very sensitive to noise).  The shunt regulator regulates the voltage to very accurately to 4.0V (and the excess power sourced by the CCS goes up in heat).
 
Pete

 

[rgs9200m]

The TAS review of the Pinnacle here
http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/b0edde2a#/b0edde2a/1
 
says it's in the top echelon of line preamps and says it was evident in a quick minute that the Pinnacle was an extraordinary preamp.
These guys at TAS deal with Shindos, darTZeels, and the like that sell new for tens of thousands of $$ (and lots of $$ used too).
I've heard these at shows and I swear the Pinnacle is up there with them in terms of being lifelike and natural. 
 
And a lot of people still don't trust Stereophile/TAS/online-magazine reviews because they think they are influenced by advertising dollars or have conspiracy theories about payoffs...
Well, I think it would be quite a stretch of the imagination to think that's the case with TAS and the Pinnacle and Todd and Pete.

 

[SR-71Panorama]

I plan on running mine with $14k ATC active speakers (not purchased yet).  Just a pair of XLR cables and we're off to the races.

 

[songmic]

Sorry for staying off the topic, but there seem to be a lot of people here who had experience with TOTL headphone amps, so I'll ask. I use Fostex TH900 as my primary reference headphone, and I wonder which of these headphone amps will be the best match for it. For me, Eddie Current Zana Deux SE is as far as I could spend, which cost me up to $3400 including upgraded components such as Mullard ECC35 driver tube ($300), Penny & Giles potentiometer ($300), Stefan AudioArt Endorphin umbilical power IC for ZDSE ($475), and Audio Magic Super Fuse ($100) altogether. While I've done practically everything to make my ZDSE the best-sounding ZDSE possible (and stock ZDSE is still considered one of the best amps to drive the TH900), I'm curious about how TH900 would fare with even more upscale amps that are out of my reach, such as the Pinnacle, Balancing Act, Liquid Glass, etc. I know the TH900 is a relatively easy headphone to drive in terms of power sensitivity/efficiency, but merely having enough power doesn't always mean sounding exceptional.