[kelly]

Quote:

Originally posted by puppyslugg Where did that come from?

2009 is allegedly even better than 2008 if you can spare the power (ie, not a potable) and then of course, you'd want to stack those, right?

 

[puppyslugg]

Quote:

Originally posted by kelly 2009 is allegedly even better than 2008 if you can spare the power (ie, not a potable)

My meta is being built for ac use.
Quote:

Originally posted by kelly ...then of course, you'd want to stack those, right?

Of course. Isn't everybody doing this?

 

[aos]

Errr, guys?? Read the datasheets. EL2009 has 1Ohm output impedance compared to about 10Ohm of EL2001, and by the way it supplies 1A of current. There is no need to parallel them!

Besides you'd only use 2. Surely you're not going to use voltage splitter when powering an extremely rare and magnificient chip like EL2009??

I have several of them, waiting for the right time to be used. No solder is going to touch them before then.

 

[puppyslugg]

aos,

We're only kidding around.

Though I think I may have found a source for the el2008/9. Will have to wait and see.

 

[andrzejpw]

Ok, so the options for the meta, so far, are:

2001
2002
2008
2009

Ofcourse, you can stack em.

But what's the price on 2008/2009s?

 

[kelly]

Someone was selling 2009s for like $35 each (!).

Tangent sells 2001s for $3.50 each and 2002s for $4.21 each.

 

[andrzejpw]

yeah, tangent is a source for the 2001s/2002s. Its the other ones that I'm worried about. Hmm, stacking 2009s? Anyone?

 

[puppyslugg]

I think geom_tol is selling el2008's for about $20 ea.

 

[andrzejpw]

yeah, he's selling his remaining ones. But someone needs to find a source. . .

 

[aos]

2008/2009 are obsolete and have been for at least a year. You could probably find some but would have to pay for them through the nose. Parallel a few EL2001 and you should be plenty happy. If you still don't like it, consider building a fully discrete amp.

 

[kelly]

aos
The only fully discrete DIY amp I'm aware of is the Gilmore. Is this the one you refer to or is there another?

And you've probably seen me say this before but... the Sugden Headmaster is fully discrete and yet the Max still has better bass.
(But then, the Max has a lot more money spent in PSU.)

 

[aos]

Well, you don't need to have the whole amp discrete. Just the output buffer. There is obviously lack of good sounding buffers, hence Headroom uses discrete output stage. ppl has also published design for a discrete open loop buffer.

 

[ppl]

aos. LOL I can relate to that, i had the same idea on a pair of WB05 Buffers from Apex. These are also no longer available and cost me over $100 USD Ea. in the 1980's thay got up to $225 Ea just prior to Apex discontinued them. So i have been waiting for some great Project to use them in but that hase not happened yet and still thay sit in the Box thay came in for over 10 Years still waiting for that mystical Project to come around.

The EL-2008's and EL-2009's will not need to be paralelled as aos sed 1 amp Output (Actualy 1.6 Amps Measured Typical) Nontheless the 2008 @ an Icq of 13 Ma Typical is Reasonable for a Portable Amp on batteries but use AA's or AAA's since the resultent amp will draw about 40-50 Ma depending upon other circuit components I have used a pair of EL-2008's with a paralell set of (3) BUF-634's as the Rail Spliter and the AD-8610 Opamps this amp draws about 39 Ma Icq. and plays loud for about 10-12 hours on 16 AAA"s since i use so mutch rail capacitence the Curent Draw is not raised mutch above the no signal or Icq. with actual music playing quite loud. I must say this is my faviorite Portable amp. The Mids and highs on the 2008 are not as upfront as the 2001's and 2002's but this is i think a result of all that Bass. the EL-2009 is splendid and i have used this in an AC powered amp with Two stages of regulation and separate regulation on the Opamp The Opamp i used in that Amp is the Very nice sounding AD-843.

an Exceptible solution if the 2008's and 2009's are unavailable to you is Paralell (2-4) El-2001's or EL-2002's. The sonic improvement is noticable by going from 1 to 2 and 2 to 4. Going from 2 to 3 is not all that great so doubling of the Present amount of Buffers will result in an improvement on most Low impedance cans.

 

[geom_tol]

Well I finally managed to sell my Max. So before I packed it up I did a final long listening comparison to my meta42.

The Max is the older model. The meta42 uses uses 8aa's per rail, no railsplitter/ ground driver. 3000uF on each rail. And has the current sources.

I used my best source. A kenwood dp7090 cd player!

Headphones were hd580.

I started with ad8620 and el2001.

The Max was more laid back compared to the meta42. We know the reasons for this. The bass was marginally better on the Max.

Switched to El2008's. Meta42 now dominated the Max in the bass department. Deeper and more detailed.
Mids are more detailed and sparkling. Highs are equal.

Switched to opa627's.
The meta42 now sounds very similar to the Max but with better bass.

BUT! The meta42 seems to have some noise. It is not really noticable on it's own, but when comparing to the Max, silences are more silent on the Max. There could be several reasons for this. Superior ps. Superior layout. Professional assembly.

I think the reason I detected these differences between the two amps is the very good source I used this time. On previous tests I used a Pioneer elite pd54. A very musical and enjoyable player, but not in the same class as the Kenwood when it comes to details and bass.
With a pcdp the differences will probably be close to undetectable.

 

[ppl]

geom_tol> great report on the sound. So are you just using the Center tab on the batteries to connect to ground?