[Loquah]

To each their own. For some it's cables. For me it's tubes. I hope my GEC brown base phase continues.

 
I agree.
 
And Nathan, you are not just a tube-aholic, but also an enabler for other tube-aholics! I love the 6AS7G brown base you sold me and it sings with my T1s to the point that I desire no other headphone gear at the moment! Yes, that state of peace will pass, but I'm reveling in it for now.
 
As for Crack plus 6X0 combination, at a recent Melbourne meet, we had HD800, HE-6s, vintage amps, Woo Fireflies, NAD M51 and various other awesome gear, but what stole the show was the Crack with HD650s (no speedball or mods) - it's just a great pairing (with either HD600/650) and for the price it might be unbeatable.

 

[amcananey]

Depending on who you talk to and what caps you replace, the benefits are improved resolution/detail, speed and bass impact. Others claim greater extension up or down the frequency spectrum. Others reduced noise.

There are four places that most people seem to use when sourcing caps (though there are countless others):

1. Madisound (http://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/capacitors/) - Madisound has a decent selection that covers the most popular caps, low prices (for boutique caps), excellent service and low shipping costs.

2. Parts Connexion (http://www.partsconnexion.com/) - Large selection. Prices are higher than Madisound. Shipping costs tend to be high in my experience (they are located in Canada and shipping from Canada is expensive).

3. Parts Express (http://www.parts-express.com/cat/metalized-polypropylene-capacitors/1382) - Fairly small selection (in terms of brands). They carry the Dayton Audio film caps, which are a good way to try out film caps without dropping the big bucks for boutique caps.

4. eBay - In my experience, eBay is a good source for small-value caps from Russia (teflon and paper-in-oil caps of 0.1uf or less) and large-value film caps for use in the power supply.

Best regards,
Adam

 

[lugnut]

Can't say. I didn't find my 12BH7s to be better than my 12AU7s in an un-modified Crack. The Bottlehead guys recommend modding the Crack if you plan on using 12BH7s. I didn't want to get locked into 12BH7s, so I never made the recommended mod to my Crack.

 
I was under the impression that it was safe to use 12BH7s with the Crack with Speedball. Am I correct or wrong ?  Thanks

 

[DefQon]

Thank goodness this ain't diyaudio. 
 
Cap upgrades, sonic improvements, spec'f ESR and ripple current etc etc can become quite the heated topic almost as much as cables.
 
Personally for me, I like to drop in good spec'd caps over your typical bog standard Nichicon or Panasonic (FM/FC are great ps/filtering/decoupling) because one it looks good, two it looks good, three it looks good and if I'm hearing it, some sonic improvements but it usually depends. I.e. I find Silmics very warm sounding if used too much in the signal path, KZ's and Silmic and Cerafine's are great mix in the signal path and maybe throw in a few boutique polypropylene caps for decoupling which in most cases give a cleaner sound than many boutique PIO cap. 
 
I like to go overkill with caps but not to the extent of borderlining stupidity someone here has gone with there Crack LOL (jks 

, you know who you are).

 

[amcananey]

I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about.

Lugnut, it is safe, it is just not optimal. The 12BH7 changes the operating point of the 6AS7G / 6080 unless you replace the LEDs on the 9-pin socket with resistors.

 

[W0lfd0g]

I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about.

Lugnut, it is safe, it is just not optimal. The 12BH7 changes the operating point of the 6AS7G / 6080 unless you replace the LEDs on the 9-pin socket with resistors.

 
I am a diy newb.  Please explain.  What is the operating point and what sonic effect does it have?

 

[amcananey]

http://vinylsavor.blogspot.com/2011/01/search-for-that-magical-operating-point.html

But as a reminder, I did NOT make any modifications to my Crack when trying my 12BH7s, so I can't say what (if any) audible difference it would make.

Just so everyone has it (even though I've posted it several times in this thread), here is the source of my comment: http://www.bottlehead.com/smf/index.php/topic,663.msg45199.html#msg45199

Regards,
Adam

 

[W0lfd0g]

Thanks for the link, Adam. Can you please explain it in language that a newb can understand? From the little I read before my head started spinning (think Exorcist) it is the author's opinion that a forgiving amp can be a good thing - ie one that does not require a very tight matching to a theoretically optimal operating point (whatever that is). Is the Crack forgiving? I can only go by what I hear and I love the sound of the E80CC in my Crack (in which I haven't messed around by replacing LEDs with resistors)

 

[Nowhere]

interestingly my grandmother came over last night and i was showing her the amp and she actually loved the way it looked and thought it was something rich people would have out on display because of how vintage it looked and reminded her of her day. i know some talk about how it's not the best looking but i actually love the look of it, it's so oldschool.
 
she listened to a little of chasing cars by snow patrol and was blown away hehe.

 

[amcananey]

Nathan,

I'm no expert, and I can't say for certain whether the Crack is forgiving or not from a technical perspective, but I would argue that the fact that the Crack sounds good with both 12BH7s and E80CCs indicates that it probably IS a fairly forgiving amp. I've used both 12BH7s and E80CCs and didn't really have any complaints about the sound quality. But since my 12AU7s sound just as good (and some even seem to sound better) and since Bottlehead has made it clear that the stock Crack isn't optimal with the 12BH7 and E80CCs, I've just decided to stick with 12AU7s and their DIRECT equivalents.

Also, FWIW, I don't know whether the E80CC differs at all from the 12BH7. The Bottlehead advice I linked to was specific to the 12BH7. If the E80CC is different, you might need to make different mods to optimize the circuit. (Don't ask me what they are, I'm just as clueless as you are.)



Best regards,
Adam

 

[W0lfd0g]

Thanks Adam.
 
I'm happy with the sound and that's all that matters.  I'm not going to go messing with the circuit when I also love other driver tube varieties, not least of which is the 7316.
 
Cheers.

 

[amcananey]

I'm happy with the sound and that's all that matters.

 


Sound quality? Since when does that factor into anything?!?!??



Adam

 

[bala]

Folks, can someone send me a copy of the Speedball manual please, the CD was unreadable and I am still waiting for a reply to my email from DocB.

 

[Loquah]

  Folks, can someone send me a copy of the Speedball manual please, the CD was unreadable and I am still waiting for a reply to my email from DocB.

 
PM'ed

 

[bala]

Thanks Loquah, looking forward to the speedball upgrade!