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Crack;Bottlehead OTL
Apr 8, 2014 at 5:53 PM Post #4,576 of 12,335
serenitty said:
So I got my kit last week, everything was there (so far, I haven't opened the speedball bag yet), and I've had a ball assembling this thing.

So I decided to try things a little differently...










I bought a sheet of 18"x6" 16 gauge copper to make my own top plate, I really wanted the power and signal inputs on the back and the volume and headphone jack on the front.  I thought polished copper would be an interesting look.  That and I threw in brass 80 mesh screen and a bronze washer to accent the vent.  I don't have the tools to put the cooling slots in so I cut a 1.5" hole, lined it with the mesh and covered it with a 1.25" ID, 2" OD bronze thrust washer.  I have some brass strips on the way to use as straps to "hold" the top down.  I thought an old fashioned metal look would be fun.  Of course I'm going to spend a lot of time polishing this thing, it takes fingerprints like you wouldn't believe.

At any rate, assembly went well, about 4 hours of soldering, the resistance checks all went well.  SO I clenched up and plugged it in, no smoke or fire and the voltage checks were all good.  When I plugged it in though there was NO sound.  I traced though everything looking for something loose, then I got the instructions out and started looking them over.  When I tried watching the headphone jack push in and out I realized it was spring loaded and the side of the jack that the inputs go into is actually important.  SInce the jack isn't on the top plate I spun it around so I could access the holes to solder them, and I wired it backwards.  Everything checked normal with the headphone plug out, but as soon as you plugged it in, I lost signal.   Some swearing and about 10 minutes of desoldering and re-soldering and the amp worked beautifully.

I'm very impressed with the kit and the instructions, everything was clear and easy, thankfully there was extra wire, as some of my wire runs were longer than called for in the instructions.

Now I need to figure out what to do with my top plate and wood.  Build a second one?
Click to expand...


Beautiful build. Congrats!
 
Apr 8, 2014 at 6:11 PM Post #4,577 of 12,335
spacequeen7 said:
diaboliqu3 said:
 Now I just wondering if it's worth it I get Modi or stick with my Aune T1. BTW, what music are listening too?
Click to expand...

 
 
loquah said:
  
I'd say (based only on my experiences) that you'd need to jump to the $500-600 mark to find significant improvements. Something like the Matrix Mini-i Pro, for example, which costs $599.
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^^ this is what I'm doing now ..was going to upgrade my DAC  recently and was about to pull the trigger on  NuForce Icon HDP or Bifrost uber but decided to wait for more noticeable upgrade ,the one Loquah mention is good example
Modi/Aune T1 sounds pretty similar -advantage Aune T1 since you can roll different tubes for desire sound sig.,and use modi only if I want to use only two tubes-> Crack or DV
music ;Jazz ,Dubstep ,Rock,heavy metal,electronic 
I know you like "headbanging" flavor and enjoy the stock tube Aune come with since it's pretty good fit for what you listening to ,try Sylvania / RCA 6BK7B on Aune and TS 7236+Tesla 802S or 6SN7GT on Crack (I will be listing a bunch of tubes in few days in Classified section ) 
Click to expand...

Better save more and get Arcam irDac, for example, than buying Bifrost Uber instead
 
Apr 8, 2014 at 7:46 PM Post #4,581 of 12,335
Thanks sensei... Will funding a better DAC since gonna use it for my hifi too. Crack is good enough but I think with my current tube and DAC, I feels that she's underperform.
 
Apr 8, 2014 at 9:33 PM Post #4,582 of 12,335
diaboliqu3 said:
  Thanks sensei... Will funding a better DAC since gonna use it for my hifi too. Crack is good enough but I think with my current tube and DAC, I feels that she's underperform.
Click to expand...

 
You're using the Aune T1? If you are then there is definitely more performance you can squeeze out. It's incremental increases from here forward, but they're there to be had...
 
Apr 9, 2014 at 7:56 AM Post #4,586 of 12,335
Yeah, I'd say the zinc and tin content are pretty low...  The copper seems like an unalloyed version, it is a little soft, the drill bits half cut material away and half pushed it through the holes, this resulted in a fair amount of filing to get the holes clear and smooth enough to use.  My jig saw cut the square holes out like cutting through wood.  I was able to cut the 1.5" hole for the vent with my cordless drill.  So pretty easy to work with, I taped the whole thing up with automotive painters tape (the green stuff) to protect the surface and to give me something to write on.  Thankfully we have a metal brake at work that I was able to use to make the bends. 
 
I'm pretty happy with it, the wood work could have been better, I've thought about finding some exotic wood and making a second base to see how it looks.
 
Apr 9, 2014 at 10:30 AM Post #4,589 of 12,335
loquah said:
   
You're using the Aune T1? If you are then there is definitely more performance you can squeeze out. It's incremental increases from here forward, but they're there to be had...
Click to expand...

Ya, Aune T1. Do you mean squeeze my Aune T1 or squeeze budget for a better DAC?
 
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