[Wes S]

yes, I’ve tried the auteur and Aeolus in the past, and have a different auteur on the way. They pair excellently. Right there with the 800 for some of the best pairings around with Bottlehead amps.

@HiFiHawaii808 I totally concur with @DenverW on the ZMF's and the Crack. I own the Aeolus and Atticus, and they sound insanely good on the Crack, and especially with a Bendix 6080WB and Tung Sol Black Glass Round Plate 6SN7GT tube combo. ZMF dynamics and BHC, go together like PB&J.

 

[DeweyCH]

On the ground breaker suggestion............I did that before speedball. lol:


On the film cap, I had some "s" hooks that were about 1 inch wide flat steel. 1mm or less thickness so easy to bend with clamps or pliers. S shaped as in squared off corners. A bit like the old drawing board clips type stuff. I bent one into a question mark shape but with a tab at the bottom with a hole in it. The whole thing is covered in some very wide heatshrink apart from the tab which is connected (contacting the chassis plate) under the the rear bolt of the Octal socket. EDIT-I've missed a hole out on this diagram. There is another wide hole drilled in the upright just below the cup for the cable tie to go through:


So yes I only drilled 2 holes for the choke. The Crees are supported by another nylon spacer which is just epoxied top and bottom. I just put something with a little bit of weight (but not too much to bend the crees ) on it for a few hours until the epoxy was dry. The Output caps are on cable tie mounts that are epoxied to the chassis. Used too much epoxy and spent an hour getting hardened epoxy out of the holes for the cable ties. lol.

P.S. Mods, Am having problems getting on the site. Certificate issue? Was giving me the following in my usual browser:

Your connection is not private
Attackers might be trying to steal your information from www.head-fi.org (for example, passwords, messages, or credit cards).


NET::ERR_CERT_DATE_INVALID
Back to safetyHelp me understand


I had to use Chrome then advanced to get onto the site ignoring the "safety" issues.

Their SSL certificate expired. They have since renewed it, it seems. No big deal.

 

[jonathan c]

Ready for action...a la carte portions of musical menu for this evening...Thelonius Monk...Jazz Messengers...Pat Metheny...

 

[DenverW]

Ready for action...a la carte portions of musical menu for this evening...Thelonius Monk...Jazz Messengers...Pat Metheny...

Great photo! I was just thinking how I'm horrible at taking pictures; I wish I had a better eye like yours

 

[jonathan c]

Thank you DenverW. I actually had to be that close to take the picture since I did not have on my “gogs” (glasses)...

 

[hmss007]

My Crack + Speedball has been built (I had Paul at Bottlehead build it for me) and I'm waiting for my base to be built by a local woodworker, he's making it out of cherry to match my desk and my ZMF headphone stands. Should have the completed kit by this weekend. In the meantime, here's a picture of the unit awaiting it's base.

The base is done and I think it looks good. Sounds even better.

 

[DenverW]

I think it's time to figure out how to do a switchable resistance mod. My crack has found its way to another headfier, but I have a cracktwoa here now to build, and I'd love to incorporate the ability to switch out 12au7 with 12bh7 and e80cc tubes without having to break out the soldering iron and switch resistors.

Has anyone done a mod like this? I've investigated some posts that mention particular switches and such, just wondering if there was someone who's brain I could pick.

 

[cddc]

Not sure if Crack_a2a also has the same Speedball? I once looked into it couple of years ago, the way people do it with the original Crack is carried out on the speedball.

They put 2 resistors in parallel to get the desired resistance value on speedball, and they add a 2-way or 3-way switch to toggle among different optimal resistance values on the speedball.

 

[cddc]

I normally do not run these 12BH7's or E80CC's, so did not go that route.

 

[DenverW]

Hmmm...the parallel switch is a good idea, and isn't so complicated that it makes me want to give up on it.

I think one of the big appeals I have to the idea, besides really liking e80cc tubes, is that 12au7 and 6sn7 tubes are getting a bit out of control, so having the option to substitute is good. Also, i'm a tube rolling addict.

 

[Tom-s]

If there’s a bunch of interest in this switch board. I’m willing to design a board or kit for this.
Like if interested.

 

[DenverW]

If there’s a bunch of interest in this switch board. I’m willing to design a board or kit for this.
Like if interested.

I have multiple personalities, so my like counts for a bunch.

 

[jonathan c]

These just arrived...I cannot wait to “torque up” the BHC with 421a....akin to Mustang 421 cubic inch V8?....

 

[cddc]

These just arrived...I cannot wait to “torque up” the BHC with 421a....akin to Mustang 421 cubic inch V8?....

These WE 421A's should have the same specs (gain, transconductance, voltage/current, etc) as the Tung Sol 5998's - see my research on 421A vs 5998 pages earlier.

WE 421A seems much rarer than TS 5998 (or maybe not, due to all these Western Electric believers / hoarders ), so it fetches a much higher price than 5998. Congrats on the new acquisition! They seem to be in good condition, new in box?

 

[jonathan c]

Yes, NIB