[zippy2001]

Eddie Current Equilibrato

Craig Uthus of Eddie Current has just created a new heaphone amp, the Equilibrato.

Standard configuration - $1760
- two unbalanced inputs
- 4 pin balanced and 1/4" unbalanced headphone jack
- Regulated power supply, regulated heaters
- Tubes - (1) Tung Sol 12SN7, (2) Sophia Electric PX4

SE - $2800
- The SE uses the BA dual vacuum tube power supply, and dual high frequency isolated heater amplifier.
- Two balanced inputs, two unbalanced inputs
- Two three pin balanced outputs, and 1/4" unbalanced outputs

Here is my Equilibrato in standard configuration.

 

[zippy2001]

Here are some of my impressions of the amp so far.

I met David (909) at Craig's house on Saturday to pick up my Equilibrato and all I can say is that I am extremely pleased with this amp. David was kind enough to bring over his L3000s, a really great sounding cartridge and phono preamp. We did quite a bit of listening to both CD and vinyl on Craigs Sony PSX70 turntable.

The Equilibrato with the PX4 sounds great, it is very musical. Listening to some vintage vinyl really made me want to setup my turntable and get my analog system setup again. I've been listening to music digitally through my Lavry DA11 quite a bit lately and although it is convenient and does sound great with the Equilibrato, I do miss the analog sound.

In regards to balanced versus unbalanced, I did listen to the AD2000 and RS1 balanced vs unbalanced, and there is a noticeable difference in soundstage and definition. The balanced setup definitely sounded better to my ears. Now to I need to get my headphones balanced.

The input switch on the front lights up when you turn on the amp, it glows a nice amber / orange color that almost matches the glow of the tubes. Very cool. It does not change color, just goes in and out to switch between the two single ended inputs. Nice, now I don't need a seperate preamp. I can use one input for digital and one for analog.

The Sophia Electric PX4 sounds great, it is a little bit microphonic, but nothing that I can hear in normal listening. I didn't compare it to any 300Bs, but am quite happy with my decision. Although I do want to listen to the much more expensive KR tubes, Craig says that they sound better overall and have better bass.

This amp is a huge leap forward in performance over my DM-2 prototype, it is better in everyway from detail, soundstage, etc.

 

[Uncle Erik]

Wow! Great looking amp and I can't wait to hear one!

 

[El_Doug]

Absolutely stunning! I too cannot wait to hear one

 

[vcoheda]

how would an SE version differ from a Balancing Act?

 

[santacore]

That's a nice looking amp. I look forward to hearing one in the future.

 

[zippy2001]

Quote:

Originally Posted by vcoheda /img/forum/go_quote.gif how would an SE version differ from a Balancing Act?

I don't know all of the details, but yes the SE starts getting very close to the Balancing Act. I think the things that will still set the Equilibrato SE apart from the Balancing Act is the really nice case, AC high frequency isolated heaters and silver output transformers.

 

[wower]

This thing's pretty cool, I'll admit it. Good tube choice too. I've heard lots of good things. I'd love to try it. Thanks for posting the prices. That's very helpful. This price bracket just got much much more interesting which is always a good thing for the community.

Importantly, I don't see any balanced inputs on your unit. By what process is it being outputted to balanced? (Phase splitter? Some fancy circuit?)

 

[zippy2001]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wower /img/forum/go_quote.gif This thing's pretty cool, I'll admit it. Good tube choice too. I've heard lots of good things. I'd love to try it. Thanks for posting the prices. That's very helpful. This price bracket just got much much more interesting which is always a good thing for the community. Importantly, I don't see any balanced inputs on your unit. By what process is it being outputted to balanced? (Phase splitter? Some fancy circuit?)

According to Craig "I have a white paper on my site explaining balanced lines. When driving a load I mean floating as no ground reference. The output drives equally plus, and minus to the load without any ground reference."

To Balance or Not to Balance - that is the question...

I'm not an expert on balancing, but it definitely sounds better.

 

[Parafeed]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wower /img/forum/go_quote.gif By what process is it being outputted to balanced? (Phase splitter? Some fancy circuit?)

Whilst the tube circuit is SE, the output is transformer coupled.

 

[fkclo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by vcoheda /img/forum/go_quote.gif how would an SE version differ from a Balancing Act?

I would be interested to know too, especially since both the Balancing Act and the Equilibrato SE have very similar features and tube choice.

F. Lo

 

[krmathis]

Great looking amplifier!

 

[wower]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Parafeed /img/forum/go_quote.gif Whilst the tube circuit is SE, the output is transformer coupled.

How does that work exactly then? Is it two windings off each transformer? I have a TC amp and its SE through and through. Sounds awesome tho, espeically if you could spring for those partial silver transformers in the BA.

 

[Frihed89]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Parafeed /img/forum/go_quote.gif Whilst the tube circuit is SE, the output is transformer coupled.

???Tube circuit=??? What tube? Are you talking about the input/driver stage?

??? SE= single-ended (as opposed to PP?) output tube ???

What is so unusual about a single-ended OPT coupled amp?

 

[vcoheda]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fkclo /img/forum/go_quote.gif I would be interested to know too, especially since both the Balancing Act and the Equilibrato SE have very similar features and tube choice. F. Lo

it's confusing.