[bcowen]

Mine are titanium plates.

Oh yeah? Mine are a gold/unobtanium alloy with a guaranteed 500k hour life.

 

[UntilThen]

Oh yeah? Mine are a gold/unobtanium alloy with a guaranteed 500k hour life.

I reckon that is a GE 6080 with gold base.

 

[hikaru12]

For your information, I have experience with the Bottlehead Crack amp. It can't compete with this Super Mini. It's just a different basket of fish. If this prototype is made in USA or Europe, this Super Mini will be a best seller now.

Oh definitely- plus totally different topologies. I’m getting mine as an alternative to Ultrasonic Studios stuff which is 3-4x the price and they charge you for the ability to tube roll.

 

[bcowen]

I reckon that is a GE 6080 with gold base.

I said 500k hour life, not 50 hour.

 

[UntilThen]

Oh definitely- plus totally different topologies. I’m getting mine as an alternative to Ultrasonic Studios stuff which is 3-4x the price and they charge you for the ability to tube roll.

Ah I wouldn't go into comparison of this Super Mini with my much loved Odyssey but I'm super impressed with what I am hearing now with this Mini.... regardless of price.

A view from the top. It's plain Jane but remember this is a prototype. So there's a switch in the middle to set for the low mu 6as7 / 6080 or the higher mu 5998 or 6bx7 or 6BL7. The switch in front is to select the provision of 2 sets of rca inputs behind.

 

[UntilThen]

Treble is crystal clear, with great bass authority. Midrange is front and centre. As @xtiva said, this is perfect for vocals or just about anything. Listening to Pink Floyd 'Mother' now. Mother do you think they will drop the bomb.

Listening with He1000se, I'm getting goose bumps all over. Volume up and let it rip. Roger Waters at his best.

 

[xtiva]

Treble is crystal clear, with great bass authority. Midrange is front and centre. As @xtiva said, this is perfect for vocals or just about anything. Listening to Pink Floyd 'Mother' now. Mother do you think they will drop the bomb.

Listening with He1000se, I'm getting goose bumps all over. Volume up and let it rip. Roger Waters at his best.

Looks like you fell in love as I as epxected... monster amp at great price!!!!

This amp will really compliment Sparkos, Sparkos for classical music and this Super Mini for vocal music...

 

[hikaru12]

Ah I wouldn't go into comparison of this Super Mini with my much loved Odyssey but I'm super impressed with what I am hearing now with this Mini.... regardless of price.

A view from the top. It's plain Jane but remember this is a prototype. So there's a switch in the middle to set for the low mu 6as7 / 6080 or the higher mu 5998 or 6bx7 or 6BL7. The switch in front is to select the provision of 2 sets of rca inputs behind.

Call me weird but amps that use all boutique stuff present a challenge for me because in the future if you decide to replace worn out parts you may find you can’t reproduce the sound quality the same because those parts aren’t available anymore. It’s why the anniversary edition of the Harbeth PS3ER is not ‘better’ to me in my opinion. Maybe I’m just a hater because I can’t afford a $4k amp lol

 

[UntilThen]

I wouldn't begrudge the Lamborghini driver (Becowen) just because mine is a Honda.

Anyway I'm on GEC 6080 now and I love this amp because it's responsive to tube change. This is refinement and pure class tone. I'm listening with He1000se and dac is the humble NAD M51. There's so much to love the tonality. I'll be sad when I return the amp to Eric on Sat.

Making a note on acquiring this amp later in the year. perhaps with a wooden chassis and some upgraded parts?

 

[UntilThen]

@hikaru12 perhaps you might want wood chassis. Speak to Eric as he has this but will cost a bit more.

 

[hikaru12]

@hikaru12 perhaps you might want wood chassis. Speak to Eric as he has this but will cost a bit more.

Oh that’s real nice. He’ll be working on mine soon so might need to add that as a last minute change. I highly recommend the 12BH7 input tube. It’s a very nice balance between a 6SN7/12AU7. It does take some time to burn in but it has excellent bass and a very addicting smooth tonality. They can be found cheaper than other variants as well.

 

[UntilThen]

Regarding power capability of this amp,

With 6sl7 and 5998 or 6bx7, it drives the LCD4 which needs a lot of power well. With He6se which is a very inefficient headphone and needs lots of power, it can still drive it but I could be using the volume at between 1 to 3pm.

 

[hikaru12]

Regarding power capability of this amp,

With 6sl7 and 5998 or 6bx7, it drives the LCD4 which needs a lot of power well. With He6se which is a very inefficient headphone and needs lots of power, it can still drive it but I could be using the volume at between 1 to 3pm.

Where are you at volume wise on the LCD 4 with the 6BX7 tube?

Also thanks for the heads up Eric placed the components on a mock-up so I can see what the wood chassis looks like. It’s a bit bigger in foot print but I think it gives it a nice classy look.

I plan on using these with sensitive 97db Li Silver audio coupled speakers (custom built). I’m very excited I believe it will make for a nice punchy and rich midrange focused sound.

 

[UntilThen]

Where are you at volume wise on the LCD 4 with the 6BX7 tube?

Also thanks for the heads up Eric placed the components on a mock-up so I can see what the wood chassis looks like. It’s a bit bigger in foot print but I think it gives it a nice classy look.

I plan on using these with sensitive 97db Li Silver audio coupled speakers (custom built). I’m very excited I believe it will make for a nice punchy and rich midrange focused sound.

With LCD4, the volume is at 12noon or 1pm. Depends on the recordings too. Some songs are just louder.

So you decide on the parallel 6BX7 ? I've heard that a while ago. From recollection, it's punchy, slam and dynamics. Spin some AC/DC Highway To Hell and you are literally heading that way.

I like this wooden chassis and the mock up Eric did looks good. He told me the dimensions are 280mm W, 280mm D and 70mm H. That photo doesn't look like a square to me so he must have given me the wrong measurements.

Is he mounting the headphone out and volume control on top? What are the 3 switches for? Are you having speakers outputs behind?

 

[hikaru12]

With LCD4, the volume is at 12noon or 1pm. Depends on the recordings too. Some songs are just louder.

So you decide on the parallel 6BX7 ? I've heard that a while ago. From recollection, it's punchy, slam and dynamics. Spin some AC/DC Highway To Hell and you are literally heading that way.

I like this wooden chassis and the mock up Eric did looks good. He told me the dimensions are 280mm W, 280mm D and 70mm H. That photo doesn't look like a square to me so he must have given me the wrong measurements.

Is he mounting the headphone out and volume control on top? What are the 3 switches for? Are you having speakers outputs behind?

He is mounting the volume and output on top. One is to turn the unit on, the other is to switch input between headphones and speakers (since a balanced 4 pin XLR can’t be used as a relay to mute the speaker outputs) and the other is an input selector. Yes I wanted the dual 6BX7s because I like the slam of the LCD 2F which I believe was missing from the 4s. I can always soften up the sound with a lower gain 12AU or a 6SN7 with adapter for the input tube.

If I were going to go with off the shelf (seeing as I really like the imaging you get from single driver speakers) I would go with Omega Super 7 MK2s or their Alnicios but the thought of custom speakers is pretty exciting. These will have a very nice smooth midrange with some bass heft (they use paper drivers).



Offsetting the drivers makes for a more fatigue free listening and a sweeter midrange.