[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pabbi1 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Larry, what all needs to be done on your Hybrid?

I don't know exactly what is left to be done. I haven't heard from Bill since 4/8/10, at which point he said he can't finish any of my projects for me because he's too busy at work now. He said he wants his loaner hybrid back (bad right channel) and will return my "exstata amp & PS boards stuffed, parmetal case, balanced attenuator, jacks", along with other gear of mine. I offered to buy the loaner case if he would put my working boards in it, and he declined.

As far as I know, the Hybrid is not cased up and I don't know if the face plates are drilled (last I checked they weren't). I emailed him that I could meet him in person and return the loaner eXStatA with bad right channel, in return for my stuff. He also has my Sq Wave amp with broken Sigma 22 that he built, and some crossfeed kits of mine. So, I'm just waiting to hear back and see if he's changed his mind, or wants to meet for the exchange.

I think that Bill's loaner hybrid which I have here may have originally sustained damage when the PSU board came loose on the way to my home. When the amp was 1st turned on, the PSU board was loose and shorted against the case and the bias wires were loose, so there was no sound. I had gotten things connected again, and it worked for several weeks before the right channel started making static noise under the music (and the right channel noise is in both channels, so it might be the ground is messed up).

At this point I don't know what to do.

 

[pabbi1]

Anyone (else) taking their eXStatA to CanJam?

Any further updates, or observations after living with these for a few months?

Larry: let me know when you talk to Bill - I can ping him as well, and, most certainly can help get you sorted. Not sure I can help much on Bill's proto if it was damaged, but one at a time.

Oh, and if anyone still needs tubes... or Amphenol sockets...

 

[Beefy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pabbi1 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Any further updates, or observations after living with these for a few months?

After confirming that new drivers fixed all of the problems I was having with my SR-Lambda, I haven't listened to my Exstata since. Work sucks

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pabbi1 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Anyone (else) taking their eXStatA to CanJam? Any further updates, or observations after living with these for a few months? Larry: let me know when you talk to Bill - I can ping him as well, and, most certainly can help get you sorted. Not sure I can help much on Bill's proto if it was damaged, but one at a time.

Al, I certainly will be likely to contact you. I'd like to give the hybrid to my son to use with his SR-Lambda and SR-003 when it is done. If you are able to sort out the final completion in time then you'd be welcome to take it to CanJam for people to hear as well. I'll give Bill a call tonight, but I don't know when he'll be able to meet me so we can hand over each other's gear.

 

[macm75]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pabbi1 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Any further updates, or observations after living with these for a few months?

Yeah, one of these days I'll write a little something in the official impressions thread. I do very much enjoy my SR-303 / eXStata setup. I have built a bunch of headphone amps for the Stax and dynamic phones and this setup, by far, is the best I've owned. I know better is out there but for once I do not care, I sit back and simply enjoy.
The strange thing is either I got completely past the bright upper mids of the 303's or they actually calmed down - I do not notice it anymore. The phones also used to give me fatigue - I can now listen in delight for any length of time. The credit goes to the eXStata. Lastly, and this is a huge issue for me, I feel no need to look further particularly given the music I listen to 90%+ of the time (electroacoustic improv).

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pabbi1 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Anyone (else) taking their eXStatA to CanJam? Any further updates, or observations after living with these for a few months? Larry: let me know when you talk to Bill - I can ping him as well, and, most certainly can help get you sorted. Not sure I can help much on Bill's proto if it was damaged, but one at a time.

I just want to clarify a little bit with what has happened with my hybrid eXStatA. Wiatrob has been very helpful for only the cost of parts, with no labor charges at all. He stuffed my hybrid boards and collected the entire sum of parts needed to assemble a complete amp. He's just too busy at work now to complete all my projects, and I understand. He was also working on a Sigma 22 PSU and a Meier Corda Cross kit that I picked up. That was just too much extra work when his hours at work increased as much as they did. There is not a problem with wiatrob, and I wish him the best with his busy job.

It was also unreasonable of me to ask him to trade my loose parts for his completed personal amp, which he has been without for 4 months. He and I are working closely now, and it looks like we'll be able to work something out. I think he will keep my par metal case, attenuator, transformer and other odd parts while I will put my good hybrid boards into the loaner case and keep it.

I believe that I can swap the boards out myself, following the current wiring, or with some help from a few friends here have a working hybrid amp very soon. I also found a broken wire on the left RCA jack that was causing problems as posted in the impressions thread, and I can fix that. I believe it was damaged when the PSU board came loose in transport, and I initially missed it and had to resort to only using the XLR inputs. So, Bill did wire up the RCA right after all.

Wiatrob is a good guy, and I wasn't intending to stir up trouble for him, but rather was just fishing for help myself.

 

[pabbi1]

Yes, we all owe thanks to Bill for the prototyping he did on eXStatA, and even fixed my first hybrid. Sad that he has no time to hang out, but, maybe, things will rotate to some well deserved leisure time for him, and he can drop in from time to time.

Glad things are on the right track, and keep us posted.

I'm feeling some pics from Nate?

 

[sachu]

Well, Larry's SS eXStatA is nearly complete. I am a bit nervous cause thisis the first time I am using a digital volume control (luvdunhill's). I am hoping the build of the digital control is ok when i throw the switch..maybe later tonight if I feel like it, else might delay it till tomorrow.

I did have a question, Larry wanted a SE to balanced switch, so the one PGA chip is being wired up for the hot terminal (of both left and right as inputs) while the other is wired up for the return terminal. When in SE mode, the chip that handles the return signals have their inputs shorted to ground. This is alright I am thinking. Am I wrong in this assumption?

 

[Beefy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sachu /img/forum/go_quote.gif Well, Larry's SS eXStatA is nearly complete. I am a bit nervous cause thisis the first time I am using a digital volume control (luvdunhill's). I am hoping the build of the digital control is ok when i throw the switch..maybe later tonight if I feel like it, else might delay it till tomorrow.

Test the volume control separately then. Feed it a 0dBFS 60Hz sine wave from a DAC, and test the input and output voltage of the volume control with a multimeter in VAC mode. If you disallow gain, it will start from close to 0VAC and rise up to whatever the input is as you turn the encoder. If you allow gain, you will get up to approx 28VAC, assuming ±15V power supply.

Or do the initial tests of the amp with both phases of both inputs shorted to ground.

 

[sachu]

SOmething's not quite right. The amp is working in perfect condition, power supplies are fine, no smoke nothing, J1 and J2 both jumpers are sorted, I don't see the output varying at all. It stays at near 0VAC.

 

[Beefy]

The only problem I had was connecting the encoder incorrectly. But I believe that the new board version has a different pin out to mine, so I can't really help you debug it unfortunately.

 

[sachu]

The one that larry's uses is the same one in your amp i believe beefy.

Can you go over the encoder connections for me? I am using this one.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beefy /img/forum/go_quote.gif The only problem I had was connecting the encoder incorrectly. But I believe that the new board version has a different pin out to mine, so I can't really help you debug it unfortunately.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sachu /img/forum/go_quote.gif The one that larry's uses is the same one in your amp i believe beefy. Can you go over the encoder connections for me? I am using this one.

It should be the same attenuator board as Beefy's, and this board/IC's was acquired back in January. And the Bourns encoder should be the same too I think.

 

[Beefy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sachu /img/forum/go_quote.gif The one that larry's uses is the same one in your amp i believe beefy. Can you go over the encoder connections for me? I am using this one.

Take a couple of photos, and I'll tell you if it looks right.

 

[Beefy]

Ah, its easier if I just type it out......

Check your digital voltages first. Should be 5V from each 78L05. Should be 5V across one of the LED terminals, 0V across the other.

Check the encoder terminal block. Top three pins on the outside of the board are grounds. If you have the push-button switch, one of these goes to one half of the switch, another goes to the common (middle pin) on the encoder, one spare.

The pin with the arrow at the encoder terminals (PA0/pin13 on the ATTiny) goes to the other half of the switch. There is a good chance to troubleshoot here...... if you switch across PA0 and ground correctly, mute will switch on/off. You can measure voltage across the LED terminals to see if mute comes on and goes off with switch presses.

The other two encoder terminals (PA1/pin12 and PA2/pin11) connect to channel A and channel B on the encoder respectively.