[kiertijai]

@CEE TEE  purrin's "modded 'stat".   Is this the modded HE audio Jade?
Any experience on Electra + HE90?

 

[Anaxilus]

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Mine are a stock as stock can be.

 
Did you hear the one at the Headroom table?

 

[uzi]

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Did you hear the one at the Headroom table?

Nope.  Just mine and Mackat's.

 

[FrankCooter]

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are they any pix or more of a description of your latest diy creation? your builds consistently look better than a lot of commercial endeavors and are often aesthetic masterpieces!
actually it'd be great if a thread could be assembled with photos of your various projects. i'm sure many here would love to see that!
if you could give a brief description of the diy 'stats for those of us unfamiliar with them that'd also be helpful.

 

 
Here's my attempt at a minimalist all tube electrostatic amp. It's single ended input, no global feedback, and has a simple unregulated power supply. On the other hand, the outputs are direct coupled, have CCS plate loads, run 400V rails, and have only 2 coupling caps.  It's 3 stage. The first two are the classic Williamson circuit, with a 6SL7 voltage amp directly coupled to a 6SL7 concertina phase splitter. The phase splitter is cap coupled to triode-connected 7591 outputs with CCS plate loads. Headphones are directly coupled to the plates.
 
For the story of Chisettawong's DIY Stax Omega clones, check out the thread in the DIY forum. He's making progress on a daily basis.
 
I appreciate your interest!

 

[IPodPJ]

Frank, that's a very nice build, as always.

From what I understand it was a very expensive build, so how does it sound?

I don't think he had a chance to listen because he was very busy, too. There was a lot of gear I wanted to spend some time with but had no chance to listen. The few listens I did get in didn't last more than 3-5 minutes each, not nearly enough to enjoy them. I wish I had more time with Milos' SR-009 and with my own music, as well as Donald North's Stratus but I didn't. Also i didn't get to hear the full Orpheus rig with the amp but I have heard the HE90 with other amps on at least 4 occasions. Always a nice phone. Of course both systems sounded very nice but I couldn't get away long enough to truly enjoy them. Perhaps if it were a two day meet then we all would have had more listening time because there was a ton of great gear all over the place. Out of any meet I've yet been too this one surely had the most high-end gear all in one place. And unlike the rooms in the hotel, the meet rooms had cold air!

Phil's Beta22 amp. Really beautiful.

Thanks, Marv. Wish you had a chance to hear it.

It's built with the lowest gain (2 per board, effectively 4 per channel balanced) which drives the HD800 and LCD2/3 very nicely but doesn't really have enough juice for the HE-6 unless you prefer to listen at lower to mid levels. Since it wasn't built for speaker use I wanted the gain optimized for most dynamic phones, and low gain sounds the cleanest. It gets plenty loud with the HD800 around the 12:00 position and plenty loud with the LCD2/3 around the 2:30 position (6:00 is mute, 5:30 is max). You can build them with gain settings of 2, 5, 8, and 11. If I had been using a top quality pot like the RK50 I might have gone with 5 which is also nearly as clean, but a 23 position (plus mute) DACT stepped attenuator doesn't give you as much range though it did allow for a remote motor drive which the ALPS did not. That, in my opinion, is the one downside to the Beta22 – it's lack of variable gain. For more range I can always use my Transporter's digital volume control which has 0.5dB steps if I needed, but I find the 23 steps are fine with the HD800.

 

[arnaud]

Ipodpj, I don't think I've seen a b22 looking better than this. As a matter of fact, haven't seen many commercial amps looking better!

FrankCooter's amps are always really amazing looking too, I wish there were people's impressions of your latest creation, anyone?

 

[alota]

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It's built with the lowest gain (2 per board, effectively 4 per channel balanced) which drives the HD800 and LCD2/3 very nicely but doesn't really have enough juice for the HE-6 unless you prefer to listen at lower to mid levels. Since it wasn't built for speaker use I wanted the gain optimized for most dynamic phones, and low gain sounds the cleanest. It gets plenty loud with the HD800 around the 12:00 position and plenty loud with the LCD2/3 around the 2:30 position (6:00 is mute, 5:30 is max). You can build them with gain settings of 2, 5, 8, and 11. If I had been using a top quality pot like the RK50 I might have gone with 5 which is also nearly as clean, but a 23 position (plus mute) DACT stepped attenuator doesn't give you as much range though it did allow for a remote motor drive which the ALPS did not. That, in my opinion, is the one downside to the Beta22 – it's lack of variable gain. For more range I can always use my Transporter's digital volume control which has 0.5dB steps if I needed, but I find the 23 steps are fine with the HD800.

i agree. i´m changing the gain of my balanced beta from 8X(this gain is too much for most of the dynamic headphones) to 5X and i´m trying the alps rk-50 and khozmo attenuator after the dact.for the he-6 or k-1000 the 8X is the minimum IMHO.

 

[IPodPJ]

Thanks Arnaud & CEE TEE.

 

[Frihed89]

How did the name cards sound with the LCD-2s?

 

[warrenpchi]

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How did the name cards sound with the LCD-2s?

 
A little distant.  Details were less recognizable.  And overall lacking a bit of warmth. 

 

[warrenpchi]

You were wearing a pair of Grados (metal ones) around your neck and you had a cool portable rig.  You tried out a pair of Pioneer portables I had brought and you said they weren't too bad.  Quick question, who are you?
 
On a side note, I just spent a few minutes trying to find this thread.  Boy, do I feel stupid.

 

[Questhate]

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You were wearing a pair of Grados (metal ones) around your neck and you had a cool portable rig.  You tried out a pair of Pioneer portables I had brought and you said they weren't too bad.  Quick question, who are you?

 
You're thinking of sluker -- who had a backpack full of Magnum builds of various sorts. He stopped by the registration desk and let me have at it with all of them -- very cool stuff. 

 

[Hiyono]

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LOL. I like the O2 better because of its more consistent performance. But I know what you guys mean. The ODAC at its best is very very good.
 
So who's up for a mini-meet in South OC? I'm bummed that I wasn't able to meet many of you. By the time I got done with my chores, I walked to some of your guys' tables, but many of you were off listening to other stuff.

 
So whens this mini-meet?

 

[warrenpchi]

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You're thinking of sluker -- who had a backpack full of Magnum builds of various sorts. He stopped by the registration desk and let me have at it with all of them -- very cool stuff. 

 
He had a whole backpack full of them???  Holy crap that's badass.  I totally had my mind on something else atm so I didn't get a chance to talk to him.  Sorry if I was spacy/rude sluker, didn't mean it.  I remember leaving the show thinking "hey I wonder what that guy's rig and Grados sound like.  Oh dammit, why didn't I ask for a listen!  Stoopid me."

 

[purrin]

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So whens this mini-meet?

 
Possible small micro-meet first. Will keep you informed. We've got a few good SS amps on hand: BHA-1, Mjolnir, Dynahi. A bunch of headphones, etc.