[ppl]

Cool looking Amp. What is the amp to the Right in the Picture?
Silmic or Silmic II caps? thay are different. BTW i also used the Dual Brown dog adaptor to put two OPA-627 op amps in my Pocket Amp however i like the sparkel of the AD-8610 but the soundstage of the OPA627. You might also consider the AD-8065 and The AD843.

 

[ron]

Nice picture Pinkie, the Silmics was a bit of a tight fit but they are really settling in nicely sound wise

these two was not new, I used to use them for the cathode bypasses in my valve amp until they was replaced with Blackgates, I think they just needed a bit of time to settle in the circuit.
My teflon covered wire came this morning so I'll get this soldered in later, the Opa627's are fitted to the vero board, all I need to find now is some suitable pins so it will fit easily on the Chiara's op-amp socket, if I prefer the Opa's then I'll order one of those Brown dog sockets so it looks neater.
I'll try my best to get some piccies sorted out soon, I'm enjoying my self too much at the minute, my mate may not get those HD600's back.
I just had a listen to the Philips headphones, I think these will need some time to burn in

Ron

 

[ron]

PPL,

I forgot to mention that I have a couple of AD8065's as well, I'll try these later, I have boxes full of stuff

 

[PinkFloyd]

Quote:

Originally posted by ppl Cool looking Amp. What is the amp to the Right in the Picture? Silmic or Silmic II caps? thay are different. BTW i also used the Dual Brown dog adaptor to put two OPA-627 op amps in my Pocket Amp however i like the sparkel of the AD-8610 but the soundstage of the OPA627. You might also consider the AD-8065 and The AD843.

Hi PPL,

The amp to the right of the Chiarra is a gspaudio SOLO which Graham Slee and I are modifying at the moment. We are both extremely happy with the latest developments and he should announce the modifications shortly.

I'm using the Silmic caps as I couldn't get hold of any Silmic II varieties.

All the best.

Pinkie.

 

[PinkFloyd]

Quote:

Originally posted by ron Nice picture Pinkie, the Silmics was a bit of a tight fit but they are really settling in nicely sound wise these two was not new, I used to use them for the cathode bypasses in my valve amp until they was replaced with Blackgates, I think they just needed a bit of time to settle in the circuit. My teflon covered wire came this morning so I'll get this soldered in later, the Opa627's are fitted to the vero board, all I need to find now is some suitable pins so it will fit easily on the Chiara's op-amp socket, if I prefer the Opa's then I'll order one of those Brown dog sockets so it looks neater. I'll try my best to get some piccies sorted out soon, I'm enjoying my self too much at the minute, my mate may not get those HD600's back. I just had a listen to the Philips headphones, I think these will need some time to burn in Ron

Hi Ron,

The philips will take a good 500 hours to burn in due to the massive drivers but when they do kick in, they kick in big time

Same thing with the Sennheisers, I absolutely detested my HD600's for the first month or so and then, all of a sudden, I found myself loving them! Give both pairs time to settle in

I kinda funky angled the 63V 470uF caps into position.... they are "Huge" compared to the Panasonic FC's! 2 big canisters packed with silk fibers..... no wonder they sound smooth

All the best.

Mike.

 

[ron]

My Chiara is really starting to sound nice now, I have changed a few of the signal resistors to some RC55's, I'm still not sure what 2.2uf coupling caps to get, maybe Auricaps.
I'll be trying the Opa627's this weekend.
I'll take your Advice Pinkie regarding the phones, the Philips ones sound really dire at the minute, I really hope they improve

Ron

 

[PinkFloyd]

Quote:

Originally posted by ron My Chiara is really starting to sound nice now, I have changed a few of the signal resistors to some RC55's, I'm still not sure what 2.2uf coupling caps to get, maybe Auricaps. I'll be trying the Opa627's this weekend. I'll take your Advice Pinkie regarding the phones, the Philips ones sound really dire at the minute, I really hope they improve Ron

RC55's? are they those efforts that cost a quid each? I bought 10 resistors from RS one night thinking "£1 for 10, they must be good" turns out the bloody things were "1 "each"

The funny thing was they didn't measure up as well as the cpc penny each resistors and they certainly didn't do anything for (or against) the sound. An absolute licence to print money IMO.

I think the philips "dire" thing may be more of a quality control issue. I snapped the plug off the end of mine and took them back saying it "fell off" and was offered a replacement pair of headphones as they "didn't do cables" I listened to 2 replacement sets in the shop which both sounded dire and then hooked up the cable to my existing phones which sounded great.

After a bit of shuffling and diversion I handed the girl my headphones with cable attached and said... "I'll take these" she said I had to take a replacement pair with cable and she couldn't give me a cable from another pair blah blah blah. "can you tell me how much that wall sized TV is over there while I make my mind up please?" Over she went and the cable swap was complete

Anyways, I digress....... let me know if changing the coupling caps makes any difference Rob?

Cheers

Mike.

 

[ron]

Originally posted by PinkFloyd
RC55's? are they those efforts that cost a quid each? I bought 10 resistors from RS one night thinking "£1 for 10, they must be good" turns out the bloody things were "1 "each"

I already had the values spare I needed in my junk box so I just popped them in the Chiara, at least they are not as expensive as the precision Vishay's, I have not tried the Philips type resistors yet

The funny thing was they didn't measure up as well as the cpc penny each resistors and they certainly didn't do anything for (or against) the sound. An absolute licence to print money IMO.

Hmm, they measured spot on with my meter, but I will admit they only made a small difference to the sound, a bit more crisp, I would like to use non inductive non magnetic types which should be alot better, the RC55's are still magnetic

I think the philips "dire" thing may be more of a quality control issue. I snapped the plug off the end of mine and took them back saying it "fell off" and was offered a replacement pair of headphones as they "didn't do cables" I listened to 2 replacement sets in the shop which both sounded dire and then hooked up the cable to my existing phones which sounded great.

Maybe I have a duff pair then, I'll just keep playing my test and burn cd through them and see if they improve, the highly bright treble has already seemed to calm down, I find its the mids that sound worst with the Philips at the minute

After a bit of shuffling and diversion I handed the girl my headphones with cable attached and said... "I'll take these" she said I had to take a replacement pair with cable and she couldn't give me a cable from another pair blah blah blah. "can you tell me how much that wall sized TV is over there while I make my mind up please?" Over she went and the cable swap was complete

Crafty

Anyways, I digress....... let me know if changing the coupling caps makes any difference Rob?

No probs, I think the coupling caps will be down to personnel taste, these will certainly make a difference,I'm going to try a few different types and see which I prefer, the yellow polycarbonate ones are not bad but in my past experience whith modding my cdp and amp I found polycarbonates and polyester to sound the worst, the only good thing with them is that they seem to hide other floors in your system, especially if used for coupling

Cheers

Ron

 

[PinkFloyd]

What about these Ron @ £4 each?

http://custom1.farnell.com/cpc/produ...ct%5Fid=258066

Made by ICW in the UK


interesting: http://www.electronicstalk.com/news/icw/icw100.html

 

[ron]

Not bad but Polypropylene foil and films would be better, metalised polypropylenes can sound a bit harsh, again its down to personal taste and what type of cd player you have

I'm going to try these and see which I prefer

Auricaps
Evox SMR (very good but revealing, I use these in my cdp)
Ansar's supersound
Those ICW's
Audyn KPSN
Multicap RTX
Possibly Hovland musicaps

I'm going to pop the OPA627's in later

Ron

 

[DRuM]

Hey pinkfloyd, long time no speak.

I'm still enjoying my chiara very much pinky, sounds better everyday. Sorry to go off topic here, but, just curious as to what op amps are in mine. Did you say I had the opa2107? Out of interest, how does the opa627 you're raving about, sonically compare? Also, interested to know what your verdict is on the modded graham slee you're working on compared to chiara. Finally, did you say you were gonna get a chance to hear the american ppa?

By the way, looking at the instruction books, we've been spelling it wrong. It's chiara, and not chiarra as in our icons. Bit of completely useless information for you there mate!

Look forward to hearing from you, and hope all is well with you.

 

[RichardH]

Hi Drum - maybe the single "r" is a typo, as on the WilliamsHart website, it's spelt "Chiarra"....

Pinky (being a busy boy) has passed on the PPA PCB etc to me to play with - in fact I've just this minute ordered the cases for it and the PSU. I've decided to max it out on the buffers - partially because the unit cost of them drops a lot once you order 10 from Farnell, so it is almost cheaper to run 12 than (say) 9.

I'll probably ship it up to him for a listen once it's complete though.

 

[wordsworth]

Personally I always spell it Chiara, as this is what is on the device and seems a more common spelling than chiarra. Though of course it doesn't really matter as long as it sounds good.

Interested to know how the chiara differs from the PPA and which you and Pinky prefer.

Wordsworth

 

[PinkFloyd]

Says "Chiara" on the board.

 

[PinkFloyd]

Quote:

Originally posted by DRuM Hey pinkfloyd, long time no speak. I'm still enjoying my chiara very much pinky, sounds better everyday. Sorry to go off topic here, but, just curious as to what op amps are in mine. Did you say I had the opa2107? Out of interest, how does the opa627 you're raving about, sonically compare? Also, interested to know what your verdict is on the modded graham slee you're working on compared to chiara. Finally, did you say you were gonna get a chance to hear the american ppa? By the way, looking at the instruction books, we've been spelling it wrong. It's chiara, and not chiarra as in our icons. Bit of completely useless information for you there mate! Look forward to hearing from you, and hope all is well with you.

Hi DRuM !!

I was going to ring you there at the weekend to see how you were but didn't get around to it

Yes, you have the OPA2107 which is a dual version of the OPA627 single. I notice a bit more space and width with the 2 single channel 627's on a browndog but the sonic signature is pretty much along the lines of the OPA2107.

The Solo has come on leaps and bounds, especially now it utilises the AD823 but the Chiarra remains my favourite..... it's got an "old glove" like sound, maybe I've just got used to it

You say chiara I say chiarra tomato tomahtoe potata potato let's call the whole thing off

Dunno where the additional "R" came from........ RR = Rolls Royce? maybe I was thinking that when I first called the Chiara a "chiarra"

I now name this ship ChiaRRa! hehe.

Give me a bell mate, we can have a good chat

All the best.

Mike.