[BournePerfect]

He actually suggested repeatedly in his email to me to order from someone else, because he couldn't believe what the customs guys were telling him. He was the one who emailed me wanting me to cancel because of that situation. I didn't ask him for the $50 or even HINT at anything of that nature. And to me, time=$. I'd have paid an extra fifty just to get the damn thing a month ago! And who's to say the next order from him would go ANY better?!?! I'm not about to sit around another month to find out. Maybe your time isn't is valuable as mine, Frank?
 
-Daniel

 

[Danno]

This sounds so wrong lol
 
Quote:

 


I don't feel any kind of heat from my knob and whole unit just becomes little warm. Definitely something is wrong with yours.

 

[BournePerfect]

lol

 

[darknight670]

So Purrin did you had the occasion to test the opa627 from Tam because for 15 dollars I would really expect a fake ( Even if Tam is not aware)

 

[RockinCannoisseur]

matrix is good as a preamp with some caveats.
 
at first i was using it it to drive kpisch rb 51 75 watt  as previously stated,  and it can do a surprising job with gain implemented in fact it also could drive some polk tsi 200   100 watt speakers with gain implemented much louder and better than i had thought.
 
alas this was not enough so i moved my old tx 8511 receiver into the equationand kept the matrix as the preamp,, this sounds much better obviously, and the matrix sounds very good,  its detailed sound mates very welll with a receiver with tone control. i think it would sound excellent as a preamp for a tube amp.  it has been very nice to have a precision analog pot to adjust volume rather than a remote (ironically)  which has a stepped gain and is not as precise, it also takes much more time to turn volume down.
 
some caveats ive noticed is that the matrix can get very hot as a preamp even when i turn my receiver volume up all  way to minimize the power from the matrix.   i am pushing the matrix to its limits and shall see how much more it can take.
 
another strange caveat, is for some reason when my receiver is powered off and there is sound coming through both of the m stage  inputs,  if i turn the volume all the way down on matrix,, the sound from the other input bleeds through and is annoying.  
 
even weirder is when i trun my receiver on and still have sound coming through both matrix inputs, it  is silent and sound dosent bleed through from either chanel? go figure??   anyone??   another thing i noticed is that matrix still gets  very hot when outputs is connected to my receiver even when the receiver is powered off.
 
 - so i am thinking the receiver is always drawing power from the matrix even when it is off???? how is that???
 
also i found that on some tracks my receiver head out can sound more  fun with all tone control at 0,  maybe it lacks some mids on some. but this is with the matrix feeding the signal. so i have not compared them both from a split signal from the source, so the tx8511 has  an advantage.
 
overall i highly recommend u try using your m stage as a preamp, you may become addicted to it like i have,
 
however i am curious if anyone else has had  similar results.
 
thanks
 

 

[Frank I]

 
Quote:

He actually suggested repeatedly in his email to me to order from someone else, because he couldn't believe what the customs guys were telling him. He was the one who emailed me wanting me to cancel because of that situation. I didn't ask him for the $50 or even HINT at anything of that nature. And to me, time=$. I'd have paid an extra fifty just to get the damn thing a month ago! And who's to say the next order from him would go ANY better?!?! I'm not about to sit around another month to find out. Maybe your time isn't is valuable as mine, Frank?
 
-Daniel

My time has nothing to do with it. If your comfortable with your order seem like your going through the process again with another vendor. Why would that be a different scenario with customs?

 

[lescanard]

Was wondering if someone could be so kind as to explain (in layman's terms) what Class A biasing the opamp means/does? I've tried to read up on it here and elsewhere -I just don't have the technical background to understand what the point is. Thanks for anything on this.

 

[aspenx]

Quote:

Was wondering if someone could be so kind as to explain (in layman's terms) what Class A biasing the opamp means/does? I've tried to read up on it here and elsewhere -I just don't have the technical background to understand what the point is. Thanks for anything on this.

It means pushing the opamp to keep drawing a constant current so that it will always be ready and be prepared to handle more complex passages whenever the music being fed in calls for it.

 

[lescanard]

Quote:

It means pushing the opamp to keep drawing a constant current so that it will always be ready and be prepared to handle more complex passages whenever the music being fed in calls for it.

Thanks Aspenx - that's a great explanation. So by "handle more complex passages" - does that specifically refer to power? 

 

[Yuceka]

Has anyone driven DT990/600 ohms with the Matrix? I couldn't find any impressions on the synergy between the two 

 

[dlaloum]

Can't talk about the DT990 - but the DT880/600's on which I am currently listening to Sinead O'Connor sound fantastic.... and from what I know given the similarity in the drivers between DT990 and 880 I would suggest that you would do fine!!
 
On the other hand, 1) I have heard a limited number of headamps (Cute Curve, Onkyo TX-SR876 receiver Jack, Headtap with Receiver and Matrix M-Stage) .
 
I currently have the M-Stage running OPA637's in class A - it also sounded great with the OPA627's in class A (both were better than the stock OPA2134's).... I'm still experimenting. 

 

[Yuceka]

Dlaloum, thank you, that helps me a lot. I've been reading the posts here about different opamps but I just have no soldering skills and I don't even know where to find those different opamps to start experimenting. I wish there was a post that explains to whole process to newbies like me (maybe there is, and I'd greatly appreciate the link if there is one) 

 

[sluker]

 I am mostly planning to use the M-stage with my 701's, so I am wondering what the best gain settings people have found to work with the 701, HF-2 and the D5000's? 
I am still waiting for my amp but will hopefully have it sometime next week.
If you have not tried the above cans, please comment on which cans you have tried and what is the best gain setting that works for you.
Thanks

 

[aspenx]

 
Quote:

Thanks Aspenx - that's a great explanation. So by "handle more complex passages" - does that specifically refer to power? 

Imagine a big band coming to life and everybody starts playing hard from their respective spots all of a sudden. That is of course just an exaggeration, but you get the idea. It's going to be very different from say, a simple children song's melody on solo piano.

 

[livewire]

Quote:

Dlaloum, thank you, that helps me a lot. I've been reading the posts here about different opamps but I just have no soldering skills and I don't even know where to find those different opamps to start experimenting. I wish there was a post that explains to whole process to newbies like me (maybe there is, and I'd greatly appreciate the link if there is one) 

Here you go. Follow the link below.
It wont tell you everything (like actually how to solder), but darn near.
Also look for other links embedded in the individual posts, much more info there.
Please note that the board referenced in that thread (the lovely cube)
is another Lehmann Black Cube clone (and so is the M-Stage).
They are all very similar builds, same topology, and use the same op amp mods.
 
Link: http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/501046/first-impressions-lovely-cube-semi-diy-amp-lehmann-black-cube-linear-clone
 
EDIT: Here a are few places to get op amps and adapters in the USA. Beware that a lot of asian vendors sell fakes!
 
Link: www.Mouser.com
 
Link: www.Newark.com
 
Link: www.Digikey.com
 
Link: http://cimarrontechnology.com