[andrzejpw]

To sum it up? Oh. My God.

Well, today, my dad and I finally got to test out our meta. We hooked up the wires, soldered the RCAs directly to the alps pot, put our crappy 50 cent headphones into the neutrik, and flicked it on. Nothing at all! The voltage wasn't even going through the amp! We finally figured out it was the diode, so we took it out. Yahoo! Hissing, but we get SOME sound! Then, I figured out my bonehead mistake. I hooked the alps pot output to the RCA INPUT, not the pot output on the board! Gah! So, we set it right, and we've got some MUSIC, and the hiss is gone! Put in ksc-35s. I'm blown away by the deep and clear bass. . . Turns out our diode was in backwards(the white band should be on the left, not on the right), and it's still fine! So now, HD580s. I put them in, and listen to Miles Davis and Dave Brubeck.

This is truly amazing. The absolute first thing I've noticed is the amazing bass extension. I mean, it's bringing back memories of the Max! It's simply amazing. Then, I notice the extremely well defined highs. They just extend to the sky. Then, the soundstage hit me. Everything seems to expand. Piano, sax, it seems like i'm THERE. This was LIGHT years ahead of my little loaner that I remember. And there's simply no comparison to a cmoy. The cmoy sucks life out of music. This puts it back.

This is not meant to be a review by any means. The amp is by no means finished, and I did not hook it up to my good system. This listening was done through a Panasonic CT570 (that I ripped out of my sister's room

) and the cable was the crappiest of the crappy 1/8 to RCA. My listening only lasted about 25 minutes. My amp is very "ghetto" right now. The RCAs are soldered directly to the pot, the soldering was quite quick, and my aim was to simply see if the amp worked. In the next few days, I should have the amp in a real enclosure, mounted, etc. I'll take pretty pretty pictures, and I'll take a good and LONG listen to it. I'll have it hooked up to my denon 370, and outlaw interconnects, and I'll eventually have cardas cables. Anyway, any comments are welcome.

OH, btw, I'm using the 8610 opamp, and WOW, was it a relief when the amp finally started working, and I knew I didn't overheat those damn soic parts! Not to mention my current source transistors. . .

 

[puppyslugg]

Congrats., on the almost complete META!

Don't be so hard on the cmoy. If it had ad8610/20's, it'll sound much better, too.

Way to go!

 

[Jeff Guidry]

Quote:

Originally posted by puppyslugg Congrats., on the almost complete META! Don't be so hard on the cmoy. If it had ad8610/20's, it'll sound much better, too. Way to go!

Intersting comment. I am facing a dilemma. I would rather not shell out bux for an all new DIY amp, so I have been considering contracting JMT to upgrade my CMOY (which I am quite happy with). Would an upgrade to the 8610 or 20 opamp, better caps and a beefier power supply (my Cmoy uses a single 9v) give me the added clarity, detail and bass management I am looking for? Or should I just sell it and have a Meta42 built?

 

[puppyslugg]

Quote:

Originally posted by Jeff Guidry Would an upgrade to the 8610 or 20 opamp, better caps and a beefier power supply (my Cmoy uses a single 9v) give me the added clarity, detail and bass management I am looking for? Or should I just sell it and have a Meta42 built?

Tough call. No doubt, in my mind, if you were to upgrade the caps, ps, and opamp to ad8610's, it would give you improved 'clarity, detail and bass mangement', but probably not to the level of a META. My guess is, the parts cost would run less than $50 bucks, depending on what type of 'beefier power supply' you want.

I guess it comes down to how much it would cost to upgrade the cmoy vs new meta vs the difference selling the cmoy and having a meta built. Not much help, huh? Sorry.

 

[Jeff Guidry]

Well, you have highlighted the precise quandry I am in. I really can't make a decision, because my fiscal discipline tells me to be happy with what I have. But, of course, the audio nut tells me, you can do better, see what's out there!

I am certain that a Meta42 would provide better everything. BTW by beefier power supply, I mean upgrading to a regulated wall wart.

I think I will likely just sell the Cmoy and commission a Meta42.

Please, someone talk me out of this. I thought I was out, I thought I was free...then they pulled me back in.

 

[Ari]

Congrat sandrzejpw !!

It sounds like music to me because of 2 things:

a) Team work with your Dad which is rare today

... and,

b) I'm waiting in a long line for my Tangent's Meta !

Best from

Ari

 

[HighwayStar]

Sweet ! (I can't wait to receive my JMT built unit !)

 

[aos]

A guy who does Sony SACD mods tried to replace generic JRC opamps with AD8620 and thought they were worse. Since these opamps ARE the best I've tried and most people agree, I'd say that using them to drive something without buffer is a bad idea (if the mod guy is right). So you won't be satisifed if you use it in CMOY. But that was just one man's opinion. You can try and decide for yourself...

 

[morsel]

Aos, if I remember correctly from DIYAudio, the Sony SACD uses dual 15V rails, which will blow out an AD8620 in a minute or two. The maximum recommended dual rail voltage is 12V.

 

[andrzejpw]

Uh oh. My freak of nature 9volts are giving out close to 11! Is this bad?

 

[acs236]

Quote:

Originally posted by andrzejpw Uh oh. My freak of nature 9volts are giving out close to 11! Is this bad?

No. It's a wonderful thing.

A lot of 9v rechargables start off at over 9v when fully charged. What brand are you using?

 

[aos]

Morsel, it depends on the model and there are quite a few of them now. I believe that 775 is actually +-12V; I could measure it I suppose.

 

[andrzejpw]

Actually, they're not rechargeable. They are duracell procells. They claim to be professional batteries. We have them in my high school's theater. We have BOXES of them, they were meant for audio technica lavs, but we NEVER use the crappy things. We use AKG lavs, and those run on AA.

So, I get to borrow a few.

 

[Dave-O]

OK time to chime in.

I ordered and received a maxed out META from tangent a few weeks ago (damn, has it been that long?). It uses the AD843 chip, parallel buffers, Upgraded caps, ALPS pot, linear power supply, basically if it cost more and I thought it would help, I checked the box. Oh yeah, crossfeed, modified Linkwitz, low and high. I find I don't use it much, but at least now I know.
As for the sound, I love it! I use a D-25 with markertek mini-to-mini (yes I ordered the wrong cable the first time) and Senn HD-600's. I have hardly come up for air since I received my amp. I have relistened to virtually every disc I own and have heard details that I did not realize were there. I don't know much audiophile jargon, so I won't try to describe its "quickness" or it's "soundstage", but I will say this, you won't find this one on the Gear For Sale Page any time soon!

one caveat: I do have a hum when I touch the pot or toggle switches. I think this may be a grounding issue, maybe at the power jack? Didn't someone else resolve their hum issue in this manner?

 

[jopi]

Quote:

Originally posted by Dave-O one caveat: I do have a hum when I touch the pot or toggle switches.

You should have checked the no hum option when ordering it.