[ksorota]

Well....... ???
Any update or info on the volume pot upgrade? That is holding up my cap upgrade!

I assume you mean something like this?


or this?

Ill say this...Stock faceplate requires modification to make this work, and also I am still working out the connections. I have some test setups running that have allowed for quick swapping between the dif. resistance RK27's.

Here is one

Some more summer work to be done to clean it up, and shorten the connections.

More to come, but honestly not sure how many of these upgrades I can take on due too a number of factors. This has been a big team effort with Guidostrunk taking on the cosmetic work (which looks fantastic BTW)! Full assembly but this weekend I hope.

 

[sahmen]

My second LP landed earlier this week and I'm test driving it now. I do not detect any issues either with the volume pot or anything else, just pure audio glory wfth my Hekse set around the10 o'clockish position. So far, I am just pairing the LP with a modest Massdrop X grace design standard balanced DAC hooked up to Amarra Luxe on my Macbook pro. The sound itself (Tidal/Qobuz music) is stunningly good. The only issue I am having is not knowing how to distribute credit points for this audio goodness between the $150 DAC and the $484 LP. Not that this is terribly important. It's just a purely academic question, a non-problem, actually. I just thank Dr Cavalli and Grace Design for making such a great sounding combo so affordable. Hell, five years ago I paid $599 for one of the first batch Liquid Carbons, which went up in price not very long afterwards by $200.

Sorry for dwelling a little too much on the $$$ signs. I'm certainly not trying.to gross anyone out, but I can't help marveling how much such wonderful price-performance values as this combo sometimes go under-appreciated in our day and age., perhaps because of overinflated prices elsewhere in the hobby?

 

[Zachik]

I assume you mean something like this?

YES!!

Ill say this...Stock faceplate requires modification to make this work, and also I am still working out the connections. I have some test setups running that have allowed for quick swapping between the dif. resistance RK27's.

Can you post a photo of the modified faceplate?
How does the RK27 behave compared to stock pot? I am curious whether or not one of the benefits would be a bigger range of useful play. What I mean is:
- Assuming original pot gives 70dB at 10:00 -> 80dB at 10:30 -> 90 dB at 11:00 -> TOO LOUD at 12:00 (totally random numbers to illustrate my question)
- New RK27 gives 70db at 10:30 -> 80 dB at 12:00 -> 90 dB at 14:00 -> Too loud at 16:00

Again, above is fictional numbers for headphone X but it shows useful play in original pot between 10:00 and 11:30 or so, vs. useful range of 10:30 to 15:00 or so with RK27...

Lastly, I hope you find a nice quality and tasteful matching knob for the new pot

 

[glitch39]

You just need a pair of these.
https://www.tubemonger.com/12Axx_to...IB_1960s_p/12axx-ecc88-adap-novib-mcmurdo.htm

The 12au7 tubes are far more superior imo. And are way more reasonable in price than 6922 counterparts.

I did use Mullard 12AU7 + adapters on my LP. Those British tubes do know how to play jazz and vocals. Great match with the neutral signature of the Arya.
It made the LP more "liquid" , IMO.

Call it Monolith Liquider Platinum

 

[ruinedx]

My second LP landed earlier this week and I'm test driving it now. I do not detect any issues either with the volume pot or anything else, just pure audio glory wfth my Hekse set around the10 o'clockish position. So far, I am just pairing the LP with a modest Massdrop X grace design standard balanced DAC hooked up to Amarra Luxe on my Macbook pro. The sound itself (Tidal/Qobuz music) is stunningly good. The only issue I am having is not knowing how to distribute credit points for this audio goodness between the $150 DAC and the $484 LP. Not that this is terribly important. It's just a purely academic question, a non-problem, actually. I just thank Dr Cavalli and Grace Design for making such a great sounding combo so affordable. Hell, five years ago I paid $599 for one of the first batch Liquid Carbons, which went up in price not very long afterwards by $200.

Sorry for dwelling a little too much on the $$$ signs. I'm certainly not trying.to gross anyone out, but I can't help marveling how much such wonderful price-performance values as this combo sometimes go under-appreciated in our day and age., perhaps because of overinflated prices elsewhere in the hobby?

I personally wish they would make a LP for a bit more money, maybe 999-1199 street or so, with aluminum faceplate, nicer volume pot, nicer buttons, and neutrik XLRs - overall better build. I would rebuy the amp if they did so

 

[sahmen]

I personally wish they would make a LP for a bit more money, maybe 999-1199 street or so, with aluminum faceplate, nicer volume pot, nicer buttons, and neutrik XLRs - overall better build. I would rebuy the amp if they did so

Yeah, and not to forget an optional beefy Linear power supply designed by Dr. Cavalli himself to ensure optimal compatibility with the LP. It would be nice if the same power supply works for the Liquid Gold as well.

 

[glitch39]

You guys are dangerous. Seriously thinking I should unsubscribe this thread at least till i fix the damage in the bank account lol.

I have tried the Western Electric 403B with adapters on the LP and it matched very well with the warm nature of the LCD3.

I really like the flexibility of tube rolling on this amp. But I do have to pay to play. Maybe I should now unsub also.... .

 

[ruinedx]

Yeah, and not to forget an optional beefy Linear power supply designed by Dr. Cavalli himself to ensure optimal compatibility with the LP. It would be nice if the same power supply works for the Liquid Gold as well.

Yeh though that would probably be more like 1499 then

 

[TK16]

I have tried the Western Electric 403B with adapters on the LP and it matched very well with the warm nature of the LCD3.

I really like the flexibility of tube rolling on this amp. But I do have to pay to play. Maybe I should now unsub also.... .

I used a lot of tubes in the LP, never rolled the 403B. Which adapter do you use?

 

[sahmen]

Yeh though that would probably be more like 1499 then

You're probably right, but then that is why it would be nice to make the LPS Unit an optional buy, so that only those who really want it would buy it. Personally, I do not think I would pass on a Cavalli designed Linear power supply option for these amps if such LPS units can elevate the quality of the sound for either the LP or the upcoming LG-X.

 

[ksorota]

YES!!


Can you post a photo of the modified faceplate?
How does the RK27 behave compared to stock pot? I am curious whether or not one of the benefits would be a bigger range of useful play. What I mean is:
- Assuming original pot gives 70dB at 10:00 -> 80dB at 10:30 -> 90 dB at 11:00 -> TOO LOUD at 12:00 (totally random numbers to illustrate my question)
- New RK27 gives 70db at 10:30 -> 80 dB at 12:00 -> 90 dB at 14:00 -> Too loud at 16:00

Again, above is fictional numbers for headphone X but it shows useful play in original pot between 10:00 and 11:30 or so, vs. useful range of 10:30 to 15:00 or so with RK27...

Lastly, I hope you find a nice quality and tasteful matching knob for the new pot

I will post the pictures of the new faceplate once the LP is all back together...potentially early next week as I still have some refinements to make to the wiring and have to more securely mount the Alps pot. I can tell you that the new faceplate is black and lacks the silly labels (or any labels for that matter) and will give the LP a more stealth look. I have not found a new volume knob yet, but I am tempted to ask Justin from Headamp if I can purchase the knob from the GLMK2 or GSX mini. (requires more measurements however)

I was under the impression that changing the volume pot would give me more nuanced volume control and was sorely mistaken once I had it all back together. Thats when I did a bit of research which confirmed that the resistance value does not significantly change the attenuation profile, and that SPL is directly related to the gain of the amp. I tried adding some resistors within the potentiometer path to dump a bit of the signal gain to no avail.

Compared to stock pot, I find that the volume tracking is much improved and listening at low levels is more enjoyable. Prior to the pot swap, low level listening was distracting as i could clearly hear the left/right channel imbalance.

 

[Zachik]

I will post the pictures of the new faceplate once the LP is all back together...potentially early next week as I still have some refinements to make to the wiring and have to more securely mount the Alps pot. I can tell you that the new faceplate is black and lacks the silly labels (or any labels for that matter) and will give the LP a more stealth look. I have not found a new volume knob yet, but I am tempted to ask Justin from Headamp if I can purchase the knob from the GLMK2 or GSX mini. (requires more measurements however)

Cannot wait!
As for volume knob - would these be the right size? https://www.goldpt.com/knobs.html
These are for 6mm shaft, which I believe RK27 has as well. 28mm is the smallest - is it a good fit, or too big? $15 is not too bad for this REALLY well made knob.
Glenn has used the Silver Satin on my EL3N amp, and it is an AWESOME volume knob

 

[Slim1970]

I will post the pictures of the new faceplate once the LP is all back together...potentially early next week as I still have some refinements to make to the wiring and have to more securely mount the Alps pot. I can tell you that the new faceplate is black and lacks the silly labels (or any labels for that matter) and will give the LP a more stealth look. I have not found a new volume knob yet, but I am tempted to ask Justin from Headamp if I can purchase the knob from the GLMK2 or GSX mini. (requires more measurements however)

I was under the impression that changing the volume pot would give me more nuanced volume control and was sorely mistaken once I had it all back together. Thats when I did a bit of research which confirmed that the resistance value does not significantly change the attenuation profile, and that SPL is directly related to the gain of the amp. I tried adding some resistors within the potentiometer path to dump a bit of the signal gain to no avail.

Compared to stock pot, I find that the volume tracking is much improved and listening at low levels is more enjoyable. Prior to the pot swap, low level listening was distracting as i could clearly hear the left/right channel imbalance.

The channel imbalance is thing I want resolved the most. That is what will make this upgrade worth while. Low level listening is almost impossible as it is now.

 

[sahmen]

Wow this is a tough one, or so it seems: Does anyone know where the range of 22-26db might roughly occur on a normal LP volume Dial? I have been trying to figure out how best to balance the volume control on the LP with that of Sonnet Morpheus DAC, which also has a volume control, and this is what Cees Ruijtenberg sees as the best approach to take:

"It very simple , when you use the dac as a digital pre amplifier you can drive the power amp directly. The only restriction is that the gain of the power amp should be something like 22-26 dB. This gain will give you a comfortable range on your volume knob. When using a analog preamp in between set your dac in fixed mode , something between -10 and zero dB's . The same story is valid here, try to find a comfortable range of your volume knob of the analog preamplifier. That means that the volume of the Morpheus was set somewhere between -10 and 0dB, for instance -5dB which you have to fix in the Menu. That is all what you have to do."

The only issue is that the Morpheus has a led Display meter, which the LP does not, a meter on which one can read the volume level. So how does one determine volume level of an HPA which has no meter? Or, where does the range of 22-26db occur on the LP's volume dial? Any help in sorting this out would be appreciated.

 

[ruinedx]

Wow this is a tough one, or so it seems: Does anyone know where the range of 22-26db might roughly occur on a normal LP volume Dial? I have been trying to figure out how best to balance the volume control on the LP with that of Sonnet Morpheus DAC, which also has a volume control, and this is what Cees Ruijtenberg sees as the best approach to take:

"It very simple , when you use the dac as a digital pre amplifier you can drive the power amp directly. The only restriction is that the gain of the power amp should be something like 22-26 dB. This gain will give you a comfortable range on your volume knob. When using a analog preamp in between set your dac in fixed mode , something between -10 and zero dB's . The same story is valid here, try to find a comfortable range of your volume knob of the analog preamplifier. That means that the volume of the Morpheus was set somewhere between -10 and 0dB, for instance -5dB which you have to fix in the Menu. That is all what you have to do."

The only issue is that the Morpheus has a led Display meter, which the LP does not, a meter on which one can read the volume level. So how does one determine volume level of an HPA which has no meter? Or, where does the range of 22-26db occur on the LP's volume dial? Any help in sorting this out would be appreciated.

Most DACs have best quality at full output, including those that compensate for volume change. As long as your liquid platinum channel balance sounds good at listening level with DAC at full output that would be best bet.