[Soundsgoodtome]

I totally get building and having pride in your own assembly but man for a bit more you can have a 3 year warranty... Wonder if Jeremy would entertain a self-build with warranty deal? Probably not but never hurts to ask I guess. Plus I'm sure he'd be willing to help with parts and service even without warranty for a reasonable price.

Had both Ember and Polaris built by him and everything was CLLEEAAANN.

 

[Mike In Bama]

That's a thought. But remember, I'm an electronics tech. I've only been doing this since 1972. Who is going to fix it 5 years from now? I am! Twenty five years from now? Me!

I'd like to think if I can repair a 2KW, 5 GHz troposcatter communication system alone, I can probably handle an audio amplifier. I'm nobody special, believe me! However, people bring things "unfixable" things to me and though I'm not perfect, I fix the majority of them.

I happen to be TRIPLE CURSED! I'm a left handed, Gemini, geek. You want to talk about outcast! I guess this is what I was born to do.

 

[Soundsgoodtome]

That's a thought. But remember, I'm an electronics tech. I've only been doing this since 1972. Who is going to fix it 5 years from now? I am! Twenty five years from now? Me!

I'd like to think if I can repair a 2KW, 5 GHz troposcatter communication system alone, I can probably handle an audio amplifier. I'm nobody special, believe me! However, people bring things "unfixable" things to me and though I'm not perfect, I fix the majority of them.

I happen to be TRIPLE CURSED! I'm a left handed, Gemini, geek. You want to talk about outcast! I guess this is what I was born to do.

Ah...so you're a professional DIYer lol. Well no problems then! For the rest of the novice DIYers however, that 3 year warranty is very clutch.

 

[Amish]

I'd like to buy a diy kit amp one day but I'm not ready for that yet.

 

[micmacmo]

  I'd like to buy a diy kit amp one day but I'm not ready for that yet.

 
As DIY projects go, this would be a good one. No surface mounted components. No live AC. A nicely designed PCB. Nudge. Nudge.
 

That's pretty much what I was hoping to hear. The added attraction of building my own Polaris has me chomping at the bit to own it. I keep wondering what will be the worse thing I will hear about this amp. There has to be something negative.

 
I think with good amps, it isn't so much a matter of having negatives. It's more a matter of being "not to everyone's tastes."  I haven't built my Polaris yet, but I'm willing to bet it will be a perfectly good amp with nuances that will distinguish it from other amps in my modest collection. Frankly, I find I prefer one amp one day and a different one the next. It's more a reflection on me than on the amp. 

 

[Mike In Bama]

It's a simple design, assembly wise. There are two surface mounted components though. Thankfully, they are already soldered to the bottom of the board. They are the right and left channel opamps.

Using the most care possible, i wouldnt imagine this being more than a two evening build. YMMV

 

[mandrake50]

   
As DIY projects go, this would be a good one. No surface mounted components. No live AC. A nicely designed PCB. Nudge. Nudge.
 
 
I think with good amps, it isn't so much a matter of having negatives. It's more a matter of being "not to everyone's tastes."  I haven't built my Polaris yet, but I'm willing to bet it will be a perfectly good amp with nuances that will distinguish it from other amps in my modest collection. Frankly, I find I prefer one amp one day and a different one the next. It's more a reflection on me than on the amp. 

I have not directly compared the Polaris (yet) to any of the other  amps that I have. There are over a dozen counting the portables. At this point, with maybe 30 hours listening to the Polaris, I think I could be happy with just having it to listen to... IF I wasn't a compulsive... "gotta try the next thing" personality. I think it  is that good.
Maybe when I start comparing my mind will change some. What was it Mark Twain supposedly said...
"Comparison is the death of Joy"... that and reading HeadFi !! That leads one to never be happy with what they have...

 

[GreenMachine]

After around 5 hours of listening, I can say I'm extremely happy with the Polaris! She really brings my HE400's to life. Astonishing bass and very clear across all the spectrum! I doubt I'll give a decent review as this is my first amp and my ears aren't well trained but once I get my settings figured out and have some time under my belt I'll be certain to throw a review up! Also an absolutely beautiful amp!

Here she is!

 

[Mike In Bama]

She is a looker!

I don't know if everyone here realizes what they are seeing here. The resistors on that board don't have the usual colored stripes on them. Instead they have their value printed on them. Why?

They are precision resistors. They are expensive. Your average resistors have a 20% tolerance on their value. It would be nearly impossible to have both channels balanced with each other with those kind of parts.

This is truly a lot of amp for the money!

 

[HOWIE13]

I think they are a type of Vishay metal film resistor and Garage use them for all their stuff.
My Polaris has just left LA, can't wait to get my hands on it. The only SS amp I have to compare it with is a basic o2 headphone amp, but I also have a Starlight and Horizon, so they will be interesting to compare too.

 

[Mike In Bama]

I've been looking around at other amps and paying particular attention to what is under the hood, where possible. I finally found one that had precision resistors in it. It's the Burson Audio Soloist SL, yours for the bargain price of $600!

I'm sure there are others out there, this one just caught my eye. Of course, all of the better grade parts you can get won't make up for poor implementation. That obviously isn't the case here with all of the raves we are hearing.

Baring Arizona turning into a sinkhole, I'm really expecting my Christmas present from the dog to have purple illumination.

 

[proid]

She is a looker!

I don't know if everyone here realizes what they are seeing here. The resistors on that board don't have the usual colored stripes on them. Instead they have their value printed on them. Why?

They are precision resistors. They are expensive. Your average resistors have a 20% tolerance on their value. It would be nearly impossible to have both channels balanced with each other with those kind of parts.

This is truly a lot of amp for the money!

 
Lol, resistor which have color stripes on them can be 1% tolerance resistor or even 0,1%. I haven't seen any commercial amp that using something worse than 1% resistor even cheap cmoy.

 

[Mike In Bama]

Proid, of course you are exactly right.

I am sometimes accused of talking over people's heads. Being new on here, I was merely trying to bring to the attention of others that this amp is an excellent value. Quality that others may not realize should be pointed out.

I feel that Garage1217 may not exactly get rich off of this amp, but they are by no means ripping people off. I appreciate that! I saw something notable and thought others might appreciate knowing it as well.

High end audio is a special thing. It's an amazing hobby filled with truth, theory, BS, personal preference and so much more that can't be measured. Personally, I don't mind paying for better internal components even if I'm too ignorant to know if its a better product.

 

[Drrizzt]

I have just pulled the trigger on the Polaris as i have troubles with my Project Sunrise (heavy sound distortion past 12o' clock with my beloved He-500).
 
I just hope that my He-500 is not "half broken", that i'll be able to send up the Sunrise to Jeremy to fix her up and then sell it.
 
Besides that, i wonder what will be the improvement over the sunrise with the He-500, i expect something faster, tighter, clearer. I'm just a bit affraid of the musicality because i'm so in love with my Russian 6H23N, so much more than the clinical Amperex 12AT7 wich seems to be lifeless in comparison.

 

[daerron]

  I have just pulled the trigger on the Polaris as i have troubles with my Project Sunrise (heavy sound distortion past 12o' clock with my beloved He-500).
 
I just hope that my He-500 is not "half broken", that i'll be able to send up the Sunrise to Jeremy to fix her up and then sell it.
 
Besides that, i wonder what will be the improvement over the sunrise with the He-500, i expect something faster, tighter, clearer. I'm just a bit affraid of the musicality because i'm so in love with my Russian 6H23N, so much more than the clinical Amperex 12AT7 wich seems to be lifeless in comparison.

 
I'd be curious as well, but that was the kind of improvement I got when I moved to the Emotiva Mini-X, but it does veer a bit too much to the brighter side. I'm hoping that the Polaris avoids that pitfall whilst retaining similar dynamics, but with a touch of more musicality like the rest of the Garage 1217 gang. The Sunrise 2 was very musical, but its dynamics was a bit lacking compared to the Mini-X.