[Orpheus]

born2bwire:

did you get your amp back from Holm yet? how does it sound now?

 

[Born2bwire]

No, he said that he's still waiting on the parts. Why? Did you get your's back?!?!? I forgot to call the tech yesterday (well, technically it's now two days ago). I hate that he's only in on Tuesdays, he said he was in specially on Thursday for a shipment to come in.

 

[Orpheus]

hi. welp, after 1/2 year or so... and 3 shipments to me... i finally have a working MG Head! my modified amp just arrived today.

so far, nothing major is defective. only strange thing is, when i sent my mg head in to be repaired/modified, the feet were even on that particular unit. when i got it back, one foot was about 2mm off, so you could still rock the amp around. interesting.

but anyway... after ALL that trouble i went through, this is pretty minor. on my first unit, the feet were REALLY uneven...

so... on with the mods. ...the following mods were made by Mr. Dealy of Holm Audio:

1. gold plated tube sockets
2. GE caps (Dealy swears that despite their low price, they are the best caps he has ever used) --only for the two main caps in the signal chain... the filter caps were not changed. Dealy seemed to think they wouldn't make a difference.
3. Alps pot
4. Blue LED
5. Coax cable for the power connections, with the shield grounded

...and the result? well... i cannot be too sure, cause it's been so long since i've used my original... but there is one very clear difference: the buzzing is gone for normal listening levels. the amp is DEAD silent up to about 1/2 rotation of the volume knob. ...but after that, you get increasing buzz... and a little hiss. at full rotation, the noise is too loud... but unless you have a headphone that's crazy inefficient, you won't ever turn it up that high.

...he did charge me quite a bit... $190! heh he... i know, that's pretty high. but at least i have a good amp again.

so, in the end.... total price to me is $500, not counting shipping half way across the U.S. 3 times.

.....now... i truly think that ASL should have raised the price in the first place, if that's what they need to have good build quality. if they even had to raise the price by $100, it still would have saved me $100 in the end.

welp... i'm listening to some music off the MG Head right now with the HD600's... finally finally finally.... audio bliss.

orpheus

 

[Born2bwire]

Still haven't gotten mine.....*twitch*....

 

[fyrfytrhoges]

my jury is still out on the mg head, I guess it's just my pesonal taste or I haven't found that right 5751 yet but I still prefer my headroom little over the head......

I guess time will tell, but orpheus I hope all the trouble was worth it for you, finally you will get to enjoy your amp.......

 

[Orpheus]

heh he.... all THAT trouble worth it?--6 months of calls and waiting?..... um, no... but what could i do?

what ASL really should do is a recall... that's what any company with honor would do (or faced with zillion dollar lawsuits in the US... heh he.) but then again, that'll bankrupt them... whatever.

anyway... as it turns out, the bottom plates with the feet were swapped by accident with born2b's, which was in at the same time as mine. my amp had even feet before being sent out... and now............... one foot is too high!

but compared the the first MG Head... these feet are MUCH more even than before. and might i remind you again, Divergent refused to replace the unit with such uneveness. i guess i'll just put a washer in there to make it better.

...welp, so the ASL story ends... and I STILL do not have a perfect amp.

 

[lextek]

Quote:

Originally posted by Orpheus ...welp, so the ASL story ends... and I STILL do not have a perfect amp.

Who does?

 

[Orpheus]

i don't mean "perfect" as in absolute audio perfection... but there are standards that all well built products should share. this is the first amplifier i have ever had that had ANY physical abnormaility. i have a Alesis RA-100 (a $200 amp... no hum, no hiss, no problems)... a Hafler P7000 (a $1500 amp, no hum, no hiss, no problems)... a NHTPro A-20 ($2000, same)... B-20 ($2000, same).

surely this $300 headphone amp with 1/400th the power output of my cheap-o RA100 should at least be constructed just as well.

"Who does?" I do.

 

[lextek]

I was kind of joking. I've had good luck with my MG Head's. They have been perfect, well except a little tipsy.

 

[Orpheus]

oh, okay... sorry. did you mean, "Who does have a perfect ASL MG Head?"... i thought you meant that there are no perfect amps at all.

misunderstanding... sometimes i'm a little too serious.

 

[andrzejpw]

So ends another thread scaring me away from the MG Head.

If they ever work the quality control issues out. . .