Porta Corda MkII: first impressions
Dec 16, 2004 at 8:07 PM Post #16 of 36
Quote:

Originally Posted by walkman666
Cool, I was a wonderin' if that procedure was tricky or not. Sounds like mechanical dumbos like me can even handle it. Thanks!

- walkman666



It's piece of cake if you have a screwdriver that is small enough. The included manual has also instructions for the procedure. All you have to do is to open the case, press 1st and 2nd switch from the left down, close the case and that's it
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Dec 16, 2004 at 8:15 PM Post #17 of 36
Nice, Routa. I got me one of them little screwdriver kits. When I am not torturing the cat with the little tools
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, I use 'em to replace worn batteries in my little kids's toys. $3 from some sidewalk vendor in NYC. I love this town!

- walkman666
 
Dec 16, 2004 at 9:27 PM Post #18 of 36
Routa, since you've gone ahead with the Class A bias, did you already source a power supply, or are you going to try running it off battery? Just wondering, as the Porta Corda will be primarily a portable rig (no PS) for me, and I'm looking to try Class A...

BTW, NICE avatar!!
 
Dec 16, 2004 at 9:32 PM Post #19 of 36
Yup, it's a fine little amp - and in my opinion comes quite close to the original Corda HA-1 amp, especially when run in class A mode. In addition, I'd recommend to use NiMH cells instead of alkaline batteries - as the latter tend to sound less dynamic due to higher inner resistance.

Greetings from Hannover!

Manfred / lini
 
Dec 17, 2004 at 12:37 AM Post #20 of 36
Wait -- what's this Class A mode?
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Why don't they just ship it in class A mode...somebody splain this to me.
 
Dec 17, 2004 at 12:53 AM Post #21 of 36
Class A mode is basically better quality but uses a little more power. So shipped in power saving mode as the portable amp is set for portable usage

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Dec 17, 2004 at 5:59 AM Post #22 of 36
Quote:

Originally Posted by BRBJackson
Routa, since you've gone ahead with the Class A bias, did you already source a power supply, or are you going to try running it off battery? Just wondering, as the Porta Corda will be primarily a portable rig (no PS) for me, and I'm looking to try Class A...


I'm running it off battery for now. I guess I'll find out soon enough, if the claim of doubled power consumption in Class A mode is accurate
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Quote:

Originally Posted by BRBJackson
BTW, NICE avatar!!


That's me on a trackday last summer. Your avatar isn't that bad either
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Dec 17, 2004 at 6:07 AM Post #23 of 36
Ok, time for more 1st hand experiences. Yesterday I switched the amp into Class A mode. As I'm too lazy to try comparing the A/B and A modes, I just share my experiences of the Class A mode vs. unamped.

I'd say that the overall sound in Class A mode is similar to A/B-mode, but the improvements to unamped sound are more pronounced than in A/B -mode. Personally I think it's a fair trade for the extra power consumption, if I can still get over 40 hours out of a single 9V battery. We'll see about that soon enough.
 
Dec 17, 2004 at 7:59 PM Post #24 of 36
Yup, class a doesn't make a day and night kind of difference, but it's smoother, more detailed and more relaxed at the same time. Nice little amp... *pat, pat*
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Greetings from Hannover!

Manfred / lini
 
Dec 18, 2004 at 10:09 AM Post #25 of 36
Quote:

Originally Posted by lini
Yup, it's a fine little amp - and in my opinion comes quite close to the original Corda HA-1 amp, especially when run in class A mode. In addition, I'd recommend to use NiMH cells instead of alkaline batteries - as the latter tend to sound less dynamic due to higher inner resistance.

Greetings from Hannover!

Manfred / lini



Plainview!
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I tried Alkaline vs 8.4V nimh. One new alkaline sounded worse than the 8.4. One new alkaline of another brand sounded better. But note that I compared new alkalines whose inner resistance is still low.
Then tried MAHA 9.6V. better than all of the above. Than one of the the MAHAs died prematurely and I ordered one Plainview along with the Classic from Norm, and maybe it is because I swapped an almost flat MAHA with the Plainview or just plain placebo effect but my MINT never sounded this good.

With the current exhange rate the Plainviews are not that expensive to get overhere. And Norm's shipping is very reasonable. And I found out that my old charger (for 8.4V) charges the Plainviews fine too. So I guess that other chargers will do too.
 
Dec 18, 2004 at 10:19 AM Post #26 of 36
Finally hooked the amp up to my A2 ZS. Hard to describe the effect, it just makes everything better. Most notably the bass is better defined and tighter, plus highs are a tad more accurate yet not as fatiguing as before.

But I'll be damned if the HD25's are not too sensitive! Heh, it even picks up some of the signal when the amp is turned off - just crazy.
 
Dec 18, 2004 at 10:34 AM Post #27 of 36
i used to own a porta corda 2 . one of my first buys here .

when i got a cmoy - cmoy was better in my portable gear.
 
Dec 18, 2004 at 1:45 PM Post #28 of 36
I've been debating on what batteries to use to power my Porta Corda when it gets here. I've got a lot of NiMH AA's and AAA's, but no 9V's, and it would cost me $40 for the MAHA charger and one 9V battery, and for the same price I could buy enough alkalines (Duracell) to last me for at least 4 or 5 years at the rate I would likely use it. I guess because of the cost I'm leaning towards alkalines, is it going to make a big difference in sound either way?

I just looked a little more on the Thomas Distributing website, and I could get a Tysonic charger and 1 9V battery for about half what it would cost for the same from MAHA. Decisions, decisions......

-Keith
 
Dec 18, 2004 at 2:09 PM Post #29 of 36
The main difference between NiMH and alkaline is that NiMH will maintain the same voltage before dying out while alkalines will slowly lose voltage. The effect is that sound quality will slowly decline over the life of the battery with alkalines, while NiMH will sound the same until they need recharging. On the other hand alkalines will last longer for a charge cycle.
 
Dec 18, 2004 at 3:39 PM Post #30 of 36
Quote:

Originally Posted by meithkiller
I've been debating on what batteries to use to power my Porta Corda when it gets here. I've got a lot of NiMH AA's and AAA's, but no 9V's, and it would cost me $40 for the MAHA charger and one 9V battery, and for the same price I could buy enough alkalines (Duracell) to last me for at least 4 or 5 years at the rate I would likely use it. I guess because of the cost I'm leaning towards alkalines, is it going to make a big difference in sound either way?

I just looked a little more on the Thomas Distributing website, and I could get a Tysonic charger and 1 9V battery for about half what it would cost for the same from MAHA. Decisions, decisions......

-Keith



If you're not going to use it that often and you did your math right than I would* get NiMH. You probably won't use it for 4-5 years. You'll have upgraded three times by then knowing this place.

-edit- *I meant "wouldn't"
 

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