[johnwmclean]

That's a rippa build Nate, did you go FPE? If you have time I'd love a close up of the logo, it looks amazing!

 

[Pageygeeza]

I'm with everyone else Nate, that build is so professional looking.

 

[n_maher]

Thanks for all the kind words guys, there was a lot of time invested in the planning of both the panels and the interior to try and segregate things as much as possible and keep wiring neat, clean and efficient.  To answer some questions raised:
 
1. Yes, it's a stock par metals chassis using the stock front and back panels which were obviously custom machined.
 
2. I have used FPE but these are from http://www.cam-expert.com/ who offers the same service and better pricing, in my experience.  It also doesn't hurt that they are less than an hour away so I get 1 day shipping at no expense. 
 
3. The logo isn't really a logo, it's just text wrapped in a simple border but here's a better picture of the center of the panel.
 

 

[pabbi1]

You are a gentleman and a scholar. Was that 45 minutes with OII?
 
Top shelf, my man.

 

[n_maher]

Quote:

You are a gentleman and a scholar. Was that 45 minutes with OII?
 
Top shelf, my man.

Thanks Al, I tried to do you proud on this one.  I don't have OII's anymore, unfortunately, just my lowly Lambda Sigs and at the time it was only sourced by my macbook.  I'll get it buttoned up over the next day or two and feed it some proper tunes. 
 
One other important note to builders: be VERY careful around the power supply. I was using standard one-hand-in-the-pocket safety and still managed to get whacked with 320VDC last night. That's the voltage potential difference between the tops of the two large caps in the power supply. A few minutes into adjusting the bias and offset something started buzzing slightly (the trafo) and as I was feeling around two fingers happened to brush the top of the two power supply caps at the same time. YIKES!!  An hour later I could still feel it in my hand but thankfully no permanent damage was done.

 

[fault151]

Quote:

Just for Al, so he'll get off my back.
 




 

 
I got about 45 minutes of listening time tonight and I like what I'm hearing.

Lovely build!!!! 
 

 

[cfcubed]

Ouch!  Can sure see how that could happen w/those nice exposed metal cap tops.
 
Might seem silly, and it sure looks silly, but after getting hit w/250VDC from a much less manly PS I've a pair of those yellow dish-washing gloves around for such mucking.
 
Oh & great looking build, of course.  Come to expect such from you
Quote:

One other important note to builders: be VERY careful around the power supply. I was using standard one-hand-in-the-pocket safety and still managed to get whacked with 320VDC last night. That's the voltage potential difference between the tops of the two large caps in the power supply.

 

[sachu]

ummm..i usually cover those caps up with insulation tape on the top..I've got zapped exactly as Nate describes while building the first prototype...used a few grey cells after that.

 

[n_maher]

 
Quote:

ummm..i usually cover those caps up with insulation tape on the top..I've got zapped exactly as Nate describes while building the first prototype...used a few grey cells after that.

Yup, I plan to make a couple small adhesive-backed tops for them to provide future protection.  One good note is that they discharge quickly after powering the amp down.  I checked after less than 10seconds and there was only a few volts left to discharge. 

 

[fishski13]

Quote:

Might seem silly, and it sure looks silly, but after getting hit w/250VDC from a much less manly PS I've a pair of those yellow dish-washing gloves around for such mucking.

 
great tip!!! 
 

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Here is my Hybrid eXStatA built by wiatrob, and I promise to get better photos soon, and not from my iPhone.  
 
PSU LED L1 is not turning on now, although it did after the boards were first assembled a few months ago.  Bill sent me an email saying both PS leds should light up, and that he would recommend following the initial setup procedure on the Cavalli website.  He thought it's quite possible the PS current needs to be tweaked and said to be sure to check both bias voltage settings, noting that settings can drift when the amp has been sitting disconnected. The boards sat for a few months before being cased up.  I don't know how to "tweak the current" but maybe after reading up on it I'll figure it out.  I have tested it once with SR-5 gold edition and it sounded great, but after discovering the LED being off I stopped using it until I can get it adjusted.
 
Like Nate's, it's in a par-metal case with separate left and right volume pots which is great for older vintage phones with a channel imbalance, and both a pro and normal bias jack.  On the rear is one set of XLR inputs and one set of RCA inputs.
 

 

 
PS:  Bill did this for the cost of parts, and even declined a gift from me in appreciation.  I really appreciate all his hard work!  This amp will be my son's as soon as Sachu has the luvdunhill attenuator in my SS eXStatA working.  My son will use it with his SR-Lambda, SR-003, along with SR-80 and SR-30 electrets (SR-30 have a L/R imbalance which needed dual volume pots to correct).

 

[GeWa]

My first Gamma1 now in operation in the bedroom system, I was really happy to got it working from the first power up.
It sits between de Squeezebox Duet and my Tuner/Amp.
Still need to replace the Duet wall-wart with a Sigma11. The new PS is already put together and tested.
 

 
Regards

 

[qusp]

 
From Peranders, 2 x QRV08 for dual mono. shoulda seen the BOM for these puppies. these are going into my ackodac sabre ESS9012 dac as the headamp section, the IV stage is still undecided. I have a pair of symetric mosfet followers from the D1 buffer (yes D1, not B1) that i'm trying out in the next few days, but it does worry me a little to have an IV stage that dissipates 70W at the higher voltage i'm using to squeeze a bit more DNR out of the sabre.
 
thinking i'll probably just stick with the transformers for LO until I can afford to shed a grand on some PTFE goodness from Erno; if I can nut out a solution to bias ground higher trying to get the illusive 140db. these pics were taken just before flicking the switch for the first time. thank god I paused for one final check, turns out the datasheet for the SMD LEDs in the superegulators denotes polarity on a profile diagram that is the only one of 4 pics to be inverted, a sound reminder to use the diode tester. troubleshooting these babies could definitely be a PITA I reckon

. running OPA827 for the servos and AD825 in each of the 8 superegulators.
 
but after this pause, flipped all of the LEDs, reflowed all the surrounding joints for good luck, said a quick prayer to the electronics deity and glowy goodness prevailed

 will update with some more pics when I get this cased up, along with some brief impressions of the sound perhaps


the reservoir caps (4700uf nichicon KG) tower above the rest of the build, I had planned to use mundorf lytics, but PCX were out of stock of the 3300 I wanted.

 

[johnwmclean]

Joy! That look awesome Jeremy, I’m making my way straight for that at the next meet. Looking forward to your impressions.

 

[qusp]

Thanks John, yeah I reckon they look pretty sweet too. loving SMD lately. this teamed with the ACKODAC will look like a thermonuclear device, flying down could be interesting at least they dont give us much grief on domestic here in OZ. theres gonna be some seriously great new builds at this years meet, looking forward to see what youve come up with in this last year as well