PPA v2 construction discussion
Feb 5, 2009 at 10:16 AM Post #541 of 1,084
I recently switched one of my PPAs over to AD825's. I don't remember the gain...built it years ago...but it's certainly lower than 5, and it's a fully-loaded PPA, so it's biased into class A for certain. Seems to be working fine.
 
Feb 5, 2009 at 4:58 PM Post #542 of 1,084
Good to know; the AD825s have good reviews and seem to live happily in a some well respected commercial equipment as well as being a choice upgrade option.
One of the better things is their price. These things are shockingly cheap; lower cost does not always mean lower performance. (The reverse assumption is a trap I try to be conscious of.)

I am also encouraged by the review notes indicating midrange emphasis; that is exactly where I need a bit more. (My previous career has left me with a severely sagging mid-range in my audiometry exams. Even my GS1000s sound flat (and senns are down right depressed) in the 4k to 10k region. Bright can/amp combinations certainly help.)

I will keep the sockets high enough to get them off easily once I get an R4 value that works well.

Thanks for the advice and enough of my diatribe!
 
Feb 8, 2009 at 7:27 AM Post #543 of 1,084
I like AD825 all around as well. I preferred it to OPA637/OPA627 and AD843 all around. It produces a very clean, balanced sound, without any "coloring." The AD843 is beefier in the low end, but otherwise lacking. One nice thing about the PPA is the bass boost, which I think is a better way to add bass than choosing a "bassy" opamp. I found the OPA setup simply muddy.
 
Feb 10, 2009 at 12:03 AM Post #544 of 1,084
I am officially climbing aboard the PPAv2 train...

I've just ordered my boards and pots. I plan on implementing the bass boost
feature as well as the battery board for portability. I will be using it to power my current favorites, a Fostex T20v2 and a T50rp(both orthodynamic; 55 and 50 ohms, respectively).
I will, of course, be relying heavily on the knowledge collected here to successfully complete it!
 
Feb 11, 2009 at 4:11 PM Post #545 of 1,084
I will be ordering parts soon for my PPAv2 with battery board and I'm wondering if any of you have built this and which Hammond enclosure is the best fit.

I suppose I could build everything up and then order the enclosure but I would like to order everything at once to save on shipping costs.
 
Feb 11, 2009 at 5:13 PM Post #546 of 1,084
Feb 11, 2009 at 8:51 PM Post #549 of 1,084
Thanks funch, I will definitely be taking you up on that offer...

I have printed out loads of info from the Tangent website for my night time
reading and am trying to absorb all of it before I start ordering parts.
 
Feb 12, 2009 at 6:16 PM Post #550 of 1,084
I've got several windows up trying to order all of the parts for the PPAv2 and
I've got a question regarding the output transistors...

The parts lists recommends the MJE243os and MJE253os transistors for outputs, apparently only available from Digikey. Unfortunately when I try to order them from there it keeps on stating I have met the minimum order. Is there a way around this or, alternately, are these available elsewhere?
 
Feb 13, 2009 at 4:00 PM Post #553 of 1,084
Quote:

Originally Posted by funch /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Thanks. Building it will be more fun.


Maybe not so much fun, but I can attest to the enjoyment of buying funch's PPAv2. It _is_ beautiful. BTW The 637s sound great with it. Thanks again funch, especially for the support!
smily_headphones1.gif
 
Mar 13, 2009 at 8:57 PM Post #554 of 1,084
I know this question has been approached to death from nearly every angle and I apologize for any pain this subject may again surface; I have pondered the various posts and related net search hits to no clear answer. So, here I goes…

As suggested (though clearly not imperative), when matching output transistors (e.g., MJE243/MJE253), are we matching?:

1)DC current gain between like parts in all three channels (i.e., hFE (MJE243) L=R=G & hFE (MJE253) L=R=G), or

2)DC current gain between the complementary pairs in each channel (i.e., hFE(MJE243)/ hFE(MJE253) as close to unity as possible), or

3)1 & 2 together

I have built a simple collector voltage test block as suggested by this site: Transistor matching. (It’s more entertaining than eBay-ing another meter.)

I am not really concerned about the exact hFE values, the relative Vc values are good enough, but what value relationship to match has been confusing.
 
Mar 14, 2009 at 12:17 AM Post #555 of 1,084
Definitely not #2, because there's really no such thing as "complementary". NPNs and PNPs are inherently different beasts. You can still try, and getting it close is nice, but don't go insane buying bags of transistors just to find an NPN with an uncommonly low hFE to go with a PNP with an uncommonly high hFE.

The idea is to match the same part among the channels, so the channels all have the same distortion profile.

The story's a little different with the small-signal transistors behind the output pair. You might guess from a quick glance at their respective datasheets that the 2N5086 goes with the 5088, and the 5087 with the 5089, but if you look at the hFE ranges, you'll see why we paired the 5087 with the 5088 instead: it gives you at least some hope of matching pairs within a channel in addition to across channels. Besides, these transistors are cheaper, and you had to buy a lot of them anyway, so finer matching is more sensible. You just measure them all, arranging them on a sheet of paper or in a fishing tackle box, say, and use pairs that are closest to each other.
 

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