[daveDerek]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Voltron /img/forum/go_quote.gif You mean you don't remember the whole FalconCougarThunderThingy thread? It was eventually called the Massive Attack but it is a custom McAllister balanced amp made to Jay's desires to drive the Headphile K340s to blissful perfection. That about sums it up, but Jay can give details or a link or two.

mr. mcallister would benefit from a professional association with steve!

 

[krmathis]

Impressive!
I have no idea what brand/model it is, but it sure looks great.

 

[philodox]

Thanks for all the comments guys, I am very happy with how it turned out.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Canman /img/forum/go_quote.gif I see you have weapons at the ready to fend off drooling head-fiers.

LOL, I doubt I even know how to use them at this point... it has been 8 years or so since I took karate. Quote:

Originally Posted by Negatron /img/forum/go_quote.gif I would love to see it in low light in all it's filament lit glory.

I tried taking a couple, but they didn't really turn out... I need a tripod to take a decent one I think.

Quote:

Originally Posted by khbaur330162 /img/forum/go_quote.gif The key start ignition is a nice touch.

I've always wanted one if I ever had an over the top amp, and I hope this qualifies. The first key start power switch we had failed because it was not rugged enough to handle the high voltages that Peter uses in his PSUs. Thankfully Kevin Gilmore came to the rescue and sent me an extra switch he had in his shop.

Quote:

Originally Posted by swt61 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Glad to see you guys got it all mounted. How many beers did it take to get there?

We had three at dinner, but as Renato pointed out... lots of the hard work was done before dinner. Quote:

Originally Posted by swt61 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Oh, what's the inside scoop on the wife joke? You can't throw that out there, and then pretend to be demure.

hehe, It is just that every time Renato did anything irritating or whatever either he would say "thats why my wife left me" or I would ask him if that is why.

As the night got on, the joke became much more funny.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Killercrush /img/forum/go_quote.gif You might want to store your LP's vertically... not horizontaly.

LP's??? Oh, those are magazines.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jon L /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm sure we'd like a bit more detailed comparisons. BTW, isn't LessLoss DAC's whole selling point that master-slave thing?

I will try to do some more concentrated listening at some point, but don't really have the time this week. I'm not sure how long Konig is going to let me borrow it though, so I should probably get it done soon. They do have a big thing with their master/slave setup, but with a good transport [and mine is decent] it should be fine. Since there is none of the tricks to deal with jitter, like those that are used in the benchmark for instance, if you use a poor transport with the LessLoss it will not be ideal. Quote:

Originally Posted by daveDerek /img/forum/go_quote.gif what are the details about the amp (is there a link to a description)?

Quote:

Originally Posted by krmathis /img/forum/go_quote.gif I have no idea what brand/model it is

Well, Al got most of it there. Basically, it is a heavily modified and balanced PL12... which is an upgraded PL10. The specs for the PL10 can be found on www.mcalisteraudio.com Quote:

Originally Posted by daveDerek /img/forum/go_quote.gif mr. mcallister would benefit from a professional association with steve!

There is an idea.

Actually, Peter really liked it and asked me what the faceplate cost me at the Ontario meet, but I didn't know what to tell him since Steve rarely allows me to pay full price.

 

[swt61]

I won't quote any prices on here, but I will say that little bit of Gaboon Ebony alone was $65.00.
When I told jay I wanted to use it, and told him how much it added to the cost of the project, he didn't bat an eye. I told him it would be small, subtle doses of it, but it would really add a lot to the project. He may have had a heart attack on the other end of the phone, but if so I was never aware of it.
Jay just let me do my thing, and I hope he loves it as much as I do.
That key end is Gaboon Ebony also, though it's hard to see in the pics.

 

[facelvega]

I see one major problem here: the slippery slope. Now you need to get Steve to make you a new desk and bookshelves, and maybe a frame for the picture, and of course you'll have to get the original painting instead of the print, and then maybe move into a renaissance villa in keeping with the grandeur of your amp. Time to fly out to London to hit Savile Row for a smoking (well, listening) jacket that matches the faceplate. I'm not even going to mention the necessary shoes.

 

[tbonner1]

Looks like the Blueberry Audio woodwork. I am surprised you covered the transformer case.

 

[daveDerek]

Quote:

Originally Posted by philodox /img/forum/go_quote.gif Basically, it is a heavily modified and balanced PL12... which is an upgraded PL10. The specs for the PL10 can be found on www.mcalisteraudio.comThere is an idea.

there's no pl12 info there. how do the 2 units differ and from there what are the heavy mods done to the pl12? did you do the mods or was this built to your spec by mcalister?

 

[robm321]

Beautiful - what can I say? that's just gorgeous all the way around.

 

[daveDerek]

Jay, can the amp simultaneously run balanced and se cans? are the two se jacks the same or do they have different impedances?

 

[agile_one]

Drop dead gorgeous, Jay - stunning work by all concerned.

I'm perplexed, though, by the pretty hunk of rounded wood perched atop the 2nd cap from the left in this pic:

Is that a volume knob waiting to be attached to the front? Perhaps a mini radome that is part of the North American Early Warning system? Do tell.

 

[MrSlacker]

wow that looks amazing!

 

[luvdunhill]

Quote:

Originally Posted by swt61 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I won't quote any prices on here, but I will say that little bit of Gaboon Ebony alone was $65.00. When I told jay I wanted to use it, and told him how much it added to the cost of the project, he didn't bat an eye. I told him it would be small, subtle doses of it, but it would really add a lot to the project. He may have had a heart attack on the other end of the phone, but if so I was never aware of it. Jay just let me do my thing, and I hope he loves it as much as I do. That key end is Gaboon Ebony also, though it's hard to see in the pics.

just curious, since the face plate was welded on, did you send dimensions to Steve? You must have measured that thing like 1,000 times to make sure everything was exactly right

 

[philodox]

Quote:

Originally Posted by swt61 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Jay just let me do my thing, and I hope he loves it as much as I do.

Oh, I do love it.

I've always found it is best to just find good people, give them a general idea of what I'm looking for and then just letting them do what they want.

Quote:

Originally Posted by facelvega /img/forum/go_quote.gif I see one major problem here: the slippery slope.

I'm not going to quote the whole post, but that was seriously funny... sort of choking at the moment.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tbonner1 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I am surprised you covered the transformer case.

Replaced is more like it... the original metal case is in Texas.

Quote:

Originally Posted by daveDerek /img/forum/go_quote.gif there's no pl12 info there. how do the 2 units differ and from there what are the heavy mods done to the pl12? did you do the mods or was this built to your spec by mcalister?

Actually, I am not positive of the differences between the PL10 and PL12. You'd do best to ask Peter about that. As for the mods done to the PL12, I don't have any specifics, but this is a completely custom design. I asked Peter to build an over the top balanced amp to drive my K340's and gave him a bunch of parts from a previous failed amp build of mine, which is where those large motor run caps came from. I then designed the top layout once he let me know that there would be 9 tubes in the amp. The second row of tubes was added in later on as Peter was not completely happy with the initial build. I then owned it for quite a while and had a few concerns... it went back and Peter addressed those. I had planned from the start to get a custom plate from Steve, which is part of the reason that the first faceplate looked so ghetto... I told Peter not to waste his time there. I was originally going to get a goldpoint stepped attenuator, but when I talked to Mikhail [owner of singlepower and goldpoint], he recommended I get one of the new singlepower stepped attenuators and gave me an attractive price on it. There were also a couple other tweaks that we did while we had it open to install the volume control and faceplate [credit goes to Kevin Gilmore for these].

whew, that was more typing than I originally thought.

Quote:

Originally Posted by daveDerek /img/forum/go_quote.gif Jay, can the amp simultaneously run balanced and se cans? are the two se jacks the same or do they have different impedances?

Good question... I believe it can, but I'm not positive. I usually just run one balanced headphone or one or two unbalanced. The unbalanced jacks are nice for comparisons.

Quote:

Originally Posted by agile_one /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm perplexed, though, by the pretty hunk of rounded wood perched atop the 2nd cap from the left. Is that a volume knob waiting to be attached to the front? Perhaps a mini radome that is part of the North American Early Warning system? Do tell.

LOL, glad you like it Gene. I'm not sure what a radorne is, but yes, that is the volume knob. I've been too busy listening to the amp and haven't had a chance to affix it yet. I'd like to give it a day to dry after I stick it on.

Quote:

Originally Posted by luvdunhill /img/forum/go_quote.gif just curious, since the face plate was welded on, did you send dimensions to Steve? You must have measured that thing like 1,000 times to make sure everything was exactly right

Yep, we just sent Steve the measurements. It helps that both Renato [looser101] and Steve are both perfectionists. Also, I sent him all of the parts that would be affixed to the faceplate except for the stepper so that he could mount them [I had an extra set of XLR's and 1/4" jacks and we sent him the key start switch]. I love how he recessed the XLR's and mounted them to the ebony from the back... looks so slick.

Getting that original faceplate off was a pain though. Some of the aluminum weld joints were pretty thick.

 

[Topplayer]

one word amazing love everything

 

[NiceCans]

OMG that is magnificent!

if the sound even approaches the aestetics it should be stellar sounding.