[bcowen]

So there's still a possibility!!

I had a previous life. Mostly non-criminal.

 

[Zachik]

I had a previous life. Mostly non-criminal.

Booooooring.....

 

[johnjen]

Well stated (as usual).

Thanks, I do try to be evocative and thought provoking, with varying degrees of success, but that has never stopped me in the past… hahahahahahahahahahaha

The original Shunyata power cords like the King Cobra and even the original Hydra units contained the "Stardust" which was later renamed to FeSi after (I think) Caelin Gabriel realized the additional heaping of abuse that particular name created from the non-believers and general rabble rousers. Have absolutely no idea what the stuff was, other than by shaking the cable it sounded like some small granular substance (perhaps in size akin to rock salt). It was supposed to absorb and drain away EMI among other things. I never opened up one of those (expensive) cables to take a look, and even if I had I still wouldn't have had a clue what the chemical composition of the stuff was. All I knew was that putting one of those cables in the system (first on the CD player) was not a subtle change. And adding more cords just added MOAR (in your terms).

A blast from the way past:

http://www.soundstagenetwork.com/revequip/shunyata_hydra.htm

My research has told me that this entire subject (delivery of ac power) is more complex than merely the wire itself. Aspects such as conductor size, wire composition, contact patch between connectors, metallurgy, CP's (Choke Points), even magic rocks (in a wide variety of manifestations), all can make a difference.
But that doesn't mean that any of these, by themselves, will in every system.

And thus far it seems as though finding those CP's that are the most limiting 1st, is the ticket to realizing that these factors are influential but also in what ways and how much net effect they can make.

Most folks are 'limited' to the easy changes like cables, fuses, perhaps some vibration dampening etc.
But then there are those folks like me who think nothing about tearing Schiit apart to see if there is anything that can be optimized and in what ways.
And over the decades lessons have been learned, both of what NOT to do as well as what should/must be done etc.
And why.

Along the way I have learned about ac power delivery and those persnickety factoids of note that are very influential in optimizing said ac power delivery.

As in MOAR 4 ME… hahahahahahahahahahahaha

As far as fuses, I hesitate to go there, even here. That subject causes worms to spew volcano-like out of the can similar to fire ants blasting out of an established nest when you step on the mound. And if you don't live in an area with fire ants, you're missing out on lots and lots of fun.

When I 1st started out fussing with tubes and electronics back in the pleistocene era, fuses were 5¢ each (or even cheaper) and I rarely ever had to change them. Well except for when things went POP for whatever reason (ooops that probe slipped and the spark WAS impressive)…
And to pay not just 10's but 100's of $'s for a sacrificial part rubbed me the wrong way, and still does.
It just tain't natchl…

EXCEPT there is NO denying they make a substantial difference to me, in my system, and has, every, single, time.
And for those who deny such things are even possible, well again, experience trumps opinion, every, single, time.

And that doesn't mean they are wrong, for them, but to insist it has to be true for everyone is silly, especially if they have little to no practical experience to substantiate their opinion.
And their opinion does apply to them and their system, but to then make the leap and extrapolate this minimal or complete lack of experience and apply it to everyone else and then to then denigrate those who have differing experiences,
is just silly.

Cognitive dissonance can really shake up some people, to the point where 'he who garners the biggest dog pile after shouting the loudest, prevails' becomes the norm, much to everyone else's detriment, as it stops all forward progress into discovering any further details and related aspects.
You know like why, and how, and when, these lettle tiny wyrz can make such audible differences.

More's the pity all the way around.

JJ

 

[johnjen]

So I discovered yet another part of the circuit to tweak in my Purp-Amp.
It’s the tube socket to tube pin connections.

Sometimes I can lightly tap the top plate and the sound goes all crunchy (a certified technical term if ever there was one ) so I started looking for a wire that was shorting or a loose connection etc.
Then I rattled the tube base and the crunchy returned, so I knew I'd 'found it'.

So I clean the tube pins using a piece of white scotch-brite and after reinserting them, the crunch was gone.

And after I clean and apply a coating of secret sauce to the pins, I usually have to also check the filament and B+ voltages and make small adjustments just to get everything back into the sweet spot.

And I also have to say that the SQ has reached a state where what I hear are just the 'voices' (instruments and vocals etc.) and the room etc. since the entire system just disappears.
This is where even terribly recorded music from the 50's and 60's (think early rolling stones) sounds intriguing and the autonomic reaction to reach for the MOAR control to turn it down or off, has been reversed.
And the few tracks and albums I use as bad source music just for this test are just now being played full length and even cranked up, where as before that would have been an exercise in how much can I stand before my hand reaches for the Moar knob to cease the torment.

The #1 album, with a bullet, for this test (besides the Rolling Stones) is the Perfume Genius album, Too Brite.
This album will let you know, and in no uncertain terms, if your system will butcher this album.

And of course those albums and tracks that are sublime are just amazing, in every way.
There are 'new' 'voices' I've never heard, or at least I can now identify them for what they truly are.
And even when I turn the MOAR knob way down, the inner detail and the entire bandwidth of the music is still there, including the deep/subsonic bass.

This ability to hear and feel the LEDI (Leading Edge Dynamic Impact) at greatly reduced spl's is a sure sign of excellent Coupling (one of the C3's).
Which is another way of saying that the waveform being created is not 'wasting' its energetic potential by spreading it out thru time nor in creating inaccurate leading edge and peak amplitudes.
In short the energy inherent in the wave forms are 'efficiently' and more accurately being delivered to my ears, for which I am very grateful and enthralled.

JJ

 

[gefski]

So I discovered yet another part of the circuit to tweak in my Purp-Amp.
It’s the tube socket to tube pin connections.

Sometimes I can lightly tap the top plate and the sound goes all crunchy (a certified technical term if ever there was one ) so I started looking for a wire that was shorting or a loose connection etc.
Then I rattled the tube base and the crunchy returned, so I knew I'd 'found it'.

So I clean the tube pins using a piece of white scotch-brite and after reinserting them, the crunch was gone.

And after I clean and apply a coating of secret sauce to the pins, I usually have to also check the filament and B+ voltages and make small adjustments just to get everything back into the sweet spot.

And I also have to say that the SQ has reached a state where what I hear are just the 'voices' (instruments and vocals etc.) and the room etc. since the entire system just disappears.
This is where even terribly recorded music from the 50's and 60's (think early rolling stones) sounds intriguing and the autonomic reaction to reach for the MOAR control to turn it down or off, has been reversed.
And the few tracks and albums I use as bad source music just for this test are just now being played full length and even cranked up, where as before that would have been an exercise in how much can I stand before my hand reaches for the Moar knob to cease the torment.

The #1 album, with a bullet, for this test (besides the Rolling Stones) is the Perfume Genius album, Too Brite.
This album will let you know, and in no uncertain terms, if your system will butcher this album.

And of course those albums and tracks that are sublime are just amazing, in every way.
There are 'new' 'voices' I've never heard, or at least I can now identify them for what they truly are.
And even when I turn the MOAR knob way down, the inner detail and the entire bandwidth of the music is still there, including the deep/subsonic bass.

This ability to hear and feel the LEDI (Leading Edge Dynamic Impact) at greatly reduced spl's is a sure sign of excellent Coupling (one of the C3's).
Which is another way of saying that the waveform being created is not 'wasting' its energetic potential by spreading it out thru time nor in creating inaccurate leading edge and peak amplitudes.
In short the energy inherent in the wave forms are 'efficiently' and more accurately being delivered to my ears, for which I am very grateful and enthralled.

JJ

Another cleaner I like for the hardcore stuff like you use scotch-brite for is Happich Simichrome, which I’ve used for decades with car & jet-ski stuff. As you polish out, it really gets black, so it’s definitely taking material off. Just to make sure no residue is left behind, I always follow with Deox or 99% alky.

 

[johnjen]

Yeah Simichrome and silver polish both turn black as the oxide layers are chemically removed.

I was leaning more toward the dry cleaning (scotch-brite dry) approach.
But then there is the oil drench of the newly burnished pins that can also work as the oil stops/slows the rate of oxidation…

But I might have come up with a 'Better' solution all the way around, at least for me.
I just need to practice, to work out the details, along with, find out if all this extra fuss would be worth the effort wrt SQ.

I'm think'n this could be a big step up, but 1st I need to jump down this rabbit hole and see where I land…

JJ

 

[johnjen]

Ok so I used an old broken DHT tube and added my mods and took a few pics.

To wit…
This 1st is a pic of the insides of a (slightly) mangled DHT.



I figured most have never seen one of these up close and personal…


Then a pic of the test case for hardwiring the tube pins to the socket solder tabs.



And another.



And you'll note that the wire wraps around the top of the solder eyelets.
This accomplishes 3 things.
#1 provides a suitable solder connection
#2 stabilizes this wire and the tubes connection to the rest of the circuit, such that ANY microphonic activity that might influence the tube to socket connection has now been mitigated.
#3 makes the ability to reverse this mod all the easier, since one end is mechanically 'tied down' as well as soldered, so that the other end of the wire can be cut or just unsoldered and the tube removed normally.

More later as I set my jaw into Manly Mode and raise an eyebrow (or 2?) and begin surgery on these tweako tubes to add ≈3/4" pieces of 18g wire to the very bottom of each pin, where the old solder resides and must also be addressed…

JJ

 

[johnjen]

After surgery progress reports are just coming in now and the early prognostication is…




Wholey Hot Schiit.
My experience is vindicated yet again, in that hardwiring is ALWAYS superior, especially in heated, high voltage, low current circuits (read tube circuits).
(EDIT) And this topic (hardwiring) is closely related to the topic of contact patch, or more precisely the absence of even the need for any contact patch as it relates to connectors and even switches.

And the amp isn't even up to full operating temps, or voltages, nor reached stability and already the inner detail, focus, REALNESS and just about everything else has taken a veritable plethora of mutha may steps up already.

But I should wait until it reaches stability and after I dial in the filament and B+ voltages, before I pronounce this tweak a complete success.

Right now the Beatles Abbey Road is revealing nuances and inner details etc I have never heard before.
Next up is Daft Punk Random Access Memories…

(EDIT) the amp is still settling in but when its in it's 'happy zone' the increase in the inner details and focus everywhere, as in from the very bottom, on thru those glorious magic in the mids and all the way up into the twinkle and tissss zone, is sneaky.
I don't realize the full impact of the differences until after each 'voice' has been paid attention to.
And the added 'richness' in each voice (think moisture on the breath) is most appreciated.

Tomorrow the SQ should be killer after a complete cool down and another tweak of the voltski's.

JJ

 

[johnjen]

I think I now 'get' what has happened to the SQ.
It still isn't fully dialed in as it needs a few more tweak cycles yet, even so the net result is becoming more 'pronounced'.

It's a tricky change in that most of the audible shifts and changes I have learned to pay attention to are only 'hinted at' with two major exceptions.
tLFF (theListenerFatigueFactor) has been significantly reduced and it shows up in the perceived shift to the position of the MOAR knob wrt tLFF.

IOW I can now crank it up by +6db (3 clicks on my stepped MOAR knob) and there is no additional tLFF. I'll be pushing it to +8, +10, +12dB but not right now as the musical enjoyment factor has captured my full attention,
thank you very much…

JJ

 

[johnjen]

Oh and here are a few of the during and post surgery pics of this crazy experiment.

I figure others MUST have tried this before, and I can't be the first in 80yrs to apply this 'treatment' to DHT tubes.
But I haven't heard of anyone else performing this type of surgical procedure before either…
So who knows???

Here is a shot of the71A tube being modified.

Keen eyes will see the itty bitty dab of solder paste on the 2 unmodified pins…
This help breaks down the oxidation on the surface of the old solder, so when the new wire is inserted it will bond properly.

And after the tube has been inserted into the tube socket.

You can see the wires sneaking out the sides of the pin receivers,

So that the wires can be wrapped around the solder eyelets.


From there it was just a matter of a quick solder job of the wrapped wires.
You'll notice that I left a 'tail' hanging out so I can more easily unwrap the wire should the need arise.

JJ

 

[gefski]

Oh and here are a few of the during and post surgery pics of this crazy experiment.

I figure others MUST have tried this before, and I can't be the first in 80yrs to apply this 'treatment' to DHT tubes.
But I haven't heard of anyone else performing this type of surgical procedure before either…
So who knows???

Here is a shot of the71A tube being modified.

Keen eyes will see the itty bitty dab of solder paste on the 2 unmodified pins…
This help breaks down the oxidation on the surface of the old solder, so when the new wire is inserted it will bond properly.

And after the tube has been inserted into the tube socket.

You can see the wires sneaking out the sides of the pin receivers,

So that the wires can be wrapped around the solder eyelets.


From there it was just a matter of a quick solder job of the wrapped wires.
You'll notice that I left a 'tail' hanging out so I can more easily unwrap the wire should the need arise.

JJ

That is very kewl. And weekly tube rolling is out...and unnecessary, right?

 

[johnjen]

Yeah this set of tubes has achieved a degree of SQ where any additional tube rolling is completely unnecessary.
I mean this amp has set the bar so far beyond what any other system I have ever heard can deliver, save one, that refinements/tweaks are all that remain.

And if I did need to replace/swap these tubes, they are removable.
Ie. this mod is completely reversible, so in like 20 minutes I could drop in other tubes, but I doubt any other tubes will even come close to equaling these 80yr old Arcturus tubes.

JJ

 

[johnjen]

So there is this repeatable behavior I have been noticing for a while now.

We (those of us who have or are still running tubes) all know that tubes 'wear out' so to speak.
They accumulate hrs and start to get noisy, a tragedy especially after you've found 'just that perfect set' of tubes and then they start to 'intrude' on our playing conductor, or air guitar, or air piano, or air drums etc. with a crackle here, a zztzzt there, a zzrrrkk, just enough to keep reminding you that your treasured tubes are still just tubes and they do wear out.
Ohh the horror…

BUT in my Purp-Amp, when I hear these 'disturbances in the force', the circuit is telling me the voltages are off/out of the sweet spot.
So I go under the hood and fuss with the trim pots and dial it all back in, and violá the gremlins 'have left the building' and the circuit is quiet once again.
And I am actually adjusting the CCS (Constant Current Source) for the 6BQ7 driver tube which is direct coupled and directly drives the 71A output tubes.

Thus far I'm shooting for 170Vdc ±1 vdc (or better) on the voltage across the 71A tubes and 5.20Vdc ±0.01vdc for the filaments in this direct coupled amp.
And when these settings are matched for both tubes the SQ gets S/S (Spooky Scary) and a whole bunch of other of my special nifty descriptors all at the same time.

Just like I like.

JJ

 

[johnjen]

So there is this repeatable behavior I have been noticing for a while now.

We (those of us who have, or are still running tubes) all know that tubes 'wear out' so to speak.
They accumulate hrs and start to get noisy, a tragedy especially after you've found 'just that perfect set' of tubes and then they start to 'intrude' on our playing conductor, or air guitar, or air piano, or air drums etc. with a crackle here, a zztzzt there, a zzrrrkk, just enough to keep reminding you that your treasured tubes are still just tubes and they do wear out.
Ohh the horror…

BUT in my Purp-Amp, when I hear these 'disturbances in the force', the circuit is telling me the voltages are off/out of the sweet spot.
So I go under the hood and fuss with the trim pots and dial it all back in, and violá the gremlins 'have left the building' and the circuit is quiet once again.
And I am actually adjusting the CCS (Constant Current Source) for the 6BQ7 driver tube which is direct coupled and directly drives the 71A output tubes.

Thus far I'm shooting for 170Vdc ±1 vdc (or better) on the voltage across the 71A tubes and 5.20Vdc ±0.01vdc for the filaments in this direct coupled amp.
And when these settings are matched for both tubes the SQ gets S/S (Spooky Scary) and a whole bunch of other of my special nifty descriptors all at the same time.

Just like I like.

JJ

 

[bcowen]

Oh and here are a few of the during and post surgery pics of this crazy experiment.

I figure others MUST have tried this before, and I can't be the first in 80yrs to apply this 'treatment' to DHT tubes.
But I haven't heard of anyone else performing this type of surgical procedure before either…
So who knows???

Here is a shot of the71A tube being modified.

Keen eyes will see the itty bitty dab of solder paste on the 2 unmodified pins…
This help breaks down the oxidation on the surface of the old solder, so when the new wire is inserted it will bond properly.

And after the tube has been inserted into the tube socket.

You can see the wires sneaking out the sides of the pin receivers,

So that the wires can be wrapped around the solder eyelets.


From there it was just a matter of a quick solder job of the wrapped wires.
You'll notice that I left a 'tail' hanging out so I can more easily unwrap the wire should the need arise.

JJ

You *do* realize that you are now completely certifiable beyond question, right?