[L0rdGwyn]

Just finished a rebuild of my HY69 amplifier, had to make some changes to fix a noise issue, now silent. This is my endgame amp, it sounds the part now, I love it! Listening with the ZMF Bokeh, sounds phenomenal, best I have heard it so far.

 

[mattiastomas]

Just finished a rebuild of my HY69 amplifier, had to make some changes to fix a noise issue, now silent. This is my endgame amp, it sounds the part now, I love it! Listening with the ZMF Bokeh, sounds phenomenal, best I have heard it so far.

That looks nuts! Also at night won’t even need to turn any lights on

 

[AudioDuck]

Just finished a rebuild of my HY69 amplifier, had to make some changes to fix a noise issue, now silent. This is my endgame amp, it sounds the part now, I love it! Listening with the ZMF Bokeh, sounds phenomenal, best I have heard it so far.

What a beautiful amp!

And if if it’s end-game to you, it’s probably mind-melting to most of us.

Merry Christmas to those who celebrate it, and happy holidays to all!

 

[JazzVinyl]

Just finished a rebuild of my HY69 amplifier, had to make some changes to fix a noise issue, now silent. This is my endgame amp, it sounds the part now, I love it! Listening with the ZMF Bokeh, sounds phenomenal, best I have heard it so far.

KaZow! It is beautiful!! What was the root of the noise, if I may ask?

And....Happy Holidays to you and yours, Keenan!

 

[cats4cans]

Just finished a rebuild of my HY69 amplifier, had to make some changes to fix a noise issue, now silent. This is my endgame amp, it sounds the part now, I love it! Listening with the ZMF Bokeh, sounds phenomenal, best I have heard it so far.

This idea of being able to build EXACTLY what you want instead of just getting really close or close enough with commercial gear is starting to give me bad thoughts. I think if I start to try to workout how to wind my own transformers it might be too late. I must convince myself to start small and forgive small mistakes and to be patient. I feel a New Year’s Resolution coming on. That can’t be good. Beautiful amp!

 

[LongSong]

I think if I start to try to workout how to wind my own transformers

Half electrical engineering, half witchcraft. Or so I'm led to believe

 

[L0rdGwyn]

KaZow! It is beautiful!! What was the root of the noise, if I may ask?

And....Happy Holidays to you and yours, Keenan!

It was the mains transformers I used in the original build. They had very high leakage flux, and overall the quality was pretty underwhelming (I may discuss that with the supplier). I was suspicious of them when I got them, but moved forward with the build as I had been planning it for a long time and was excited, but that was a mistake.
I decided I would switch to toroidals, which innately have much lower leakage flux than EI core transformers. Toroidy in Poland was able to make what I needed custom, and their "Audio Supreme" line has internal magnetic shielding in addition to the polished steel enclosures. Doesn't get much better than that for low magnetic noise! And they work perfectly. Even with the very sensitive Bokeh, the noise floor is inaudible. I'll likely use them again for my upcoming LCR phono stage, which has even more stringent low noise requirements.

And Happy Holidays @JazzVinyl , and everyone else for that matter!

This idea of being able to build EXACTLY what you want instead of just getting really close or close enough with commercial gear is starting to give me bad thoughts. I think if I start to try to workout how to wind my own transformers it might be too late. I must convince myself to start small and forgive small mistakes and to be patient. I feel a New Year’s Resolution coming on. That can’t be good. Beautiful amp!

Definitely start small! Winding your own transformers is expert level stuff, much better to order what you need from a good transformer winder to start.

 

[Wes S]

Merry Christmas to all my ZMF buddies!

This is what I will be rocking with today, and wouldn't have it any other way.

Got to love the fact, it's got Christmas colors!

 

[Deleeh]

Just finished a rebuild of my HY69 amplifier, had to make some changes to fix a noise issue, now silent. This is my endgame amp, it sounds the part now, I love it! Listening with the ZMF Bokeh, sounds phenomenal, best I have heard it so far.

Boar you have once again done a great job at top level.
I'm really jealous of you.
I would also like to be able to build an amplifier to my requirements.
I can solder but I lack the electrical background knowledge.
Otherwise I think I would have started already.

What kind of tubes are these 807,EL series?

Merry Christmas to all.

 

[L0rdGwyn]

Boar you have once again done a great job at top level.
I'm really jealous of you.
I would also like to be able to build an amplifier to my requirements.
I can solder but I lack the electrical background knowledge.
Otherwise I think I would have started already.

What kind of tubes are these 807,EL series?

Merry Christmas to all.

Thank you! The tubes are HY69, a directly-heated thoriated tungsten filament pentode. But strapped as a triode, and wired as a cathode follower in this circuit. It's a pretty unusual design.

 

[TooFrank]

Thank you! The tubes are HY69, a directly-heated thoriated tungsten filament pentode. But strapped as a triode, and wired as a cathode follower in this circuit. It's a pretty unusual design.

As a novice to all this: I'm in awe! I get dizzy just thinking about all of the skills of which I know nothing about. Just a curious question: Everybody are talking about tube rolling. Now that you apparently have built your end game device, would you still think of changing tubes?
Happy holidays

 

[L0rdGwyn]

As a novice to all this: I'm in awe! I get dizzy just thinking about all of the skills of which I know nothing about. Just a curious question: Everybody are talking about tube rolling. Now that you apparently have built your end game device, would you still think of changing tubes?
Happy holidays

Not really, no! I built the amp to be optimized for my favorite tubes, so no need to tube roll. It can use three different types of input tubes (and probably a few others I can't remember off the top of my head): D3a, E810F, and 6E6P.

 

[goldwerger]

I’ve been listening to Caldera this wekeend with the Riviera AIC10 (stupid good combination).

Yesterday, spent a full day tube rolling (in this case, taking a heavy amp off the rack, opening cover with allen screws, replacing, screwing back, reconnecting..

Each roll was a joy and a new discovery. I did end up where I started (Mullard M136 from the 60s that ads wonderful warmth and body), but each roll gave a completely new color (G73R for super neutrality, Siemens 5814A for extra clarity and openness, etc). And this is a hybrid amp. With my full tube amp the combos are infinite..

Yea, I keep rolling

 

[George Hincapie]

I’ve been listening to Caldera this wekeend with the Riviera AIC10 (stupid good combination).

Yesterday, spent a full day tube rolling (in this case, taking a heavy amp off the rack, opening cover with allen screws, replacing, screwing back, reconnecting..

Each roll was a joy and a new discovery. I did end up where I started (Mullard M136 from the 60s that ads wonderful warmth and body), but each roll gave a completely new color (G73R for super neutrality, Siemens 5814A for extra clarity and openness, etc). And this is a hybrid amp. With my full tube amp the combos are infinite..

Yea, I keep rolling

I think CMA tried the AIC10 recently with the Lampizator DAC and was rather impressed.

 

[goldwerger]

I think CMA tried the AIC10 recently with the Lampizator DAC and was rather impressed.

yes indeed
Best amp I’ve heard to date