[IronLion]

I will put up more later, I need to set up my tripod and my telephoto to take some pics of the tubes glowing in the dark. This is the MPX3 that I got from Mikhail yesterday; it has Solen Stage 3, Black Gates and Teflon coupling capacitators, as well as the neutrik locking headphone jack, the black spike feet, and the Ken Rad and Sylvania NOS tubes that Mikhail recommended.

Initial impressions are that the amp is incredibly detailed and pleasant to listen to, but to be perfectly honest I feel as though it is missing some of the warmth and lower end strength and extension that I would have hoped for. I am hoping that this is simply because of the fact that I have only been breaking it in now for slightly less than 24 hours, and I expect the sound to mature throughout the next few weeks. If anybody has any experience on how the sound of an MPX3 can change and develop during break-in to alleviate my concerns about this amp not quite being what I had hoped for, I would really appreciate any feedback. I'll put up more pics later.

EDIT- My current setup is laptop->Waveterminal U24->Stereovox HDXV->Bel Canto DAC 2-> Chimera Laboratories Advantage Series II IC-> MPX3-> HD650 with Stefan Audioart Equinox.

 

[Glod]

Congratulations! It looks beautiful. Nice feet also by the way.

There have been a lot of reports on the burn-in path of MPX3´s, but the last 10 months a lot of maxxed out amps have been ordered. A bit like yours, with a lot of fine cuisine in the circuit, and those probably have a quite different burn-in pattern, in comparison to e.g. mine. Those Black Gates, for example, will probably want to have a lot of time to mature before they will give their best.

Mine is a 230V, P2P, Solen 1 and Jensen coupling caps, and a few other things. It sounded “terrific” out of the box, but after 40-50 hours of operation (with signal and headphones connected!) the sound stage suddenly opened up like the doors to a concert hall. Before that it sounded like I was hiding in the lobby for some reason.

After about 80-100 hours the bass got a much better extension and ease, from had been quite rolled off and tubby. But that, I didn’t think in the beginning of course.

After those hours, the changes were much less dramatic. I think mine finally stabilized around after 200hrs.

You had a new Senn replacement cable too, or was that somebody else? Anyway, it will too, most probably, need quite some time to find its sound.

Good luck – and don´t forget to keep us posted.

EDIT: Forgot some specs.

 

[IronLion]

Thanks for the info, I will keep you updated on this thread as it continues to burn in. The Equinox cable I have for my HD650 was not new, I have had it for about 3 weeks now and it is basically fully burned in. Regarding P2P wiring in the MPX3's, is this a standard feature in them or is it an upgrade option that you have to request from Mikhail? I ask because I don't remember asking him for P2P wiring and I wonder if mine has it...

 

[Glod]

Quote:

Originally Posted by IronLion Thanks for the info, I will keep you updated on this thread as it continues to burn in. The Equinox cable I have for my HD650 was not new, I have had it for about 3 weeks now and it is basically fully burned in. Regarding P2P wiring in the MPX3's, is this a standard feature in them or is it an upgrade option that you have to request from Mikhail? I ask because I don't remember asking him for P2P wiring and I wonder if mine has it...

AFAIK, it costs extra nowadays.

EDIT: BTW. I read somewhere that Mikhail claims there is no difference in sound between the PCB and P2P.

EDIT II: Spelling mistake in the last edit...

 

[IronLion]

Hmm what does PCB wiring mean? I wonder if I could get mine upgraded to P2P if its not P2P...

 

[sacd lover]

If you have a ken rad/ sylvania tube combo plus the solen 3 and you are not getting bass then the amp definitely needs burn in. In fact, I wonder if something else is holding the bass back.

The ken rad for gain / solen 3 was to much bass for my tastes.

 

[Rob N]

What are the advantages/differences with teflon coupling caps?

 

[IronLion]

Hey Rob, I forget exactly what Mikhail told me over the phone about the Teflon Coupling Capacitators, but basically he said that he started using them fairly recently and that they are very, very transparent caps. He recommended them to go with my Solen 3 and black gates, so I imagine that they are meant to offset the supposedly (and subjectively- SACD said above that with the Ken Rad driver the Solen 3 is a bit much for him) overpowering bass of the Solen 3? Anyways thats my best guess.