[Maverickmonk]

...sounds like i'm building a dynalo. Darn my wallet
 
 
Edit: plain aluminum faceplate, ebony stained oak side/top? Aluminum backplate & bottom?

 

[Maniac]

Quote:

...sounds like i'm building a dynalo. Darn my wallet
 
 
Edit: plain aluminum faceplate, ebony stained oak side/top? Aluminum backplate & bottom?

One interesting option is to use those spray paint in hardware store.  If you can spray a panel with glossy paint in an area that is relatively dust free (if your location us usually dusty, wait til after a rain, which will keep the air free of most dusts for a while.), and use some kind of plastic lid to cover it up to dry.  You will end up with a pretty nice glossy finish that looked like it costs you hours of labor.  Which actually will only costs you about 5 minutes of prep and paint, and about a day or two leaving it along under a lid (do leave it a bit of breathing room, don't seal it up... the paint need fresh air to dry).
 
The end result look like expensive glossy paint on costly equipments, it even catches fingerprints just as good as those expensive finishes.

 

[Maverickmonk]

Thanks, but I really am a fan of the plain/brushed aluminum look, and it would match my vintage gear (JVC turntable and Marantz amp). I'd love to do a source selector switch, but am unsure how

 

[Maniac]

Quote:

Thanks, but I really am a fan of the plain/brushed aluminum look, and it would match my vintage gear (JVC turntable and Marantz amp). I'd love to do a source selector switch, but am unsure how

I think you can get those selector switch from Alps, which should work well.  Unless of course you are planning a relay type input selector, which would be neater, but a fair bit more work.  Most production product use relay selector to save on the manual labor of wiring a lot of input wire to the front of the case and back.  Since most of the better wires are both expensive and hard to work with, this allow them (and us) to use crap tinned wire that can be pre-made cheaply, and use that to drive the relay input selector.

 

[Maverickmonk]

so, would this work? http://www.ebay.com/itm/Audio-Input-Selector-Relay-Board-12V-regulator-/150665385193?pt=UK_AudioTVElectronics_HomeAudioHiFi_Amplifiers&hash=item23145b54e9

Since it has its own regulator, could i use it across the +15/-15 rails?

 

[Maniac]

Quote:

so, would this work? http://www.ebay.com/itm/Audio-Input-Selector-Relay-Board-12V-regulator-/150665385193?pt=UK_AudioTVElectronics_HomeAudioHiFi_Amplifiers&hash=item23145b54e9

Since it has its own regulator, could i use it across the +15/-15 rails?

Oh, for this, just use it on the +15 rail and use the DC input option.  Don't put it across the entire +15/-15, as it will only blow up the regulator IC due to the massive voltage drop that you are asking it to do.

 

[Maverickmonk]

wouldn't that unbalance the two sides and increase the voltage bias? would I then need to measure the resistance of the switchboard and place a resistor of equal resistance across the other side?

 

[Maniac]

Quote:

wouldn't that unbalance the two sides and increase the voltage bias? would I then need to measure the resistance of the switchboard and place a resistor of equal resistance across the other side?

Actually, yes and no.  It will be loading up the positive and negative rail differently, that's yes.  As for voltage bias, that's the amp's issue, not regulator.  Which means that loading up the power supply will not do anything to it.  Most amp circuit are far more stable than that, they need to be, or else every time your washing machine powers up, you'd burn something on your system.

 

[Pars]

Why not parallel it to one of the AC windings (like the one for the +15V rail)? It has its own rectifier, etc.

 

[MCC]

I'm a little late in joining this thread but I thought I'd chime in. I have the Sheer HA-006+ Plus Edition and it drives my ATH-AD2000s spectacularly well. I was lucky enough to snatch it for $180 used with a dent in the faceplate.
 
I haven't been visiting Head-fi lately because I'm so happy with this combination that I've reached the end of my search, at least for now. I did modify it a bit though. I shorted the feedback resistors for each channel to give it unity gain and installed a stepped attenuator (search "New 21 Step Attenuator Potentiometer 10K Log Stereo" on eBay for the one I used- it fits perfectly if you solder some resistor leads to the contacts). Each step is about 6dB and I've mapped keyboard shortcuts to switch between 0dB and -3dB in fb2k to double the number of steps.
 
Edit: Just to give a better idea of its performance, the HA-006+ handily beats my McIntosh 1500 with the ATH-AD2000s- and the McIntosh is the best stereo receiver I've ever had the pleasure of hearing. The McIntosh still has an edge for my HD 595 and HFI-680 but the Sheer/AT combo is unnaturally good.

 

[sennheiserhd485]

Quote:

I'm a little late in joining this thread but I thought I'd chime in. I have the Sheer HA-006+ Plus Edition and it drives my ATH-AD2000s spectacularly well. I was lucky enough to snatch it for $180 used with a dent in the faceplate.
 
I haven't been visiting Head-fi lately because I'm so happy with this combination that I've reached the end of my search, at least for now. I did modify it a bit though. I shorted the feedback resistors for each channel to give it unity gain and installed a stepped attenuator (search "New 21 Step Attenuator Potentiometer 10K Log Stereo" on eBay for the one I used- it fits perfectly if you solder some resistor leads to the contacts). Each step is about 6dB and I've mapped keyboard shortcuts to switch between 0dB and -3dB in fb2k to double the number of steps.
 
Edit: Just to give a better idea of its performance, the HA-006+ handily beats my McIntosh 1500 with the ATH-AD2000s- and the McIntosh is the best stereo receiver I've ever had the pleasure of hearing. The McIntosh still has an edge for my HD 595 and HFI-680 but the Sheer/AT combo is unnaturally good.

Thank you for chiming in. Did you ever notice any channel imbalance?
 

 

[MCC]

 
Quote:

Thank you for chiming in. Did you ever notice any channel imbalance?
 

I just saw this post now. I don't recall if I had a channel imbalance before I switched out the volume pot but I certainly don't have one now.

 

[zyss]

Is David still building the Sheer Audio amps on order? Anybody else? The products of Headamp.com seem to have moved away from simplicity IMHO.

 

[justin w.]

  Is David still building the Sheer Audio amps on order? Anybody else? The products of Headamp.com seem to have moved away from simplicity IMHO.

 
I would have continued building it if anyone was buying it. The final year the Gilmore Lite was available there were 12 orders. 12...
And now with the Toshiba JFETs being discontinued for several years and prices skyrocketing for the few available, it's just not possible to do it again.

 

[Maniac]

  Is David still building the Sheer Audio amps on order? Anybody else? The products of Headamp.com seem to have moved away from simplicity IMHO.

 
 
Nope, like justin said, the sale was pretty ****ty in the end, it doesn't make sense for us to dump a load of money in it and to have it end up sitting there staring back at us for the next four to five years.


It went pretty darn fast when I shouted out there are only 12 units remaining at local forums, but that's about it.
 
 
If we build it next time, I think I'll see if I can build a balanced model with more modern manufacturing techniques.  Saving labor is pretty important, and good SMD parts are available, as long as you pay. (Most of the good ones actually costs more than their through-hole counterparts.)  Hopefully we can come up with something that is interesting enough that people will be parting their cash at our web store...