Looking for emotion of the music has lead me to this.
Years ago I was playing with volume controls. I had tried everything and spent thousands. Active, SS, tube, passive, transformers and resistive, pots and stepped volume controls. What I found that gave the greatest emotional response was using NO volume control at all! Hmmm, so if resistors take away from the music what about ALL the resistors in the signal path. Out went the grid-stopper resistors, and Wooops, here came the RF interference. So rather than putting the resistors back in I tried ferrite beads and higher resistance wire (palladium, tin and gold) I found that with gold wire I didn't need the ferrite beads. And it is magic. Having taken the modified Welborne Terraplane DRD amps to a couple audio-fests, I always get the same jaw drop and big eyes "wow". The system is matched so that the direct coupled 6c45p phono amp drives the power amp to the perfect volume. When the volume needs to be reduced just a bit I use a PEC molded carbon potentiometer in series with a large film capacitor in 'shunt' configuration. Next up... get rid of the last coupling capacitor ;)
My favorite non modded / non DIY pieces in the system are the Zyx Airy cartridge, the RS Labs RS-A1 tonearm, the Gallo CDT tweeters, and the Terry Gesualdo THA headphone adapter.
0.24mv copper moving coil cartridge with silver base
Denon DL-103
I loved this cartridge... until I heard the Zyx Airy. The Denon has bass but the highs just sound wrong.
Grado Reference Sonata
A MM cartridge that has surprisingly good synergy with the Sonus / Mayware IV tonearm.
RS Labs / Sukuma RS-A1
Described as 'Extra-Force Free Tonearm' the RS-A1 is just about the music. The sound is stable from disk to disk... a refreshing change from other constant care tonearms I have endured in the past.
Sonus Mayware Formula IV
A low mass unipivot tonearm with great bang-for-the buck.
Clearaudio Champion Modified
All that is left of the Clearaudio Champion is the platter, bearing and motor. Will run direct drive OR belt drive. The plinth is two pieces of 3 inch Brazilian Cherry, loaded with copper coated shot.
DIY 24k Gold / 5n Silver Wire
Uninsulated 41ga 24k Gold wire for signal. 12Ga 5n Silver wire for ground. The same is used for amp / preamp hookup wire, where the use of gold wire has allowed the removal of the RF Grid-stopper resistors from the signal path. http://www.a-msystems.com/physiology/wirerod/goldtef.aspx
DIY Phono Jeremy Epstein DC 6c45p
A fantastic design that eliminates another coupling cap from the signal path. I would like to try to transformer couple this phono stage in the future.
Decware ZP3
Wow, what a musical phono stage!
Dynaco FM-1
High quality but inexpensive, tubed tuner.
Transcendent Sound 'Grounded Grid' Preamp
Ok so we all know the circuit is not really 'grounded grid' but it makes my CD's sound tolerable when I use it as a buffer stage. I don't use it for vinyl however, as it takes somthing away...
Welborne Labs Terraplane 300B Kit
Another giant killer. Wonderful 300B captivating midrange with extended bandwith from the supreme Electra-Print output transformers. TJ Meshplates and KR 842 VHD are my favorite tubes so far. (Picture before modification)
JBL 2360 Horns JBL 2445 or BMS Drivers
The crossover is where the magic is. ;) Just a resistor that is capacitor bypassed.
Gallo Acoustics Nucleus Ref
My 'reference' speaker. The tweeter is so fantastic I took it out to use with my horns. Run full range with just the Gallo impedance matching transformer in the signal path.
Decware / Jensen Imperial
The King with wings. Currently used as a BLH sub.
Sony DVP-CX777EX 400 Disk Changer
For when I can't be bothered to flip disks... and when I'm not really listening;) The only thing I love about Compact Disk is the convienience.
Terry Gesualdo THA - Headphone Adapter
The best way to drive your head phones... right from the speaker outputs of your favorite tube amp!
Eric, Well executed and unique system. If you're still tweaking toward a purist volume control, you might try replacing the Pot with a variable Silonex light dependent resistor in the shunt position. This made a big improvement for me.
Thanks for the advice,will have to contact him.I've posted a question in tech talk,a fellow A/G uses stax earspeakers with a driver hooked up to his mc40,he is going to find out a bit more to see if they will work with a mc240.
As far as DIY goes Im useing a ps1 a my project cd player,Ive added a ps2 remote to it and added a gps as my av screen so I can adjust/skip songs.That was simple, just plug and play. Im going to rechassis it.If I dont mess that up I might just have ago at something more serious. Theres plenty of good V bad on the net RE: ps1 as a cd player Im thinking it would interest the anti commercial DIY side of your nature. Paul
Mingles, Souterncross, Mapman, thank you very much for the compliments. I really encourage everyone who is serious about audio to DIY. Start with a kit and go from there. Or mod what you have. Try new things and learn why a circuit sounds the way it does. Find what you like.
Lately I have been playing with stereo imaging by canceling the mono signal at the cathodes of a stereo stage. It may be called 'cross-fade' control or 'stereo-wide' but by altering the signal on the anti-phase side of the tube interesting things happen, compared to traditional cross-fade in the direct signal path. After listening to person after person gush about "image depth" it occurred to me that amps with a shared cathode resistor between two channels of a stage always have a huge, wide image. This is just something I thought I would share with you'all... I mean... some people buy whole new systems to get that effect. It may be just as simple as tying the cathodes between left and right channels of an amplification stage with a HQ capacitor. Hint Hint ;)
Also am trying some Sophia Princess 206 tubes and a couple VT-25 (10) tubes right now. Even with low filament voltage (5V instead of 7.5V) the VT25 tubes sound very 'real', and engaging.
Southerncross, I don't know about the Mac driving the Headphone Adapter. You would really have to be careful with the volume control or *poof* there goes the headphone coils. I do know that Terry has a Mac as well and I'm sure he has tested THA with it. He knows his product better than I. He could come up with a custom version just for your amp and headphones.
Very nice set up. I like your DIY philosophy and couldn't agree more about your thoughts on commercial builders; its one of the reasons for the vintage pieces in my rig. Do you think the Terry Gesualdo THA headphone adapter would work with a Mcintosh mc240?
Thanks go out to J. Epstein who's original circuit inspired my early prototypes, and to J. Haggerman who was kind enough to offer his Cornet circuit boards at one point along the way and let us modify them for use in a ZP3.
I love your approach. I'm on the same page in terms of tweaking and upgrading, but you obviously know more about circuit design than I do.
The Decware ZP3 looks a lot like Jim Hagerman's Cornet2 kit. The tubes are identical and the specs are very similar. I have to wonder how they compare sonically.
Hi T_bone, the horns are JBL 2360T with JBL 2445J, or BMS 4592ND compression drivers. The JBLs can be found for a song if you look around. I like them very much, they load below 300hz.
Sure Emailists... you can contact Terry at the www.Audiophiletalk.com forum or www.Hawthorneaudio.com/forums/ He posts regularly at both.
Perhaps commercial builders already know these things... I can't imagine that I have discovered anything new. I get the feeling that most people (and manufacturers) don't really upgrade they just move sideways... you know what I mean? How can every-one offer more and more new models every year? If things really are 'better' then eventually everything must sound identical and perfect, no?
