On Sunday, June 3, 2012, Anthony Joseph wrote:
> Hi Ramon,
> Yeah, only 2 caps in the signal path. One is in the feedback loop, the
> other is the last power supply cap (the Clarity Cap). None are
> electrolytics! The Clarity Cap was a late change. I have been using the
> Mundorf M-Tube caps until the C-Caps came on the market. I had to try them
> and yes, they are better. The difference (in percent, not sound) is like
> the difference between BlackGates and the M-Tube caps. Clearer, cleaner,
> faster with more resolution but no added "grain". The prices are not too
> bad either. Well, at that level anyway.
> Thanks for the compliment about the workmanship. It is essentially a
> prototype but it will be my personal amp and I needed to nail down the
> hours needed to build the unit for pricing purposes. It took about 42 hours
> to build. The internals are mounted on a sub-plate so as not to have the
> top plate of the amp look like Swiss cheese with over 30 fasteners to be
> seen. Top plate is .250", and the sub-plate and bottom are .187" aluminum.
> About $140 just in metal cost.
> The circuit turned out to be simple but required a lot of work to get it
> right. It uses a standard RCLCLC power supply layout so no tricks there. I
> tried a tube driver stage but the differences between tubes was significant
> and the sound changed more than I liked. I wanted to have control of the
> amps' sound and not leave it up to "tube rollers" who would have opinions
> all over the map. The input tranny has just enough gain to make it work and
> it is way quieter than the tube driver anyway. It is an expensive option
> though at over $300 per pair. Actually by the time I built a proper driver
> stage not that much difference. By that I mean a voltage (tube) regulated
> CCS fed driver stage. It would have made the top of the unit much busier as
> well with 2 regulator tubes per channel and the driver tube to boot. The
> amp is already heavy at about 25 pounds. It is a beast. Lots of iron for
> that power supply and Jack Elliano at E-P does not seem to have any other
> frame size for his transformers but large and XL. Fine by me as they work
> incredibly well.
> The modules you see are DIY-HIFI filament heaters. Very quiet and they
> work very well and keep noise and IM distortion very low. I have used them
> in my LadyDay amps for years now. . Not many options to add other than
> multiple inputs and maybe a silver input tranny made by Electra-Print (at
> about $700).
> I have not come up with a name for the amp as yet but I think I will call
> the company "Exit Level Audio". I may call the amp "Annapurna" since the
> name means two things that I am shooting for with the amp. One is a high
> peak though not the highest as I do not want to "say" that this is the
> best. Gotta leave room for improvement! The other meaning is indicative of
> sustenance:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annapurna. Besides, it sounds mellifluous
> to me. Hey, maybe I HAVE spent too much time in the shop!
> After some more break-in time we may want to have another meeting down
> here as we have discussed in the past.
> Tony
> On Sun, Jun 3, 2012 at 3:21 PM, Monte Verdi <r...@comcast.net<javascript:_e({}, 'cvml', 'r...@comcast.net');>
> > wrote:
>> Okay, looked at internal photo and saw what is happening! Like the
>> look of those Clarity Cap soda cans and that chassis looks gorgeous,
>> good work!
>> .On Jun 3, 2:31 pm, Monte Verdi <r...@comcast.net <javascript:_e({},
>> 'cvml', 'r...@comcast.net');>> wrote:
>> > Congratulations, I know you've worked hard on this as I discussed it's
>> > progress with you last winter! Can't wait too hear it, btw are there
>> > any coupling caps and what is in power supply, and what is name?
>> > Ramon
>> > On Jun 2, 3:55 pm, Anthony Joseph <exsailor1...@gmail.com<javascript:_e({}, 'cvml', 'exsailor1...@gmail.com');>>
>> wrote:
>> > > I just finished my headphone amp that I have been contemplating since
>> > > I had you guys come over for a listen a while back. I could not use
>> > > the 26 tubes as they are a little noisy for headphone use and the
>> > > battery supply is not really realistic for a sale-able product.
>> > > Anyway, it is a OTA (One Tube Amp) not counting the rectifier tube of
>> > > course. It uses a Lundahl step-up transformer as the input stage and
>> > > an Emission Labs 20B tube for the output then to an Elecra-Print out
>> > > put transformer. It is pretty simple but to get it right took a lot of
>> > > time because the noise on a 300 ohm output tap is much higher than for
>> > > an 8 ohm tap. There are additional 32 and 75 ohm sockets at the rear
>> > > of the unit. I did not want them on the front as I will be using 300
>> > > ohm headphones and this will be my personal unit as well as a "show"
>> > > piece. I am planning to take it to the RMAF in October.
>> > > Let me know what you think.
>> > > Tony in Corrales
>> > >http://www.flickr.com/photos/45377567@N02/7323006382/in/photostream/
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