Author Topic: My new amp  (Read 80207 times)

Offline springcreek

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Re: My new amp
« Reply #120 on: February 06, 2014, 12:08:57 PM »
Something new turned up in the post yesterday

It's beautiful. Still running in but sounds brilliant.

Happy camper  ;D ;D ;D
« Last Edit: February 06, 2014, 12:33:42 PM by springcreek »

Offline kajak12

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Re: My new amp
« Reply #121 on: February 06, 2014, 12:10:33 PM »
ducs phono stage  8)
still discovering the link between electronics and audio reproduction.so much to learn and so little time

Offline springcreek

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Re: My new amp
« Reply #122 on: February 06, 2014, 12:24:34 PM »
Yup  8)

I bit like the Kdac of vinyl  ;D

Offline springcreek

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Re: My new amp
« Reply #123 on: February 06, 2014, 12:25:41 PM »
The lack of richness and weight I have been trying to overcome in the Leak is now completely gone with a change in cabinets from thin walled no damping Shindo style to original Goodman's Sherwoods (thanks Steven, William and Paul) and the addition of the new phono stage. I also have all the quality bass I want for my room.

Still have plenty of tweaking to do as the Sherwoods have loads of damping material inside (3 layers on each surface) which seems to be overdamping them. Hopefully by reducing the damping material in stages I can figure out the right compromise for me. I really liked the Shindo style cabs for some things, as they sounded live and had great dynamic life and resolution. Though, combined with the Axiom 300s run full range, you certainly know it if you put on an average recording as there was NOWHERE to hide!
« Last Edit: February 06, 2014, 12:36:42 PM by springcreek »

Offline Jehuty

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Re: My new amp
« Reply #124 on: February 06, 2014, 01:59:06 PM »
Beautiful phono stage Andy! Duc certainly knows what he's doing, I really liked his system last time I was in Melbourne. Can't wait to have another listen to your system again!  ;D
Not all that matters can be measured, not all that can be measured matters.

Offline Jehuty

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Re: My new amp
« Reply #125 on: February 06, 2014, 02:04:13 PM »
So to answer your question, William - around 1H / probably 4H max at a guess should be good but keep DC R to 100R or less.

Zen, I am about to order a Hammond 157Q choke. Spec is 3.5 H, 150 ma, 98 Ohms, 400VDC. I know it's not an oil-filled choke but I found that my Leak Stereo 20 was a bit noisy so I'd like to address this issue with the choke. What do you reckon?

Thanks,
William
Not all that matters can be measured, not all that can be measured matters.

Offline gamve

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Re: My new amp
« Reply #126 on: February 06, 2014, 02:56:48 PM »
Something new turned up in the post yesterday

It's beautiful. Still running in but sounds brilliant.

Happy camper  ;D ;D ;D

Looks nice Andy. What valves does it run? What Does Duc charge for these?
Cheers
Graham

Offline springcreek

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Re: My new amp
« Reply #127 on: February 06, 2014, 04:14:05 PM »
Hi Graham

Yes I went with my heart mate, it is a wonderful phono stage. Duc builds them with 2 x 6GC7, 2 x 12AT7 tubes and a GZ34. All valves were NOS and a great bunch of parts. There is more info on the Golden Age Audio site. Steve M bought one and loves it.

I do have some noise I need to address, but quite a bit of that comes from the Leak.

Duc charges $2850 for them, great value when you look at the quality of the build and the sound. Duc has put it up very favourably with some very big names including FM Acoustics, Shindo, RCM, etc.

Andy R's phono would have been nice but I really wanted an all analog system full of very nice NOS valves.

Cheers

Offline springcreek

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Re: My new amp
« Reply #128 on: February 06, 2014, 06:37:41 PM »
Hi William

You would love it mate! Looking forward to getting you back for a listen.

Let me know how you go with the choke, O need to drop the noise!

Cheers, Andy

Offline ozmillsy

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Re: My new amp
« Reply #129 on: February 06, 2014, 07:00:26 PM »
Nice phono Andy !!
It's all about the music,, not the equipment.

Offline springcreek

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Re: My new amp
« Reply #130 on: February 06, 2014, 07:24:32 PM »
Thanks Andrew  ;D

Hope you can come and have a listen

Offline hedalfa

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Re: My new amp
« Reply #131 on: February 06, 2014, 07:33:39 PM »
The lack of richness and weight I have been trying to overcome in the Leak is now completely gone with a change in cabinets from thin walled no damping Shindo style to original Goodman's Sherwoods (thanks Steven, William and Paul) and the addition of the new phono stage. I also have all the quality bass I want for my room.

Still have plenty of tweaking to do as the Sherwoods have loads of damping material inside (3 layers on each surface) which seems to be overdamping them. Hopefully by reducing the damping material in stages I can figure out the right compromise for me. I really liked the Shindo style cabs for some things, as they sounded live and had great dynamic life and resolution. Though, combined with the Axiom 300s run full range, you certainly know it if you put on an average recording as there was NOWHERE to hide!


Massive improvement for the better with the Sherwoods. 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 

Offline ozmillsy

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Re: My new amp
« Reply #132 on: February 06, 2014, 10:31:00 PM »
Hope you can come and have a listen
I'd love to Andy.     
It's all about the music,, not the equipment.

Offline Jehuty

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Re: My new amp
« Reply #133 on: February 06, 2014, 11:03:19 PM »
Hi William

You would love it mate! Looking forward to getting you back for a listen.

Let me know how you go with the choke, O need to drop the noise!

Cheers, Andy

Can't wait to go back! Will report once I get the choke and install it. Hope it helps to lower the noise. Looks like I'm going down to the Freak Leak way!  ;D
Not all that matters can be measured, not all that can be measured matters.

Offline stevenvalve

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Re: My new amp
« Reply #134 on: February 16, 2014, 01:58:57 AM »
Funny how things happen sometimes. A leak stereo 20 has just been offered to me at the right price, and attached is a mint leak preamp, how can I refuse another leak. What do I do with 2 leak stereo 20s, well what if I fill it full of toys, and then change it to run triode, half the power but it may sound incredible.
« Last Edit: February 16, 2014, 02:08:55 AM by stevenvalve »

Offline ozmillsy

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Re: My new amp
« Reply #135 on: February 16, 2014, 04:38:54 PM »
It sure would be interesting to hear them side by side, 1 in triode mode, the other not.

Maybe for the May GTG ?
It's all about the music,, not the equipment.

Offline springcreek

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Re: My new amp
« Reply #136 on: February 16, 2014, 09:50:41 PM »
Do it, bring it to the GTG  8)

I would love to how it sounds. The guy I got my Leak from in the UK deals in Leaks and Quads ESLs and converts stereo 20s to triode to drive 57 Quads...said it is a major improvement.  ;D

Offline springcreek

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Re: My new amp
« Reply #137 on: April 02, 2014, 08:44:07 AM »
The Leak gets sent off to Paul B this week to see if he can sort out the hum issue. Steven and Rawl have no hum in their Leaks, noting the difference in speaker sensitivity. Combined with the mild hum from the valve phono and high sensitivity speakers it is rather distracting. Will get Paul to stick in the rest of the ABs and Shinkohs while he is at it and remove the last few electrolytics and whack in some Eichmann RCA sockets.

Rawl currently has my Axiom II passive to add in the 2W Shinkoh's, reconfigure the circuit slightly, whack in some better wire and put on two sets of WBT RCA sockets.

Looking forward to getting them back!

Also got some nice vintage PIO caps (thanks D) so I can try out the compression horns...will see if I like them better than just the single FR driver.

 ;D

Offline Jehuty

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Re: My new amp
« Reply #138 on: April 02, 2014, 09:07:02 AM »
Nice, will it be ready for the Leak wars?  ;D

Meh..I"m not concerned about it. As long as I can get it to sound as good as Steve's I'll be happy  :)
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Offline springcreek

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Re: My new amp
« Reply #139 on: April 02, 2014, 11:07:06 AM »
Yep me too, that is my aim