Raka said:Fedde,
Interesting your comments about the fickleness of your GC, (Then you have to assume that your GC is female) Were the changes noticed with the very same recordings?
Which improvements were the good, the bad and the ugly? I'll soon report the effect of solid core pure cooper wiring, as I expect to success here.
I had many oscillation problems. Then sometimes the sound is superb (especially during night) and sometimes somewhat unpleasant and tiring. Even my DAC has had oscillation problems, don't know why. I think I use proper decoupling. Sometimes the DAC sounds bad (tiring) and then I turn it on and off and it sound very good.
Regarding improvements: I have written quite some posts on Diyaudio and the amp discussion forum. I still plan to make a follow up on the Thor-amp page, but I am waiting to have solved all problems. Two changes I recently made were changing the feedback to 330 k (and also the resistor on the + input to 330 k) and connecting the resistor on the + input with a 'private' wire to the potmeter ground. Going to 330 k solved quite some problems for me (increase stability, especially on loud volumes). But the amp is not fully quiet now, with 220 k it was! (maybe, there is a new problem, I also changed some other things). Peter Daniel said that the stereo placing got worse when using 300 k. Maybe he's right, the problem is that it's quite some work to change the feedback resistor. Peter can just build two amps and compare...
And I would try single CAT5 cables, untwisted as speaker cable. And preferabbly the plenum rated teflon variant, which I can not find here in the Netherlands.
This should be close to the 47 Labs OFC cable...
Fedde
fedde said:
Peter can just build two amps and compare...
I built two amps and compared. One had 250K the other 300k feedback resistor. 300k was more pleasing on vocal and the DC offset was less, but overall the sonics are more "right" with 250k, which although seems to be little bit more forward, provides more spatial information and more natural sound.
All this combined with Cardas chassis wire which gives a bit more extra of the above. With my current setup MSRE860 diodes are definitely not good choice as they are too bright. I'm changing the diodes in all supplies to MSR860 and wire from Kimber to Cardas.
Although it seemed to be OK, using MSR860 with Kimber umbilical cord.
Peter Daniel said:Here are two supplies, one with Kimber, one with Cardas. I actually have quite a few of those replaced Kimber umbilicals (terminated, with matching amp sockets). If anybody's interested we might talk a deal
You still didn't say what Kimber cable is that.
It seams to me like 8VS speaker cable or something around that.
8TC is very good for power (and for speakers
), but is has a darker blue tone (well, the picture is not that clear).Plenty of people are using 8 TC speaker cable for power chords and with good results, like a friend of mine, which has replaced all the power chords of his system for 8TC and says it's fantastic.
Peter Daniel said:Black &blue is Kimber 4TC (8 strands) in my picture. As good as Kimber cable is, Cardas is simply better. Also, twice as expensive
4TC is exactly the cable I have in my main system for years, as speaker cable and I am a very happy owner indeed.
In your picture it seamed a lighter tone so I was thinking of the 4VS.
Anyway, 8TC has the double of the conductors and is also double the price.
And people say it's excellent as a power chord, but fiddly to put all those wires inside a plug.
Do you use the same cable for connecting the toroid to the mains?
Peter
Yes, the teflon insulation is plenty good. Or i don't tend to overworry since catless
Here, in the land of low electrical standards (and political correctness) the Kimber works great as PS cord. It may be a bit on the stiff side but sounds really great. If you still haven't tried the tantalum resistors from PC please do, i think they're real nice, even if magnetic. Surely beat the Rikens. cheers
peter
I personally have made power cords from both 4tc and 8tc,constructed just like the original Kimber PK Cords.The trick is to slide a suitably sized ground conductor right down the center of the weave.Kimber actually used stock 14ga stranded thnn,I know because I have a PK13 I took apart.Anyway the 4tc yields a 13ga cord,the 8tc a 9ga cord.
8tc
8TC.
Or even the new and cheap 8PR.
Buy 1 or 2 meters of 8TC and test it.
As for the insulation, Peter...
I have much more confidence on the Kimber isolation than 90% of the electrical cables that come standard with the devices.
I like to put the knife and feel a good resistance to it, other cables you touch it with the knife and you've cut all the cable.
I tell you, Peter, everybody who tested 8TC as a power chord say it's very good.
Oh, and it's an excellent speaker cable.
And to me, the power chord they sell is 8TC in other color.
Peter Daniel said:
8TC.
Or even the new and cheap 8PR.
Buy 1 or 2 meters of 8TC and test it.
As for the insulation, Peter...
I have much more confidence on the Kimber isolation than 90% of the electrical cables that come standard with the devices.
I like to put the knife and feel a good resistance to it, other cables you touch it with the knife and you've cut all the cable.
I tell you, Peter, everybody who tested 8TC as a power chord say it's very good.
Oh, and it's an excellent speaker cable.
And to me, the power chord they sell is 8TC in other color.
I've been working a lot with Kimber cable. I used it in amps and interconnects. Recently, I made my home brew silver streak interconnect (PBJ with one of the 3 strands replaced by Kimber silver wire). It is very good. My only concern regarding the insulation was that sometimes you can see through it, it's so thin.
One reason I preferred Kimber to Cardas, was user friendliness, as Cardas requires solder pot to terminate the ends. However, my recent experiments indicate, that as umbilical cord in GC, Cardas provides much more 3 dimentionality and depth comparing to Kimber. This was also opinion of some other people familiar with both the Kimber and Cardas interconnects.
One reason I preferred Kimber to Cardas, was user friendliness, as Cardas requires solder pot to terminate the ends. However, my recent experiments indicate, that as umbilical cord in GC, Cardas provides much more 3 dimentionality and depth comparing to Kimber. This was also opinion of some other people familiar with both the Kimber and Cardas interconnects.
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