Aleph 5 ... too flat

[Jaskier]

Hi everyone,

I have just finished my Aleph 5 monoblocks. It seem to be ok but comparing to my Musical Fidelity MA65 Aleph's sounstage is flat. Not much of details and musicality. Better bass but this is not the most important for me.

Does any one have the idea how to solve this problem. Will appreciate any help.

Piotr

 

[MikeW]

Are you running it balanced?

 

[Jaskier]

no ... unbalanced so far. The pre is Balanced Line Stage but allso in unbalanced mode. But Musical Fidelity is allso unbalanced and it has got much mor space and air. I wonder if i should judge in 1st week of amp's life. Meaby it needs some time to "break in"

 

[Duck-Twacy]

Hi everyone,

I have just finished my Aleph 5 monoblocks.
..
Piotr

And where are the pics???

Btw some info on the speakers used may be important, are they a "difficult load".

 

[B.L.]

My Aleph 3 (but with +/-34V rails R120-R123: 1ohm) sounds flat also. Despite of that it is most beautyfull sounding amp I ever heard.
I have compared it with Gainclone and SET amp. No preamp.

 

[Jaskier]

u like it ? ... it's just before painting ...

 

[MikeW]

Did you ground the balanced minus input?

 

[Jaskier]

no picture ? let's try again ...
yes i did ground the balanced -

 

[Nelson Pass]

Meaby it needs some time to "break in"

The break in experience is very commonly reported, although
I suspect that it's often the user's ears that are breaking in,
not the equipment .

 

[stefanobilliani]

The break in experience is very commonly reported, although
I suspect that it's often the user's ears that are breaking in,
not the equipment .

I agree , 100%.

 

[tortello]

Me too.

 

[jarek]

From XA200 manual:

“Depending on the resolution of the rest of your audio chain, you may or may not notice any break in of the XA-200 beyond the first 50 hours of operation.”

????

 

[rwagter]

excactly,

break in peroid for your ears and brain to get accustomed to the new "improved"sound

 

[jleaman]

Yeah i want to see Pictures.. Start posting..

 

[Duck-Twacy]

I see pics now (nice)

Still I don't understand. I allways read that the strength of Alephs is the soundstage en musicality and not the bass (at least with lower impedance speakers and low bias). Sometimes they say that the sound a bit sweet.
Here it seems the other way round?

 

[Jaskier]

Ok here is what i do to solve my problems:

1. I will have even more perfectly mached fets IRF 240
2. I wil place output fets as close as possible to the PCP on a good qality OFC cables
3. I will change 0.47R resistors for better ones
4. I will paint the chasis ... this will improove most

and of course as soon as I have pisitive results I will post it

P.S. I found out when dimounting PCB that one if 1 ohm resistors in current source is not soldered properly ... grrrr :-( meaby this was the main reason ? Anyway thaks for interest and advise

P.S. The chasis is outstanding not only "nice" ;-)

 

[Duck-Twacy]

Did you use a blue led??

(need more pics in order to decide wether its "outstanding" )

 

[Wes Marquenie]

did you bypass the elco's with a small cap?

 

[MikeW]

If you don't have the minus input grounded there is only 20db of gain. If you ground it you have 26db. It makes the amps sound brighter.

 

[Jaskier]

Yes ... blue led ... this will solve my problems !!!

> I will bypass elcos in power supply wit 10 uF poly
> I will bypas 220 uF elcos with ... ?? 10 uF poly or should I give less ?
> Chasis is painted now ... but i guess you don't wanna see it
> Still have some problems with 120 hz hum ... i want to place a resistor before last 10 000 uF cum but i am not sure about value. What do you suggest ... 0.33 ohm will do ?