Hi,
Are you measuring the correct current? - If you are using the Placid for the Buffalo supply, 65mA looks like the shunt current. If you are using the Pladid check that you are measuring the voltage drop across the correct resistor. I have Tridents installed so I can't comment directly on the standard install but 290mA would seem about right given that after adding the Trident shunts the draw is around 500mA.
Regards
I just put a 0.5 ohm resistor and measured the drop. I have a linear regulator now.
D.
Out of curiosity: what is the rationale behind, and benefit of, two Buffalo's for one Legato?
I thought that the current swing of the Buffalo was rather high and might actually have considered the opposite configuration (two Legatos for one Buffalo).
Cheers,
Nic
I was referring to Nikon1975's configuration with two Buffalo's and one Legato.
Low overhead tridents for Buffalo II
I was fortunate to order a set of the fast-selling tridents offered last week and they came today. My chassis restricts overhead space so I managed a low-overhead installation by using straight header pins - after taking a little bit of liberty on the board corners using a Dremel.
The top of C11 is insulated using electrical tape because the VDD_XO board plugs into place and can drop to contact the top of the cap.
Early concerns surround Placid temperatures. Mods for the hotter of the two heatsinks have temps down to about 150F (~65C) while supplying ~440ma. What sort of minimum stable shunt current do you guys suggest?
One power supply alternative for my rig is to use half of an LCDPS on the B2 and move the Placid to supply analog voltage for 4 Opus boards. However, I'm guessing that 4X Opus VA wouldn't be that different from the ~400ma demanded by B2/trident...
Initially, Trident performance was inferior to the performance of the well-used onboard regulated supplies. But fear not, several hours of use are obviously reversing that situation. I'll give the tridents many more hours before commenting on the specific improvements from this 'last drop of hi-fi juice'. I look forward to others' specific observations as well.
Cheers,
Frank
PS, is there a better thread for posts about Tridents?
I was fortunate to order a set of the fast-selling tridents offered last week and they came today. My chassis restricts overhead space so I managed a low-overhead installation by using straight header pins - after taking a little bit of liberty on the board corners using a Dremel.
The top of C11 is insulated using electrical tape because the VDD_XO board plugs into place and can drop to contact the top of the cap. Early concerns surround Placid temperatures. Mods for the hotter of the two heatsinks have temps down to about 150F (~65C) while supplying ~440ma. What sort of minimum stable shunt current do you guys suggest?
One power supply alternative for my rig is to use half of an LCDPS on the B2 and move the Placid to supply analog voltage for 4 Opus boards. However, I'm guessing that 4X Opus VA wouldn't be that different from the ~400ma demanded by B2/trident...
Initially, Trident performance was inferior to the performance of the well-used onboard regulated supplies. But fear not, several hours of use are obviously reversing that situation. I'll give the tridents many more hours before commenting on the specific improvements from this 'last drop of hi-fi juice'.
I look forward to others' specific observations as well.Cheers,
Frank
PS, is there a better thread for posts about Tridents?
Attachments
Last edited:
My new Tridents
Having now burned-in and thoroughly auditioned the tridents in my Legato-fed all-balanced system, I can offer some opinions on just what changes to look for if you add tridents to your BuffaloII. Overall, they will increase the coherence of your output signal. This is a rather imprecise description so let me describe the two main changes I experienced.
The first is within the realm of the 'up-front' sound - the main musical program. Midrange and mid-treble registers play brighter and with increased dynamics. There seems to be more energy packed into the mid-treble output. Compared to the stock buffalo2 with a Placid but no tridents, I found there was more potential for listening fatigue at the volumes I was accustomed to, so I investigated. The greater coherence of the sound makes it trickier to manage acoustically. For example between my midranges is a moderately large plasma display on an articulating wall mount. I found that reflections off of the glass surface of the display became *much* more obvious (and objectionable) upon increasing the dynamics and coherence with the tridents. I eventually found a screen position that minimized this, but also observed that details of speaker placement, off axis performance, baffle effects, even plus or minus grille cloth all became more critical with the increased signal coherence. Some previously enjoyable recordings simply had to be turned down. Other music gained brilliance: plucked acoustic instruments, for example, sound incredible. [Tridents hooked me on a flamenco 'fusion' group from Barcelona named "Chambao".] Overall, tridents produced brighter, more energetic, trickier sound. Probably I should now re-design my midrange cabinets.
The second main effect I noticed is far more engrossing! The increased coherence means that very minor components of recordings are less 'smeared' and can more easily be transduced and sensed. Tridents make the subtle sonic ambiance of a recording session much more obvious. I don't really associate this with 'sound stage', which I consider to be more a quality of the main musical program. Rather, I'm talking about high fidelity reproduction of ordinary background sound. When background sound (however subtle) is well reproduced, the whole recording site gains dimension and the effect is that the pinpoint location of any particular instrument or sound seems LESS precise - almost the opposite of clear 'staging'. But the fabulous thing is that at the same time, your speakers seem to disappear. Whatever you want to call that effect, it happens big time with tridents! Wall of sound... The sensation when in the next room that there's a live performance next door... The ability to hear the many individual voices of a choir or horn section... The subtle stuff has now reached a new level of reproduction and the overall effect can transform the listening experience*.
In my system, these two changes are the direct result of TPA's "Trident hifi juice".
Very best of musical enjoyment to you all,
Frank
* BTW, both of these main 'coherence' effects are similar to those I experienced from the "EnABL" driver tweaks I tried earlier this winter.
Having now burned-in and thoroughly auditioned the tridents in my Legato-fed all-balanced system, I can offer some opinions on just what changes to look for if you add tridents to your BuffaloII. Overall, they will increase the coherence of your output signal. This is a rather imprecise description so let me describe the two main changes I experienced.
The first is within the realm of the 'up-front' sound - the main musical program. Midrange and mid-treble registers play brighter and with increased dynamics. There seems to be more energy packed into the mid-treble output. Compared to the stock buffalo2 with a Placid but no tridents, I found there was more potential for listening fatigue at the volumes I was accustomed to, so I investigated. The greater coherence of the sound makes it trickier to manage acoustically. For example between my midranges is a moderately large plasma display on an articulating wall mount. I found that reflections off of the glass surface of the display became *much* more obvious (and objectionable) upon increasing the dynamics and coherence with the tridents. I eventually found a screen position that minimized this, but also observed that details of speaker placement, off axis performance, baffle effects, even plus or minus grille cloth all became more critical with the increased signal coherence. Some previously enjoyable recordings simply had to be turned down. Other music gained brilliance: plucked acoustic instruments, for example, sound incredible. [Tridents hooked me on a flamenco 'fusion' group from Barcelona named "Chambao".] Overall, tridents produced brighter, more energetic, trickier sound. Probably I should now re-design my midrange cabinets.
The second main effect I noticed is far more engrossing! The increased coherence means that very minor components of recordings are less 'smeared' and can more easily be transduced and sensed. Tridents make the subtle sonic ambiance of a recording session much more obvious. I don't really associate this with 'sound stage', which I consider to be more a quality of the main musical program. Rather, I'm talking about high fidelity reproduction of ordinary background sound. When background sound (however subtle) is well reproduced, the whole recording site gains dimension and the effect is that the pinpoint location of any particular instrument or sound seems LESS precise - almost the opposite of clear 'staging'. But the fabulous thing is that at the same time, your speakers seem to disappear. Whatever you want to call that effect, it happens big time with tridents! Wall of sound... The sensation when in the next room that there's a live performance next door... The ability to hear the many individual voices of a choir or horn section... The subtle stuff has now reached a new level of reproduction and the overall effect can transform the listening experience*.
In my system, these two changes are the direct result of TPA's "Trident hifi juice".
Very best of musical enjoyment to you all,
Frank
* BTW, both of these main 'coherence' effects are similar to those I experienced from the "EnABL" driver tweaks I tried earlier this winter.
For troubleshooting 'coherence'-induced problems, one of my reference tracks is the Allegro from Bach's Concerto for 2 harpsichords, oboe, strings and continuo. [Track 11 - https://www.hdtracks.com/index.php?file=catalogdetail&valbum_code=HD00028947419921 (88kHz, 24 bit)] When I can finally crank this up as I could before the tridents, Nirvana! I also recall the new Buffalo II board improved for quite a while. With seventy hours now on the tridents they seem pretty stable...
Cheers!
Frank
Power in trident-induced signal coherence
The new tridents in my system were causing low-treble fatigue (centered @ ~4500 Hz) and I discovered ~90% of the problem. The added energy in the output signal was causing the surface of my midrange domes to break up and support radial surface distortion. This is strong evidence for the fundamental power involved in Tridents' sound enhancement because the drivers sounded absolutely clean before Tridents were added to the B2.
The solution to this problem: The JBL LE8T-H domes are 2" in diameter. I previously tamed them for the stock B2 using interference rings A and B, plus the center treatment (D). Today I added interference ring C to the 1.6 cm gap between A and B and almost all of the objectionable treble is gone. I'll listen for a while before deciding what to do out on the paper cone - if anything. The great thing about these ring interference patterns is that they don't need to be perfectly drawn and they don't hurt the sound if they are placed somewhere that didn't really need them. In this case, the new ring (C) was very helpful.
Bottom line: Tridents are not a minor tweak!
Cheers,
Frank
The new tridents in my system were causing low-treble fatigue (centered @ ~4500 Hz) and I discovered ~90% of the problem. The added energy in the output signal was causing the surface of my midrange domes to break up and support radial surface distortion. This is strong evidence for the fundamental power involved in Tridents' sound enhancement because the drivers sounded absolutely clean before Tridents were added to the B2.
The solution to this problem: The JBL LE8T-H domes are 2" in diameter. I previously tamed them for the stock B2 using interference rings A and B, plus the center treatment (D). Today I added interference ring C to the 1.6 cm gap between A and B and almost all of the objectionable treble is gone. I'll listen for a while before deciding what to do out on the paper cone - if anything. The great thing about these ring interference patterns is that they don't need to be perfectly drawn and they don't hurt the sound if they are placed somewhere that didn't really need them. In this case, the new ring (C) was very helpful.
Bottom line: Tridents are not a minor tweak!
Cheers,
Frank
Attachments
Bump, any input on this ? I thought it was a simple problem, but I can find any solution.
D.
Your question is a little like deciding which TV looks better watching an ad for TVs on your TV. There are lots of digital waveform generators. I use Wavebox If you can find one that will output a true 32 bit digital stream and have a method to get that into the Buffalo II that will be your highest resolution source. The HiFace is limited to 24 bits, but even a true 24 bit digitally generated sine wave at 192 KHz will exceed the purity of any analog source you are likely to have access to. Choose test frequencies that are an exact multiple of the sample rate. It will reveal the limits of the analog I to V and output stage not to mention A to D or analog test measurement equipment.
- Status
- This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.