The diyAudio First Watt M2x

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JSA1971

JSA1971

Member
Joined 2016
Paid Member
Mark Johnson said:
Or maybe people will bolt them in and give them a listen with no appeal to authority. Time will tell.
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Aside from the fun and satisfaction that goes into building the project, the only person that can decide if they like what they hear, or “if it sounds good” is the person listening to it. I built my Aleph J based on the suggestion of 6L6, Dennis Hui, and the opinions I read about the amp. I absolutely love it! It was a tremendous step up from the amp that I was using. It could have gone the other way and might not have found that it sounded good to me or with my speakers etc. It’s always reassuring to get the opinions of others seeing as the expense of the project can be quite a bit for some, me included. I fully intend to build the jfet version of it first because I’d like to hear the amp that Nelson designed. But, I’m also going to build the other inputs at some point so I can decide for myself. That’s part of the fun of it all.
 
B

Blk Dynamite

Member
Joined 2016
JSA1971 said:
Aside from the fun and satisfaction that goes into building the project, the only person that can decide if they like what they hear, or “if it sounds good” is the person listening to it. I built my Aleph J based on the suggestion of 6L6, Dennis Hui, and the opinions I read about the amp. I absolutely love it! It was a tremendous step up from the amp that I was using. It could have gone the other way and might not have found that it sounded good to me or with my speakers etc. It’s always reassuring to get the opinions of others seeing as the expense of the project can be quite a bit for some, me included. I fully intend to build the jfet version of it first because I’d like to hear the amp that Nelson designed. But, I’m also going to build the other inputs at some point so I can decide for myself. That’s part of the fun of it all.
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That's exactly how I came to build an Aleph J. I keep wavering on which one I want to build first but will probably build the "standard version" and let that sound soak in so to speak before I build out different boards. The more I read about the M2, the more I think the edcor is the dominating factor in sound and the daughter boards will have very subtle effects on the sound thus making the M2x a future proof build that will get you 95-98% to the original sound via the daughter boards. I also think this may have to do w the PSRR but then again I'm a complete noob and probably have no idea what I'm talking about.
 
Mark Johnson

Mark Johnson

Member
Joined 2011
Paid Member
M2x buyers: please open your parcel and check the contents! Please verify that you received both a Channel A main board and a Channel B main board. Remove and discard the rubber bands holding the main boards together; the rubber can harden and stick to the FR4 boards. Please also verify that you received a total of ten daughter boards, 2 copies each of 5 different PCB designs.

Thank you!
 
Nelson Pass

Nelson Pass

The one and only
Joined 2001
Paid Member
Mark Johnson said:
I would wager a case of french champagne (or W. Hansel Pinot Noir) that
Nelson Pass did not prototype, evaluate, or listen to ANY M2 input stage
that included integrated circuits, bipolar transistors, or surface mounted
capacitors.
Click to expand...

That would be like imagining that Picasso should have tried Krylon or
Tester's enamel.

To the point, the original listening simply took the output of one of our
preamps to drive the transformer without the buffer, and the work went
into selection of the transformer. The Toshiba buffer was no-brainer as
it was very neutral in character.

There was quite a bit of discussion about the transformer. I personally
favored the nickel alloy units, but there were listener who liked the
steel as found in the Edcor. In the end, I went that way, and thus
gained the favor of ZM.

:p
 
G

GOR3

Member
Joined 2011
Nelson Pass said:
That would be like imagining that Picasso should have tried Krylon or
Tester's enamel.
Click to expand...


Which would make it Jackson Pollock
icon12.gif
 
W

wcwc

Member
Joined 2011
So I have the amp boards, now I need to get a chassis. I would prefer to get a 3U over a 4U chassis. I can go to a 400mm depth unit for the heat sink capacity. The 3U 300 has the same surface area as the 3U 400. I was planning to use the standard PSU board from the DIYAudiostore.
 
Mark Johnson

Mark Johnson

Member
Joined 2011
Paid Member
6L6 asked me "Do you have ANY M2x PCBoard sets remaining??" Yes a few. "Then sell them you dunce! Make them available to other hobbyists!"

I have decided to follow this advice, and so I am offering A FEW full and complete M2x board sets. Each set consists of 2 main amplifier channel boards, plus 2 boards of each of 5 daughtercard designs: 2xIshikawa, 2xTucson, 2xMountainView, 2xNorwood, 2xAustin. A grand total of 12 PCBoards.

Same price as before: $40/domestic, $50/international (includes shipping). If you're ready to buy, send me a PM for Paypal details.

I'll let everyone know if/when I've sold out.

It might be preferable to buy now, rather than wait for the diyAudio Store to ramp up a stock of M2x boards. Occasionally the Store's stocking delays have been frustratingly longer than we would prefer.

In case you are tempted to inquire: No, I won't split up these last few boardsets and sell individual PCBs piecemeal. Maybe the diyAudio store will do that (?) after they've made a volume build.
 
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