that was just an uninformed guess on my part. another mishap on me (->
well i didn't do any direct comparison with c15 alone but it's the only cap i changed this time to a different value, other one being c14 that i swapped from kmg to nichicon for same numbers.
rest of my mods today have been replacing bypass caps and resistors.
c9 i have silmic ii 220uf 36v and yes, bg has been ordered along with mundorf smoothing caps
obviously resolution drops with c21 out but prat seems to improve, and the music is more coherent as whole. with c21 in place the detail can be overwhelming at times but the rhythm lost in the translation. both are beautiful to listen to in their own lights. debating on whether to go back or not... does wima need burn in time? how do they adjust in myref?
well i didn't do any direct comparison with c15 alone but it's the only cap i changed this time to a different value, other one being c14 that i swapped from kmg to nichicon for same numbers.
rest of my mods today have been replacing bypass caps and resistors.
c9 i have silmic ii 220uf 36v and yes, bg has been ordered along with mundorf smoothing caps
obviously resolution drops with c21 out but prat seems to improve, and the music is more coherent as whole. with c21 in place the detail can be overwhelming at times but the rhythm lost in the translation. both are beautiful to listen to in their own lights. debating on whether to go back or not... does wima need burn in time? how do they adjust in myref?
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Just a note of encouragement and appreciation.
This past weekend I spent several hours at a friends house listening to a Cary $5,000 tube amp. All I can say is there was definitely NOT $4,850 worth of difference between it and the MyRef-C. The Cary had beautiful separation, detail and a wide stage through a pair of floor standing ProAc speakers, but didn't have the depth of the MyRefs in my system. So I feel even better about what's happening here on the threads and truly feel this is one exceptional amp.
I have some of the new mods on order (will finish when Daryl and PreSapian stop playing aeound) and will be able to make an A/B comparison with the Cary soon,
Again, Thanks All.
(P.S. John kicked me out of his house when I told him all the music he played was probably produced with ProTools without the help of any tubes.)
This past weekend I spent several hours at a friends house listening to a Cary $5,000 tube amp. All I can say is there was definitely NOT $4,850 worth of difference between it and the MyRef-C. The Cary had beautiful separation, detail and a wide stage through a pair of floor standing ProAc speakers, but didn't have the depth of the MyRefs in my system. So I feel even better about what's happening here on the threads and truly feel this is one exceptional amp.
I have some of the new mods on order (will finish when Daryl and PreSapian stop playing aeound
) and will be able to make an A/B comparison with the Cary soon,Again, Thanks All.
(P.S. John kicked me out of his house when I told him all the music he played was probably produced with ProTools without the help of any tubes.
)
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lol were you listening to electronica by any chance? cuz that's all i play through my homebrew joyrig (read: life affection) and only with mp3s and streams no less. granted they sound better through tubes as is everything but this myref is a game changer for sure!
Clave, c21 stays back in. i just can't get enough this unreal level of ambiance. bravo! i'll see you back when my mundorfs arrive. >
one more thing, somewhere during upgrading i lost image outlining as everything became fuzzy and diffused. i'm trying out 47ohm vishay wirewound in r42. could this be the culprit? it's but a placeholder till i find some rikens
Clave, c21 stays back in. i just can't get enough this unreal level of ambiance. bravo! i'll see you back when my mundorfs arrive. >
one more thing, somewhere during upgrading i lost image outlining as everything became fuzzy and diffused. i'm trying out 47ohm vishay wirewound in r42. could this be the culprit? it's but a placeholder till i find some rikens
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Clave, c21 stays back in. i just can't get enough this unreal level of ambiance. bravo! i'll see you back when my mundorfs arrive. >
R42 is directly in the feedback path... it's possible.
In fact for R12 and R7 a simple good quality carbon film remove most of the residual harshness...
NB
Don't buy anything costly for R42 (a simple carbon film will do fine), possibly in a near future it will be no more necessary...
For R42, any non-inductive resistor, either CFR or MFR will work. It doesn't have to be exactly 47R, either, just the same in both channels. You probably don't want to use a wirewound (inductive) or anything too expensive there, any stock CFR/MFR with non-magnetic leads should be fine there.
quick update: removing both c4 and c21 opens up the sound stage like there's no tomorrow
I think you're confusing soundstage with something else - maybe timbre or closed-loop bandwidth or something else.
C4 is essential for HF stability of the chipamp, as well as crossover sonics. Without it, I'm certain that the audible sonics at low output levels will be muddied and incoherent, apart from ringing artifacts on transients at any output level. Removing it might seem to extend the highs, but it will come at the cost of stability.
However, there is scope for experimenting with the value and type of C4. AFAIK, nobody has tried anything smaller than 47nF (which works OK). If you get a chance to try 10n, 22n, 33n, 39n or similar in different types (FKP, FKS, Silver-Mica, C0G, Styroflex, FKC, MKI, ...), please go ahead and audition them and report your findings.
fkp2 22nf works better for c4 than mkp4 100nf. fkp2 has a nice polish effect that seem to work well anywhere in the circuit, even in c7 against mkp2, but here the bass gets faded and prat a bit sluggish. however, i still like c4 omitted better. could somebody indulge me with your expert opinion by trying this out and tell me what the apparent effect is? who knows, you might enjoy it, too
Thanks, sounds useful. As a music major in '63 at CMU I missed that one, I was concerned cause all I could find online was
- www.freedictionary -
Noun1.
Back to business - new Mundorf (C3 - C8) caps on hand and looking forward to audition,
- www.freedictionary -
Noun1.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
prat - the fleshy part of the human body that you sit on; 
Back to business - new Mundorf (C3 - C8) caps on hand and looking forward to audition,
After many trials and tribulations with building this amp, i tried to fire it up to see if it was working but alas, it doesn't seem to power up. I triple checked PGND, AC1 and AC2 connections - the solder joints are fine. The transformer wiring should be correct too, i believe. I'm on 240v.
Transformer wiring to IEC: RED-> Live, Black-> Neutral, Blue -> not connected and taped up.
Transformer wiring to pcb: 0 Black(AC1) ---- 24V-0V (PGND) ----24V(AC2)
0 [Black] (AC1) --- 24v - 0v [Green+Black twisted pair] (PGND) ---- 24V [Green] (AC2)
The 3886 chip is properly isolated from the mounting metal plate and the heatsink. RCA Input is shorted.
Relay doesn't click and LED doesn't light up. Any other areas i should be checking? I really, really appreciate any help i can get. Thanks in advance to everyone!
Transformer wiring to IEC: RED-> Live, Black-> Neutral, Blue -> not connected and taped up.
Transformer wiring to pcb: 0 Black(AC1) ---- 24V-0V (PGND) ----24V(AC2)
0 [Black] (AC1) --- 24v - 0v [Green+Black twisted pair] (PGND) ---- 24V [Green] (AC2)
The 3886 chip is properly isolated from the mounting metal plate and the heatsink. RCA Input is shorted.
Relay doesn't click and LED doesn't light up. Any other areas i should be checking? I really, really appreciate any help i can get. Thanks in advance to everyone!
With a multimeter set to measure AC volts, check if you are
getting the proper voltage at the output of the transformer.
If you have a LM3886T (and not the TF version), you will
need to insulate it from the heatsink with a mica or similar insulator pad.
Also, those naked leads on the capacitors, and the long connecting
wires is asking for trouble.
getting the proper voltage at the output of the transformer.
If you have a LM3886T (and not the TF version), you will
need to insulate it from the heatsink with a mica or similar insulator pad.
Also, those naked leads on the capacitors, and the long connecting
wires is asking for trouble.
cerspepn - Welcome to my world!
I have one red v1.2 build with the same problem. Replaced almost every thing on the board and just last week put in a new relay and LM318 chip. As I remember madisonears had the same bug on one of his. I hope there is an answer. It hasn't been reported here - but I'm beginning to believe there was a quality control problem with at least one run of the red boards. I sincerely hope that is not your case.I'll be watching and hoping for a fix along with you. All other builds, V1.2 and V 1.3, are working great.
Did you buy/build a second amp yet?
I have one red v1.2 build with the same problem. Replaced almost every thing on the board and just last week put in a new relay and LM318 chip. As I remember madisonears had the same bug on one of his. I hope there is an answer. It hasn't been reported here - but I'm beginning to believe there was a quality control problem with at least one run of the red boards. I sincerely hope that is not your case.I'll be watching and hoping for a fix along with you. All other builds, V1.2 and V 1.3, are working great.
Did you buy/build a second amp yet?
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returning to my previous ramblings, i find that c7 affects the sound more than a negligible amount. compared to mkp4 100nf which i also find to be the best choice, fkp2 22nf exhibits better timbre, but bass suffers. similar case with fkp2 10nf but here also, dynamics get restricted further. mpk4 has a metal tinge to the sound next to fkp2 which has a spot on texture and timbre.
so now i'm on the lookout for some pio bypass caps
so now i'm on the lookout for some pio bypass caps