Hello,
I'm a newbie and have been following this thread with much interest.
I have some questions for the experts.
Is there something to be gained sonically using two transformers instead of one?
About caps ichoice: PS: Black Gates are very expensive, Cerafines are hard to find, what about Jensens 4-pole?
How better AD8620 really is instead of the standard OPamp?
And last: this is going to be my first DIY project, how difficult is it really?
Thank you very much
PS: I mistakenly posted this in another thread, sorry
I'm a newbie and have been following this thread with much interest.
I have some questions for the experts.
Is there something to be gained sonically using two transformers instead of one?
About caps ichoice: PS: Black Gates are very expensive, Cerafines are hard to find, what about Jensens 4-pole?
How better AD8620 really is instead of the standard OPamp?
And last: this is going to be my first DIY project, how difficult is it really?
Thank you very much
PS: I mistakenly posted this in another thread, sorry
Hi,
"Can some happy UCD180 owner describe more in extense his amp's sound/performance, for us that have not the units yet??"
good question, perhaps they 'll be to busy, listening their favorite reccord on ucd's
and this has aready be done earlier in this thread but If some of them has owned single ended mosfet amps or pure classe A could they tell us if if the ucd is the ultimate solution ? (I'm looking for an amp to drive fe206s in BLH and i' dont know if i have to go to ucd180 or a 5 or 10 watts pure classe A with mos.
i've already tried an Aleph30 and i like the good definition and bass response at low volume levels, do you have this feeling with an ucd ?
I also need an amp to drive a 15" 15b100r and for this i'll go toUcd ! but perhaps an ucd700 would be better for 15" than an ucd400 ?
"Can some happy UCD180 owner describe more in extense his amp's sound/performance, for us that have not the units yet??"
good question, perhaps they 'll be to busy, listening their favorite reccord on ucd's
and this has aready be done earlier in this thread but If some of them has owned single ended mosfet amps or pure classe A could they tell us if if the ucd is the ultimate solution ? (I'm looking for an amp to drive fe206s in BLH and i' dont know if i have to go to ucd180 or a 5 or 10 watts pure classe A with mos.i've already tried an Aleph30 and i like the good definition and bass response at low volume levels, do you have this feeling with an ucd ?
I also need an amp to drive a 15" 15b100r and for this i'll go toUcd ! but perhaps an ucd700 would be better for 15" than an ucd400 ?
If you mean two transformers for two channels (=mono blocks), I find this does make a small (imho worthwhile) difference in "lateral resolution" of the stereo image.Betto said:
For the power supply caps, ordinary grade Elna LP5 are fine. My experience using black gate caps in the power circuit is not very good. Cerafines are fine for the medium sizes (470u 25V etc). Cerafines can be ordered from http://www.schuro.de/preisl-elna.htm
Don't be tempted to try out the Silmics. They s*ck (or st*nk if you will).
The AD8620 (plus J511 from out to -12) is the first IC op amp that I can listen to without wanting to go back to my discrete op amps straight away.
Hooking up a UcD module to a supply, preamp and speakers is about as simple as it gets. If you intend to make changes to the stock module it's a good idea to make sure you know what you're doing.
Hi Bruno, thank you very much.
I have one more question for you.
Regarding the reservoir caps, I have been told that, as a general rule, smaller values tend to sound better than bigger ones (ie, 4700uf better than 10000uf).
Would it be better to parallel 2x 3300uf or 2x 4700uf instead of using a single bigger cap?
I have one more question for you.
Regarding the reservoir caps, I have been told that, as a general rule, smaller values tend to sound better than bigger ones (ie, 4700uf better than 10000uf).
Would it be better to parallel 2x 3300uf or 2x 4700uf instead of using a single bigger cap?
It is certainly technically better to use smaller ones in parallel. This produces greatly reduced series impedance and improves ripple handling capability.Betto said:Hi Bruno, thank you very much.
I have one more question for you.
Regarding the reservoir caps, I have been told that, as a general rule, smaller values tend to sound better than bigger ones (ie, 4700uf better than 10000uf).
Would it be better to parallel 2x 3300uf or 2x 4700uf instead of using a single bigger cap?
Sonically there is no "rule" that says big caps sound intrinsically less good than smaller ones. What I do find is that that of a given brand/type, the smaller ones sound very different from the bigger ones. Small black gates are excellent, bigger ones aren't. Smaller Arcotronics don't sound too good, the big ones do. Etc.
Preventing hum problems
Hi!
I'm at the final stages of building a UcD400 and a second UcD180 amp.
The first one does produce some hum, when hooked to a grounded outlet. (pin-1 bridged to chassi lug)
I know hum problems have been discussed earlier, but I can't remember, whether the pin-1 on the Neutrik chassis connector, should be bridged to the small ground lug, or not.
I don't seem to be able to find it either, so I hope you don't mind me asking about this again.
The shield on the wire, I have only bridged between pin-1 and housing lug, on the primary side, i.e. connecting the shield to the chassis of the preamp.
At least, this is how I remember it from the earlier discussions. I hope this is correct.
Grateful for any help on this.
BR
Roland
Hi!
I'm at the final stages of building a UcD400 and a second UcD180 amp.
The first one does produce some hum, when hooked to a grounded outlet. (pin-1 bridged to chassi lug)
I know hum problems have been discussed earlier, but I can't remember, whether the pin-1 on the Neutrik chassis connector, should be bridged to the small ground lug, or not.
I don't seem to be able to find it either, so I hope you don't mind me asking about this again.
The shield on the wire, I have only bridged between pin-1 and housing lug, on the primary side, i.e. connecting the shield to the chassis of the preamp.
At least, this is how I remember it from the earlier discussions. I hope this is correct.
Grateful for any help on this.
BR
Roland
Re: Preventing hum problems
Where pin 1 goes (normally chassis, straight at the plug using the lug) is not so awfully important. More important is to make sure the connection to the source is made correctly. If you have an unbalanced source, pin 1 goes (via the cable shield) to the source's ground. Pin 3 is also tied to the source's ground through one of the two wires in the cable. Pin 2 goes to the signal through the other wire.
If the problem persists, could you give further details about the whole set-up?
paradigm said:
Where pin 1 goes (normally chassis, straight at the plug using the lug) is not so awfully important. More important is to make sure the connection to the source is made correctly. If you have an unbalanced source, pin 1 goes (via the cable shield) to the source's ground. Pin 3 is also tied to the source's ground through one of the two wires in the cable. Pin 2 goes to the signal through the other wire.
If the problem persists, could you give further details about the whole set-up?
Hi Bruno!
At the moment it's a mixed setup with some components unbalanced ( the pre-amp section of the H/K AVR5000).
From the CD-player I use optical SPDIF to to the balanced Behringer UltraCurve. From thera the signal is balanced, but converted to unbalanced as it enters the H/K and from there, the signal out is once again unbalanced, then the signal goes to the balanced Behringer UltraDrive (digital active X-over). The signal then goes balanced to the UcD180 and soon to some more UcD amps (Quadra-amping).
I know it's sub-optimal to swtch like this, but until I can find a reasonable priced, balanced multi-channel attenuator/preamp, I'm forced to try to do the best with what I've got.
BR
Roland
At the moment it's a mixed setup with some components unbalanced ( the pre-amp section of the H/K AVR5000).
From the CD-player I use optical SPDIF to to the balanced Behringer UltraCurve. From thera the signal is balanced, but converted to unbalanced as it enters the H/K and from there, the signal out is once again unbalanced, then the signal goes to the balanced Behringer UltraDrive (digital active X-over). The signal then goes balanced to the UcD180 and soon to some more UcD amps (Quadra-amping).
I know it's sub-optimal to swtch like this, but until I can find a reasonable priced, balanced multi-channel attenuator/preamp, I'm forced to try to do the best with what I've got.
BR
Roland
paradigm said:
Hi Roland,
Your solution is to replace everything between the CD player and the UcD with an DEQX PDC unit (www.deqx.com). I own one and I use it for my active 3-way speakers and I have it with the analog XLR output option. Sound is great in combination with the UcD modules. The DEQX has digital crossover that are phase-linear, it also corrects your drivers and if you want you can use EQ as well (personally I never use EQ). And sometime in the future you will have room correction as well, at least, that is what DQX promises
Best regards
Gertjan
ghemink said:
Hi Roland,
Your solution is to replace everything between the CD player and the UcD with an DEQX PDC unit (www.deqx.com). I own one and I use it for my active 3-way speakers and I have it with the analog XLR output option. Sound is great in combination with the UcD modules. The DEQX has digital crossover that are phase-linear, it also corrects your drivers and if you want you can use EQ as well (personally I never use EQ). And sometime in the future you will have room correction as well, at least, that is what DQX promises
Best regards
Gertjan
I suspect his problem will be that the DEQX supports too few channels and costs almost 5 times what the DCX/DEQ setup does. The same problem I have actually otherwise I would already have one...
In a day or two I will have to do some serious re-wiring at the back of my (heavy) rack anyway, when the UcD modules arrive and I think I will wait for that, to check out your suggestions, to see if they can make any difference.
But regardless, I would appreciate if you could tell me if I schould bridge the (balanced) pin-1 to the chassi-lug, or not on the amp. What would you prefer?
I would like to have the amps as ready as possible when the modules arrive, in order to be able to hook them up as soon as humanly possible, if you know what I mean.
BR
Roland
But regardless, I would appreciate if you could tell me if I schould bridge the (balanced) pin-1 to the chassi-lug, or not on the amp. What would you prefer?
I would like to have the amps as ready as possible when the modules arrive, in order to be able to hook them up as soon as humanly possible, if you know what I mean.
BR
Roland
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