My "audiophile" LM3886 approach

[soongsc]

I know about the X and Y caps, I just find it interesting that you will lose 10% capacitance in only 1000hrs. I certainly hope that is not typical. If this happens through out life, no capacitance is left after 10000hrs.

[AndrewT]

Read !!!!
The worse the overloading, the quicker the deterioration !!
That is simple to understand.

[soongsc]

There is no data showing the probability of overloading. We need to consider statistics, which is not available. You can be pessimistic and think that all equipment are going to die within a year. Quite amusing how certain data are generated.

[bcmbob]

If you didn't read the thread from our friend Uriah Dailey, please do. We all wish him well and anticipate a bright and productive future."]Uriah Dailey[/URL], please do. We all wish him well and anticipate a bright and productive future.

[ClaveFremen]

After the research for the My_Ref Fremen Edition Release Candidate BOM I've also updated the TP My_Ref RevC BOM accordingly.

You can find it attached as PDF to this post or on my RevC Google folder.

Pay attention: it's a Release Candidate BOM so subject to some fine tuning.

[PreSapian]

i put in 560ohm caddock to220 types in place of carbon film 1k for r1 & r4 spots and it's a clear improvement. there's more air, and the notes have become so much smoother that it actually blooms now! just like a tube amp!! i don't know if it's the value change or just the brand change but i am sure of one thing...

people would be more surprised that this is not a tube amp, rather than that it sounds like tubes.

the 560 value was from the forum member protos, written on this thread long ago, on how he changed the value to 600ohm and noticed a similar improvement to mine. 560 was the closest value i could find that caddock offers. i haven't put any heatsinks on and it's only lukewarm to the touch.

[PreSapian]

... and it had definitely made the sound less musical. i only figured this out after an extended listen. koa 1k ohms are back in and caddock 1k will be ordered :P

[bcmbob]

Hey man, I feel your pain. I just had a similar experience comparing an Alps pot to the eBay chinese SMD unit. They both have strength and weaknesses that are so dependent on what's being played through the system. Our friend Andrew has a point when he suggests there is a lot of tail chasing with all the parts swaps/adjustments, but if there was a perfect circuit there would only be one commercial and/or DIY amp and only one forum to support it.

It is said the key to a good life is partially based on selecting the best set of compromises - and it appears to also be true in the search for "Audio Nirvana".

I'm suspecting the best amp configuration is the one that's on front of us when we tire of the search.

[PreSapian]

well said, bob.

i think the main problem with my amp now is that it just sounds so marvelous whatever i do to it. this makes it difficult to subjectively weight in the small changes i make to the sound, because the initial impression is always 'marvelous!'

560ohm did make it less musical, but it was still bloody musical enough for me not to notice it quick it enough. also doesn't help that my hearing's been suffering from the noisy environment for the past month... (i was dumb enough to rent an apt right next to a four way. doh! ) i'm moving out next week, though. the blackgate nx's will be getting a full workout then.

[jlester87]

Is this layout ok? I'll just put the protection circuit separately...