Hi,
Yes. Usual Caveats re. Warranty etc. apply of course, especially as a lot of SMD stuff is used
Doubtful.
The simple and short answer is no. The more complex answer is very complex.
We had Alps "Black Beauty" Pot in the original, what is supplies is better than that. In principle you can replace it, but the required wiring etc. may negate any benefit and expose you to noise issues.
Ciao T
Yes. Usual Caveats re. Warranty etc. apply of course, especially as a lot of SMD stuff is used
Doubtful.
The simple and short answer is no. The more complex answer is very complex.
We had Alps "Black Beauty" Pot in the original, what is supplies is better than that. In principle you can replace it, but the required wiring etc. may negate any benefit and expose you to noise issues.
Ciao T
A week later....
I finally had some time to follow up on Thorsten's suggestion and it turned out to be a loose multi-lead connector from/to the PS.
Should have figured this one out myself again......but thanks a lot for the encouragement and advice.
Ciao
Joerg
Lead free solder
Hi guys.
Thanks so much for your responses so far.
I love the tram as does my mate who also has one and we want to try and get even another couple of percent out of its performance if possible.
Does anyone know if lead free solder was used anywhere/ everywhere on the Tram 2 pre?
If it is lead free is there any way to remove it??
Also, i still would like to know what the replacement value the pot must be on the Tram 2 if i was to replace the volume control unit.
All products have financial constraints placed on them. What would be a couple of quick improvements we could make (coupling caps like duelands or others as an example)??
Thanks everyone. I love this pre!!!
Hi guys.
Thanks so much for your responses so far.
I love the tram as does my mate who also has one and we want to try and get even another couple of percent out of its performance if possible.
Does anyone know if lead free solder was used anywhere/ everywhere on the Tram 2 pre?
If it is lead free is there any way to remove it??
Also, i still would like to know what the replacement value the pot must be on the Tram 2 if i was to replace the volume control unit.
All products have financial constraints placed on them. What would be a couple of quick improvements we could make (coupling caps like duelands or others as an example)??
Thanks everyone. I love this pre!!!
Might I suggest, that you actually read this thread from begging to end instead of just asking ''the upgrade question''? There are several possible upgrades mentioned already, I myself has done quite a few upgrates that you can read about from page 9 to around 14. Nothing fancy and nothing changed in the design, but just stuff that can be done when not having to consider a market price point.
Another suggestion would be to focus on upgrades where they actually matter. Not to be offensive in anyway, but forget the nonsense about skipping all the LED's, trying to get rid of the solder etc etc...
BTW, here in Denmark where the capacitors are made, we call them Duelund
Good luck - it's an amazing preamp
Morten
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OK... Finally I got around to do something about the heat issues when running 2A3 tubes in the Tram 2... I kept getting noise and a tendency to low frequency oscillation because the small heatsinks on the heater supplies get crazy hot. I wanted a more substantial solution than attaching additional small heatsinks to the existing ones, so I made this..! If this does not work - no heat sink will work
It's late at night here so the light is bad, the close up picture shows nylon spacers between the bottom of the heatsink and the top of the circuit boards to make sure there can be no shorts. The heatsink is boltet to the circuit boards through the holes where the old heat sinks were soldered to the circuit boards, so the construction is totally stable.
Time for bed now, I will adjust it and get it back in the system in the morning
It's late at night here so the light is bad, the close up picture shows nylon spacers between the bottom of the heatsink and the top of the circuit boards to make sure there can be no shorts. The heatsink is boltet to the circuit boards through the holes where the old heat sinks were soldered to the circuit boards, so the construction is totally stable.
Time for bed now, I will adjust it and get it back in the system in the morning
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Thanks..! It was actually quite a bit of work making the heatsink fit, but it was worth the effort
I'm now adjusting the preamp while it's sitting here on my work table and I can only say that this is a cool solution The heatsink is of course still hot, but it's obvious from touching it, that it's several degrees cooler.
Here are a few pics taken in daylight that shows the installation a bit better.
I'm now adjusting the preamp while it's sitting here on my work table and I can only say that this is a cool solution
The heatsink is of course still hot, but it's obvious from touching it, that it's several degrees cooler.Here are a few pics taken in daylight that shows the installation a bit better.
Hi,
After playing nicely for a few weeks unfortunately i will need some advice regarding my TRAM2 again:
It plays nicely for a few minutes and then slowly the right channel disappears within 30 or so minutes. A not very loud hum appears on the onset and will be the only audible sound later on. After turning the line stage of, letting it settle a bit the same scenario can be repeated, maybe things happening a little faster.
I have swapped all the tubes and it does not follow a tube or disappears with a new one.
Any suggestion will be appreciated.
Ciao
Joerg
After playing nicely for a few weeks unfortunately i will need some advice regarding my TRAM2 again:
It plays nicely for a few minutes and then slowly the right channel disappears within 30 or so minutes. A not very loud hum appears on the onset and will be the only audible sound later on. After turning the line stage of, letting it settle a bit the same scenario can be repeated, maybe things happening a little faster.
I have swapped all the tubes and it does not follow a tube or disappears with a new one.
Any suggestion will be appreciated.
Ciao
Joerg
Have any one built the transformer and the rectifier into a separate enclosure?
I see that DIYSupply has a external power supply kit / chassis available for reasonable cost. The transformer included in that chassis is not compatible with the TRAM 2 requirements so the transformer has to be shifted.
The kit also includes a power cord w/connections. I gues that if the supply board is located in the external chassis, an additional power cord could be wise to keep AC feeds separate from the DC feeds.
Any thoughts on this?
Geir
I see that DIYSupply has a external power supply kit / chassis available for reasonable cost. The transformer included in that chassis is not compatible with the TRAM 2 requirements so the transformer has to be shifted.
The kit also includes a power cord w/connections. I gues that if the supply board is located in the external chassis, an additional power cord could be wise to keep AC feeds separate from the DC feeds.
Any thoughts on this?
Geir
OK, time for what I (kind of hope) is the final update on my Tram II
For me the DHT regulators has been the weak link in this wonderful preamp. The regulators that was delivered with the kit was quite noisy and replaced under warranty. The second pair was a little better, but still quite noisy. It helped when I installed better cooling as shown earlier in this thread, but still noisy..!
I then got a tip from another Tram II owner (beardman, thanks!) to check out the Rod Coleman DHT regulators. Long story short, I have installed them in my Tram II and first of all: The noise floor has dropped by quite a lot and I now need to be quite close to the speakers to hear the faint hiss and hum, before I could hear it from the listening position, especially in one channel.
But the lower noise floor is actually just a bonus because the major advantage is the sound that improves quite a lot with these Rod Coleman regulators..! I have always considered the Tram II to be one of the most natural sounding preamps I have ever tried, but when listening with these regulators installed I now realize that a thin ''electronic sounding haze'' has been removed. It was natural sounding before, and even more natural sounding now Furthermore ''images float in space'', these words (the Danish version ;-)) just kept popping up in my head when listening with these installed. There is a flow to the music and the images float in a 3 dimensional space in a totally different way than before. It's not that the soundstage is bigger as such, but it's more real, more there, more open, more natural and the music has better flow.
With this thin haze lifted away I also here more details, especially the ones that usually hides deep in the mix. For instance I listened to a jazz LP and during a guitar solo I could hear the guitar player humming his tunes while he was playing them. I have not heard that before on this record..! I give these regulators a strong recommendation to all you fellow Tram II owners - they set free even more of the potential in this amazing preamp
Here are a few pics of the installation and the custom heatsink / chassis arrangement that I made. It's made up of a heatsink I bought and then sheets of 10mm aluminum. I wanted to get the biggest cooling area possible, so I made this that is kind of heatsink and sub-chassis. It's connected to the inner rubber mounted aluminum sub-chassis so this aluminum plate is also part of the cooling system. I have then isolated the caps from this aluminum plate so they don't get hot (the two black Obbligato and my Duelund Cast input caps). The result is really good, it runs hot, but not crazy hot...
Also, since there are quite big currents running in such DHT regulators I wanted the best possible caps for the first set of caps after the rectifiers: I have used RIFA PEH200 - 10.000uF, 40V that can handle 12A ripple current. They are quite big, but I just managed to squeeze them in there and they will last
For me the DHT regulators has been the weak link in this wonderful preamp. The regulators that was delivered with the kit was quite noisy and replaced under warranty. The second pair was a little better, but still quite noisy. It helped when I installed better cooling as shown earlier in this thread, but still noisy..!
I then got a tip from another Tram II owner (beardman, thanks!) to check out the Rod Coleman DHT regulators. Long story short, I have installed them in my Tram II and first of all: The noise floor has dropped by quite a lot and I now need to be quite close to the speakers to hear the faint hiss and hum, before I could hear it from the listening position, especially in one channel.
But the lower noise floor is actually just a bonus because the major advantage is the sound that improves quite a lot with these Rod Coleman regulators..! I have always considered the Tram II to be one of the most natural sounding preamps I have ever tried, but when listening with these regulators installed I now realize that a thin ''electronic sounding haze'' has been removed. It was natural sounding before, and even more natural sounding now
Furthermore ''images float in space'', these words (the Danish version ;-)) just kept popping up in my head when listening with these installed. There is a flow to the music and the images float in a 3 dimensional space in a totally different way than before. It's not that the soundstage is bigger as such, but it's more real, more there, more open, more natural and the music has better flow. With this thin haze lifted away I also here more details, especially the ones that usually hides deep in the mix. For instance I listened to a jazz LP and during a guitar solo I could hear the guitar player humming his tunes while he was playing them. I have not heard that before on this record..! I give these regulators a strong recommendation to all you fellow Tram II owners - they set free even more of the potential in this amazing preamp
Here are a few pics of the installation and the custom heatsink / chassis arrangement that I made. It's made up of a heatsink I bought and then sheets of 10mm aluminum. I wanted to get the biggest cooling area possible, so I made this that is kind of heatsink and sub-chassis. It's connected to the inner rubber mounted aluminum sub-chassis so this aluminum plate is also part of the cooling system. I have then isolated the caps from this aluminum plate so they don't get hot (the two black Obbligato and my Duelund Cast input caps). The result is really good, it runs hot, but not crazy hot...
Also, since there are quite big currents running in such DHT regulators I wanted the best possible caps for the first set of caps after the rectifiers: I have used RIFA PEH200 - 10.000uF, 40V that can handle 12A ripple current. They are quite big, but I just managed to squeeze them in there and they will last
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Hi Geir, sorry I forgot the link..! You buy them directly from Rod Coleman, just drop him a pb here in diyaudio. There is a long thread about these regulators: http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/tubes-valves/38248-new-dht-heater-52.html
After doing a bit more listening I can honestly say, that this upgrade with the regulators is the one that sonically makes the biggest improvement. More than different tubes, coupling caps etc. And as a big bonus, the noise is also gone with these.
After doing a bit more listening I can honestly say, that this upgrade with the regulators is the one that sonically makes the biggest improvement. More than different tubes, coupling caps etc. And as a big bonus, the noise is also gone with these.
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Yes, the board between the two regulators contains the rectifiers, caps and resistors that forms the raw-dc supply for the regulators. This raw-dc supply you build yourself.
When you buy the regulators from Rod Coleman you get the two regulator boards + all components for them. You also get a build manual with lots of instructions on how to implement the regulators. In that build manual there are diagrams and specification for the components in the raw-dc supply. Once you have his build manual all is quite easy.
When you buy the regulators from Rod Coleman you get the two regulator boards + all components for them. You also get a build manual with lots of instructions on how to implement the regulators. In that build manual there are diagrams and specification for the components in the raw-dc supply. Once you have his build manual all is quite easy.
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