Hiraga vs. ZEN or SOZ

[Selfmade]

Can anyone tell me something about the sound off those amps.

My speakers have 94 dB and 6 Ohm imp.
(Raven R2, ATC-75-150S, PHL2460)

I have a ZEN V4 and I want to improve the sound by building a better amp.

Any ideas?

Thanks and regards

Günter

[protos]

Perhaps an Aleph although I think Nelson said that the ZenV4 was similar to the Aleph 30.
By the way where do you get Raven speakers in Europe?Are you satisfied with them?

[Panelhead]

You may not be driving the Zen V4 well enough. I was very disapointed in the sound of my V4 once finished. The highs lacked sparkle and life and the bass was non-existant.
My speakers are an easy load, 15 ohm and 100 dB efficient. MikeW lent his Aleph X for a listen and I increased the size of the coupling caps in the preamp to handle the lower input impedance of the X.
The preamp uses a single 6080 tube biased to 80 ma per section. The original cap was a 1 ufd Jensen tin foil n oil. I stuck an old Sprague 12 ufd paper cap in.
To check the sound of the X vs the V4 I hooked it up to the V4 first. Guess what, the sound of the V4 was improved a 1000%. The highs became clearer, and the missing bass is now all there.
The 1 ufd coupling cap should have worked fine into the ZenV4. It was never tried on a solid state amp before, but worked great on all the higher input impedance tube amps used with. From calculations it should have been fine to 30 Hz or so, but was rolling off above a 100 Hz.
Now I am completely happy with the V4; quiet, dynamic, extended, and very smooth. It lacks the bass and clarity of the X, but is a better match with the Lowthers I use.
My recommendation would be to look into the front end before spending money or time to upgrade the amp. I am very glad I did by accident, the V4 was headed for the closet.


George Tomlinson

[Nelson Pass]

I recall that Hiraga once published a schematic showing
a single Mosfet driving a resistor which biased it to the
positive supply. It didn't use feedback as I remember, but
I suspect it would have some similarity to the sound of
a Zen lite.

[stefanobilliani]

...if your speakers allow it , try biamplification with two

ZenV4/channel . So good

[lohk]

Did you think about changing to a better CD player / analog player plus preamp ? Maybe your setup is now so good to reveal your source's shortcomings.

Klaus

[fdegrove]

Hi,

I recall that Hiraga once published a schematic showing

Indeed, he did.

Although I can't vouch for either one of them, on the surface they should sound similar.

Sticking to what I've haerd and by no means any offense to Nelson, I think the 20W class A L'Audiphile amp may the ticket for your set up.

I always liked the sound of the amp in every aspect and it surely would amaze you by its' dynamic range and lack of agressiveness.

In short it impressed me,

[Selfmade]

Thank´s alot.
As I have expected: 5 answers and five different opinions.

Is the no amp in the forum which is clearly the top favourite, especially for driving the mids and the tweeter?

The ZEN V4 in combination with the BZLS is really good. But I´m alway on the search for something better.

Mr. Pass, what about the ZEN V5?


Günter

[protos]

Without wanting to offend Pass fans my gainclone sounds better than the Aleph 5 mono's I made. I have been listening to this set up (BZLS balanced to balanced Gainclone) for many months and have switched occasionally back to the Alephs but I always find that the gainclone sounds better in almost all respects.Of course this is in my particular set-up and my speakers. I think the balanced actively driven version of the gainclone is far ahead of the passive version much as the balanced and actively driven Alephs are.

[ralf]

Originally posted by Selfmade
Thank´s alot.
As I have expected: 5 answers and five different opinions.


Günter

i have build some hiraga-monsters some soz and xsoz some bosoz and xbosoz.
I tried to build hiraga le classe a, but because of the transistor substitutes i didn`get it working.
in moment i build a aleph x and think it should be very good.
the best amp i have build is the JLH update one - connected to a XBosoz.
One should say that the differences are not so big between the amps and one might sound better with this speakers and on might sound better with that speakers.
one of my favorites is hiraga le monstre because of the simplicity to build - and the battery option and the unbeatable cheapness.

i have laying some ready made le monstre p2p-pcb`s around: if you want to have one...


greets nach Flensburg

Ralf