The Aleph J. is very attempting. Then someone convinced me that the AmpCamp was so good and if I don't need more power than 5W......
Who has the best 1. Watt of the two?
I have ordered some nice Jesen output Caps........for the AmpCamp.
The project was also to compare against my 7-8 Watt 300B amp.......it has no caps in the signal patch ......but an OT.....
I will start with the AmpCamp......and if it is better than my 300B I build the Aleph. J.
Who has the best 1. Watt of the two?
I have ordered some nice Jesen output Caps........for the AmpCamp.
The project was also to compare against my 7-8 Watt 300B amp.......it has no caps in the signal patch ......but an OT.....
I will start with the AmpCamp......and if it is better than my 300B I build the Aleph. J.
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Let me take a guess... Very often, because it sounds great?
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That could be interesting as "Btsd" has built the other more expensive amps.....
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I use my ACA all day, every day. It sounds great, it's small, doesn't produce a ton of heat, and has more than enough power to use in the office at work.
I am contemplating making a set of 5 of them to replace the receiver that powers the speakers in the family room. At 20w power consumption per channel, it will likely draw the same power as my not-as-nice receiver.
At the moment basic answer is, A lot, it sounds good.
I find the latest build (of anything) is going to be used more. There are different rooms, speakers and other stuff to test.
With summer in its last days here the Aleph amps are coming back into use. In a basicly non air conditioned house once the indoor ambient temp hits 30C I don`t use room heating Aleph`s that much. Solid state makes more sense to me.
Ok, in head to head testing the last couple of days between the J, Mini, ACA and some solid state amps the winner is .............
Hold on a minute, when I had that combo running I was in a bad mood because my PC just crapped itself, then with that other setup things were good because I had fixed it. Then when the smoke escaped from that resistor aaaarrrrrr.....
I will just have to go back and do it all again.
Best you build it and have a listen.
Tony
from the 1/2 dun shed.(now were is that hammer, I need to make a technical adjustment)
Good to know the ACA sounds good also compared to the larger amps. Some times simpler is better.......but of course you have the coupling caps.
I know Australia can be hot......been there once. Darwin, Cairns and Alice Springs. Darwin felt must hot even that it was the "coldest" .....only 36 - 37 C but very humid......100% humid.....> 50 degree in Alice Springs felt less hot......but still very hot.....like Dead Valley in August.
I think anyone considering building ACA’s should be aware that the Amp Camp Amp is a double-edged-sword. It sounds really, really very good. Make no mistake about that. It throws a glorious ‘3D bubble’ soundstage and sounds very sweet; almost tubey. But here is the caveat… only if you have suitable speakers. With only 5W per channel (6W with R15 mod), you'll need efficient speakers. Preferably Full Range with >91dB sensitivity.
A friend built ACA’s recently and he says it doesn’t sound good on the two pairs of speakers that he owns. He has heard my ACA + speaker setup, and therefore his ACA’s are out of commission until he builds decent speakers.
I guess I got lucky. Just before completing my ACA’s, I built dual 3FE25 driver 53% scale Karlsonators. And the sound is very good with them. I can recommend it for use with ACA’s.
There are other speaker options, e.g. Great Horned Heil, Mini Frugal Horns, etc. Do your homework on speakers and you will not be disappointed in the ACA.
A friend built ACA’s recently and he says it doesn’t sound good on the two pairs of speakers that he owns. He has heard my ACA + speaker setup, and therefore his ACA’s are out of commission until he builds decent speakers.
I guess I got lucky. Just before completing my ACA’s, I built dual 3FE25 driver 53% scale Karlsonators. And the sound is very good with them. I can recommend it for use with ACA’s.
There are other speaker options, e.g. Great Horned Heil, Mini Frugal Horns, etc. Do your homework on speakers and you will not be disappointed in the ACA.
The OB's may work well, but they're 3-way, not Full Fange. Test and hear.. And please let us know!
It's an additional 2.21K resistor between the emitter and base of the ZXT450. Said to raise the output to 6W. It's mentioned a few times in this thread, but I couldn't find it with a search just now.
There is also an R12 mod, but I haven't done it on my ACA's (yet).
The impedance is also important when suing low watt amps. My OB's are 6 ohm and it never drops below 4 ohm. It works very well using the 8 ohm tap on the 300B. I also have two SE KT150 mono blocks coupled in triode mode and they are rated 23 Watt. They also sounds very good. But I may prefere the 300B after the PSU's was modified (< 1 mV ripple and Coleman regulators). Probably the 1. watt is better on the 300B compared to the KT150. So an ACA should do it......5 W should be ok.
On The Hornshoppe Forum, Ed Schilling had the following to say about the ACA:
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"...the ACA is just about perfect with the Horns or GHH for several reasons. This may not be the case with a high mass system that needs a higher damping factor to "control" the bass drivers, even if the claimed "efficiency" suggests that 5 watts is "plenty". As stated above, not by me but by "experts", efficiency and sensitivity are two different things.
The reason I mention this is because many folks will use the ACA with speakers not suitable and they will not understand what all the fuss is about. It certainly will not be the "best amp ever" driving low efficiency/sensitivity speakers!
If you own The Horns (or GHH) and Truth or Naked Truth this amp is "it" and could easily be the end of a long expensive journey. If you own something else, well, who knows, just don't blame me!"
PS. I don't own any of Ed's products, nor do I benefit financially or otherwise from posting this. The reason I mention this is because many folks will use the ACA with speakers not suitable and they will not understand what all the fuss is about. It certainly will not be the "best amp ever" driving low efficiency/sensitivity speakers!
If you own The Horns (or GHH) and Truth or Naked Truth this amp is "it" and could easily be the end of a long expensive journey. If you own something else, well, who knows, just don't blame me!"
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The reason I am evasive in recommending amps or speakers is everyone one is different.
To me the ACA did sound its best on 93db speakers. These are two way floor stander that use 2 x 5" and 1" tweeter and are ported.
I took the ACA to the shed and tried it on some DIY Karlsons I bought for the timber (see previous pics of Aleph`s).
Shocking. Nothing makes these sound good. This could be the drivers or the modifications made in the box build. One day I will look at these some more though they are to big for the house they would make a great shed system.
Build it and see (hear) what happens.
Tony
To me the ACA did sound its best on 93db speakers. These are two way floor stander that use 2 x 5" and 1" tweeter and are ported.
I took the ACA to the shed and tried it on some DIY Karlsons I bought for the timber (see previous pics of Aleph`s).
Shocking. Nothing makes these sound good. This could be the drivers or the modifications made in the box build. One day I will look at these some more though they are to big for the house they would make a great shed system.
Build it and see (hear) what happens.
Tony
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hi!
Please, how critical is C2 value? I have built and tested one channel of ACA and it sounded and worked fine. However, when assembling other channel I have measured (among others) C2 and it was 730 uF (instead of 1000). I have replaced it with another capacitor, but on other (working) channel was same (out of range) capacitor.
Since ACA was working, I guess it was not THAT critical, but in long term, could there be some problems?
Thanks
Please, how critical is C2 value? I have built and tested one channel of ACA and it sounded and worked fine. However, when assembling other channel I have measured (among others) C2 and it was 730 uF (instead of 1000). I have replaced it with another capacitor, but on other (working) channel was same (out of range) capacitor.
Since ACA was working, I guess it was not THAT critical, but in long term, could there be some problems?
Thanks
Thanks.
My LRC meter is DE-5000 (ebay is full of those), not lab quality but not bad either.
(absolute) accuracy aside, both capacitors were measured in same conditions, and worst ones were brand new, BC components (Vishay), bought trough reliable retailer (they were not cheap, if word "expensive" can be put in same context within this price range).
I bought them because of name and quality.
I will put some Matsushita (Panasonic) ordered from Japan some time ago (so older than Vishay), which show decent value on instrument.
Thanks!
My LRC meter is DE-5000 (ebay is full of those), not lab quality but not bad either.
(absolute) accuracy aside, both capacitors were measured in same conditions, and worst ones were brand new, BC components (Vishay), bought trough reliable retailer (they were not cheap, if word "expensive" can be put in same context within this price range).
I bought them because of name and quality
.I will put some Matsushita (Panasonic) ordered from Japan some time ago (so older than Vishay), which show decent value on instrument.
Thanks!