The Aleph-X

[hifiZen]

John:

Well, I haven't hauled in on those reins just yet, but I think it would be good to have someone steering the project and coordinating efforts so that some progress can me made. I don't think I would have taken this step without a little prodding from our fellow forum members. I'm mostly waiting for tvi's blessing, since I don't want to step on his toes...

Also, we need people like you to take the initiative and dive right in! I think you're offer to do a group PCB effort, and AlephX "fever" really got the ball rolling on this. So please, don't slow down on account of your pokey forum-mates! Let's keep the momentum we've built up so far!

My thoughts are that you should stick to your plan to get a board made for those who can't wait, and want one <i>right away</i>. The coordinated effort with all the circuit variations and modifications incorporated will probably take a while, since we'll need to get the layout finished and prototyped for verification before we start sumbitting larger orders for manufacture. That means someone with good equipment and test / troubleshooting skills will need to actually build the circuit on the 1st-run proto version, so it could take a little while to accomplish this...

so, tvi:

do you think it's worthwhile to have a coordinated group effort to make a "unified" PCB layout? If so, would you be willing to contribute your layout for further development work as the reference board for the Aleph-X?

[Koy]

Does anybody performed any measurements of AX? At least using PC soundcard based analysis.

[carpenter]

It's amazing what a little validation can do to one's ego (I'm referring to mine). Thanks HifiZen, I think you'll make an excellent chairman.

John Inlow

[grataku]

HiFiZen,
aside from Fred tire-kicking posts, he has expressed opposition toward group purchases and he is probably just waiting to criticize and pick apart any results that will be coming out of this effort no matter how good they are, I think it is a very good idea for someone to take charge of the whole thing.
Given that you demonstrated superior knowledge on the subject it might as well be you to lead the Aleph X project.

[hifiZen]

Whew! That was unpleasant. I hope the correct DNS info manages to get out there and propogate quickly.

Peter D:

A few pages back, you posted a pic of your P2P wired current source... what's the fuzzy "hair" that your ZVP mosfet is wearing?

[hifiZen]

OK, well I'm going to go ahead and start some organization here... first thing:

carpenter:

Since your effort is already well underway, and I presume you're already in contact with the interested buyers, I think you should continue to coordinate that effort. Maybe just leave a few days for the site to recover from the DNS outage, and allow the members to catch up on what is going on...

[carpenter]

I have just given Shawn Wessel's AX a listen and find it to be a real joy. I just love my Pass Zen and didn't expect such a dramatic improvement in sound quality. I can best describe the sound as silky, without distortion mixed into the music; the Zen has a bit of second harmonic distortion. Both have a similar silky quality, but, the AX (minus the distortion) is more revealing. The music has an "edge" that I'm not accustom too. I'm using JBL 2446 loaded paper mache tractrix horns. They have tremendous authority with Shawn's amp. Now, with Shawn's AX, the musician, David Sanborn, play's a sax that can cut to the bone in one moment and sooth and caress in the next. With the Zen, David is "nice".

I notice a slight (very slight) amount of hum produced by the AX. I don't see any chokes in the power supply and the addition of couple may help. I also noticed that the gain on this unit is quite sensitive; ie. I have to operate the tri-amp x-over output to the AX at a much lower level than the rest of the amplifiers in the system; we're talking a dial setting of 12:00 for the other amps and 9:00 for the AX. Perhaps lowering the sensitivity in the AX will lower the hum threshold.

Regardless of what we do to improve this unit, the endeavor is well worth the effort. What a rewarding experience it's been to listen to Shawn's project.

Thank you,

John Inlow

[hifiZen]

Excellent! Good to finally hear some direct comparisons, especially with other designs like the Zen, which should be familiar to many of the forum members.

[carpenter]

I was going through withdrawals. I hope that we never go down again!

John Inlow

HifiZen, and anyone else who's interested, I have the pcb artwork being converted to "gerber". It should take place next week. This looks like it will set me back $160.00 or so. It's worth it to me though; this amp sound sooooooo good.

I remember Brian offering to convert the pcb art for me. It seems like a lot to ask, Brian, and I do appreciate the offer, but, I would imagine school keeps you very busy.

[Ken L]

Suggestion - while we're waiting for the site to come back up - why not see if it can be done in one shot? - I thought John said he didn't mind waiting some as long as it wasn't going to be a long time -

I guess I'm just thinking that this is a somewhat narrow niche of people overall - wouldn't our group be better off as a whole to agree on one board as a first version - signed off on, so to speak, by most of the potential users.

Then get that group of boards in use and when the time comes make changes to that board - a 2nd Gen of the same board - with the first board as a standard to go by?.

Off the top of my head, it seems that there would be more potential benefits to having only one version of 1st generation boards out there.

We split the focus of developemental paths and reduce the benefits of group purchasing power if we start off with two versions.

We've got some sharp people here - it's usually harder to get smart people to agree because they are bright - I think we've got a lot of the elements in place - lets keep pushing it into one first generation board-

or on the other hand, everybody might figure -

" a camel is a horse designed by committee "

Ken