I've had a rinky-dinky box for my TVC for almost 18 months out of sheer laziness and a delusional fantasy that I was going to design a custom high-end chasis that would be the envy of all others.
Well, that never happened. I never even got close. But, I couldn't find any other preamp chasis' for sale that looked like a commercial quality preamp and was high enough to give room for the S&B TVC's.
So, I finally got tired of looking at the embarrassing piece of crap I was using and ordered the very last Audio Research LS clone chasis from DIYCLUB.biz.
They look to be really well made(10mm faceplate, 3mm top, 4mm bottom) and the dimension are big enough that I have plenty of room for the TVC + an active stage. The chasis comes with the optional black rack handles and knobs. AND, they are cheap - $115. Although, shipping is damn near as much as the chasis - $70 to Los Angeles from HK(15.5lbs). That, stings in a big way.
My plan is to have it swtichable between a pure passive TVC and TVC w/ John Broski's Aikido Amp (balanced circuit here- 3/4 down page). Instead of 12SN7's, I'll be using his 6Gm8 version driven at 24V. Perhaps, even battery powered, though it draws quite a bit of current.
The reason for the passive and active peamps is that my upgraded Museatex Bitstream dac has a high 3V output, enough to drive both my Art Audio PX-25(0.7V sensitivity) & Welborne DRD 300B(1.5V) via the TVC with ease. But, my Graham Slee Era Gold mkV phono preamp's 1.08V max output just can't cut it with the DRD's.
So, hopefully i will have the best of both world's in one preamp. At the very least, I'll have something worth looking at.
Well, that never happened. I never even got close. But, I couldn't find any other preamp chasis' for sale that looked like a commercial quality preamp and was high enough to give room for the S&B TVC's.
So, I finally got tired of looking at the embarrassing piece of crap I was using and ordered the very last Audio Research LS clone chasis from DIYCLUB.biz.
They look to be really well made(10mm faceplate, 3mm top, 4mm bottom) and the dimension are big enough that I have plenty of room for the TVC + an active stage. The chasis comes with the optional black rack handles and knobs. AND, they are cheap - $115. Although, shipping is damn near as much as the chasis - $70 to Los Angeles from HK(15.5lbs). That, stings in a big way.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
My plan is to have it swtichable between a pure passive TVC and TVC w/ John Broski's Aikido Amp (balanced circuit here- 3/4 down page). Instead of 12SN7's, I'll be using his 6Gm8 version driven at 24V. Perhaps, even battery powered, though it draws quite a bit of current.
The reason for the passive and active peamps is that my upgraded Museatex Bitstream dac has a high 3V output, enough to drive both my Art Audio PX-25(0.7V sensitivity) & Welborne DRD 300B(1.5V) via the TVC with ease. But, my Graham Slee Era Gold mkV phono preamp's 1.08V max output just can't cut it with the DRD's.
So, hopefully i will have the best of both world's in one preamp. At the very least, I'll have something worth looking at.
For some reason the chasis pictures didn't come out, here they are.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
AntLockyer said:
Talk about coincidental timing, I finally got around to wiring up the TVC into the chassis the last two days, should have it finished tonight. Five months later, how's that for procrastinating?
I hope to have the two stereo 9-pin Aikido boards (for input/balanced output) assembled and installed by the end of the month.
I really love the sound of the GS Era, it is a fantastic phono preamp. I also have the GS EXP Elevator stepup. Though, the low 1.08V max output is a bit of an inconveniece. I notice that Gram Slee boosted the output for his new Reflex phono to 5.3V max.
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