Hello Folks,
First things first, THANK YOU Mr. Pass and Mr. Zen Mod, you guys are legends!!!
This post helped me with yesterday's and today's insomnia 🙂...
I want to make 2021 count and I think this is the way, over the last 5 years I have been learning little by little about this hobby of mine but now from the DIY perspective, during those years I have 100% pursued Papa's designs, that meaning that I started by buying broken ADCOM amplifiers on eBay, of course making sure they're all Papa's designs, so I have managed to fix them all from the smallest all the way to a couple of finicky GFA-5800. During that time I've been also equipping my bench with a bunch of tools from Multimeters all the way to an HP 3582A (overkill), knowledge is what we cannot buy so I'm still working on that.
Things went out of control for sure, I have over 20 ADCOM amps now 😎, never really got into Papa's Pure Class A until a couple of weeks ago that I got a little Zen 4 in parts and pieces that someone else started more than 10 years ago but never got finished, and well it really got me, even when it only worked for 3 minutes and then it burned the IRFP044's, very well may be because I didn't adjust the amplifier as I should have, I will try again...
Well enough about the past and more about the future, I want to order the PCBs today as a start, I don't know what I will build but I know I'd like to get at least 100W per channel so I may have to go with a pair of huge monoblocks, waiting for the smart folks to finish and enlighten us, so with that said I'm wondering 2 things:
1. I'm assuming 1oz. Cooper is good for the FE boards but I'm thinking 2oz. for the OS boards, what did you guys order?
2. Bigger and more expensive decision, as a typical Mexican Pico got me with his Ultimate Toxic Masculinity Chassis 😀 , so I'm on the brink about ordering 2 of them but even when I red 90% of the thread I'm still not 101% convinced, stupid ask but, can you list 2 things on how are they superior to the diyAudio Store Dissipante 4U 500mm depth?, I like that Silver faceplate is available. May be clear to you but I'm dumber...
Price is basically the same and they are already in the US, ordering Pico's may incur in extra Import fees, etc...
Thanks in advance folks!!!
Alex
First things first, THANK YOU Mr. Pass and Mr. Zen Mod, you guys are legends!!!
This post helped me with yesterday's and today's insomnia 🙂...
I want to make 2021 count and I think this is the way, over the last 5 years I have been learning little by little about this hobby of mine but now from the DIY perspective, during those years I have 100% pursued Papa's designs, that meaning that I started by buying broken ADCOM amplifiers on eBay, of course making sure they're all Papa's designs, so I have managed to fix them all from the smallest all the way to a couple of finicky GFA-5800. During that time I've been also equipping my bench with a bunch of tools from Multimeters all the way to an HP 3582A (overkill), knowledge is what we cannot buy so I'm still working on that.
Things went out of control for sure, I have over 20 ADCOM amps now 😎, never really got into Papa's Pure Class A until a couple of weeks ago that I got a little Zen 4 in parts and pieces that someone else started more than 10 years ago but never got finished, and well it really got me, even when it only worked for 3 minutes and then it burned the IRFP044's, very well may be because I didn't adjust the amplifier as I should have, I will try again...
Well enough about the past and more about the future, I want to order the PCBs today as a start, I don't know what I will build but I know I'd like to get at least 100W per channel so I may have to go with a pair of huge monoblocks, waiting for the smart folks to finish and enlighten us, so with that said I'm wondering 2 things:
1. I'm assuming 1oz. Cooper is good for the FE boards but I'm thinking 2oz. for the OS boards, what did you guys order?
2. Bigger and more expensive decision, as a typical Mexican Pico got me with his Ultimate Toxic Masculinity Chassis 😀 , so I'm on the brink about ordering 2 of them but even when I red 90% of the thread I'm still not 101% convinced, stupid ask but, can you list 2 things on how are they superior to the diyAudio Store Dissipante 4U 500mm depth?, I like that Silver faceplate is available. May be clear to you but I'm dumber...
Price is basically the same and they are already in the US, ordering Pico's may incur in extra Import fees, etc...
Thanks in advance folks!!!
Alex
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1. 2oz is certainly better for OS pcb than 1oz, but I'm always deliberately using all available space for energy traces**, so even with 1oz there is more than enough copper
2. Ask Pico what is difference between his "small rooster compensation device" and regular 4U/500; I can bet that he explained that somewhere in start of related thread....... if not (he's Pico, so no wonder)
**ZM being Chicken
2. Ask Pico what is difference between his "small rooster compensation device" and regular 4U/500; I can bet that he explained that somewhere in start of related thread....... if not (he's Pico, so no wonder)
**ZM being Chicken
Today, 08 Feb 2021, I obtained price quotes for the 16-power-transistors output stage board (post #156), with both 1 ounce copper and 2 ounce copper. The board dimensions are quite clearly marked in the attachments to post #156.
The price quotation website, www dot pcbshopper dot com, quotes about 25 different manufacturers ("fabs"), and presents the results in order, sorted by price, from lowest price to highest price.
I am intentionally and deliberately displaying NOT the lowest price quote. Instead I am showing the 3rd-lowest-price quote. If you're curious to see the very lowest price quotes, visit the website yourself and spec out the board you want (board size and copper thickness). There it is! And you can thank me for giving you the little nudge to learn how to do this. It turns out to be quite easy! You'll see.
Today, if you buy 10 of these boards and have them shipped to USA, it costs an extra USD 32.00 to have them built with 2 ounce copper rather than 1 ounce. That is an extra $3.20 per board. What would be the difference when comparing between the very lowest price quotes instead of the 3rd-lowest price quotes? Try it yourself! It'll be fun.
_
The price quotation website, www dot pcbshopper dot com, quotes about 25 different manufacturers ("fabs"), and presents the results in order, sorted by price, from lowest price to highest price.
I am intentionally and deliberately displaying NOT the lowest price quote. Instead I am showing the 3rd-lowest-price quote. If you're curious to see the very lowest price quotes, visit the website yourself and spec out the board you want (board size and copper thickness). There it is! And you can thank me for giving you the little nudge to learn how to do this. It turns out to be quite easy! You'll see.
Today, if you buy 10 of these boards and have them shipped to USA, it costs an extra USD 32.00 to have them built with 2 ounce copper rather than 1 ounce. That is an extra $3.20 per board. What would be the difference when comparing between the very lowest price quotes instead of the 3rd-lowest price quotes? Try it yourself! It'll be fun.
_
Attachments
Alex,
Pico's chassis is an enhanced 4U/500 chassis, It has predrilled heatsinks
using an enhanced UMS hole layout. I believe the vents are different. Also,
the rear plate has a pair of handles, and cut outs for an input power module,
neutriks XLR, and holes for cardas RCA and binding posts (or optionally, just
pilot holes). The front panel has pilot holes for optional handles as well.
There may be other additional modifications.
Pico's chassis was also available in silver front plate though it seems like the
few that were remaining from the original GB buy have been sold.
You may want to check with the diyaudio store, but I believe its 4U/500 chassis
will also ship from Italy.
Dennis
Pico's chassis is an enhanced 4U/500 chassis, It has predrilled heatsinks
using an enhanced UMS hole layout. I believe the vents are different. Also,
the rear plate has a pair of handles, and cut outs for an input power module,
neutriks XLR, and holes for cardas RCA and binding posts (or optionally, just
pilot holes). The front panel has pilot holes for optional handles as well.
There may be other additional modifications.
Pico's chassis was also available in silver front plate though it seems like the
few that were remaining from the original GB buy have been sold.
You may want to check with the diyaudio store, but I believe its 4U/500 chassis
will also ship from Italy.
Dennis
Thank You Zen Mod, Mark, Dennis!
I'm sold, that's all I needed, someone with more knowledge than me to make it clear that its better 🙂
I'll ask Gianluca if Silver front plate will be available again!
Alex
I'm sold, that's all I needed, someone with more knowledge than me to make it clear that its better 🙂
I'll ask Gianluca if Silver front plate will be available again!
Alex
ok, let's ignore color, as thing changing during certain edit ...... but magic numbers are indeed 86/82, worth checking
as I wrote few times recently - due to mu clumsiness, didn't catch a mistake that I got lesser Keratherm (instead of proper 86/82) from Conrad.de ( so my mistake equal as theirs) , which later cost me ton of nerves, almost or over 1K greenies of parts and time
also worth mentioning that I chanted repetitive Mantra to Godz of Amps, Speakers and ZMs, being humbled and extremely grateful that one of several Babelfish M25I made, being connected to extra expensive Triangle spks didn't made BoomBigBadaBoom
all in all , happy camper I am, thinking to convert to Alumina thingies, just for sake of less thinking involved
though, with my luck, something tells me that I'm more than able to stumble on fake Alumina pads
ok, runt ........ not that Keratherm would have much work in Stasis amp, dissipation per device not being on level of FW amps, but principle is principle
as I wrote few times recently - due to mu clumsiness, didn't catch a mistake that I got lesser Keratherm (instead of proper 86/82) from Conrad.de ( so my mistake equal as theirs) , which later cost me ton of nerves, almost or over 1K greenies of parts and time
also worth mentioning that I chanted repetitive Mantra to Godz of Amps, Speakers and ZMs, being humbled and extremely grateful that one of several Babelfish M25I made, being connected to extra expensive Triangle spks didn't made BoomBigBadaBoom
all in all , happy camper I am, thinking to convert to Alumina thingies, just for sake of less thinking involved
though, with my luck, something tells me that I'm more than able to stumble on fake Alumina pads

ok, runt ........ not that Keratherm would have much work in Stasis amp, dissipation per device not being on level of FW amps, but principle is principle
Your photo doesn't seem to show the proper color for Keratherm 86/82 insulation
_
I agree, it’s hard to capture the real color but even then the real product is not as red as it looks in the stock picture.
Anyway I did my homework and made sure I bought it from the only authorized Kerafol’s distributor in the US.

all in all , happy camper I am, thinking to convert to Alumina thingies, just for sake of less thinking involved
ZenMod I haven't tried the Alumina ones yet but I may soon, last week I came across a big lot of thermal pads in a liquidation auction which mostly had Bergquist pads for TO-3, TO-66 and other donuts that may be for metal can diodes or something like that and a few Alumina for TO-3P.
If you guys need some of the Bergquist ones let me know and I'll send you some...
Attachments
The original Hafler DH 120 doesn’t have a capacitor bypassing the bias network like just about every amp I’ve seen. Did they forget?
The original Hafler DH 120 doesn’t have a capacitor bypassing the bias network like just about every amp I’ve seen. Did they forget?
I don't think they did.
This is a good Q and I was just looking into it, but I couldn't find any definitive answers. There're 2 schools of thoughts: one, like Krell, Parasound, uses just a small film cap in the order of 1uF, the other uses much bigger 'lytics, like the 220uF here.
Any thoughts?
Borbely used 0.1 uf film ( not that Zen Mod cares), but the outputs were Hitachi laterals driven by 2sk216/2SJ79 TO220 mosfets
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I bet there are more than one bias network in a Hafler DH 120.
Wrong answer.
What was the wager again? 🙂
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