Salas DCG3 preamp (line & headphone)

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It's well matched to my needs, Henry and I have been friends for a long time. I've been following his project and interpretation of your design since he first started. Henry is very particular, methodical, and scientific in his approach, the fact that the DCG3 was what he chose for his project speaks volumes I think about its design quality. And I heard that immediately when I hooked it up.

It is the only hifi amplifier in the house that I did not design. (and that includes some commercial kit lurking around the place)

I'm very pleased with it, and Henry did a great job implementing your design.
 
Henry is very particular, methodical, and scientific in his approach, the fact that the DCG3 was what he chose for his project speaks volumes I think about its design quality.

Well, thanks for the kind words, Kevin. A good scientific theory not only answers a question but prompts further questions and learning. I hope Salas will take pride that his circuit inspires others to use it as a basis for their own exploration.

That said, my build has turned up some unexpected sensitivities. My advice to others is to stick with the official build, which has been thoroughly wrung-out. If you decide to go your own way and run into troubles, you're on your own to sort them out.

At this point, I don't know for sure why I've had oscillations with my boards. They are very close to the official layout. The substitution of discrete 2SK170s for LSK389s doesn't seem off the bat to be a problem. Possibly there is an interaction with the Super Regulator, though I didn't see any RF on the supply rails when I was debugging the prototype.

I've added dominant-pole compensation to the unit in Kevin's hands. My other unit doesn't require it. SPICE simulation probably isn't accurate enough to explain the behavior. The mystery will remain unsolved for now because I don't have the instrumentation to do open-loop gain/phase measurements, and I don't feel like tearing into my finished unit which looks great and is working very well.

-Henry
 
Please what gain for my headphones of 80 dB/V, planar magnetic transducer and 34ohm.
Now I must turn volume dial up to 9 out of 10 on headphone. Line output volume is much better at 5 out of 10 (on a 5x gain power amp)
Current settings on DCG are 3x gain and 150mA bias.
 
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morning Salas
from specifications: 34ohm / sens 93dB / mW
I filled as in attach below.
Just wanted to balance amplifier and headphone loads more even in the middle of dial.
Anyway DCG3 can drive both loads, despite turning up and down the knob each time, no complains, sound is amazing no hum at all, even at 10 to 10 pot dial, .
 

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If you can do it with front panel switch control for mini relay located very near to the dcg3 board's gain resistors it could possibly work without quality degradation but beware of loud pops if switching them live.
Pops are less likely when having one of two gain resistors permanently in circuit and applying another in parallel to reach desired value.
 
Hello, I received the ordered parts. Tomorrow I will test the necessary parameters. BC327 transistors from DIOTEC 50 pieces. selectively measured 10 pieces of hFE 450-470. Close enough you can choose. Who has such transistors, you can check whether the transistor pins are magnetic with an ordinary magnet ( I read about this method of checking for originality) My BC327S are magnetic. I ordered earlier MPSA42/92 also magnetic, there were no complaints about the work. Transistors BF256 and PF5102 are not magnetic. I'm making my UBiB1.3 board to power the preamp. there is a great desire to place the radiators on the board, but there were doubts about the size. Tell me the acceptable dimensions for radiators with a bias current of 100-110 mA. Thanks.
 

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diyAudio Chief Moderator
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Such sinks will go very hot in shunt regs. This reg type works like a heavily biased Class A amp. Consuming as much as it gives out or more. If you can accept high sinks temperature it also takes very good ventilation not to impact a box's internal ambient temperature too much. And to use 105C or 125C capacitors in the vicinity of the sinks of course. M1 & M2 themselves can work at near boiling temperature but with a shorter life expectancy. Use three to four times better thermal capacity sinks.