Babelfish XA252 / Babelfish XA252 SIT / Babelfish XA252 SET

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if you ever pop up internal limiter ( said several times - it's blatantly copied arrangement from Papa's), to be sure that limiter is not limiting anymore, power amp off and wait a minute, then turn it on again

comparing two states - possible limiting ( congestion) state vs. off-on cycle/reset state, only then you can deduce was it a problem or not

protection is firing up when you reach 10A peak, any rail

remember - that one (you're having) is only 35W@8R amp, even if pretty peculiar one
 
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if you ever pop up internal limiter ( said several times - it's blatantly copied arrangement from Papa's), to be sure that limiter is not limiting anymore, power amp off and wait a minute, then turn it on again

comparing two states - possible limiting ( congestion) state vs. off-on cycle/reset state, only then you can deduce was it a problem or not

protection is firing up when you reach 10A peak, any rail

remember - that one (you're having) is only 35W@8R amp, even if pretty peculiar one

To be honest, I'm testing the op amps in a prototype version of the P3 at the same time I got the Macho Mister siT back up... so it's a lot of unknowns right now. Any odd sounds send me to Mommy!

I ended up hooking up a Radio Shack speaker power meter, and sure enough:

(1) There seems to be an imbalance that I think it's coming out from the P3. Not much, enough for my audiophile neurosis ( old toobe guy me... ).
(2) Later, I kept playing music and I noticed that it's really not putting out much more than 5 watts on "peaks".

Like I wrote earlier, I'm 1000% nervous about the amp. But it seems to be working fine.... who knows? It does sound marvelous.

Maybe Nelson is correct with his "First Watt" mantra... so long as you are not trying to run Maggies, that is.
 
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revert to full MOS and drive maggies

Nope, Nyet, No Way Jose.

It's the SIT path now. (1)

Deliver us with the Biggus Dickus Baddam Bingum - Stabilis Inductione Transistor (BDBB-SIT) amplifier. You are the closest to Rome, hence What Has Augustus Alek Ex Moesia Done For Us?


The Maggie 1.7 currently have the Aleph 2 and the Maggie 12s have the Aleph 5 monoblocks. (2)

As you can figure out, I need a bigger house and/or bigger closets.

However, there's a new Maggie, the 2. something. That might be doable as the 3.7s are just too big. That baby is gonna need the BDBB-SIT. The Iron Pre Balanced are taking shape... maybe I can get labels made for it, Nola Incontinentia and a BDBB for the amp and they will both be happy in Roman Land. What has Alek done for us besides good soundstaging, low noise, excellent dynamics, a weird naming convention, smoking theatrics... ? OK. we need to add Nelson too, but his naming convention is not very exciting, huh?

I suppose I'm on a quixotic hope that I can get One Amplifier To Drive Them All.

(1) Damn, it sounds really good and a bit of audiophile nervosa is good for the soundstaging.
(2) If I got the BDBB-SIT, do you thing Macho SIT could drive a pair of Harbeth M30.1? Someday my daughter might move out and I'll have another bedroom to stuff with audio.
 
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Mine has no choice but to run Maggies.

Apogees…

Which amp(s) are you running?

I tried the Sissy SIT on the Maggie 1.7 and it astonished me how well it drove them... not loud, mind you, but the sound staging was spot on and the strings were sweet. Sure, no Umlaut Heavy Metal need apply... but then Maggies don't do that.
 
I have M2OPS running at the moment but have tried quite a few. I did like the Sissy but settled on the F4 before swapping in the current amp. My aim is to replace that with XA252 ( and be done :clown: ) Maggies are 0.7i - my default listening levels are low , i do not need concert level as long as I have the detail and depth..dB
 
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The F4 is fascinating. It works extremely well with the CJ tube preamps I got... both are high gain and put out 20Vrms so they work quite well.

I actually bought the Audio Notes because I needed something reasonably efficient... for many years I've been running speakers in the mid 80 db/w and the CJ/F4 combination played exceptionally well at low listening levels, but the noise floor is so low that the dynamic range is there. The AN allowed me to "crank it" up. Sort of.

The Sissy is also a great match with the CJ/AN as it has less power but with with its lowish gain it works quite well.

With either the F4 or Sissy I never felt the need for more power. My other amp that I love is an old ARC D70-II, recently redone with nice Svetlanas. It is colored, yes, but it sounds really good and at 58 wpc it has more power than either of those amps.

The Macho 252 SIT (*) has a lot more power, but oddly it doesn't feel like it's loud. It's just very, very clean with less coloration that the Sissy, more bass and an extended treble. But it has relatively high gain, so you really need a low gain preamp or you hear some noise from the phono stage. I actually have most of the parts to put together a TVC. It might work quite well.... but first I want to try the Iron Pre.

I might end up with two systems sharing the same TT/phono preamp.

(*) I call it "macho" to counterbalance the "Sissy".... seriously, naming convention?
 
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The XA252 also triggers me the last couple of months. I have 86dB unefficient Sonus Faber Venere 2.0 bookshelfes which I often push to 80vpp output voltage. Would using higher rails for front end result in a couple of volts higher output?

no big deal, per se
increasing rails to 45Vdc (35Vac Donut secondaries) is practically next hop, asking for slight changes - from top of my head - few small resistor changes, increasing zener in series with precision CCS, change of BD 139/140 bjts to something as MJE340/350 .......

I can devise that, but not tonight

Sonus - asking for 80Vpp, 7" woofie?

Man, your A Class amps ( any of them, doesn't need to be ZM's) are really deserving better than that

if you like A Class amps, mate them with adequate spks, and you'll be happier

I'm content with anyone's choice, so not objecting, even not preaching ...... just saying

and it's known that ZM's Sayin' is Absolute Truth

:clown:
 
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Which amp(s) are you running?
Only halfway projects. Currently a BA-3 with a few tweaks to the front end. It is originally intended as a bass amp once I finish my proto open baffles, or to be replaced when I eventually build MZM’s TL’s for my tanns. I have the F2J and AJ Zen too. For pre I have a p2p/breadboard B1R2T. So a lot of experimenting, looking more shitty by the day but I don’t care, cuz it sounds good.

Compared to your drek, my setup is sissinezzezz :rofl: My hobby is now reduced to either nothing, or in-between tweaking, due to time constraints. So I chose the latter, hence shittinezzez.

would like maggies some day. You tried them with F4’s?

XA252 is intriguing, but I don’t need the power or current with current speakers.
 
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no big deal, per se
increasing rails to 45Vdc (35Vac Donut secondaries) is practically next hop, asking for slight changes - from top of my head - few small resistor changes, increasing zener in series with precision CCS, change of BD 139/140 bjts to something as MJE340/350 .......

I can devise that, but not tonight

Sonus - asking for 80Vpp, 7" woofie?

Man, your A Class amps ( any of them, doesn't need to be ZM's) are really deserving better than that

if you like A Class amps, mate them with adequate spks, and you'll be happier

I'm content with anyone's choice, so not objecting, even not preaching ...... just saying

and it's known that ZM's Sayin' is Absolute Truth

:clown:
Yes 7”. Am married 😉 and floorstanders or bigger speakers are a NoGo. Thanks for the feedback !!
 
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...

would like maggies some day. You tried them with F4’s?

XA252 is intriguing, but I don’t need the power or current with current speakers.

I have tried the 1.7 with an F4 and Sissy. The CJ ET3SE (teflon caps) and CJ PV9 (also with teflon caps) and F4 are good for about 35 wpc... The combination sounds really, really good. If you like the sound of your tubed preamp and have 20Vrms gain then this is the way to go.

I have not tried the Macho 252 SIT with the 1.7 yet..

Oddly the ET3SE/F4 and ET3SE/Sissy "sound" louder than the ET3SE/Macho 252. It could be that I'm being very careful with the volume... and that it really sounds very transparent. Those combinations are with the AN speakers.

For LOUDNESS, the A2s are the ticket. Whenever I fire up the A2/1.7 combo I can't believe how much louder it gets.

Which is better? Depends... they're different presentations.
 
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