Apologies for the radio silence. The proximity of the transformers in my custom case continued to cause 50Hz noise. So, I have a chap making me a single Toroidal to replace the two large shell transformers that came with the Caledonian Audio kit. The waiting list is 4 weeks so I am patiently waiting....
More soonish.
More soonish.
OK. Toroidal received, Project back on!
Lovely transformer from Primary Windings. Primary is 240VAC, secondaries are 230VAC and 14VAC and it is encased within 2 flux bands, then resin potted into the case:
Unfortunately, it is 5mm too large in diameter to fit into my existing transformer tower, so I had to cut the old tower away, fabricate a new one and weld it on:
The toroidal fits rather tight and I am a little concerned I may get physical buzz as a result, but my space is restricted and this is as big as I can go:
So, now I am painting it in satin aluminium:
I will leave the paint to dry overnight and start rebuilding the amp into it...
Ian
Lovely transformer from Primary Windings. Primary is 240VAC, secondaries are 230VAC and 14VAC and it is encased within 2 flux bands, then resin potted into the case:
Unfortunately, it is 5mm too large in diameter to fit into my existing transformer tower, so I had to cut the old tower away, fabricate a new one and weld it on:
The toroidal fits rather tight and I am a little concerned I may get physical buzz as a result, but my space is restricted and this is as big as I can go:
So, now I am painting it in satin aluminium:
I will leave the paint to dry overnight and start rebuilding the amp into it...
Ian
I have a Pro-Ject RPM5.1 with an Ortofon Bronze cartridge. Power is supplied to a set of Rega R5 floor-standers from a Puresound AC30. So not a mega setup but pretty decent. I removed the Rega pre-amp and hooked up the Caledonian Audio Classique. I dropped the needle on Pink Floyd's "Shine on you crazy Diamond" (my reference track) and sat down to listen.
I have to say that it sounded incredible. I tried a few different valves, settling on the Golden Lion gold pin ECC 83s. To me, these sound as good as the vintage Mallards I borrowed from my Marshall Valve head (so I can put them back now). The EQ curve felt pretty flat to my ears. Not too much bass, no harsh treble or intrusive mids. I was really impressed with how well the Caledonian delivered the low end though. The other phono preamps I have tried seemed to roll off a little at the extreme low end. These Rega R5s can handle down to around 40Hz and I have a Rel subwoofer that I am using to subtly fill the 23-45hz space. Now, on some of Rick Wright's low end keyboard effects in the fantastically-long intro to the song, the Rel's cone was really shifting some air. So much so that I had to lower its gain a little to rebalance the bottom end. None of my previous phono stage preamps had that effect, I assume because they roll-off before reaching much below 40Hz. Not so the Classique (thanks to good old valve amplification I guess), it reaches right in there and shakes your core.
Here is the Classique's frequency response curve:
I have to say that the kit and support I received from Caledonian Audio during the build were absolutely first class. The Designer and Owner there is a chap called Indra, and it is he who provides the support, getting really enthusiastic in the process. A real pleasure to deal with and a patient man too, he was helping someone build the amp who did not know how to solder when I last spoke to him....
I appreciate that I have taken his design Off-Piste with my custom case, and much of the hum issues I had can certainly be attributed to the limited space I had to work with and the proximity of the supplied Primary Windings transformers to the valves. However, the standard enclosures Caledonian Audio provide for this and it's big-sister Power Amplifier look great, would have been a lot less hassle and unlikely to hum at all, but look at the space I had to work with:
All in all, a great fun and very high-quality kit with a truly amazing sound. We have all been sleepwalking through a gradual erosion of sound quality over the years. Digital, CDs, AAC, MP3s etc. It is only when you jump back to true analog (yes, my vinyl dates back to a pre-digital age) from the recording session to your speakers, that you realise it. Listening to "Wish You Were Here" just now, in a dimmed room with my eyes closed and ears wide open, I could have sworn David Gilmore was sat in the chair opposite me with his Fender 12 string acoustic.....
I have to say that it sounded incredible. I tried a few different valves, settling on the Golden Lion gold pin ECC 83s. To me, these sound as good as the vintage Mallards I borrowed from my Marshall Valve head (so I can put them back now). The EQ curve felt pretty flat to my ears. Not too much bass, no harsh treble or intrusive mids. I was really impressed with how well the Caledonian delivered the low end though. The other phono preamps I have tried seemed to roll off a little at the extreme low end. These Rega R5s can handle down to around 40Hz and I have a Rel subwoofer that I am using to subtly fill the 23-45hz space. Now, on some of Rick Wright's low end keyboard effects in the fantastically-long intro to the song, the Rel's cone was really shifting some air. So much so that I had to lower its gain a little to rebalance the bottom end. None of my previous phono stage preamps had that effect, I assume because they roll-off before reaching much below 40Hz. Not so the Classique (thanks to good old valve amplification I guess), it reaches right in there and shakes your core.
Here is the Classique's frequency response curve:
I have to say that the kit and support I received from Caledonian Audio during the build were absolutely first class. The Designer and Owner there is a chap called Indra, and it is he who provides the support, getting really enthusiastic in the process. A real pleasure to deal with and a patient man too, he was helping someone build the amp who did not know how to solder when I last spoke to him....
I appreciate that I have taken his design Off-Piste with my custom case, and much of the hum issues I had can certainly be attributed to the limited space I had to work with and the proximity of the supplied Primary Windings transformers to the valves. However, the standard enclosures Caledonian Audio provide for this and it's big-sister Power Amplifier look great, would have been a lot less hassle and unlikely to hum at all, but look at the space I had to work with:
All in all, a great fun and very high-quality kit with a truly amazing sound. We have all been sleepwalking through a gradual erosion of sound quality over the years. Digital, CDs, AAC, MP3s etc. It is only when you jump back to true analog (yes, my vinyl dates back to a pre-digital age) from the recording session to your speakers, that you realise it. Listening to "Wish You Were Here" just now, in a dimmed room with my eyes closed and ears wide open, I could have sworn David Gilmore was sat in the chair opposite me with his Fender 12 string acoustic.....