I did not test the final build yet - I have to bring my speakers here.
I will test over the weekend. But based on the earlier tests - expectations are high 😉
Listening tests
Finally, re-assembled the whole system and did some listening.
Digital media player as a "transport", then Onkyo sound processor (DACs and volume control), and then - my power amp. Lossless formats with high bitrates. Monitor Audio RS-8 speakers.
What can I say... top quality.
Extremely natural, fast, airy mids and highs.
Tight, powerful bass. Excellent control over the speakers at high power.
No "flattening" and detail loss at low volumes.
Spyro Gyra's "Impressions of Toledo" - lots of instruments and each of them has got its place in 3D scene space.
I don't see (hear 🙂) any drawbacks for now. Perfect universal "main" power amp in the system - powerful, fast, low noise, ultra-low distortion, capable of driving any speakers, especially good for the "difficult" ones.
Easily repeatable - all the modules are thoroughly tested and work right after soldering if no mistakes are made. Recommended for building with no hesitation! 😉
Slightly improving the grounding scheme of my build - barely noticeable (but still) mains hum... I want to make it "dead quiet"
Cheers,
Valery
Finally, re-assembled the whole system and did some listening.
Digital media player as a "transport", then Onkyo sound processor (DACs and volume control), and then - my power amp. Lossless formats with high bitrates. Monitor Audio RS-8 speakers.
What can I say... top quality.
Extremely natural, fast, airy mids and highs.
Tight, powerful bass. Excellent control over the speakers at high power.
No "flattening" and detail loss at low volumes.
Spyro Gyra's "Impressions of Toledo" - lots of instruments and each of them has got its place in 3D scene space.
I don't see (hear 🙂) any drawbacks for now. Perfect universal "main" power amp in the system - powerful, fast, low noise, ultra-low distortion, capable of driving any speakers, especially good for the "difficult" ones.
Easily repeatable - all the modules are thoroughly tested and work right after soldering if no mistakes are made. Recommended for building with no hesitation! 😉
Slightly improving the grounding scheme of my build - barely noticeable (but still) mains hum... I want to make it "dead quiet"
Cheers,
Valery
Attachments
Hi Valery,
I notice an extra small board next to the IPS, is that the regulated psu for the IPS? Did you feel the cap multiplier wasn't sufficient? Is that supply one of your designs? If so, have you shared it?
For your main psu, what size transformers did you use and what size filter caps?
Thanks, Terry
I notice an extra small board next to the IPS, is that the regulated psu for the IPS? Did you feel the cap multiplier wasn't sufficient? Is that supply one of your designs? If so, have you shared it?
For your main psu, what size transformers did you use and what size filter caps?
Thanks, Terry
Hi Terry,
You're right, those are shunt regulators. In fact, cap multiplyers are good enough, but for "high end" implementation... 😛
Regulated rails for the front-end are just perfect. "Virtual battery" 😉
They are published earlier in this thread - >Post #104<
I will send you the gerbers.
Main PSU gives +/-70V DC, regulators bring it down to +/-50V DC.
Transformers are 2 x 400VA. Caps are 3 x 6800 uF per rail per channel (12 caps in total).
Cheers,
Valery
Finally, re-assembled the whole system and did some listening.
Digital media player as a "transport", then Onkyo sound processor (DACs and volume control), and then - my power amp. Lossless formats with high bitrates. Monitor Audio RS-8 speakers.
What can I say... top quality.
Extremely natural, fast, airy mids and highs.
Tight, powerful bass. Excellent control over the speakers at high power.
No "flattening" and detail loss at low volumes.
Spyro Gyra's "Impressions of Toledo" - lots of instruments and each of them has got its place in 3D scene space.
I don't see (hear 🙂) any drawbacks for now. Perfect universal "main" power amp in the system - powerful, fast, low noise, ultra-low distortion, capable of driving any speakers, especially good for the "difficult" ones.
Easily repeatable - all the modules are thoroughly tested and work right after soldering if no mistakes are made. Recommended for building with no hesitation! 😉
Slightly improving the grounding scheme of my build - barely noticeable (but still) mains hum... I want to make it "dead quiet"
Cheers,
Valery
Glad to see you made yourself a large main amp, makes all the difference ?
You might find OEM speakers are not up to what one of these big amps
can dish out !
PS - yes ! RS-8 = 175w, a little more than my Dayton/missions. I can easily
fry my speakers at "half slewmaster".
OS
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Thank you Pete - yes, finally... very happy with it ))
Yeah - good to have a lot of swing and current capability... but the I'm very careful with the volume pot ))) this is a "killing machine" 😀
Hi Greg,
Yes, it's still the core of my home audio system - I'm very happy about the performance, reliability and the way it fits the speakers. You know, it's not like "it's good enough, but I would change it to something better if I have a chance" - a good power amplifier is very "invisible", hidden component in the system - it doesn't bother you, you forget it's there at all 😀
That's exactly the case 😎
Some info is available here: my CF-FET v2.0
Let me know if you will need more details.
Cheers,
Valery
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