jimh0612 said:
Sure did, again: many thanks to that awesome bloke! Brent drilled the holes on his pillar drill. I bought the parts and stuffed it. A lot of work in all from drawing board to listening session! No wonder Audiocom aren't doing this in their mods.
Just bought some plain copper board and a small Dremel. Printed the Kwak clock pcb on the pc and after sticking it to the board with PVA going to engrave the traces, soak off the paper and clean it up.
No idea how its going to work out but I bet I'll be cross-eyed!!!
Tried the clock pcb on tripad board but getting loads of solder all over the place trying to cut some tripads and linking others for a groundplane.
May try to compare the two if I get a chance.
Alternatively, may I ask how much Jaap charged you?
(I'll understand if you can't/won't answer)!
So far £20 for the Dremel plus about £1.50 for the board from Mappos.
Brent's pcb's look nice but expensive for me. Good value for most people I guess but I'm not that flush, unfortunately!!
Jim
No idea how its going to work out but I bet I'll be cross-eyed!!!
Tried the clock pcb on tripad board but getting loads of solder all over the place trying to cut some tripads and linking others for a groundplane.
May try to compare the two if I get a chance.
Alternatively, may I ask how much Jaap charged you?
(I'll understand if you can't/won't answer)!
So far £20 for the Dremel plus about £1.50 for the board from Mappos.
Brent's pcb's look nice but expensive for me. Good value for most people I guess but I'm not that flush, unfortunately!!
Jim
I didn't want to shout about getting the board from Jaap as he won't want to be bombarded with requests. I recall he said he didn't want to sell any really as he didn't have the time or very good facilities, sadly. I was just lucky to get it at the same time he did his own and Brent's.
I think Brent is looking into how much it would cost to sell his new PCB unstuffed. It would mean working with SMD parts though.
Simon
ps - that Dremel will really come in handy all over the place I reckon!
I think Brent is looking into how much it would cost to sell his new PCB unstuffed. It would mean working with SMD parts though.
Simon
ps - that Dremel will really come in handy all over the place I reckon!
jimh0612 said:
Hi Jim,
The main reason for that is the Holcos are metal film and the Kiwames carbon film; doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the brand.
Ray
Yeh I thought so too!!
Figured that about the pcb also and our friend. Hope I haven't said too much already.
Asked Brent a bit back about the unstuffed version, but SMD gives me the willies.
I bu****ed the smd resistors in Ray's filter mods I think cos some of the values were way different once I'd soldered them in place. Something to do with too much heat changing the values.
BTW I agree with your comments on the MP3 thread about the difference in recording quality after modding your CDP.
I can already tell the difference in quality between tracks on Sade's greatest hits, and in a way it's a shame to mod the player because now I don't like to listen to some tracks in my music collection because now I can hear how s**t the recording is!!
Jim
Figured that about the pcb also and our friend. Hope I haven't said too much already.
Asked Brent a bit back about the unstuffed version, but SMD gives me the willies.
I bu****ed the smd resistors in Ray's filter mods I think cos some of the values were way different once I'd soldered them in place. Something to do with too much heat changing the values.
BTW I agree with your comments on the MP3 thread about the difference in recording quality after modding your CDP.
I can already tell the difference in quality between tracks on Sade's greatest hits, and in a way it's a shame to mod the player because now I don't like to listen to some tracks in my music collection because now I can hear how s**t the recording is!!
Jim
Hi Ray
your reply came up while I was replying to Simon's post.
Didn't realise the difference in construction.
Did you choose the Holco's on availability or sound quality?
Also am I right about the differences in values on the filter mods - I measured before and after soldering in place.
I kept the heat to a minimum where I could but probably ham-fisted compared to you - I've seen your work and wish I could solder like that!!
Jim
your reply came up while I was replying to Simon's post.
Didn't realise the difference in construction.
Did you choose the Holco's on availability or sound quality?
Also am I right about the differences in values on the filter mods - I measured before and after soldering in place.
I kept the heat to a minimum where I could but probably ham-fisted compared to you - I've seen your work and wish I could solder like that!!
Jim
Ahha, Ray uses Kiwames too, in fact I bought them partly on his recommendation.
The Kiwames are said not to suffer from the distortion problems of lesser carbon resistors. This needs to be said in case anyone thinks the nice sound is harmonic distortion and measurable. It won't be measurable with bog standard equipment.
The Kiwames are said not to suffer from the distortion problems of lesser carbon resistors. This needs to be said in case anyone thinks the nice sound is harmonic distortion and measurable. It won't be measurable with bog standard equipment.
Hi Simon
Didn't realise Ray used Kiwame's.
The parts list on his site specifies Holco H4's but I'm happy to follow your choice now you've expalined the tubey sound.
Jim
Didn't realise Ray used Kiwame's.
The parts list on his site specifies Holco H4's but I'm happy to follow your choice now you've expalined the tubey sound.
Jim
He's used Kiwames "somewhere", not necessarily in this same thing! But you won't go wrong with those little green 2w jobs. They're lovely and also not too pricey. Cheaper than Holcos.
Even better. Hehe!!
Must be the Yorkshire blood coming out ( The Mrs is from Leeds and the "careful"ness is rubbing off!!)
Jim
Must be the Yorkshire blood coming out ( The Mrs is from Leeds and the "careful"ness is rubbing off!!)
Jim
Hi guys,
I try to mix the different types of components, to avoid ending up with a too smooth or too bright sound. I used Holcos in the CD outputstage, Holcos in the ladder-switch and 5W Kiwames as anode resistors in my tubeamp, and 5W Kiwames in the tweeter section of my LS filters.
The 5W Kiwames are great for tubegear and LS filters, you can finally get rid of those cheap ceramic wirewound ones, or the metal oxide ones.
Ray
I try to mix the different types of components, to avoid ending up with a too smooth or too bright sound. I used Holcos in the CD outputstage, Holcos in the ladder-switch and 5W Kiwames as anode resistors in my tubeamp, and 5W Kiwames in the tweeter section of my LS filters.
The 5W Kiwames are great for tubegear and LS filters, you can finally get rid of those cheap ceramic wirewound ones, or the metal oxide ones.
Ray
At the moment I have a PM66KI modded a la Brent (apart from the bigger res caps and output transistors) and am about to change the pot for an Alps Blue.
I feel at the mo I still have a lot of work to do on the CD63 so would you think the stepped attenuator is a way forward?
Jim
I feel at the mo I still have a lot of work to do on the CD63 so would you think the stepped attenuator is a way forward?
Jim
Hear all, see all, say nowt
Eat all, sup all, pay nowt
And if tha does owt for nowt
Mek sure tha does it for thisen.
Old Yorkshire set of rules for life...........
Eat all, sup all, pay nowt
And if tha does owt for nowt
Mek sure tha does it for thisen.
Old Yorkshire set of rules for life...........
jimh0612 said:
If you're after a more "musical" sound then you're probably looking in the wrong place with a stepped attenuator. It's an expensive fiddly thing that won't help it sound more engaging (I'd bet money on that). I presume you're talking about just using this in place of the pot.
IMHO.
Simon
ps - nice Yorkshire proverb lol
SimontY said:
[sarcastic]
That's not entirely accurate...
[/sarcastic]
I'm willing to take you on for that bet Simon 😀.
When I changed the blue Alps in my tubeamp the difference was BIG.
Ray
FWIW Jim, I think a great sound from standardish gear requires:
* top flight source
* any amp really
* speakers that match your ears and room
* carefully sorted room
The system supports, cabling and mains come in too and combined are important.
* top flight source
* any amp really
* speakers that match your ears and room
* carefully sorted room
The system supports, cabling and mains come in too and combined are important.
I could be flamed for saying any amp will do but recently hearing 3 very different power amps in my system made me realise that the musicality can be intact even when the flavour changes. (although I was very impressed by Hugo/Netlist's massive class A jobs at the UK meet.)
Conversely, NOT just any old source will do, it MUST be excellent or it will never tingle the spine.
Ray,
Shoot me! I made an educated guess with the attenuater. I've tried a few pots and found so little difference I assume they can't sound all that different to a couple of resistors. Maybe I was being too simplistic.
Conversely, NOT just any old source will do, it MUST be excellent or it will never tingle the spine.
Ray,
Shoot me! I made an educated guess with the attenuater. I've tried a few pots and found so little difference I assume they can't sound all that different to a couple of resistors. Maybe I was being too simplistic.