Hello
I haven't seen any threads about this amp yet (except from mr. Murdey) nor have I stumbled across any reviews. It's a shame, for something deep inside my music loving soul beckons "If you build it, they will come".
I have ordered the boards. Meanwhile, I have laid out the other components on hand for a dry fit.
GX248 enclosure with Qualtek inlet module. Tiffany style gold plated RCA's. Noratel 20va 2x12 toroid (enough power?) a rectefier board from Peter Daniel. Alps Blue Velvet 50k. 34mm Black aluminium knob. I think the oversized knob's gonna look cool on this case.
Panels are made up in Front Panel Express, but they will be the last on the shopping list.
Hookup most likely Kimber TCSS. No fancy stuff, just plain ol' quality.
I haven't buildt much in the past. I hope I don't screw this up 🙄
My builds are: AudioSector LM3875, Boozehound phonostage, Bugle 2, Alps single input/output passive, Objective 2 and the B1. And two or three other that I screwed up and threw away. To eager to be thurrough. A couple of cases, two or three powersupplies and a phonostage that my noob head couldn't get around. Tears shed, lesson learned.
A small teaser:
I haven't seen any threads about this amp yet (except from mr. Murdey) nor have I stumbled across any reviews. It's a shame, for something deep inside my music loving soul beckons "If you build it, they will come".
I have ordered the boards. Meanwhile, I have laid out the other components on hand for a dry fit.
GX248 enclosure with Qualtek inlet module. Tiffany style gold plated RCA's. Noratel 20va 2x12 toroid (enough power?) a rectefier board from Peter Daniel. Alps Blue Velvet 50k. 34mm Black aluminium knob. I think the oversized knob's gonna look cool on this case.
Panels are made up in Front Panel Express, but they will be the last on the shopping list.
Hookup most likely Kimber TCSS. No fancy stuff, just plain ol' quality.
I haven't buildt much in the past. I hope I don't screw this up 🙄
My builds are: AudioSector LM3875, Boozehound phonostage, Bugle 2, Alps single input/output passive, Objective 2 and the B1. And two or three other that I screwed up and threw away. To eager to be thurrough. A couple of cases, two or three powersupplies and a phonostage that my noob head couldn't get around. Tears shed, lesson learned.
A small teaser:
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i'll be keeping an eye on this thread as i'm a Sapphire user and abuser 🙂
you will not be disappointed with the sound. i'm still playing with mine (rev 14s1 boards) and at the moment i would say it does not get any better. Richards rev 20 boards address all the problems of the 14s1 so your in for a treat. oohhh and don't bother with the by-pass caps as they robbed the sound on the 14s1 boards so i would hazard a guess it will do the same on the 20 boards.
i would also recommend you get some nice caps for C1. the ones Richard sends out are nice but a bit rough sounding in the vocals.
a single 20va is not going to cut the mustard so do yourself a favour and get another one.
i have 2x 120va at the moment but they are horrid cheep RS Component ones that buzz like a lady's friend. but all is not lost as i have a custom built 300va 4x12 designed for audio use on the way from Poland and they are mega good prices, i almost fell over laughing they are that well priced.
don't bother with silly expensive hookup as good old cat5 works fantastic. when you strip the cat5 you want to use the loose twisted pair and throw the tight twisted in the bin.
i don't know why more people use the Sapphire as it's one hell of a great sounding headamp. i absolutely love mine and all of my friends that have had a listen were stunned at the sound quality.
you will not be disappointed with the sound. i'm still playing with mine (rev 14s1 boards) and at the moment i would say it does not get any better. Richards rev 20 boards address all the problems of the 14s1 so your in for a treat. oohhh and don't bother with the by-pass caps as they robbed the sound on the 14s1 boards so i would hazard a guess it will do the same on the 20 boards.
i would also recommend you get some nice caps for C1. the ones Richard sends out are nice but a bit rough sounding in the vocals.
a single 20va is not going to cut the mustard so do yourself a favour and get another one.
i have 2x 120va at the moment but they are horrid cheep RS Component ones that buzz like a lady's friend. but all is not lost as i have a custom built 300va 4x12 designed for audio use on the way from Poland and they are mega good prices, i almost fell over laughing they are that well priced.
don't bother with silly expensive hookup as good old cat5 works fantastic. when you strip the cat5 you want to use the loose twisted pair and throw the tight twisted in the bin.
i don't know why more people use the Sapphire as it's one hell of a great sounding headamp. i absolutely love mine and all of my friends that have had a listen were stunned at the sound quality.
just had a look at your blog and you already know about the Toroidy transformers. you also mention noise so i'm getting a bit worried about mine now :-(
Don't be worried. I have not star grounded my amp, and I have also used the toroids ground wire to chassis. Removing this and using starground can fix the humming. Or so I am lead to belive. Yeah the polish are wicked cheap.
Ok, so I need another toroid and rectefier bridge . Very well.
I like the Kimber, it is easy to apply and has teflon dialectric. Also, Kimber spell cable with a K. Very kool 🙂
And its not that expensive , I will probably spend tenfold the amount on two caps 🙂
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i have just replaced the 2 Mundorf 0.68uf MCap EVO Aluminium-Oil with 2 Rike Audio 0.68uf S-Cap Aluminium Pio. the difference is night and day. the evo oil were nice but the S-Cap's are leagues ahead. i liked the evo oil as they were nice and open once bedded in but now listening to the S-Cap's the Evo sound damned right gritty. the S-Cap's are just as open and bright but a lot smoother with a quieter background. the S-Cap's have about 5hrs on them so still loads of bedding in to do but so far i'm very much liking what i'm hearing.
I have the standard mundorfs in my B1 and really don't have any complaints 🙂 Im reading about Dynamicaps, think I'll try those in this one.
The boards kit arrived today 🙂
I went straight out and bought a cold soldering beer and got to it. I have learned a lesson or two from previous mistakes. I worked systematically this time, not just parts and solder all over the place. They came together after a couple of hrs and a dinner break 🙂
I went straight out and bought a cold soldering beer and got to it. I have learned a lesson or two from previous mistakes. I worked systematically this time, not just parts and solder all over the place. They came together after a couple of hrs and a dinner break 🙂
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looking good 🙂
i love the soldering part and hate wiring everything up. i can never get wiring to look neat and tidy like other folk :-(
i would have waited to see what Richard's final thoughts were on the by-pass caps though.
i love the soldering part and hate wiring everything up. i can never get wiring to look neat and tidy like other folk :-(
i would have waited to see what Richard's final thoughts were on the by-pass caps though.
Yeah, me to. Wiring inside tight spaces especially. I am thinking I need a toroid with 4x12 instead of trying to fit and wire up two of them. I checked with Toroidy and it's about 50 euros shipped (75 shipped for an "audio supreme" version) that leaves me with an extra transformer for something else. A nice powersupply for my B1, perhaps.
I had some spare Phoenix contacts, so wiring should be simpler. I won't have to solder anything underneath the boards.
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![20140324_201937_HDR[1].jpg](/community/data/attachments/363/363800-2f06c7aa01d29efa0440cd390e0641bb.jpg?hash=LwbHqgHSnv)
A question: If I want my amp to have a passthrough/loop out, then all I need to do is run a second set of wires from the boards out-pads? One to headphone jack and the other to RCA's?
only if you want a variable output with high gain. for a fixed output and as far as i'm led to believe you need a buffer.
i made a pcb that acts as a sort of preamp. a simple 2 way push switch for turntable and cd input but has 1 variable and 1 fixed output. if the passive does not work with the fixed output i will put Richard's B-Boards in as a buffer for longer cable runs. i done this so i can connect to my pc for recording vinyl and if later on i decide to add some power amps. whether it works or not remains to be seen. i took the fixed output before the volume pot and the variable just after the volume pot and before the Sapphire.
i made a pcb that acts as a sort of preamp. a simple 2 way push switch for turntable and cd input but has 1 variable and 1 fixed output. if the passive does not work with the fixed output i will put Richard's B-Boards in as a buffer for longer cable runs. i done this so i can connect to my pc for recording vinyl and if later on i decide to add some power amps. whether it works or not remains to be seen. i took the fixed output before the volume pot and the variable just after the volume pot and before the Sapphire.
OK. I'll make it with two inputs instead. Gives me a reason to make a line-router to put before the B1-buffer, so I can choose between headphone amp and cans or my stereo 🙂
ahhh i see what you want to do now. yes a simple passive switch on the source input would suffice. that way you just flick a switch and the source goes to your stereo and by-passes the headphone amp completely so it does not even have to be switched on. if you want a powered solution then yes use RJM's b-board in between.
Just noticed this thread...
There are a few different options when the chassis has 2 sets of RCA jacks.
1. One input, leave the other disconnected.
2. Two inputs, with a DPDT switch.
3. One input, one output taken from the sapphire output (in parallel with the headphone jack, or from the switched output of a headphone jack that automatically routes to a second set of terminals when the headphone is unplugged.)
4. One input, one output taken from after the volume control. (passive pre out)
5. One input, one "output" taken from the input. (pass through pre out)
A word of warning: not all of these will be successful due to the possibility of ground loops.
There are a few different options when the chassis has 2 sets of RCA jacks.
1. One input, leave the other disconnected.
2. Two inputs, with a DPDT switch.
3. One input, one output taken from the sapphire output (in parallel with the headphone jack, or from the switched output of a headphone jack that automatically routes to a second set of terminals when the headphone is unplugged.)
4. One input, one output taken from after the volume control. (passive pre out)
5. One input, one "output" taken from the input. (pass through pre out)
A word of warning: not all of these will be successful due to the possibility of ground loops.
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