ZM is right, the answer, from Wayne, is in this thread. You should read it or as much as you can. I did when I built the line stage. Spoiler alert, Wayne says about 25 mA per channel.
Ok, my turn I guess. I just finished reading the entire thread, some good stuff in here. Already have and love the ACP+ and the Korg B1. I'm building this one for my son for Christmas. WLS almost complete, Glass-Ware PS all set. Still working on the rest, case, selector, volume ctrl. I'll post a few pictures when I get closer.
Thanks to all for everything!!
Thanks to all for everything!!
Good luck! Your son will love it. Looking forward to my little ones being old enough to handle and appreciate this stuff 
Almost a year ago I completed my BA2018 build and loved listening through my Focal Elears. I then went on and completed an M2x and (even with crappy speakers) the combination sounds wonderful. I now want to build a balanced version of the BA2018 and am considering an upgrade to the fairly basic power supply I used in my first build. I seem to have almost convinced myself to go with either Mark Johnston’s VRDN supply or the Salas shunt regulator. The mighty ZM seems to have great admiration for shunt regs but I’m stuck between the two. That said I could always be persuaded to to go with some other alternative if there’s something better out there.
Looking forward to some suggestions.
Regards,
Gary
Looking forward to some suggestions.
Regards,
Gary
Build both and let us know the result. You could also try a suitable ps from this forum member: LT3045 based HPULN Power Supplies for Audio | MPAudio
I use his ps for my Brooklyn dac+ with very good result…
I use his ps for my Brooklyn dac+ with very good result…
Gary: You could also look at a Helios PS designed by member Gaz2613 (see post #2755). A number of builders have used it including me (post #2951).
Cheers
Cheers
I built Gaz2613's power supply and it went together pretty easily. He has a nice build guide on his website associated with it. I don't know enough to say how the power supply effects the sound compared to the others but I will say the BA2018 does sound good.
I like the DC coupled aspect of the BA2018, in addition to excellent measured and subjective performance. But I may risk losing my Pass Labs diyaudio membership card mentioning that no coupling caps might be an "improvement"..
The best cap is no cap. That’s an old saying with a lot of truth.
The thing is just how much people get their knickers in a twist over capacitors in general, and in my experience, the vast majority of that hullabaloo is unwarranted.
The thing is just how much people get their knickers in a twist over capacitors in general, and in my experience, the vast majority of that hullabaloo is unwarranted.
Hello,
I built my WLS and tried Glassware Audio power supply, VRDN (Mark Johnson's) and Salas UBIB regulators all running 18V. Honestly, I cannot tell which one is better. Godspeed.
I built my WLS and tried Glassware Audio power supply, VRDN (Mark Johnson's) and Salas UBIB regulators all running 18V. Honestly, I cannot tell which one is better. Godspeed.
Similar to my experience, built two with a cheapy PSU and a shunt PSU, hard to tell any difference.
I've been using my Balanced B1 Korg preamp with the Aleph J amp all during the fall, lack of time and energy has kept me from swapping the BA2018 line stage until Thanksgiving weekend.
I kept the speaker leads swapped and installed the Balanced BA2018 integrated line stage into my listening room. What a difference with the sound! I never thought or would have tried without your suggestion and 6L6's recommendation. Thank you Russellc! I've been listening to this setup every night since I put the preamp back into my main system.
The UFSP phono preamp by Salas is integrated into the enclosure of the BA2018 preamp, the sound of this phono stage is far superior to the FSP and Threshold FET 10Pe phono preamps I own.
Now to finish the John Curl inspired power supply for my Threshold FET 10Pe, I'm hoping it will elevate the sound and hopefully exceed the UFSP.
Now my question is, why do the speaker leads need to be swapped on a balanced BA2018 line stage?
Hi all,
Hoping for some advice.
I've just completed a BA Linestage, using a Helios power supply. One channel is working well; the other I'm getting significant noise (white noise, quite loud) and low output.
I can get the DC offset stable at around 3mV on the good channel. On the noisy channel it starts at .7V, drifts down to .4V, then back up to .9V, then back down to .4V. Occasionally I can get it hovering around 20mV or so, but then it rapidly drifts again through .5v swings.
I've checked all components, all soldering, cleaned the board back and front including the SMD legs. I've traced the SMD legs to their adjacent pads, there's a very low resistance on each so pretty sure that the legs are properly soldered.
Measurement across resistor R27 is 69.4mV; across R28 is 0mV. By comparison on the good channel R1 measures 34.6mV, R2 measures 34.8mV.
Does this mean Q21 is dead?
I am stumped. This newbie doesn't know enough to know what to do next.😕 Any help appreciated!
Hoping for some advice.
I've just completed a BA Linestage, using a Helios power supply. One channel is working well; the other I'm getting significant noise (white noise, quite loud) and low output.
I can get the DC offset stable at around 3mV on the good channel. On the noisy channel it starts at .7V, drifts down to .4V, then back up to .9V, then back down to .4V. Occasionally I can get it hovering around 20mV or so, but then it rapidly drifts again through .5v swings.
I've checked all components, all soldering, cleaned the board back and front including the SMD legs. I've traced the SMD legs to their adjacent pads, there's a very low resistance on each so pretty sure that the legs are properly soldered.
Measurement across resistor R27 is 69.4mV; across R28 is 0mV. By comparison on the good channel R1 measures 34.6mV, R2 measures 34.8mV.
Does this mean Q21 is dead?
I am stumped. This newbie doesn't know enough to know what to do next.😕 Any help appreciated!
Wow i finally fired up this circuit and i love it. Very balanced sound from top to bottom and has that certain magic to it. However i think my rails are too low? Running it at -+13v with no resistor value change. How should i adjust the resistors?
Also i had couple of botched attempts from soldering the jfets. I think some ppl are just not meant for smds. Any possibility of running this circuit with j309/310s? (Of which i have a bunch) Again what resistor values should change?
Also i had couple of botched attempts from soldering the jfets. I think some ppl are just not meant for smds. Any possibility of running this circuit with j309/310s? (Of which i have a bunch) Again what resistor values should change?