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My Maya 200

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I spent a lovely couple of hours at Hugh's place this morning and managed a listen to both the Maya and the Saksa. May I say that it was both a privilege and a pleasure - Hugh is a real gem and the Amps are exactly as you would expect - an evolution of the Aspen sound. Thanks Hugh - I will aspire to place an order at some point for the Maya when I save some pennies. - regards AJ


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Filipe why the wait?! Those beautiful cases are still empty?!!! The store is supposed to begin carrying Sonus Faber speakers....I am not looking forward to it as I don't need the temptation at this stage of my life.

Curiously, even though the store I work for sells B&W speakers mostly, I have never cared for them up until the new D3 series. I don't find them musical. The new D3 series I like however. I always preferred the Dynaudio or PMC speakers that we also sell/sold.

It is interesting and comforting that you too have noticed the same thing I did with regard to the bass output R.Suresh.

Fitero, the cases are still empty...just got the transformers. I am in line for 5 modules from Hugh. They are being manufactured as we speak, will not be long now. Must wait my turn patiently.

Sonus FABER Speakers are dangerous....beware...
I have the Amati Aniversario ...they are wonderfully both in sound and looks. Whatever you do....do not listen to the Homage line.....or you will be in for serious mortgage debt....

Cheers all
Filipe
 
I noticed in the thread above that Hugh has changed the input capacitor in the newest Maya modules to increase the bass output with respect to my version which is less than 6 months old.

I scrounged through my spare parts tins and found a pair of 3,3uf caps, so in they went this morning.
I just got done assembling a new phono preamp (Isotope MM Phono Preamp) and am listening to that now, so I can't tell if the value change has changed the sound or not. Too many changes at once for me to tell.
It just sounds excellent as usual.
 

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Hi Hugh.

I can't objectively say that I have noticed a difference. I like what I hear, but without comparing two amplifiers side by side I think it would be irresponsible of me to opine.

On the other hand, I took the 1uf caps that I removed from the Maya and installed them in the output coupling position of my tube preamp and have compared them to the PIO bypassed with Russian Teflon ones that are in there. I can quickly swap back and forth there and the difference is apparent. I prefer the ones from the Maya curiously. The next time I do some serious listening I will compare them to my favorites to date; Audyn True Copper 1uf. That's a subject for a separate thread though.
 
Hey Andy,
I'd love to try the Jupiter caps, as well as Duelund, V-Caps and others!

I have always been a blue-collar worker and never have had the funds to really indulge in my audio obsession. The most expensive caps that I ever bought were these Audyn, True Copper ones.

I usually end up using Russian PIO and Teflon caps.
 
Well, I spent a little time modifying my preamp to compare the Auricaps that the Maya had originally and the Audyn caps. Both are 1uf.

The Auricaps are definitely more accentuated in the treble. The Auricaps are more musical. Period. This of course refers to my system and my ears, so take with as much skepticism as required.
The next step is going to be to install a set of screw contacts on the Maya boards, just like the ones I have on the preamp, so that I can quickly swap caps without damaging them.
Since the amp modules are completely separate, I will be able to place a 1uf cap in one and a 3,3uf cap in the other and compare instantly solely using the balance controls on my preamp.
I'll update here as I go.
 

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I spent the day swapping caps back and forth in first my preamp, then in the Maya.

In the preamp a 1uf, American made PIO ended up sounding superior to everything else.

Adding the little screw terminals to the amp modules made swapping fast and easy.

I used Tidal and streamed it through my Logitech Transporter. I listened to a variety of music to compare the effect the capacitors had on the sound.
For the bass, the main song I used to compare was Bullet from Kill J. Don't ask me how I came across that group, because I have no idea, but it is catchy and clearly recorded. About 30 seconds into the song a low bass tone comes out of nowhere and rises causing your eyes to blur if the volume is "healthy".
With the 3,3uf Auricaps the bass note can't be heard down low and passes without any drama. With the Auricap and Audyn 1uf caps in place the bass slam comes back and blurs your vision.

I was most interested in confirming or rejecting my initial impression that going from 1uf to 3,3uf had reduced the bass output. That was abundantly clear. No doubt now.

Secondly, I wanted to choose a cap that had the right amount of treble for my tastes.
I ended up leaving the 1uf, Audyn True Copper in the Maya. The bass was great, the treble was just sharp enough and the mid-range was nice.

These are the caps that I had on hand to try. They all have several hundred hours on them.
1uf Auricap. Great bass but strident treble.
3,3uf Auricap. Less bass than above. Treble less prominent. OK.
1uf Audyn, True Copper. Nice and smooth overall. It is what is installed now.
0,01uf FT-1, Russian Teflon. I bypassed the Audyn cap with this but the treble became splashy and too pronounced. I quickly cut the leads while playing and the treble dropped back to where I thought it should be.
1uf K42y-2 Russian, PIO Hybrid. I didn't like this one at all. Vague mid-range and less bass. Yuck.
1,5uf Gen1 Sonicap. This surprised me, as in the preamp it sounded too sharp and artificial. In the Maya it sounded overall very nice. A little less bass than the 1uf Auricap and Audyn.

Next week I will re-test the 1uf and 3,3uf Auricaps to try to make sure I am not making biased determinations. I'd like to try a pair of 1uf K40Y-9 too, but I am out of them.
 

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Hi Peter,

This is fascinating news, thank you for doing such a thorough and careful, subjective test. To me such tests are the best of all, because they represent an attempt to describe the sound quality; measurements have their place, but they don't fully describe what it happening.
The latest batch uses a 3.3uF MKT Vishay 1837 series polyester cap. I feel it's a bit more bassy than the Auricap, but the customer base might have other views, we shall see.... certainly the 'air' and clarity is very clear.

Thanks again, this is incredibly helpful for me as the chooser of my C1 on the Maya!

Cheers,

Hugh
 
... About 30 seconds into the song a low bass tone comes out of nowhere and rises causing your eyes to blur if the volume is "healthy"..

The natural resonance frequency of the human eye ball is 19 Hz, so good chance the low frequencies were in this range. One may also see apparitions (ghosts) when exposed to high amplitudes of these low frequencies.

See the interesting link:
Could A Sonic Weapon Make Your Head Explode? | Popular Science
 
Thank you for the kind comments Hugh.
I am not done with my capacitor search. I will get a pair of the MKT1822 that you are using now and give them a try. My parts tin always has space for some more capacitors!



I got a chuckle from reading your post Twinter. I could imagine my poor eyes rattling around my noggin repeatedly while listening to the music. Haha.
Thanks for the link to the interesting article.
 
I have just recently bought a pair of Maya modules from hugh and i cant wait for their arrival.I have a Lifeforce that has been going strong for over nine years and the led lights are still on.I have tried different input caps on this little gem and they do makes a difference.I have lost count of the amount i have tried but the ones that i remember well was mundorf,black gate and duelund.Of those the Duelund Alexander was by far the most superior and they have remained in my system.They took forever to break in but when they did the angels in heaven could not have sung better!One capacitor does not make an amplifier but this little 55watt has no right to play like this.I would like to try the jupiter copper foil 4.7uf in my Maya but they are very expensive.If anyone has tried the jupiter please post.The Lifeforce used to be a tad bass shy but that is used to be...the higher value caps did make a significant impact on the bass and also improve on the music presentation in general in my Lifeforce ymmv.Dueland jam is the new cap on the market and claim to be a better performer and is much cheaper than jupiter...where is the verdict?we shall hear...
 
Thanks Sene!

Ah, the old LF, which started my first unconventional designs back in, around 2004?

I felt the AKSA was good, but I could do better, and after studying feedback theory I figured that a more accurate error signal would improve fidelity. It seemed to give much more resolution and bring up the bass, and then I gave the amp nested feedback to increase linearity before the output stage. That worked too, but them came the Soraya, and I was on a roll for another ten years. How time flies........

You will have your Maya modules in a couple of weeks, Sene, when you see your daughter! Then you will have your 2JZ Benz running too..... BTW, my Cressida is almost run in now, and returning 10 litre/100kms around Melbourne with the new engine. I'm over the moon about it; I have improved torque, smoothness AND economy, all my increasing CR to 9.7.

Cheers,

Hugh
 
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