Thanks, Hugh.
From that I understand that ceramic will work, but may not have the same high quality sonics and stability. So, that can't be the cause of the low volume problem.
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I don't want to speak out of turn, but I think you're right, X.
Twocents picked it up today. R1 is probably an incorrect value; 33R instead of 33K. I'm waiting for confirmation from him. Stay tuned...
Edit: Just received confirmation...
The wrong value R1 was the problem and it is fixed now! The preamp is working as it should and Twocents is overjoyed. He says it sounds "freekin awesome" with the ACA. It's late here, so he might only post tomorrow morning.
Twocents picked it up today. R1 is probably an incorrect value; 33R instead of 33K. I'm waiting for confirmation from him. Stay tuned...
Edit: Just received confirmation...
The wrong value R1 was the problem and it is fixed now! The preamp is working as it should and Twocents is overjoyed. He says it sounds "freekin awesome" with the ACA. It's late here, so he might only post tomorrow morning.
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Awesome news! Actually, it was Twocents who alerted me to possible resistor mixup, but at the time he had not confirmed it yet. Now it is confirmed and fixed. Basically the source was driving a 33ohm load and that produced 1000x less signal than it should have.
Great work and looking forward to a detailed review. So powering an ACA which drives a 0.53 Karlsonators with dual 3FE25-16’s?
I forgot to mention this speaker to JPS64, he is looking for a possible new high sensitivity speaker. It’s 97dB at 2.83v and 8ohms nominal load I think.
Great work and looking forward to a detailed review. So powering an ACA which drives a 0.53 Karlsonators with dual 3FE25-16’s?
I forgot to mention this speaker to JPS64, he is looking for a possible new high sensitivity speaker. It’s 97dB at 2.83v and 8ohms nominal load I think.
Finally working!
Well, at last I am happy to report that my Aksa Lender is finally working now, and working fine indeed!
Yes, I made such a stupid mistake by putting a 33r0 resistor in for R1, instead of 33k0, on both daughter boards. Somehow this one slipped through even though I measure each resistor before soldering.
The first listening test driving the ACA gave me goosebumps, it sounded so amazing. But the gain was too high for the ACA, as I still had R11 at 1k1 (2 x 2k2 resistors). To drop the gain I simply removed the one resistor so that R11 is now at 2k2. I think the value of 2k2 for R11 sets the perfect gain for the ACA as it drives my 88dB Tannoys to almost clipping at max volume with soft recordings. For most recordings I cannot turn the volume to max and normal listening levels seems to lie between 9 and 12 o’clock. For more sensitive speakers I think one can drop the gain of the Lender even more.
I am not even going to try to describe the Lender’s sound, other than it sounds simply fantastic. Like JP, I cannot stop listening. The music is just so much clearer and more dynamic than my beloved B1, and the soundstage is huge, and the bass is amazing.
Thank you X, Hugh, JP and others for making this possible and for helping me to actually build this great preamp. Here is the quick test setup - taking center stage next to my ACA.
Well, at last I am happy to report that my Aksa Lender is finally working now, and working fine indeed!
Yes, I made such a stupid mistake by putting a 33r0 resistor in for R1, instead of 33k0, on both daughter boards. Somehow this one slipped through even though I measure each resistor before soldering.
The first listening test driving the ACA gave me goosebumps, it sounded so amazing. But the gain was too high for the ACA, as I still had R11 at 1k1 (2 x 2k2 resistors). To drop the gain I simply removed the one resistor so that R11 is now at 2k2. I think the value of 2k2 for R11 sets the perfect gain for the ACA as it drives my 88dB Tannoys to almost clipping at max volume with soft recordings. For most recordings I cannot turn the volume to max and normal listening levels seems to lie between 9 and 12 o’clock. For more sensitive speakers I think one can drop the gain of the Lender even more.
I am not even going to try to describe the Lender’s sound, other than it sounds simply fantastic. Like JP, I cannot stop listening. The music is just so much clearer and more dynamic than my beloved B1, and the soundstage is huge, and the bass is amazing.
Thank you X, Hugh, JP and others for making this possible and for helping me to actually build this great preamp. Here is the quick test setup - taking center stage next to my ACA.
Attachments
Yes, I'll now also build an AKSA Lender Pre for my own ACA to drive my dual 3FE25-16 0.53 Karlsonators.
Just to clarify; Twocents and I live in different cities about 50km apart, but as you probably have gathered, we're 'partners in crime', each with our own B1, ACA and now AKSA Lender Pre.
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Twocents,
Great to hear all is well and singing beautifully.
Hi Skylar,
Can you tell me which set of 0.53x plans you ended up using for your dual 3FE25-16’s? I think JPS64 May want to try but I can’t recommend him any particular plan as you would probably have latest info. I know there was one by Tb46 and another by Mudjester, and of course, mine from post 1. You can post over in the other thread or here.
If you guys like the ACA, you are in for a real treat if you ever build the Alpha or Alpha B.B. they are also SE Class A bit with so much more dynamics and headroom. Super wide and open soundstage as well.
Great to hear all is well and singing beautifully.
Hi Skylar,
Can you tell me which set of 0.53x plans you ended up using for your dual 3FE25-16’s? I think JPS64 May want to try but I can’t recommend him any particular plan as you would probably have latest info. I know there was one by Tb46 and another by Mudjester, and of course, mine from post 1. You can post over in the other thread or here.
If you guys like the ACA, you are in for a real treat if you ever build the Alpha or Alpha B.B. they are also SE Class A bit with so much more dynamics and headroom. Super wide and open soundstage as well.
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Hi xrk971, I posted the plans in the other thread.
It is based on all of the previously posted plans, but I drew it out to fit on the A1 sheets that are available in the metric countries. (still the same internal dimensions, though).
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Man, this Lender preamp sounds fantastic with my ACA. Here it is all boxed up now. The enclosure is made from off-cut Perspex and angled aluminium – a common theme for my builds. The Lender box was designed to form a base for my Meccano looking ACA. Together they form an integrated mini-tower Class A amp.
Attachments
Skylar,
Just a reminder that the 2SA1837 has a different pin-out. Double check before soldering