hoverdonkey said:I have Tamura trannies on this DAC which sound great... but I am reading here more and more good things about those UTC A-20s.
Has anyone tried both? Can you tempt me to spend the ���? Are they good enough that my cat should go hungry?
NO - they are not that good! Unless your cat is confined to your home, in which case I would borrow some budgies and or goldfish, he should be able to scavenge a meal here and there.....ours lives in the country and is rather partial to rabbit; and our neighbour's cat's food which he steals. They have a cat flap! He also likes music!
The Tamuras come in all sorts of quality and configurations. Their best stuff is as good as any. They make stuff right across the price/technical quality scale: I have a 30 year old retired Sony Tuner - it has a Tamura mains Tx. If your Tamuras have been pulled from old studio gear they may be either very good or not so good or anywhere between. Unless you are feeling that they are not that good I would leave them be and let your cat get fat! But unless you know the exact equipment they came from no one can tell without hearing/fully measuring them whether they are (technically) better than the A-20s .
The A-20 UTC Txs are well documented and made to a very high quality. They have a wide bandwidth and and no one here has bad mouthed them for the present purpose. Unless you risk about £100 you wont know either way so be lucky
Mush said:
They did also make lower than top quality stuff for economy boards. Their absolute best stuff is too expensive other than for the absolute highest quality desks. Hence my last remarks.
Now dogs are a different proposition to cats. Unless they are street dogs or have been dumped in the wild they will always choose to eat at home!
(only dog smilie I could find)
hoverdonkey said:I have Tamura trannies on this DAC which sound great... but I am reading here more and more good things about those UTC A-20s.
Has anyone tried both? Can you tempt me to spend the £££? Are they good enough that my cat should go hungry?
I have Tamuras Yamaha GA80080 and UTC HA-108 which are bigger and have a special core better than A-20
Tamura
High definition sound, lot of details, little light in the bass which is well controlled
UTC
Lot of bass, goes lower (bigger core ?) lush mids, deeper soundstage. Soft treble less detailed than the Tam
The UTC shows 20khz square waves that doesn't goes as high as the Tam. By listening, this means that the UTC is mellower in the treble and has a predominence in the mid -bass mid which gives it romantic sound.
hoverdonkey said:I have Tamura trannies on this DAC which sound great... but I am reading here more and more good things about those UTC A-20s.
Has anyone tried both? Can you tempt me to spend the £££? Are they good enough that my cat should go hungry?
I think you should buy a pair, and if you don't like them you can send them to me for disposal, free of charge.
legarem said:
Thanks guys
I too have the Tamura GA80080s (from a Yamaha PM-1000 mixing desk apparently) - I wholly agree with legarem's description of them.
I have only two itches with my system at the moment - 1) it's a bit bright and 2) there is a hole in the lower mid/upper bass. From legarem's description, it could just be that some UTC 108s help with both...
Excuse me while I put some bird seed by the cat flap...
PS Bill - Thanks for your kind offer!
Hi folks!
My pair of UTC A-20 have just arrived (woohoo no customs duty to pay for once!) and I want to double-check the wiring, this might also help others here as a reference:
For use with this DAC then we need the 500 ohm primary/secondary taps.
Primary connections:
Signal enters at pin 1, which is joined to pin 6.
Pins 3, 4 and earth (CT) are connected together.
Secondary connections:
Signal exits pin 7, which is joined to pin 12.
Pins 9, 10 and earth (CT) are connected together.
Is this correct? I'd appreciate it if someone could correct any mistakes.
Many thanks,
- John
My pair of UTC A-20 have just arrived (woohoo no customs duty to pay for once!) and I want to double-check the wiring, this might also help others here as a reference:
For use with this DAC then we need the 500 ohm primary/secondary taps.
Primary connections:
Signal enters at pin 1, which is joined to pin 6.
Pins 3, 4 and earth (CT) are connected together.
Secondary connections:
Signal exits pin 7, which is joined to pin 12.
Pins 9, 10 and earth (CT) are connected together.
Is this correct? I'd appreciate it if someone could correct any mistakes.
Many thanks,
- John
johnm said:
Hi John,
Both the DAC chip and the transformers are differential devices, no grounds are needed or wanted. Tie 3 and 4 together and 1 and 6 go to the dac chip, likewise on the secondary, tie 9 and 10 together and use 7 and 12 for the output to an RCA jack or XLR. Just keep the phasing consistent channel to channel. That's it, enjoy.
Bill
Hey Bill!
Thanks for clearing that up - one last thing, do I take it that 1 and 6 goto the + and - points on then DAC, and they're not tied together as indicated on the UTC transformer casing?
Sorry if this is a painfully silly question, I just don't want to make any mistakes
Cheers,
- John
Thanks for clearing that up - one last thing, do I take it that 1 and 6 goto the + and - points on then DAC, and they're not tied together as indicated on the UTC transformer casing?
Sorry if this is a painfully silly question, I just don't want to make any mistakes
Cheers,
- John
That is not a silly question but I dont have a pic at hand so I am going by memory. 1,2,and 3 are the connections to one primary winding, 4,5,and 6 are the second primary winding. Connecting 3 to 4 connects the two windings in series so 1 and 6 go to the dac plus and minus. If the can shows something different you will have to post a pic.
I just found a pic of the A20s, it shows CONNECT TO 1 and 6, that does not mean connect them together, you use them for your external connections. It also says tie 3 and 4, ct which means you can use that point for a center tap but you dont need a center tap, so just tie 3 and 4 together.
Bill
Bill
UTC wiring
I gave the link on post #940 for UTC transformers:
http://www.bunkerofdoom.com/xfm/UTC_TERMINALS_LS_9_57_50M/UTCTERMLS95750M.PDF
I gave the link on post #940 for UTC transformers:
http://www.bunkerofdoom.com/xfm/UTC_TERMINALS_LS_9_57_50M/UTCTERMLS95750M.PDF
piero7 said:
I haven't done any comparaisons between the A-20 and HA-108. I bought the HA-108 and GA80080 after one of my friends gave me the information about vintage transformers best buys. Here is the list.
WE 111C
WE 119C
WE 111D
WE 93F
UTC HA-108(X)
Yamaha Tamura GA80080
I never tried western Electric transformers (WE) because they will probably cost you an arm if you can find them.
Praudio said:
With the Lundahls, everything is perfect. They goes low and high, the soundstage is really good. They're the champion in definition.
HA-108 are like being in a smokey jazz bar with live music.
Tams are more like Lundahls but don't goes as low. They lack a little bit of definition when compared to Lundahls
I tried a newcomer which has bad looks but measured exceptionnally well in square waves with or without any load. When listening them, I would describe them as a mix of Lundahl and UTC.
As I would like to find another pair, I'll give news about this newcomer later.
The resistors between the dac and transformers can taylor the sound to your taste. Riken or AB carbon will mellow the sound. Metal film will gives more detail.
DIY is fun because you can make gear which is in synergy with your system.
UTC A-20 Transformer
Hello!
I just bought a pair of UTC A-20. I'm going to wire them up as per the Jensen Layout. Does anyone here know what the best Cap/ Resistor combo is for the RC network on the secondary? I read somewhere its for the best square wave response though I'm not sure if its important or not.
Any suggestions?
Br,
Rgrieg
Hello!
I just bought a pair of UTC A-20. I'm going to wire them up as per the Jensen Layout. Does anyone here know what the best Cap/ Resistor combo is for the RC network on the secondary? I read somewhere its for the best square wave response though I'm not sure if its important or not.
Any suggestions?
Br,
Rgrieg