Glad to see these are sounding as good as they're rumored to. Good stuff.
I had a quick question about the TXs to ease my mind:
I just wanted to confirm that all of the group buy transformers are, indeed, the mark III units. I trust Brian, for sure, but none of the documentation I received specifically states mark III (my receipt says TX-102, apparently another member's receipt said TX-102 mark II), and the transformers are unmarked as well.
It's probably just me being paranoid, but I'd like to find out for sure if all of these are, indeed, the mark III to ease my mind.
If anyone can comment on or confirm this, I would be most grateful.
Best,
KT
I had a quick question about the TXs to ease my mind:
I just wanted to confirm that all of the group buy transformers are, indeed, the mark III units. I trust Brian, for sure, but none of the documentation I received specifically states mark III (my receipt says TX-102, apparently another member's receipt said TX-102 mark II), and the transformers are unmarked as well.
It's probably just me being paranoid, but I'd like to find out for sure if all of these are, indeed, the mark III to ease my mind.
If anyone can comment on or confirm this, I would be most grateful.
Best,
KT
Konnichiwa,
AFAIK all group buy TX-102's where made very recently (there never are any left on any shelves anyway), so they will be all MK3.
Well, it all started 25 Years ago when I met JB in Saigon....
Okay, snap back to reality.
It actually started sometime in late 2000, early 2001 IIRC. I asked JB who had just made me a pair of MC Stepups that made me rethink the superiority of the Valve/J-Fet cascode for MC Phono, that transformer became the TX-103.
A bit before I had made an abortive attempt to get Sowter to make a nice TVC, by tempting with an arranged group buy of around 50 Pairs, except Sowter kept chaging the specs of what they wanted to do until such a point that I had to say "no deal, we can't use that". Interestingly a year later or so Sowter came out with a TVC that looked like they had finally bothered to read my original spec-sheet and to implement it.
Anyway, the S&B MC Stepup and Linetransformer had an aver so much larger core and seemed certainly to p*** all over the Sowter MC and Line transformers I had tried (arguably they also cost a lot more), so I asked JB to make a set of TVC's.
He did, the finished pair ready for shipping to me was espied by an eagleeyed maker of very expensive Tube gear who was/is one of the main customers and promptly apropriated. It seemed several people in his factory wanted some TVC's too, so they where at SN Pair 10 or so untill I got mine.
That was the original MKI. It sounded absolutely beautifull, but showed a endency to have a fairly substantial ultrasonic peak especially at very low volume settings and worse, variability from unit to on this seemed rather larger then liked.
Around that time John Chapman (Bent Audio) started using the 102 and felt that the 102 was required to measure better, introduced silver version and all that. After many attempts to get the resonances under control S&B with Bent Audio choose the easy way out, a bifilar winding. Et voila, ultrasonic peaks gone, silly bandwidth into MHz region.
SADLY, that MK2 TX-102 sounded not as good as the MK1 (it lacked a certain easy and holographicness and as the french say a "I don't know what" the MK1 had) and worse, whereas the symmetrical winding structure in the MK1 had made it usefull to operate SE to Balanced or visa versa the MK2 had very unbalanced output capacitances, making the SE in / BAL out option too system & circuit dependent.
There where many revisions of the MK2 and attempts to improve teh sound to reduce the sonic gap between MK1 & MK2 eventually stabilising at what one might call MK2.5 revision. These where the bulk of TX-102's sold before around August/Sept 2004.
Meanwhile Jonathan Billington was still working on a way to get the symmetrical sandwich winding to work. I have no idea how many prototypes it took, but it was not a small number. Eventually he got this to work really, really well, that became the MK3. In effect the MK3 is considered a stable revision, excluding different wires to be used, there is not much that is doable which will improve it further.
Having experienced all major revision I'd rank the MK3 as best yet, it is a little ahead of the MK1 in terms of realism, palpability and that "je ne cest qua" the MK1 had over the MK2. The MK2 is notably behind the MK1/3 sonically, however in my system at least it still kicked the candy a** of the Sowter 9300 & 9400 (no longer available, replaced by models reprotedly notably inferior to those older Sowter units) all around the block.
In my system the superior level of primary inductance and lower capacitance of the S&B may play a substantial role in making the S&B so obviously superior, if your sources have output impedances around 100-300R instead of 1 - 3K the gap may narrow.
The S&B MK1 & MK3 show no obvious impairment of sound quality wth a 10K Source, the Sowters I had sounded very obviously rolled off in both LF and HF with that source and rather "flat", the MK2 showed a slight impairment of HF response and resolution with a 10K impedance source.
Okay, I hope that sheds some light on revision history and such.
Sayonara
krishu said:
AFAIK all group buy TX-102's where made very recently (there never are any left on any shelves anyway), so they will be all MK3.
krishu said:Anyway, can someone please tell me again about the diferences between the three versions? (So I can feel good owning MKIII)
Well, it all started 25 Years ago when I met JB in Saigon....
Okay, snap back to reality.
It actually started sometime in late 2000, early 2001 IIRC. I asked JB who had just made me a pair of MC Stepups that made me rethink the superiority of the Valve/J-Fet cascode for MC Phono, that transformer became the TX-103.
A bit before I had made an abortive attempt to get Sowter to make a nice TVC, by tempting with an arranged group buy of around 50 Pairs, except Sowter kept chaging the specs of what they wanted to do until such a point that I had to say "no deal, we can't use that". Interestingly a year later or so Sowter came out with a TVC that looked like they had finally bothered to read my original spec-sheet and to implement it.
Anyway, the S&B MC Stepup and Linetransformer had an aver so much larger core and seemed certainly to p*** all over the Sowter MC and Line transformers I had tried (arguably they also cost a lot more), so I asked JB to make a set of TVC's.
He did, the finished pair ready for shipping to me was espied by an eagleeyed maker of very expensive Tube gear who was/is one of the main customers and promptly apropriated. It seemed several people in his factory wanted some TVC's too, so they where at SN Pair 10 or so untill I got mine.
That was the original MKI. It sounded absolutely beautifull, but showed a endency to have a fairly substantial ultrasonic peak especially at very low volume settings and worse, variability from unit to on this seemed rather larger then liked.
Around that time John Chapman (Bent Audio) started using the 102 and felt that the 102 was required to measure better, introduced silver version and all that. After many attempts to get the resonances under control S&B with Bent Audio choose the easy way out, a bifilar winding. Et voila, ultrasonic peaks gone, silly bandwidth into MHz region.
SADLY, that MK2 TX-102 sounded not as good as the MK1 (it lacked a certain easy and holographicness and as the french say a "I don't know what" the MK1 had) and worse, whereas the symmetrical winding structure in the MK1 had made it usefull to operate SE to Balanced or visa versa the MK2 had very unbalanced output capacitances, making the SE in / BAL out option too system & circuit dependent.
There where many revisions of the MK2 and attempts to improve teh sound to reduce the sonic gap between MK1 & MK2 eventually stabilising at what one might call MK2.5 revision. These where the bulk of TX-102's sold before around August/Sept 2004.
Meanwhile Jonathan Billington was still working on a way to get the symmetrical sandwich winding to work. I have no idea how many prototypes it took, but it was not a small number. Eventually he got this to work really, really well, that became the MK3. In effect the MK3 is considered a stable revision, excluding different wires to be used, there is not much that is doable which will improve it further.
Having experienced all major revision I'd rank the MK3 as best yet, it is a little ahead of the MK1 in terms of realism, palpability and that "je ne cest qua" the MK1 had over the MK2. The MK2 is notably behind the MK1/3 sonically, however in my system at least it still kicked the candy a** of the Sowter 9300 & 9400 (no longer available, replaced by models reprotedly notably inferior to those older Sowter units) all around the block.
In my system the superior level of primary inductance and lower capacitance of the S&B may play a substantial role in making the S&B so obviously superior, if your sources have output impedances around 100-300R instead of 1 - 3K the gap may narrow.
The S&B MK1 & MK3 show no obvious impairment of sound quality wth a 10K Source, the Sowters I had sounded very obviously rolled off in both LF and HF with that source and rather "flat", the MK2 showed a slight impairment of HF response and resolution with a 10K impedance source.
Okay, I hope that sheds some light on revision history and such.
Sayonara
Kuei,
Thanks for the thorough description and history of the TX-102s. Very informative.
It's reaffirming to know that this world-beater, the TX-102, came from such humble beginnings. You must feel like a very proud papa, Kuei!
All of us who participated in the group order are grateful, I'm sure, and very fortunate to have had this one-time opportunity. Thanks to all who made it possible.
And to those of you who are curious, I received an email from Brian just now reconfirming that all of the TX-102s sent for the group order were made in a single batch and are, indeed, the Mk 3 version. Apparently, all of the TX-102s Brian has been selling since summer have been the Mk 3 version.
Ok, thanks!
KT
Thanks for the thorough description and history of the TX-102s. Very informative.
It's reaffirming to know that this world-beater, the TX-102, came from such humble beginnings. You must feel like a very proud papa, Kuei!
All of us who participated in the group order are grateful, I'm sure, and very fortunate to have had this one-time opportunity. Thanks to all who made it possible.
And to those of you who are curious, I received an email from Brian just now reconfirming that all of the TX-102s sent for the group order were made in a single batch and are, indeed, the Mk 3 version. Apparently, all of the TX-102s Brian has been selling since summer have been the Mk 3 version.
Ok, thanks!
KT
kkw, thanks for posting the history of the TX102, however from my conversations with JB I definately felt that your input was more than just suggesting that he build them.
Anyway wahtever the istory we are luckt to have such products available to us in the DIY world.
Anyone else got an amp made up yet?
EDIT
I am after a set of decent but not too expensive Balanced output sockets for my Pre, does anyone know of a good source preferably in the UK?
Thanks.
Anyway wahtever the istory we are luckt to have such products available to us in the DIY world.
Anyone else got an amp made up yet?
EDIT
I am after a set of decent but not too expensive Balanced output sockets for my Pre, does anyone know of a good source preferably in the UK?Thanks.
Konnichiwa,
JB is such a nice chap, I had very little input, honestly, it is really his achievement, especially the MK3.
I buy my XLR Connectors from rswww.com (they are under electrical/audio&video in the catalog IIRC), I always use the cheapest RS Branded plastic ones, they sound best, I tried. Their Plugs are also highly recommended, shame they don't do 90 degree ones.
Sayonara
wytco0 said:
JB is such a nice chap, I had very little input, honestly, it is really his achievement, especially the MK3.
wytco0 said:EDIT
I buy my XLR Connectors from rswww.com (they are under electrical/audio&video in the catalog IIRC), I always use the cheapest RS Branded plastic ones, they sound best, I tried. Their Plugs are also highly recommended, shame they don't do 90 degree ones.
Sayonara
Kuei Yang Wang said:
Hello,
thank you very much, no questions left. (As my math teacher used to say: "Alle Klarheiten beseitigt."
)I did like to hear that the S&B do handle slightly higher source impedances in a better way. My CDP hat 500R+ output impedance and it sounds incredible now. It incorporates an LRC output filter and the designer said it would need 10K low load (which the TVC does not offer) but sounds good anyway. should I solder a 20K resistor paralell to TVC input?
Another question: these transformers are canned in mu-metal. Experiences from vinyl cardriges showed that any ferromagnetic material near the generators made sound worse. Is there a chance to improve the TX-102 further by omitting the cans? Or would that just not work?
Cheers
Christian.
Konnichiwa,
Dann ist wieder alles klar auf der Andrea Doria....
If you need exactly defined 10K as load you should make sure your amplifier has an input impedance of at least 100K and apply a 10k...12k resistor across the output of the player. For other sources I would omit thai added loading.
I personally insisted on having the can's on. Unshielded audio transformers at low levels are very suited to finding hidden powerlines in the walls as they are very good picking up external magnetic fields. The can's S&B uses knock off at least 60 - 70db of external fields and in testing the sonic difference canned/uncanned was very small. Omiting the can would make the transformer much cheaper, if JB felt it was possible he'd no doubt have done it.
Sayaonara
krishu said:thank you very much, no questions left. (As my math teacher used to say: "Alle Klarheiten beseitigt."
Dann ist wieder alles klar auf der Andrea Doria....
krishu said:
If you need exactly defined 10K as load you should make sure your amplifier has an input impedance of at least 100K and apply a 10k...12k resistor across the output of the player. For other sources I would omit thai added loading.
krishu said:
I personally insisted on having the can's on. Unshielded audio transformers at low levels are very suited to finding hidden powerlines in the walls as they are very good picking up external magnetic fields. The can's S&B uses knock off at least 60 - 70db of external fields and in testing the sonic difference canned/uncanned was very small. Omiting the can would make the transformer much cheaper, if JB felt it was possible he'd no doubt have done it.
Sayaonara
