jp11801

what the fuck I'll give it a shot this week, I'll either be eating caviar or crow

shit does anyone really think these went for 1500+? I would sell mine in an instant for that kind or scratch, maybe it's time for an IC on Headfi

here are a few pics I took after it arrived these are the pics with the bent frame courtesy of DHL

I could only see selling the Zana for the new HD2i, I am so damn curious about that amp even though it is only slightly different from what I have. The HD2i is said to have all the transformers in the case itself

Man this is a killer amp and as many of you may know I am one fickle motherfucker when it comes to gear. Having gone through a number of amps this year I am really struck by this amp. It sounds absolutely amazing with the balanced HD2s and RS1s. It does a wonderfull job with the k1000s as well, it is super linear without sounding dry at all. To refresh folks on what this amp is and the story, I had been in talks with Craig to design a balanced amp after hearing the Zana. After several months he came up with an amp that used a 12ax7 driver and 6c41cs as output tubes with my choice of Tango or Electra print output trannies. So after I demoed the amp in SoCal Craig shipped it to me in Florida. The amp arrived well packed but DHL kicked the living shit out of the amp so bad that they bent the frame in two places from what must have been several high drops. Well I was able to get it working and got to listen as did several of the local Florida folks and general consensous was really good but not great better and more linear than the Zana but maybe too dry. I sent the amp back to Craig for the needed repairs and he spent several weeks going over the amp. Craig like many amp designers has a tough time leaving well enough alone and reworked the amp to take the 6c33b and damn if it did not go from good to great. Famous last words are this may be my last amp but you never know what people are going to cook up next. I like this more than the Zana although the jury is out on this and during the NorCal meet opinions were varied. Some prefered the warmth of the Zana some prefered the speed and control of the HD2. Craig is now working on what will probably be a final version of this amp the HD2i. It is the amp as I have it but he has taken a page out of Wester Electrics book and is using transformers to interstage couple. I will probably head down to SoCal in the next few months to hear this beast and if his estimated pricing holds out it could be a real competitor. With electra prints transformers it should come in at a hair under $3000. Here are some pics of the HD2 that I have.

yeah I gotta call shenanagins on Nate (jr) as well, the only SoFlo meet I have ever missed was the tampa mini and I do not recall this guy here. Hey there were plenty of pics Nate why not just pick yourselt out and post it here, simply enough. Mike you are my favorite jive talker

balanced or dual mono?

happy birthday have a pint for me!

wish I could claim the same I saw him 2 years ago at Sunfest

Pharoh Sanders at a church in San Francisco with Voltron

I would say at the $1000 mark then yes an Extreme is probably the ticket. I have heard a number of custom extremes and each, even the ones that are 'thought to be the same' sound different. I have never heard a better extreme than Boomana's I have heard two others that while they sound good they are not in the same class as hers. Earl raises a valid point on the 6c33b I love this tube but there are 2 potential issues to be aware of: The tube is a very limited source tube as they were made in two plants so no real tube rolling for the power section] the 6c33b is also a military application tube, my concern is the audio market may be getting seconds, I base this on the high reject rate for many dealers (20%) and the set I had in at the meet the left channel was funky and after I replaced all noise is gone] with those two caveats I still like the Zana better but it is more of a preference thing. Both amps could take a few weeks to months to obtain. If you get a stock extreme then no worries I would not get many options as I have several friends that have optioned out there amps and have had looooooong wait times and had issues with repairs. I would not want to internationally ship an amp for repairs if it can be avoided. Not all non-stock SP amps have had issues but the rate of repair issues seem to go up as you put more stuff in the box and stray from the original design. [*]

Look for The Poppery mkL built like a tank abd you can find them on ebay, poppers produce good coffee but in smaller batches and with brighter flavor profiles than the better roasters due to it's quick roast times. X2 on the bottom vent poppers you will start a fire and get piss poor roasts, it's a fire hazard so stay away from them.

looks like a great meet I have to make it up to Seattle next year, it's a great town and it looks like you guys have a great crew

that looks like a cool roaster can you set roast profiles or is the 5 presets? anyone with a gas oven can get great results with a perforated pizza pan, set the oven for 400-450 let it preheat to 350 then put the pan in side with the beans evenly spread out in a single level. after 5-7 minutes open the oven and rotate the pan 180 degrees. You should have a city+ roast in less than 18 minutes. This produced the best roasts I have tasted. I own the gene caffee roaster now and it is great but I am going to back to gas oven now that I have one.

Neil please keep me in mind for a mini I would love to hear the NWO with speakers and with headphones in a quieter setting, at one point I almost yelled STFU while I was listening to the NWO. IT was soooo good, hopefully Alex can get is set up to be used conveniently as a balanced hp amp and source.

Thanks folks I tipped back a few last night and am pondering a coupla IPAs but work is going to come early this am.

sweet glad to hear it is working, not rock out a photo for us, your listening are isn't messy it's randomly organized.

If Florida comes to Cali we'll have a meet

Craig built this amp with the intention of keeping it as his persoanl amp if I did not buy it, it is as stock as a one off commisioned amp is stock

the biggest flaw of this amp is it's inability to drive grados without the bass being completely flabby, I used this amp toi listen to some PS1s at the san jose national and I almost passed ion the buying the ps1s becuase of the flabby bass. It was not the headphone it was the amp. With the right headphone it's a great amp but it is entirely too picky

single I don't speak tech, the amp is a balanced amp it uses two small transformers they are the 2 silver colored round parts on the rear of the amp. Initially the amp had not much in common with the Zana as it used 6c41c tubes for power. This config was good but was slightly dry. Craig re-worked the amp and used 6c33bs. There just on the top of the amp there are some fairly different design implementaions , 2 tango transformers, 5 soy bean oil caps (Zana uses 2), transformer balanced, 12ax7 input stage and the outputs tunes are run much harder. The 6c33b in the almorro amp is run balls out and produces 18watts, this amp runs at 11 watts and the Zana significantly less. While each amp uses they same tube they are going to sound very different. The Zana is an OTL design while the HD2 is tansformer design. They have a different sound based on the above mentioned factors. The HD2 hits harderis more linear and is more dynamic while the Zana breaths more life into the music and has a softer but still very detailed sound. WHile going back and forth during the meet I could have been extremely happy with either amp. jinp6301, if you are speaking about my amp yes it should have cost 5k based on a standard parts mark up but actually cost me much less. If you are referring to Al's amp if you bought new it is very north of 5k.

check out the NorCal meet impressions

it is a 4 pin balanced output, originally it was for k1000s but damn grados sound great though it

Billy happy birthday, glad to hear that you pulled off Chiunifi

cool to see you guys pulled it off, looks like you had a great time.