mwl168

As what was said more than once in Top Gear - "you cannot call yourself a petro-head unless you have owned an Alfa". I was bitten hard the first time I laid eyes on and sit in an Alfa Romeo Gulietta in the late 70's in a show room. Owned a GTV6 for an all-to-brief one year or so. I miss that car tremendously after all these years.

^ Is this phono amp balanced or single-ended?

Is that a custom chassis of your own crafting?

The previous PCB order has been officially declared missing. The Fab house was kind enough to provide a refund coupon for me to reorder the PCB which I did. I used a different, higher-cost shipping option this time. With better luck this time I should receive the PCB in about 2 - 3 weeks.

Love the Harbeths and love the stools they sit on.

We have another hitch and delay. I ordered the updated GRLV boards in September and they were sent out to me around Sep 18. The tracking info shows that the package cleared US customs on Sep. 30 and was en route to me via US post network. I have not received it yet and local post office confirmed that they do not have it either. I got in contact with the manufacture and they asked me to wait for a few more days before they can open an investigation. I am going to give it another week and if the package is till absent the manufacture will provide a coupon at that time for me to reorder the boards. Apologize for the further delay. Will provide another update in a week or so. Table updated.

Not too late. I will add you to the GB.

Quantity of 1 for the mini T2 represents a pair of left and right channel boards.

Need a bigger TV.

At the risk of stating the obvious regarding measurements; there is a key factor of “correlation”. I remember more than 20 years ago I read an article to the effect of the three legs of measurements- “What do you measure? How you measure it? How do you interpret the measurements?”. As an example, it’s obvious that measurements of an amp’s physical dimensions have no direct correlation to how it sounds. I always wonder, much like many research in medicine, if some day someone(s) will eventually figure out a comprehensive set of measurements that truly have a direct correlation to how a device sounds to human ears (if that’s even possible).

Happy Birthday John!

1. I use the digital volume on my DAC but you can easily add a volume control to the amp. 2. This chassis I use is quite small - dimension is 160mm x 70mm x 311mm. It's only for the amp circuits and you cannot fit the entire amp in it. There is a PSU in a separate chassis. As an example, you should be able to fit the entire amp including the PSU in a chassis like this. 3. My rough estimate for parts alone would be about $700 US that also covers chassis, transformer, connectors, wires and a reasonable 4-gang volume pot. Like most things these days, labor is the biggest investment. Cost can escalate quickly if you start getting into fancy chassis, volume pot and boutique parts (resistors, capacitors, wires, etc.).

Depending on how small is small. You can consider Kevin's current feedback design which is the smallest desktop electrostatic amp I have built to date. All parts are current, simplistic power supply and very good sounding to my ears. Even though money saving isn't the main reason for me to go the DIY route, this current feedback amp is also the cheapest to build. The amp board (per channel) measured 184mm x 64mm. There is a thread in the DIY forum dedicated to this amp.

The good news here is that for the KG electrostatic amps that are often mentioned here (such as Blue Hawaii, KGSSHV, Carbon, Grounded Grid, etc.), there are proven PCB's for both the amps and the PSU's that many have built working and reliable amps with, myself included and I do not have a science degree and never forged a knife in my life! Extra safety precaution does need to be followed strictly given the high voltage involved! With that said, if you source correct parts from reliable vendors (Mouser, Digikey, etc., not eBay, not Taobao...), stuff the right parts in the right spots on the PCBs, exercise good soldering practice (many good tutorials on Youtube) and pay attention to layout of components (circuit boards, transformers, connectors, etc.) and wiring, your success rate is very high. On top of that, many knowledgeable people here will come to rescue should some things do go wrong provided that you have done your homework! It's lots of fun and a very rewarding experience!