aerius

I suddenly realized I had a bunch of lead-acid batteries which could be used for powering the heaters. I charged them up and hooked them into the amp, and it sounded just like the benchtop DC unit. Unfortunately 6BL7's suck a fair bit of juice so I have to pull the batteries out and charge them every couple days. It's an interesting idea and sounds quite nice but unfortunately it's not practical for me. Oh well, back to AC power.

Would you rather be repeatedly kicked in the nuts or be anally violated with a dildo?

You do realize you're going about it backwards. "Resolution you can never imagine" means the resolution is so fucking awful that you can't imagine it.

So I've been on vacation for the last few days and decided to go play with my tube amp since I had nothing better to do. After reading a whole bunch of stuff on the diyaudio forums I got a bunch of stuff together and played around with various power supplies for the heaters in my tubes. First off was a generic DC power supply I got as a kit in the local electronics store way back when. It sounds decent, with Grados there's more background hiss than I'd like but other than that I didn't notice anything wrong with it until I got the good stuff. Next was a benchtop power supply I found in the surplus shop. This is the quietest power supply, with Grados there's just the slightest background hiss from the tubes which I can hear only in a fairly quiet room with no music going. If I leave the headphones on my head for about 15-20 minutes it's almost impossible to notice the hiss unless I unplug & replug the headphones into the amp. As for sound, well, it makes my amp seem even more detailed and easier to listen to. It was like getting a nice tube upgrade, everything sounds more real. Then I went to AC heating with some transformers I have from past projects. It was nearly as good as the benchtop PSU, and much better than the generic DC unit. There's just the tiniest bit more hiss and that was it, no buzz, no hum, nothing. This is the setup which I'm now using since I have no room and no way to mount the benchtop PSU to my amp. For all effective purposes, at least with the gear I have, it sounds just as good as the benchtop supply. Last, and worst by far is a switchmode PSU similar to the one in the amp which we love to hate. Even though mine was grounded properly unlike you know who, it still coupled a shitload of noise into the tubes. Completely unlistenable with Grados, and the noise was noticeable even with my 400 ohm K340's. It hissed, buzzed, and hummed, and made my ears hurt. It killed the details in music and made it very fatiguing to listen to. Absolutely horrible. What's next? I don't know. I like the idea of an amp that has 4 power transformers, it seems manly in a way. It also has no electrolytic capacitors anywhere on the amp and that's kinda cool too. I might get a new HV transformer so I can get rid of the last 2 pieces of silicon in my amp, go to a CT full-wave rectifier instead of the current hybrid bridge rectifier which uses silicon and tubes.

I don't know, I've managed to completely repress the memory of the worst amp I've ever heard. But the Hornet sucked ass, my 15 year old Discman sounds better than that piece of crap, and it only cost me $20.

Ok, so if I get the W2002, will my GF's sister then agree to do 3-somes with my GF & I?

What's the best headphone for picking up chicks?

I can't speak for others, but for me it's because I use my head a lot.

YYZ

Have you ever wanted to go up to some person and ask him a totally random question just to see how he'd react? I admit that I sometimes want to do that at my Customs job, after asking the standard "where you been, got anything to declare?" stuff I feel like saying something really random and weird just for the hell of it. Questions like "what's the flaccid to errect size ratio of your penis?" or "did you know that an iPod will fit up your vagina?" So what are the random questions you feel like asking people?

You can always count on Biggie's love of Sonys.

The Head-fi rules are quite simple: If they like you, you can do whatever the fuck you want, and the mods will even run interference and make excuses for you. If they don't like you, they'll make some shit up and ban you for it.

Spreading my knowledge & experience, contributing towards productive discussion, yada yada yada.

I did some thinking the other day and it occured to me that the best Grado tube amps I've heard to date were all transformer output. The PPX3 Slam I heard, while nice, doesn't have the bottom end control and slam that Biggie's tube amp and mine have. Both our amps are transformer output push-pull amps, his uses triode-connected EL34's and mine uses 6BX7's at the moment, loads of power and control for Grados. Given the low impedance of Grados, I think a transformer output would be the way to go.

I'm in therapy. The shrink told me I needed to get in touch with my inner child.

Vote now in the penultimate bad taste poll!

Alright, it's time for the definitive question. Vote now!

Probably one the best deals in audio right now, at least as far as mark-up is concerned. KG noted in a previous thread that there's something like $600 in transformers alone, nevermind the rest of the stuff in there. The only negative I see is that I don't like 6DJ8's.

Well whoever it is I think we should give him a gay custom title for shits & giggles.

It's like The Matrix, only a million times dumber.

Of course not. Tuberoller doesn't exist.

I'm not Billy, but I also have a question for you. Does your penis tingle when you sneeze?

A heathen! Burn him!!

Since you mention that you want a pre-amp out to drive power amps for the K1000, there might actually be another way to do this. I believe 5687 just got his transformer output Singlepower built up, this would allow a low impedance output tap for driving Grados and a medium to high impedance output tap to provide the higher voltage swings required for the K1000. It should be possible since my own DIY amp which uses output transformers and 6SN/BL/BX7 output tubes can drive the K1000 pretty well. I tried out the K1000 on my amp at a meet and I was quite happy with the sound.

I am, but the K340 is not current production and has been discontinued for ages. Tube amp's done, but I recently thought up a new idea that I'm building. I first heard the RS-1 about half a year or so after I got my Senn 580's. They made the Senns sound like a broken piece of crap. I've since heard the RS-1 quite a few times and the first impressions continue to hold up. If I didn't have a K340 and a Grado 225, I'd likely have an RS-1 by now.