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AI language bot, sad new reality of the internet… these things might be convincing one day. Google the user name and see the activity just today…

It’s just an AI language bot in testing - Google the user name and see how many forums it’s joined and posted on today.

There will be plenty of demand for DIY repairs; this is what my second set of Shangri La drivers looked like after just over two years. You will be one busy man. The first set had a rattle in the right driver and was replaced, also. Build dates were 2018, 2019, 2022. The last Hifiman warranty replacement took 6 months to arrive. Traded the new set for what I paid for them - a little more than a moldy bread sandwich. At least the Hifiman sandwich comes with a 5 year warranty.

The sound: it’s spectacular! Compared to a Stax SRM-007tii with 60’s Mazda Brimar 6CG7’s or 50’s RCA long black plates with D getters, the sound is far more relaxed, analog, detailed, expansive, dynamic and musically involving. I can’t wait to get some NOS EL34’s in here. The Berkeley Reference DAC shows off the Megatron’s speed and transparency; the DAC and Megatron are both detail monsters. The Megatron is a far more capable amp when connected to the Berkeley Reference DAC than a current low-noise, low-distortion reference amp, such as the Topping A90, which I also have. The balanced inputs: dead quiet - perfect with the Wireworld Platinum 8 series XLR interconnects. The voltage gain: I can’t imagine needing any more gain than I’m getting with the 1958 Holland D foil getter E180CC’s (thanks to the community for the tip on these) and the 1948 RCA 5751 triple mica black plates. I will say that this amp takes a solid hour to warm up, however. Temperature: just touched 126F on the exterior of the right transformer case after a couple of hours - the internal temperature was typically within a couple of degrees when previously measured, likely due to the machined vents around the tubes. SMALL UPDATE: Kevin suggested some whisper fans to deal with the heat buildup; this is an excellent idea. Hum: there is none whatsoever, there is only dead silence, irrespective of where the pot is positioned - it’s absolutely impossible to tell whether the Megatron is on, when powered from a current-gen PS Audio regenerator set to 120V. Definitely T2 level stuff! I CANNOT THANK KEVIN ENOUGH

Hi Thuan and Acting Company - it took you a while to show up sporting your ramblings! First time poster but you’ve built some others of Kevin’s amps, have you? Still willing to helps others, are you? Makes sense that you’ve still got the Rev 1 boards, could never get those holes to line up with the chassis, eh? Wonder if the IP is VT, Singapore, or if Tran actually bothered to use a VPN?

This seems to be where most of Thuan's fls.audio recent sales are coming from... fls.audio | Super Best Audio Friends Felitsa Audio (fls-audio.blogspot.com) Anyone know Marv of SBAF to give him a heads-up? @rayofsi Any chance you could provide some hi res shots of your fls.audio CFA-3 build? And also possibly of your fls.audio Carbon: "I also have one of his KGSSHV Carbon builds he sold on ebay. It does some crazy inrush that my lights in my room dim a second when it turns on, but works well otherwise."

Megafixed by Kevin Gilmore! I love it! There has to be some way to flip that plaque over and re-etch

@gepardcv Yes, its the same Thuan, under 10 different characters and names, as quoted above; he made the mistake of replying to me under several different accounts over the past 2 years. I didn't fully put the pieces together until I read the complete DIY T2 build thread, in anticipation of receiving GeorgeP's build to replace his horrific amp. Thanks to Kevin fully gutting the Thuan fls.audio nightmare, it looks like I'll have two amps!

@tumpux Thuan is alive, actively selling, and not in a medically-induced coma this time around, either; he just sold a supposed Dynahai under fls.audio, yesterday: REFERENCE DYNAHI Super Symmetry Dual-Mono Fully Differential Headphone Amplifier | eBay I feel awful for all the people ripped off by this guy since circa 2009; why anyone in their right mind would post pictures of themselves, their sales receipts, shipping labels with US and VT addresses to flickr and leave them up for 12 years is simply beyond me... tee8tee4388 | Flickr

I believe this is the chassis used: 4308 rounded corners Full aluminum DAC chassis tubpower amplifier enclosure box | eBay I believe Kevin has also managed to salvage the following parts from the original build: 1. Aluminum knob (1pcs 50x27mm Gold Aluminum audio Knob Volume Control potentiometer | eBay) 2. Strip of unknown wood 3. Power switch 4. IEC inlet 5. 4x feet The total salvageable value of the parts was certainly under $150. The cheap Chinese tubes included were certainly worth under $100. Hence, the total as-delivered value of Thuan's amp was roughly -$8,600 CAD, or about -$6,000 USD at the time, -$5,000 USD for the amp itself, plus the cost of shipping, currency exchange, and a customs nightmare. Pretending that Kevin or anyone else would actually be crazy enough to charge a modest $150 an hour for their time to work through to completion on completely re-designing and re-building something so hellishly nightmarish, the cost of the estimated 50 hour repair and parts would come to: $9000 USD. Adding this to the acquisition cost would bring the total repaired cost to $15,000 USD. I doubt anyone else could actually be both qualified and convinced to work on it in the first place.

Adding to my embarrassment and frustration, these things were priced and even named similarly to Mikhail's Singlepower ES-1 and ES-2 stuff. This "Reference Megatron" (turns out not a Megatron at all) is stamped the "ESHA-2", and shares a chassis with the FLS Audio "ESHA-1", Tran's "845 DHT SET" amp, paraded around in his "custom would transformer" workshop on SBAF : 845 DHT SET electrostatic headphone amp | Super Best Audio Friends The first local head-case member to look at the amp (it was just returned yesterday) measured the "custom transformers"... they indeed are shot and need to be replaced, and it was two years before the amp blew up. Since my "Reference Megatron" fls.audio amp listed for 5.5K USD (and came out closer to 6K USD with the shipping nightmare from Vietnam), how long before all the other non-reference amplifiers sold under fls.audio on ebay blow up? Paramesh's amp lasted 15 minutes....

Tran’s exact Head-fi listing under user kytuphicanh was: FS/FT - Reference OTL PP Stax tube amp (Megatron) Cute. Wonder what else is missing in the build? We’ll know soon.

I apologize in advance if this is news to absolutely no-one, but after reading the entire DIY T2 build thread in anticipation of receiving my build from George, I was surprised to find a name and handle that looked familiar: Tran, and Lil Knight. A search showed that the schematics of the failed DIY T2 board/case buy were posted in 2013 by a fellow going by Lil Knight under blogspot account tee8tee84388… to my eyes, that rather unique Blogspot/Reddit/Flickr handle looks very familiar: Yes, this is the same Tran who later sold the DIY T2 parts kits on head-fi as kytuphicanh, which also happens to be the selfsame Tran that built my ‘Megatron’, stamped FLS Felitsa Audio. That incomplete sale, along with Paramesh’s, outlined earlier, resulted in kytuphicanh being banned (and mostly scrubbed, likely due to dozens of historical classified sales) on head-fi, and a warning placed under his alter ego, tranhieu. Tran is tee8tee4388 on reddit, tranhieu and kytuphicanh on head-fi, and fls.audio on sbaf and ebay… and we now know that you can presently message him as thuytn right here on head-case, since he so generously reached out, asking me to shut up about my dead ‘Megatron’, because it would ‘heavily affect his future sales’. Tran, aka Lil Knight, aka tee8tee4388 on blogspot, takes credit for posting his failed DIY T2 board buy schematics here (Posted by Lil Knight, 12:21am, Wednesday, July 31, 2013): http://tee8tee4388.blogspot.com/2013/07/t2-diy.html Tran aka tee8tee4388 takes credit for my rather ‘unique’ (and dead) Megatron on reddit: Fls.audio aka tee8tee4388 aka Lil Knight aka Tran takes credit for my Megatron build here on SBAF: https://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/845-dht-set-electrostatic-headphone-amp.8740/ And Thuan Tran aka Lil Knight here shows off his Stax circa 2009, shipping labels and invoices on Flickr under the same tee8tee4388 user name, as he himself references in the below Reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/a2dsoo/was_randomly_skimming_through_an_old_flickr/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/8128018@N06/page2 https://www.flickr.com/photos/8128018@N06/page4 This particular Tran quote on Reddit, as above, caught my eye (regarding Singlepower): “They stole lots of people’s money by not delivering amps. That sucks because their amps sounded very good, much better than the stuffs by Woo now.” Indeed, that ‘sucks’. How long was Singlepower around for? Who has filled the void? Tran’s ‘Megatron’ as sold to me omits all CCS loads, contains no inrush current limiting of any kind, has severely underrated power supply capacitors, a failed transformer/winding, and can hardly be called a ‘Megatron’ in the first place. Fls Audio ‘creations’ still sell today on Ebay. Buyer beware. You now know who you’re buying from.

Well, a couple of nice outcomes have arisen from the ire induced by the self-serving PM of thuytn , so far: First, upon reporting the head-fi PM (word-for-word identical to the one he simultaneously sent here), Head-fi moderators immediately flagged his current account https://www.head-fi.org/members/tranhieu.83205/ "Caution: Incomplete Sales". The account hasn't been wiped like the first account (with the T2 board and transistors), yet, since it doesn't seem he's actually sold anything via the current head-fi account. But there's always fls.audio on Ebay with a couple of auctions about to close, now... and I suspect there is already more than one unfortunate victim like Paramesh out there. Second, Thuan's "Megatron" is ready to go out the door to a member here who is more than capable of providing a comprehensive assessment. With gratitude, my thanks!

I’ve received several helpful replies You are very welcome to have a look without cost or obligation, and bin it, if that’s all it’s really good for. I don’t have high hopes for it, and George’s T2 is already near completion. It would be good to shed light on what this builder is actually doing. I get 80% off on UPS domestically, and it should be at your door next-day, within province. UPDATE: A very reputable member, local to me, has kindly agreed to take a look, and shed some light on this build... Thank you, all!

I agree: there are multiple implementation issues. The power supply schematic likely existed on a napkin at one point, but Thuan doesn't have it. In two years, I've never seen a copy, in spite of repeated requests. Upsizing the caps to 550V 220uf slowed the issue down, but didn't eliminate it. In two years, when the amp worked, it was excellent, which was usually for bouts of moderate length, until the mains transformer finally gave out. However, any excellence could likely be attributed to the vintage tubes stuck in the amp by myself. This Thuan fellow's immediate and selfish PM response today, after two years of providing no support for an amp he asked 5.5K USD plus shipping for, has raised my ire. Curious and telling, too, is the nearly simultaneous appearance of an apparent shill, as above. I actually have no hard feelings, overall - this community has been fantastic to me, I've rolled more vintage tubes than I ever thought possible, and I've been the recipient of a great deal of kindness and outright generosity from tube collectors, fellow enthusiasts, and so on. Everything from NOS pinched waist Philips E180CC's, to several quads of iconic gold pin USA 7308's and Holland 6922 from the early 60's, were practically gifted to me by a kind-hearted Canadian collector for my T2 build; this community has been stellar. A fellow with two Shangri-La SR's sent me one pair from Korea for roughly half the Canadian cost of a new pair. GeorgeP is a kind-hearted and generous builder, as you well know. It's too bad that I wasn't aware of George and these threads a couple of years ago. I'm sending a hi-res picture of the innards to Birgir, who has also been very helpful over the years. If he or anyone else wants, I am happy to get Thuan's unique "Megatron" masterpiece to them. Thanks for being so kind as to reply. Thanks for all of your help and suggestions.

Seeing that Felitsa audio is still alive and well on Ebay (fls.audio on eBay), below, you can find Paramesh's full PM, outlining his Stax "Support" experience with Thuan and fls.audio : my name is paramesh .. i see that you have a megatron ..got from tuan just wanted to ask you hows the amp doing ...? i am asking you cuase i have the megatron from him as well and it has an issue and i am bit stuck ..and not able to reach him .. any leads a can help oh my goodness !! sounds very similar saga !! thank you so much for replying sir !! greatful .. i been feeling badly stuck and alone with the amp after the guy turning his back on me after shelling out a lot of money .. atleast your message gives me some hope ... but i am glad atleast your amp is fine now !! i got the megatron from him after i saw his feedback which was great from lot of people till i got the amp ..he also send a lot of messages and images of testing the amp etc etc.. i got to know your megatron is the one before mine ..and i asked him whats the diff and he told me mines a SS rectifier..or something and rest is same . same tube stages of 2 QUADS of EL34 and a pair of 12au7 and 12ax7 and all internals .. i even got the amp picked up by a shipping company through air cargo so its handled well it arrived ..i plug the amp .runs for some time ,,say a track or two ( i was might impressed ) i bump up the volume ,... say halfway stage .. tragedy strikes .. minor flames erupt from under one the EL 34 ..i unplug the amp.. i check with him ...he says he's checked all and sent and suggest some issue in transit .. i even opened amp on his request and sent him images ..no solution he asks me to try the amp again .. it works but with half gain ..50% Of what it is ... say from 9 am on volume knob .. now i am listening at 3 pm .. which is strange !! but all FR is ok.. something gone wrong in the Pre amp stage is what i thought .. i been asked by him to check with a local repair chap !!! with a bad hand drawn schematic he sends me .. i get a local electronic guy check all internals .. he shows me a busted Zener diode in the circuit of one of the channels . everytime we replace the diode and again it burns then i carry the amp to another city to a respectable someone who worked on tube amps .. and he checked and said one of the EL34 has busted ...which is true,,, so after replacing the EL34 .. the zene diode stops blowing ..but the gain is still an issue .. the person checks all the stages of amp paths and says no faults .. but the issue of HALF GAIN is not sorted out ... I wrote hundreds of mails and messages only to be told ... i must find someone and debug the issue !!!! ( so did he send me a faulty amp ?!...fully aware of the issue ... i dont know ) its been over 3 months now .. and i have heard only 3 tracks ( sounded great ).. but now its lying aside hes stopped comminucating with me and is not available on headfi .. hes been black listed ...by someone .. do you see any probablities .. what could be the reason in my amp .. for sure i did not follow any of the steps as you mentioned in point 1 of your write up .. swicthed on off in intervals .. point 2 is what evidently same issue experienced by me .. can you guide me to someone who can help me on this or even consult on chargeable basis ..to help fix this ... i will be really greatful ! i am stuck thank you so much

You know, not many things upset me too much, which is why I suppose I've put up with this amp for 2 years; however, the IMMEDIATE and IDENTICAL reply I received from Thuan BOTH here on head-case (thuytn) AND on head-fi (tranhieu) to the above post does get under my skin: I've just seen your post on HC. Could you please remove my name from that post? It could heavily affect my future sales. Hopefully you could understand my situation. Cheers Thuan Wow, this fellow has guts. Hence, I will provide some helpful, clarifying details: 1. Thuan's amp was dead the week it arrived. It had eaten through it's first set of 6 under-sized 220uf 450V Nichicon power filtering caps, and blown the soldered fuses between the GZ34 rectifiers and the caps. The inrush current was virtually uncontrolled on startup. 2. Thuan provided ZERO support, and was completely unresponsive. 3. Thuan was using a different account for amp/T2 board and transistor sales on head-fi (kytuphicanh), which was scrubbed by head-fi moderators, who added the warning: Caution: Incomplete Sales Why? Good question. The next fortunate head-fi member to buy one of Thuan's Stax Megatrons was paramesh; Paramesh contacted me directly regarding my Megatron build, and we basically had the same experience: amp dead within a week, zero support or accountability. I have all the PM's. Hence, the head-fi moderators deleted Thuan's account, kytuphicanh. No worries, Thuan has several other accounts, (including thuytn, tranhieu, fls.audio on SBAF and tee8tee4388 on reddit, among many others, no doubt) 4. Thuan's Megatron contains no delayed-start or soft-start circuit of any kind, not even a thermistor for crying out loud. The power filtering caps blew repeatedly. 5. For additional clarity, please see pictures attached of Thuan's caps upon arrival, and within a WEEK of use. Notice any tops blown right off? This happened 4-5 times before a thermistor was installed, and then the power transformer died... 6. The main power transformer was described as (pictures of his winding rig are on SBAF): "Custom-wound Kawasaki 0.23mm Z9 core transformers". In reality, the mains power transformer is under-sized and is now dead. 7. Anyone on head-case who would like to further evaluate the quality of this fls.audio Felitsa Audio amp build is welcome to receive it at my expense via UPS Express, worldwide. It is a large, single-chassis build, and it is quite dead, yet again. Cheers, indeed!

Hi All! I have had the fortune of having owned one of Tran's (Thuan, Thuy etc...) Megatron builds, shipped from Vietnam, for the past two years... I bought it from the same Head-fi account that was selling T2 boards and kits since 2005: kytuphicanh (now using tranhieu on head-fi and fls.audio on ebay). It was a fairly temperamental build at the outset, eating through the power supply filtering caps... until I eventually upgraded them to Kemet ALC10 550V (from Nichicon 450V) and added a couple of MS-22 thermistors to slow the startup. However, the amp recently began eating the 5A inlet fuse, and I suspect that either the primary or secondary filament transformer has given up the ghost. Would someone in North America be interested in taking a look, without obligation? If you can't fix it, you can simply bin it. It seems like a waste to bin it without at least giving it a second chance. It was a fine sounding amplifier when it was working. I would be happy to UPS the amp to you. I have some very nice tubes you may be interested in for your trouble, I'm under the same handle on Canuck Audio Mart. I have a DIY T2 coming from GeorgeP, so I'm not in a terrible rush or anything like that. Thank you!