n_maher

That would make some sense generally but in this case where one of the caps is a .1uF/400V cap it doesn't make any sense to me. The other cap is probably on the order of 10 to 20uF and you can't tell me that whatever it is that they were doing needed exactly 20.1uF instead of 20. It's more likely that they are the output caps and that they simply followed the "convention" of bypassing the larger cap with a smaller cap. Of course usually you do this so that you can use a higher quality small value cap and a cheaper large value but in this instance where both caps are the same fracken thing it's just confusing.

It all depends on the application really, my problem with steppers has always been that they've been on headphone amps designed to drive vastly different loads. That's a bad application in my opinion. In a speaker amp I suppose it would be possible to tailor the gain (assuming it's adjustable in the design) such that you'd have plenty of adjustment. But again with some tube speaker amps (highish gain) I'd be hesitant to invest in one prior to testing the amp with a traditional pot to see where the listening sweet spot was.

They would appear to be 3db steps for the pictured unit and also only have 24 steps (using the typical elma switch). And my experience with 3db steps leads me to believe I'd be rather unhappy with the level of choice provided regardless of how good it sounded.

For me it would still come back to not being satisfied with or willing to risk 28 steps, especially at that cost ($270).

Nope, today's purchases were for the SimpleSE which you haven't bought, yet.

You're not wrong.

Lucky guy! Although if that is #4 you're clearly a glutton for punishment.

2-1/2" Bi-Metal hole saw more misc. fasteners DIY is always more expensive than your first think.

Congrats to both you and your wife. Is this your first?

I'd honestly be shocked if it did, my understanding (what little I have) is that all of the SDS's are PTP wired. I think it's only the lower echelon amps that use pcbs.

Shouldn't be that difficult since the case size is the same for all varieties of Neutrik XLRs. It'd just be a matter of some additional wiring. That is unless Mikhail has started using PCB mounted XLRs, which would be news to me and would probably make it impossible.

I'd disable it on headphone XLRs, just like I did on the Menace.

Cheap Flights, Cheap Hotels, Cheap Airfare, Airline Tickets, Travel Deals - SideStep And damn, right now I could go round trip, non-stop for $240. Too bad there's no way I can make the meet, let's hope fares are that low for CJ '09.

Yes, you can, but if you're going to go to the trouble of disabling the locking mechanism why use the stupid jack to begin with? I'm of two minds about that regarding XLRs since they don't always seem to have the same inherent clamping force that most RCA connections do and I don't plug and unplug IC's nearly as often as headphones.

stupid locking neutrik

The sigma22 might make a much more stable PS platform, Ed.

24V Aikido?

A bit more progress was made the other night. I've gotten a bit more done since then but not much really. Progress has been slow going as I bounce back and forth between projects. I hope to have some time over the long weekend to start chassis layout planning. I'm finding that I'm not all that pleased with the restrictions that the pcb is causing regarding layout and the seed has already been planted that this may end up being a prototype of sorts with a PTP version to follow.

The photos were taken with a single-ended ALO recabled "something" plugged into the amp even though neither reviewer mentioned having one.

I don't see you reviewing a $6000 amp with it so no worries, Al.

Oh lord, immediate demerit for the reviewer with an ALO recabled something...

Yup, there's that, Canare 4S11 and there's even one from Furutech that doesn't break the bank for starters. You can get some pretty boutique speaker cables for under $200 if you're willing to throw in a little of your own labor.

Don't start with me Moose. But seriously, Vincent has built his own stuff before so all I was going to suggest to him was a couple of affordable wire types.

FIFY

If you're at all like me it'll vary from amp to amp.