Voltron

Now I am intrigued but I don't understand your design at all because I am schematically challenged. What are the new tubes doing that the old gas tubes were not, and how does the voltage pot idea work? i.e., wtf does this mean: "It can be a dual section in which case both supplies adjust at the same time, or if you do it as 2 seperate knobs on the same shaft, you can adjust the front end gain power supply seperate from the output power supply." Thanks man, and I look forward to figuring this out.

HBD dood!

Should have pointed out that I am going to the Computer Audiophile event at Fantasy Studios today. Should be pretty interesting.

KG: The Heathkit idea seems ok, although I really want the HP beastie if I were honest about it, but what would have to be done to hook that up to the amp? Are you to the point where you have a schematic and/or an idea of how to recreate a similar PS in my existing case? I think that is what I should do, unless the current parts can be used with a new trafo and solid state parts.

I like how there are more patties than candles in Ed's pic. That musta been one hurtin' 12-year-old.

Thanks Birgir, but I might get a little carried away with this thing.

Have a good event guys!

Happy birthday kid! Have a little pine tree beverage to grow some hairs on your chest. I thought the same thing. Oh well, maybe he will be here in August and we can buy him one then. Burlingame is even closer to the source. Cheers Justin, have a good one.

Translation: I'm fooked!

Uploaded moar pics of the PSU to the Flickr, although not sure any of them are helpful at this point. ironbut picked up the amp and PSU and will do a little testing of components, etc. It will be interesting to see how fried the thing is.

Thanks fellas. It was silly waiting this long to buy it but I am happy I have it now. I considered going the Nikon route because Gene and Peter are big proponents, but this thing is more familiar from the 40D days and IT'S GOT 21 MP and HD VIDEO BEOTCH! Dan, it's true I am not really prone to half measures at this point in my life.

I've figured it out! This is a Decepticon PSU! Sorry, little sleep and saw Transformers 2 with my son last night.

Many, many people can tell you how great this amp sounds (or sounded). It was by far superior to even the basic SDS-XLRs with typical 6 x 6SN7 tube complements. It is also among the very best amps, dynamic or otherwise, that I have heard by any builder or company. You can believe it or not, I don't really care. You have suggested my exact desire, however, which is to have a new PS in this same (or at least similar) concept that is better built, more stable and still does what it used to do. The amp section might use a few tweaks, and frankly the single ended output is weak at best which I never really understood. If an when a solution for a new PS is found, I intend to have somebody very good implement it.

Nice catch.

There are two ways to assess the differences. First, the amp was built long before the PS so Mikhail had more help and was in a better state of mind. He says put in some additional items when he changed the PS, but I assume it was changes to a nicely built (if not perfect, Nate) amp section. Second, he was experimenting on the PS and was largely doing it himself at the beginning of the crunch-down by various big-money customers. I was helping Mikhail with other issues in the same time frame so he was at least trying to get me a working amp which may explain the fact it is cobbled together.

OK, so more pics in the Flickr page, including the amp pics. Here is the link again: SDS-XLR PSU

It's actually a GBU8M.

Back of the circuit board is difficult because the wires do not allow enough give (after much effort in this direction) to get a full back-shot. I took a couple pics of parts so we will see if I can upload them or email them. The FET is screwed into the side wall with a thin membrane of rubbery material in between. In the back shot of the FET, you can see that the membrane was sticking to the device and left a layer of material behind when I took it off. At some point, I can try to find any more diodes in there, although I have tried to look before. ironbut is going to pick up the amp today and take a look and see what he can see. I will be out of town for 10 days so this way maybe progress is still possible. Thanks again.

I simply could not upload the originals of these or other shots taken tonight, but at least there is some info to be had. One of these on the back of the large PCB, and the data sheet is in the post above: Two of these under/next to the ES1HTRSPLY: Diode bridge: Four wires on the diode bridge: Lousy shot of the big pcb: Amp pics later.

Good thing you ran across a wimpy male with those long but useless faux-mandibles. The female woulda bit your ass just for looking at her too long. Kinda like being in a nightclub.

Canon EOS 5D Mark II After giving my niece/goddaughter my 40D I meant to buy one of these but hesitated. I kept the good lenses, in anticipation of the new beasty. Frustration over amp internal pics pushed me to pull the trigger. Happy now, although I want more lenses, of course.

Well, there was a fet hiding on the side wall International Rectifier IRFP460 HEXFET MOSFET. The pictures will be posted soon. From a better camera, no less.

I don't own this one, so that is why I chose it on Rhapsody. I have CVB on 45RPM vinyl and it is fabulous. JJ is one of my all-time favorites on most anything. Bjork -- Volta In memorium: Michael Jackson -- Thriller

CBS and the LA Times have confirmed his death. He was lost years ago, imo, but it is sad that he is gone. RIP Michael.

That really sucks, if true.