Decky

I am terribly sorry, but my vast experience on this forum taught me that assuming sarcasm or, a higher power forbid, using it, is a very dangerous path that no person should attempt to follow. I rather sound socially inapt and autistic than engage in mindless ego battles 🤐. I was vaccinated as a kid so at least I have an excuse for it 😉😋. To correct myself- of course that directional cables work - there is an arrow on them! The question is - where should I point it at. 😕

What is the replacement Craig?

No such thing with digital cables - fortunately, may I say. No great benefit out of that even with analogue signals, let alone digital ones .

If in doubt and if there is an option always use AES/EBU. It has 110ohm impedance but the signal is TTL 5V through a balanced line, compared to the SE coax 0.5V. That makes the whole arrangement much less sensitive to interference and dependent on the cable length or quality.

Yes, you can use it and no, the difference cannot be heard but it can be measured. The closest you can get with an RCA to what a digital COAX interface needs is a 75ohm cable like Belden 1694A combined with a Canare RCAP connector (http://www.canare.com/ProductItemDisplay.aspx?productItemID=40). That is still not a "true" 75ohm connection but it is as good as it gets for an RCA termination. For anything better you have to use a BNC termination. "Normal" or random RCA cables and connectors have an impedance of anything between 25 and 100ohm. That causes a so called reflection of the digital signal from the receiving end back to source due to an impedance mismatch. Now, lets wait for another 150 posts from bat-people at this forum who will claim they can hear that and not only that but a difference between one 75ohm cable and another OR a cable of 0.5m and 1m in legth.

Transistors are most certainly fake or just pulled out from another amp - meaning - they are not really reliable. What you got is probably a close enough replacement of a dubious quality in a fake casing and label. The funniest thing is that modern replacement are probably better than the originals in every aspect - so maybe not such a bad thing after all. I would suggest trying to replace small signal transistors in the pre-amp section with modern ones (just for a test). You will be amazed - but then again - that will not sound warm and fuzzy as the orginal amp. Rather, open and detailed and clear.

I am glad to see that you are using the same scientific method for calculating those percentages as I did. LOL 🤣 For those attempting to go DIY - TNT audio has an old rule of thumb reference material - oldie but goodie https://www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/ssps1_e.html there are 3 pages of it.

Never tried and I do not see an advantage TBH. Especially if you are in the DIY business. Clean power is 80% of the amp sound - why risking that? If you are soldering yourself PSU PCBs are cheap, caps are cheap - custom transformer will cost you maybe $200 and a bit, but that is all relatively affordable. Now - if you need anything more than 200W in 8ohms - just go with class D. Why messing with hybrids.

Go to DIY AUDIO forum and see what they have on offer at the moment. They will most likely be bare PCBs with parts. I am saying this simply to stress the problem with the quality of Chinese parts and likelihood of counterfeit components. If you are willing to risk premature amp failure and potential speaker damage - go for the Chinese modules. Another option is to get those modules and replace the critical bits with certified original parts from digikey, mouser or element 14. That would spell out as less soldering but I think going for community developed and certified designs from DIYAudio is the way to go.

You should buy super-tweeters - they will fix all your problems 😂

Nope - those are supertweeters 😜

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/multi-way/1884-efficiency-speakers-series.html

This can dim the lights - that is for sure!

Maybe we should start a crowd-funding project to collect enough money so we can pay On-semi or TI to run a new production run of V-fets with modern materials and technology and drop the price per device under $5. 😎

I suggest that, like with anything in life, one should use their intelligence and fact collecting skills and decide for themselves. On the other hand, I am mildly annoyed by the fact that this same topic keeps getting brought up and discussed by the same people in the very same dogmatic fashion every single time. For example - if you claim that the US plugs should not be used with 240V mains - how do you explain that IEC connectors are the same for both 120 and 240V? Do you even know what drives a voltage and current rating on wires and connectors? These things are regulated by governments around the world and for good reasons. If one understands the reasons and risks involved in not following the regularity advice then one should employ that knowledge to improve things (if possible) by assessing potential benefits against the risks. Knowledge is power - if you have it - use it! On the other hand, regulations are generally created to protect people that prefer not to know and there is nothing wrong with that. They should follow the rules and enjoy their (relatively) safe lives.