andyr Posted August 9, 2019 Share Posted August 9, 2019 10 hours ago, Simonon said: Leaded solder was phased out more than 10 years ago. You can still buy leaded solder - I bought a 500gm reel of Loctite Multicore SN62 the other day (62% tin / 36% lead / 2% silver). Andy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tubularbells Posted August 9, 2019 Share Posted August 9, 2019 Leaded solder is the only way to go. Nothing else flows as well imo. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tasebass Posted August 9, 2019 Share Posted August 9, 2019 10 minutes ago, Tubularbells said: Leaded solder is the only way to go. Nothing else flows as well imo. I've Lead wiped "old school" style a few car bodies in my time..... ....old tradie taught me on a Jag E-type bonnet back in the early 80's.... Tase Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Addicted to music Posted August 9, 2019 Share Posted August 9, 2019 On 09/08/2019 at 9:43 AM, koputai said: I reckon it's just deterioration over time Felix. I think these issues will become more prevalent with the use of cheap rubbish solders coming out of China. Always use the best solder you can find! Cheers, Jason. 10 hours ago, Simonon said: On 08/08/2019 at 9:15 PM, catman said: Bad solder joints that happen over time. G'day all, an interesting day one might say! My DIY P06 in here developed a fault (a lost left channel) which was 'eventually' traced to a hairline crack on a circuit board track which was successfully repaired, and whilst I was working on it I noted many solder joints that looked cold, frosty and 'globular'....all faults waiting to happen, so I went over and resoldered as many of these joints as I could, and when all was reassembled and tested I was pleasantly surprised at how much better the phono stage sounded! Was my initial soldering that bad, or do these degraded solder joints invariably happen with time? I wonder? Any comments. Regards, Felix. All new electronics uses lead free solder including stuff coming out of China. Leaded solder was phased out more than 10 years ago. The solder joints typically do not look as nice as the old leaded solder. Lead free solder is also unforgiving of dirty solder tips, component leads and pcb pads. Done badly it looks terrible with numerous dry joints. Unskilled labour soldering through hole components manually in China gives many quality control issues even on high end gear unfortunately. Note you should always use quality lead free solder when resoldering these boards as using leaded solder can make things worse. Those days of bad solder joints are long gone..... Dry solder joins do not exits even when they are direct from China..... even when equipment are on 24/7, multilayer pcb with through the hole components are done on a solder bath or hot air is applied. Ever since the introduction of lead free I have not seen issues caused by dry joint, usually see dry joint on Heavy duty SMPSU especially the 5VDC.... now that is over 20yrs plus when they were using lead solder. Today, when things fail they fail on introduction, the usage is monitored, high usage flag alarm bells and the product gets investigated and are either redesigned or changes in manufacturers are applied. Never has it been a dry joint. But then again I’m working on industrial gear and not audio gear where unskilled labour is used. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyr Posted August 9, 2019 Share Posted August 9, 2019 22 minutes ago, Tubularbells said: Leaded solder is the only way to go. Nothing else flows as well imo. Absolooootely! Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catman Posted August 21, 2019 Author Share Posted August 21, 2019 (edited) When ones 'ears' don't agree with 'praising' reviews. G'day all, this is an interesting one. Of the many phono stages that I own, the Schiit 'Mani' is one of them and it is very highly regarded especially for the low price, and it is indeed a good phono stage. Quite a few of the online reviews are unbelievingly praising of this phono stage, so last night I plugged mine in and had a good hard listen, and to be honest compared to many of my others, it rates about a '5' on a scale of 10. It just doesn't push all of the right buttons with me. To elaborate, to my ears, it sounds audibly 'hissy' at any gain setting, and even a little 'compressed' in its sonic delivery! Maybe I'm just used to the sound of my other fine phono stages, but having said that the 'Mani' has a sound all of its own, yet the praise one often reads about the 'Mani' indicates that quite a few think that it is without peer. As I said before I think that it is a good phono stage, but that is about all. Sorry. Regards, Felix. Edited August 21, 2019 by catman Spelling. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest iant Posted August 22, 2019 Share Posted August 22, 2019 (edited) Michael Fremer has an online comparison of the Mani versus U-Turn Pluto at Analog Planet.At this price range neither is perfect of course but using good quality headphones I marginally preferred the Mani. https://www.analogplanet.com/content/u-turn-pluto-versus-schiit-mani-which-sounds-better Edited August 22, 2019 by iant update Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batty Posted August 22, 2019 Share Posted August 22, 2019 (edited) Unleaded is being phased out for military use as it is unreliable, we use only leaded solder. To be totally honest the Akitika DIY MM phono is very hard to beat at the price point. Edited August 22, 2019 by Batty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Karl Rand Posted August 22, 2019 Share Posted August 22, 2019 (edited) On 20/01/2017 at 6:42 PM, aussievintage said: It is. In fact, I tend to use the cartridge most suited to the type of music I am playing. Some are better for jazz, and acoustic stuff, others for classical, and others for rock. And I thought I was an obsessive tweaker ! At least I have a number of easily swapped unipivot arms wands with cartrides pre-mounted but these days I tend only to swap over from a Decca ‘Gold’ mono cartridge for mono and a Audio Technica VM 750 SH (I know, ‘only' a MM) for stereo. I’ve been given a Manley ‘Steelhead’ phono preamp from a friend who’s ‘left analogue behind’. I’m besotted with it. Edited August 22, 2019 by Karl Rand Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catman Posted August 22, 2019 Author Share Posted August 22, 2019 My favourite 'commercially' made phono stages. G'day all, I have already nominated two of my DIY and op amp based phono stages are my favourites, however as many of my phono stages are commercially made perhaps it would be worthwhile nominating favourites from those! Actually that choice is rather easy and perhaps this does say something about op amps vs discrete (transistor) circuitry because my favourites in this category just happen to be units based on discrete transistor circuitry utilising 'passive' RIAA equalisation. My two favourites are at number one, my Rothwell Audio 'Simplex' and very close behind my ANT Kora 3T SE all FET unit. Trying to differentiate op amp sound from transistor sound is 'difficult' and may be due to several factors however it is my feeling that op amps do contribute something that may not be desirable overall. Both of these fine discrete transistor designs have a certain 'free' and unstressed quality that somehow sounds 'right' to me. I realise that the approach used with passive EQ between two block stages can be problematic for various circuit reasons but both the 'Simplex' and the ANT perform perfectly in practice. Enough said! Regards, Felix. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Karl Rand Posted August 22, 2019 Share Posted August 22, 2019 5 hours ago, Batty said: Unleaded is being phased out for military use as it is unreliable, we use only leaded solder. To be totally honest the Akitika DIY MM phono is very hard to beat at the price point. I thought leaded solder was no longer available. ‘New’ old stock? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ittaku Posted August 22, 2019 Share Posted August 22, 2019 24 minutes ago, Karl Rand said: I thought leaded solder was no longer available. ‘New’ old stock? My regular source of solder still contains lead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
koputai Posted August 22, 2019 Share Posted August 22, 2019 (edited) 60/40 Sn/Pb solder is still readily and widely available. Jaycar, RS, E14, Altronics, anywhere really. Cheers, Jason. Edited August 22, 2019 by koputai Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Karl Rand Posted August 22, 2019 Share Posted August 22, 2019 1 hour ago, koputai said: 60/40 Sn/Pb solder is still readily and widely available. Jaycar, RS, E14, Altronics, anywhere really. Cheers, Jason. Hope your work bench is well ventilated then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
koputai Posted August 22, 2019 Share Posted August 22, 2019 There's a lot of things in life that can kill you. Some people are able to use common sense and manage to survive. Others need to be mollycoddled. Cheers, Jason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Karl Rand Posted August 22, 2019 Share Posted August 22, 2019 2 minutes ago, koputai said: There's a lot of things in life that can kill you. Some people are able to use common sense and manage to survive. Others need to be mollycoddled. Cheers, Jason. Common sense needs to come with common knowledge which sadly is often not that common. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nkoulban Posted September 2, 2019 Share Posted September 2, 2019 On 22/08/2019 at 3:56 PM, catman said: My favourite 'commercially' made phono stages. G'day all, I have already nominated two of my DIY and op amp based phono stages are my favourites, however as many of my phono stages are commercially made perhaps it would be worthwhile nominating favourites from those! Actually that choice is rather easy and perhaps this does say something about op amps vs discrete (transistor) circuitry because my favourites in this category just happen to be units based on discrete transistor circuitry utilising 'passive' RIAA equalisation. My two favourites are at number one, my Rothwell Audio 'Simplex' and very close behind my ANT Kora 3T SE all FET unit. Trying to differentiate op amp sound from transistor sound is 'difficult' and may be due to several factors however it is my feeling that op amps do contribute something that may not be desirable overall. Both of these fine discrete transistor designs have a certain 'free' and unstressed quality that somehow sounds 'right' to me. I realise that the approach used with passive EQ between two block stages can be problematic for various circuit reasons but both the 'Simplex' and the ANT perform perfectly in practice. Enough said! Regards, Felix. Very interesting Felix. I currently run a Mani along with a Swagman Labs PSU for it. I love the performance I'm getting from the Mani, however, you now have me thinking about a Rothwell Simplex. Based on your listening the Simplex could be a step up from the Mani... I'm tempted to give one try. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyr Posted September 2, 2019 Share Posted September 2, 2019 (edited) 15 hours ago, nkoulban said: Very interesting Felix. I currently run a Mani along with a Swagman Labs PSU for it. I love the performance I'm getting from the Mani, however, you now have me thinking about a Rothwell Simplex. Based on your listening the Simplex could be a step up from the Mani... I'm tempted to give one try. I see Decibel HiFi sell the Rothwell Simplex for $495. At that price, it sounds like a top buy! And presumably, it can be upgraded by using a linear PSU (such as the Sbooster or a Gieseler) in place of the (Meanwell?) SMPS which - for that price - must surely be the provided PSU? If you do decide to buy one - given you're in Melbourne, I'd be most interested to bring over my Muse MM phono stage to compare. (The Muse costs more.) And I can bring over a 24v Sbooster (if the Simplex does run at 24v) so you can see whether this does improve the sound! Andy Edited September 3, 2019 by andyr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catman Posted September 3, 2019 Author Share Posted September 3, 2019 (edited) Bloody 'connectors'. G'day all, a bit of a vent! More and more in electronics generally we see 'connectors' of various types used and that's fine however connectors are fine if they are left undisturbed after being installed, however if they tend to be plugged and unplugged as I often do with my own DIY gear, they rapidly become a royal PITA! I've just replaced the power three way connectors and hard wired (soldered) the wires into the circuit board and thrown away those damned connectors which were always going intermittent and giving trouble! 'Connectors' are a bit like fuses....they are useful, but they can be real PITA's as I've found personally. Regards, Felix. Edited September 3, 2019 by catman Addition. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
audiofeline Posted September 3, 2019 Share Posted September 3, 2019 Felix, are you referring to IEC connectors? I've always thought they were quite robust. I can't look at an RCA connector without reflecting on the design. As a cheap connector it works reasonably well, but I can't understand why it was designed so the +ve signal connects before the -ve/ground. It wouldn't have been too much to modify it so the -ve makes first contact. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catman Posted September 3, 2019 Author Share Posted September 3, 2019 G'day mate, no these things. You can buy them in two way and three versions. I am starting to hate them! Regards, Felix. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Muon N' Posted September 3, 2019 Share Posted September 3, 2019 (edited) Those things are the first to go in the bin if I have a kit that comes with them. Unless absolutely needed, things get hard wired (having trouble thinking of a reason to have them) Edit: Granted I have similar things in my commercial player, but they do serve a purpose in there, especially while I'm removing the PCB to carry out recapping and mods. I have to live with them in this situation. I never place pressure on the wires to them, and try not to bend the wires back and forth while manipulating then on an off. Edited September 3, 2019 by Muon N' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyr Posted September 3, 2019 Share Posted September 3, 2019 2 hours ago, catman said: G'day mate, no these things. You can buy them in two way and three versions. I am starting to hate them! Regards, Felix. Sorry, Felix ... but why do you use them? Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nkoulban Posted September 3, 2019 Share Posted September 3, 2019 23 hours ago, andyr said: I see Decibel HiFi sell the Rothwell Simplex for $495. At that price, it sounds like a top buy! And presumably, it can be upgraded by using a linear PSU (such as the Sbooster or a Gieseler) in place of the (Meanwell?) SMPS which - for that price - must surely be the provided PSU? If you do decide to buy one - given you're in Melbourne, I'd be most interested to bring over my Muse MM phono stage to compare. (The Muse costs more.) And I can bring over a 24v Sbooster (if the Simplex does run at 24v) so you can see whether this does improve the sound! Andy Thank you for your kind offer Andy... I'll let you know if I pull the trigger on one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyr Posted September 3, 2019 Share Posted September 3, 2019 1 minute ago, nkoulban said: Thank you for your kind offer Andy... I'll let you know if I pull the trigger on one. Excellent! Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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