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Pops 110’s gear


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16 minutes ago, warweary said:

Thanks for sharing your journey pops. Some cool gear and stories within.

Glad you enjoyed it mate. Been fun, a few tears and plenty of ups and downs. Happy with what I have at the moment, a few little tweaks needed.

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1 hour ago, Aperalim said:

Hi Dave,

How loud is this hum sound?

For example how loud is it from listening position?

Cheers

Chris

Hi Chris,

It’s loud end for me to hear during soft passages in the music and between songs. It’s definitely not loud but loud enough for me to hear and once you hear it there is no unhearing it.

I replaced the rectifier yesterday, just with a new Sovtek and that seemed to quieter it down very slightly. Steve also popped around yesterday arvo which was really good, he bought some of his 6h8c’s around which sound better than the tubes supplied but seemed to make the noise ever so slightly louder.

Steve was struggling to hear the sound from the listening position but could hear a noise up close to the speaker and thought the sound was different in each speaker. 
I had Tuyen around this arvo and he could hear it from the listening position. 
I really like the sound of the pre and I’m glad I bought it, just a few little tweaks needed.

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4 minutes ago, Pops110 said:

Hi Chris,

It’s loud end for me to hear during soft passages in the music and between songs. It’s definitely not loud but loud enough for me to hear and once you hear it there is no unhearing it.

I replaced the rectifier yesterday, just with a new Sovtek and that seemed to quieter it down very slightly. Steve also popped around yesterday arvo which was really good, he bought some of his 6h8c’s around which sound better than the tubes supplied but seemed to make the noise ever so slightly louder.

Steve was struggling to hear the sound from the listening position but could hear a noise up close to the speaker and thought the sound was different in each speaker. 
I had Tuyen around this arvo and he could hear it from the listening position. 
I really like the sound of the pre and I’m glad I bought it, just a few little tweaks needed.

Aha OK Dave I was just wondering what I could do to help diagnose the noise.

Maybe I can drop around one day to have a listen myself?

Do you think the sound is differs from one channel to the other?

Have you tried ALL RCA inputs?

Cheers,
Chris

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More than welcome to pop around mate. Heading away this weekend but I’m home from work about 3pm every arvo. 
I think it sounds the same both channels and gets louder with the volume control.

Tried all inputs and outputs. ?‍♂️

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20 hours ago, Pops110 said:

More than welcome to pop around mate. Heading away this weekend but I’m home from work about 3pm every arvo. 
I think it sounds the same both channels and gets louder with the volume control.

Tried all inputs and outputs. ?‍♂️

Hi Dave,

Had a similar issue, when I went from a passive pre to a valve pre, too much gain meaning very little adjustment via the volume pot. I suggest you try Rothwell -10db connectors prior to your power amp, if unable to find anything else is the problem. I have a pair you're welcome to try. If the noise is in the signal chain they will be effective.                                                                                                                                                            

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29 minutes ago, teagle said:

Hi Dave,

Had a similar issue, when I went from a passive pre to a valve pre, too much gain meaning very little adjustment via the volume pot. I suggest you try Rothwell -10db connectors prior to your power amp, if unable to find anything else is the problem. I have a pair you're welcome to try. If the noise is in the signal chain they will be effective.                                                                                                                                                            

Thanks mate, might take you up on that, will let you know. 
It’s going to get a bit of a look over this weekend, so I’ll report back if we can’t find anything and I’ll give them a try.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 19/05/2020 at 5:19 PM, teagle said:

Hi Dave,

Had a similar issue, when I went from a passive pre to a valve pre, too much gain meaning very little adjustment via the volume pot. I suggest you try Rothwell -10db connectors prior to your power amp, if unable to find anything else is the problem. I have a pair you're welcome to try. If the noise is in the signal chain they will be effective.                                                                                                                                                            

There seems to be no inherent fault in the Audio Note, a bit of a miss match with MF power amp. @Ihearmusic may be able to explain, it went a bit over my head. ? A few solder joints were tidied up and a little rework with the grounding and a tidy up where the phono stage was removed.

I have some Rothwell attenuators in the system at the moment and the noise is gone. I will experiment in the next few days and see if I can pick any degradation in sound. 

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Yes, as I said I had/have the same issue when using my valve pre. The solution likely involves increasing a resistor value to reduce gain, instead you have one in the interconnect chain. Try to relax & see if the pre suits your taste, it certainly looks to have the goods?

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Wonderful to hear Dave that you're sorting out the Audio Note. It sounds like significant progress is being made to achieve the synergy that you seek. I am sure that magic moment when it's just the music, is fast approaching. 

Best wishes, Leon

 

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3 minutes ago, Pops110 said:

Yep, sure did. Postage was a killer but still got it for a good price.

I just bought a pair of xlo xlr and love the “no cable” effect.  

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The main problem with the noise is the input sensitivity of the power amp. The A5 only requires an input signal  1.5V rms to max output of around 220W into 8Ohm. Dave's speakers are 4 ohm and the max output of around 400Watt is also achieved with only 1.5 V rms input.

The noise on the output of the Audio Note is 4mV rms. This does not sound like much but when fed into a high power amp that only requires 1.5 V rms to full output, the noise is magnified greatly.

Also do take into consideration that for normal listening levels only around one Watt of power is driving the speakers ( no where near the 220W or 400W)

Some more refinement in the power supply could reduce the noise a bit further but that would not help with the fact that the volume control is to touchy.

Limiting the gain of the preamp would require interfering with the circuit and therefore a change in tonality.

So the best option is a pair of attenuators  on the input to the power amp.

By the way,

The Audio Note did sound great running my 10W 300B SET mono blocks and of course no noise could be heard through my 99dB ZU Souls.?

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  • 5 weeks later...

A few new goodies arrived today.

A Gigawatt pf-1e powerboard and a Telos red series power cable. I also added a Nordost Purple flair power cable to the Bluesound Vault a few weeks ago.

A big shout out to Grooveworks and also @Frank Prowse Hi-Fi for letting me pay these items off and for the great service you always get off both of these retailers, great stuff. 
First impressions are very promising, but I’ve also got a new pre in the system at the moment so it’s a little hard to tell just yet. The pre is made by a local SNA member who does great work. 
196E2D8D-F9F7-40AD-8255-2B16BF1CB27F.thumb.jpeg.21fa9d6617b152b6dad39ec4300b770f.jpeg63196832-BB08-42B7-B864-D081A8B2D211.thumb.jpeg.31b0e91f060463426aa2a27a584cc750.jpegD77880AB-6EC1-4644-856D-39DC81881BE7.thumb.jpeg.6a38a11eda7b633ddd1ac6df5f978007.jpegDF6E1653-518B-4F16-9D15-CD030F37B86E.thumb.jpeg.f8c605754e2dce362019fbdeba24841a.jpeg92FA5399-16A3-4091-BCEB-74AAF774A005.thumb.jpeg.2f64ca395d5cdd94468a52496e62522e.jpegE7E3A3BD-47D5-4AAA-AAA0-D727CD54C4D9.thumb.jpeg.bf14cec80333de21f00a44a297744718.jpeg09BD50AB-D204-45E2-8ADE-215D2F7B95A6.thumb.jpeg.3c9592dd433cbca7904f67b92dc92a3b.jpeg0DF7269D-AB78-4310-8EFE-F1D4797F96C3.thumb.jpeg.bf1910ef28dbc2508ae160899db36ba1.jpeg

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  • 2 weeks later...

That is a seriously beautiful looking piece of tubular art Dave! Is its sound signature markedly different to your Audio Note ( or any other pre's you might care to remember ??)

Cheers, Leon 

Edited by Bisguittin
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Hey Leon,

Looks pretty good doesn’t it. Sounds pretty good too, all put together by very talented SNA member @Ihearmusic. I may look at getting something bespoke made by him in the very near future.

The Mingda I really liked, very easy to listen to seemed to gel with the MF.

The Audio Note I would describe as lush sounding, rolled off a bit in the highs. Its not playing as well with the MF, I’m having to use Rothwell attenuators.

The Underground Sound pre above sounds very good, more detail than both the AN and Mingda but maybe not quite as good separation. It plays nicely with the MF.

 

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23 hours ago, Pops110 said:

Hey Leon,

Looks pretty good doesn’t it. Sounds pretty good too, all put together by very talented SNA member @Ihearmusic. I may look at getting something bespoke made by him in the very near future.

The Mingda I really liked, very easy to listen to seemed to gel with the MF.

The Audio Note I would describe as lush sounding, rolled off a bit in the highs. Its not playing as well with the MF, I’m having to use Rothwell attenuators.

The Underground Sound pre above sounds very good, more detail than both the AN and Mingda but maybe not quite as good separation. It plays nicely with the MF.

 

Thanks Dave. I am glad you liked it.

I am working on the tube buffer/Stereo coffee and I hope it will produce some magic when it is done.

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  • 4 weeks later...


Sorry Dave – nope only 6SN7s and 12AU7 / ECC82s and many of its cousins: 6189 / 12AU7WA / 12AU7S M8136 / CV4003 / M8137 / 6067 / CVX4003 / CV4003 / 7730 / CV491 / 7316 7318 / 7489 / 6085 / E80CC / 5693 / 5814 / 5814A / 5814WA... 

 

Ask Steve – he may do?

 

Sorry I have been so time poor last few months have not yet got to your place to hear the AudioNote preamp in action there yet...

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  • 2 weeks later...

So the Audio Note is on it’s way to its new owner. I’m sure he’ll be very happy with it. I really wanted to keep it, it made music.

But I wasn’t keen on the attenuators and the SF1 suits the system better.

I would say the SF1 is a tad more accurate with a touch more detail, not quite as lush sounding as the AN. I have a lot more usable play on the volume knob and the noise is gone. ?

It’s still makes sweet sweet music with its one lonely little valve in it. I have a few valves on the way to roll in and have a play with.8B86717D-A75E-45EC-A0F4-15E69544490F.thumb.jpeg.6728061302eb3aa944a9f88faad26e54.jpegA3FE7B4B-E2E4-4F22-ABA5-F4C4D17BB457.thumb.jpeg.eea6419e3bb03cc492d674aa10678288.jpeg4E27A0D8-7633-46F2-8592-0CAC943C9AAA.thumb.jpeg.70330e0c7bea565b7d96b559f7702e49.jpeg

 

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  • 2 weeks later...


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