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Post by jimwilliams on Jun 9, 2018 11:17:30 GMT -6
And TI unfortunately discontinued the LME49860 dual and the single version. They are impossible to find now, even the resellers have a very hard time getting them. The lower voltage LME parts are limited to a 34 volt swing, not 36. +- 18 is too high. I'd just adjust the regulator voltage, stuff lives longer at +-17 volts. The hybrid design OPA1602 is another good choice. That is a collaboration between the National and BurrBrown design teams. It's a LME49720 opamp with the BurrBrown rail to rail output stage for greater headroom. That does +-18 volts at 2.5nv noise. The OPA2604 is 10 nv noise.
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Post by jimwilliams on Jun 9, 2018 11:09:34 GMT -6
Henry makes all sorts of stuff. Send them an email and they will send you a nice catalog for free. They invented the repeating rifle. Custer lost at Little Big Horn partly because the Sioux had Henry's and Custer didn't.
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Post by jimwilliams on Jun 9, 2018 11:04:09 GMT -6
Jim, I don't remember what you said. What power amp are you using with your C.D. > S2 > ? > Emovia bench setup? My 1987 Magnavox CDB 624 CD player has a custom made S/PDIF output card I installed. It uses three 74HC4007 gates to drive the digital output with excellent symmetry. That feeds a short run of Kimber AGSS 19 awg pure silver 3 braid as the S/PDIF cable into the Pre Box S2. The TV room uses a 1.5 meter Pangea ultra hi def S/PDIF cable, also excellent for the $.
The S2 then feeds one of my highly modified Adcom GFA 545 power amps with a 1 foot run of Kimber 3 braid pure silver "Black Pearls" wire. The Adcom is rebuilt with all Vishay VAR naked bulk foil resistors and Mills wirewound resistors for the power transistor emitters. The gain set caps are silver foil types. That is the best stuff on earth and you do pay for it.
That feeds an 8 foot run of 10 awg Sound Runner speaker cable. I didn't want to spend $300 for Kimber in the shop, that's saved for the studio and TV room.
The Emotiva B1's crossovers are modified with a pair of bypass caps added to the tweeter's mylar crossover cap. I used an InfiniCap .1 uf/400V polyprop and a .01 uf InfiniCap 630V polystyrene. Get that from www.michaelpercyaudio.com
A lot of stuff sounds amazing, hidden gems are heard on familiar tracks. Some stuff sounds like crap. I ran Synchronicity yesterday and it ripped my head off. That old SSL 4040 dbx 202 VCA grind is truly a damper. Still, it's great to be able to detect all that because the better sounding stuff makes it worthwhile. Anyone hear the MQA version of that record?
The Stone's "Stripped" by Bob Clearmountain also sounds great on the S2. Rattling strings and slides, all there.
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Post by jimwilliams on Jun 8, 2018 17:25:39 GMT -6
The OPA604/2604 can be troublesome in some layouts. Best to check with a scope for stray oscillations. It's also a rather dirty opamp with 11 orders of harmonics about -110 db down on an FFT. The sweep looks like a picket fence of harmonics. When it was released it got the "audio opamp" moniker. After the customers showed BB it was too dirty the catalog dropped the audio references as the OPA134/2134 had been released to replace it.
The 134 or 2134 is the better FET DIP replacement as long as the power rails are limited to +-18 volts DC. Better yet is the OPA1641/2 but that is SOIC only and would need an adaptor. The LME49720NA is another DIP that would probably work well. With those adaptors you could use the OPA1611/2.
Don't let the smoke out.
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Post by jimwilliams on Jun 8, 2018 17:15:34 GMT -6
Brass can also be hardened. My Henry lever rifle has hardened brass plate construction. (Sorta looks like Lucas McCain's Winchester). Buffalo gun? No, only a .22LR for plinking. .40-40 ammo like the real deal is about a buck fifty a round here if you can find it. It's probably less in the free states.
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Post by jimwilliams on Jun 8, 2018 17:11:11 GMT -6
Music isn't as big a deal as it used to be for the youngin's. It's more like background elevator music to be enjoyed while streaming other stuff on a smartphone. Plus, many of the incentives to get into music have waned.
It does make a fantastic hobby though.
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Post by jimwilliams on Jun 8, 2018 17:05:41 GMT -6
Audio Advisor has a couple of S2 demos on sale for $50 off.
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Post by jimwilliams on Jun 7, 2018 9:49:19 GMT -6
Brass can also be hardened. My Henry lever rifle has hardened brass plate construction. (Sorta looks like Lucas McCain's Winchester).
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Post by jimwilliams on Jun 7, 2018 9:44:48 GMT -6
I use glass optic cables for my HD24XR I/O. It does help and makes a fine resolution difference I can hear. For SPDIF I use 1.5 meter Pangea SPDIF cables made with ultra pure Cardas copper with a silver plating. Those are like a low cost version of Kimber and it made a huge difference from my Sony Blue Ray player into the Pre Box S2 over using the plastic 1 foot fiber optic feed from the 4k UHD TV.
My hot-rodded PCM1792 based RMA superbeast II also has limited resolution compared to the ESS 9038 based S2. The surround circuits are all first rate so the 1792 chips are the limiting factor heard here. The same applies to the PCM/DSD1704 Mytek/Mark Levenson DAC with individual LT regulators for each chip and super fast 7000V/us slew rate THS 3061 current feedback analog sections with a sallen-key 65k hz Bessel low pass filter.
I have good audio test gear here but I don't have a $50,000 Agilent network analyzer so I can't qualify much of this stuff without one of those. Ray Kimber has one but I doubt any other high end cable manufacturer does.
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Post by jimwilliams on Jun 6, 2018 9:19:06 GMT -6
An uppity assistant could fit that bill.
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Post by jimwilliams on Jun 4, 2018 9:31:31 GMT -6
The S2 is an all ESS design. The headphone amp/output buffer is also an ESS chip. One look at the innards and any EE will be impressed by the thoughtful layout and design.
Then there is that liquid, analog sound. It's more than impressive, it's audio archeology because you can listen to old well known stuff and hear new things buried deep. And it only costs $399 for all those new discoveries.
My Ross Martin Superbeast II is now for sale. It has an internal torrid AC power supply, external LT low dropout regulators and all ADA 4898-2 signal path with select Dale CMF50 metal film resistors. $200 and it's yours. www.audioupgrades.com
I also have a new Schiit Audio Modi II DAC with the ADA 4898-2 opamp. Costs $250, give me $200 and it's yours.
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Post by jimwilliams on Jun 4, 2018 9:23:23 GMT -6
I use LPF for reverb sends. Otherwise, I'm a wideband guy. LPF emulate the hearing losses of those that abused their ears or have aged.
Mixing for the geezers?
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Post by jimwilliams on Jun 3, 2018 10:59:47 GMT -6
The Project Audio Pre Box S2 works fine here with anything I attach it too. I have a couple of them here. One is for the TV room, the other floats. Just ground pin 3 on a XLR. It has plenty of output level, over 2 volts. It uses a 5 volt wort or USB, no grounding issues here.
Yes, it slays every other high end DAC here including AKM, Analog Devices, etc.
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Post by jimwilliams on May 29, 2018 9:59:24 GMT -6
SSL's rep was well deserved. It solved a problem. It didn't offer sonic bliss. Yes, some bash gear they don't like. Some offer a service to fix those sonic issues.
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Post by jimwilliams on May 27, 2018 12:39:11 GMT -6
You have to remember when the 4K first came out it was like an analog DAW, you had Dynamics, filters on every ch all this cool bussing snapshot and fader automation! A lot of the sound is what parts you use and how you drive it. It was almost 10 years before people were talking and excepting the sonics, they sold at first because they saved time between sessions and remember that was when studios were in demand 24/7!! That's pretty much how folks saw them at AES when they came out. Convenience 'trumps' quality, you could save and recall everything for later fixin'/mixin'. Overpaid, indulgent rock bands taking 6 months to produce records and film studios were the target audience. Today film lots use cheap digital DAW's and rock bands are poor.
No one picked them for their sound, I believe that's what created the outboard mic preamp market as I began carrying those with me around at about the same time. Much of the 4k sound is from the dbx 202 can VCA's used on each channel and the stereo mix buss. That adds a .2% THD grind to each track, worse if you push them.
One of the best examples of that sound for comparison purposes is Pink Floyd's "A Momentary Lapse of Reason", released in the 1980's and tracked/mixed on the 4k. The original CD release is full of that SSL sonic grind, it's a mess. So much so even Pink Floyd hated it. So they remixed it on a SSL with "ultimation" moving faders. That later release is a stark contrast to the original VCA version, if you can find one.
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Post by jimwilliams on May 16, 2018 10:08:44 GMT -6
Yanni is digging the free publicity. Me, I hear TV idiots gussing over their damaged hearing.
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Post by jimwilliams on May 9, 2018 9:48:11 GMT -6
None of those ever worked for me. I prefer the real deal whether stock or hot-rodded with stuff like hard hammer tips, electronics etc. I was listening to a 1983 CD is did with the hard hammer tips into a pitch detune, best "DX-7" sound I ever heard, like bells from heaven. That's the problem with the real stuff, you get spoiled quickly. What CD? Maggie Herron, "I Won't Wait" released in 1983 as an LP fisrt. She's a rather famous singer/keyboardist in Hawaii. 5 octave vocal range, like Minnie Ripperton.
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Post by jimwilliams on May 8, 2018 10:55:24 GMT -6
A good phile converter runs $20,000. Speakers run from $25,000 to 1/2 million. $5k for a reel to real is nothing to that crowd. It's probably not good enough as there is a market for $20,000 tape playback in Dubai and Japan.
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Post by jimwilliams on May 8, 2018 10:51:42 GMT -6
None of those ever worked for me. I prefer the real deal whether stock or hot-rodded with stuff like hard hammer tips, electronics etc. I was listening to a 1983 CD is did with the hard hammer tips into a pitch detune, best "DX-7" sound I ever heard, like bells from heaven. That's the problem with the real stuff, you get spoiled quickly. They are not expensive nor hard to find.
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Post by jimwilliams on May 8, 2018 10:50:59 GMT -6
None of those ever worked for me. I prefer the real deal whether stock or hot-rodded with stuff like hard hammer tips, electronics etc. I was listening to a 1983 CD is did with the hard hammer tips into a pitch detune, best "DX-7" sound I ever heard, like bells from heaven.
That's the problem with the real stuff, you get spoiled quickly.
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Post by jimwilliams on May 5, 2018 13:04:25 GMT -6
I have one of those AB763 Deluxe Reverb amps in mint condition, a 1966 model. Great amp but it was never a contender playing out live. It can not keep up with a strong drummer. Mine was modified with 100 watt transformers and a pair of GE 6550 power tubes running at 500 volts. It does about 75 watts and that does work with a live band.
Otherwise, my pair of AB763 Showman heads always filled the room. It fills out a Deluxe Reverb cabinet well too. Cranked it sounds like Clapton with Cream when he used a 335 into a Showman or Hendrix live at Devonshire Downs when he used 6 Dual Showman amps (and a great live recording too).
I recently rebuilt 4 new re-issue Fender Deluxe Reverb amps for Dwight Yoakum. Those are not like the AB763's, they are a pcb amp with cheap parts. I did have to rebuild them to sort of sound like Pete Anderson's modified '64 Deluxe used on all those hit records. The new Fender amps are really disappointing. It's worth finding the real deal over a look-a-like at Guitar center.
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Post by jimwilliams on May 4, 2018 9:10:49 GMT -6
A friend put a '67 Showman head inside his '74 Deluxe reverb cab. Yes, it fits. It's a mean, lean machine now.
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Post by jimwilliams on May 4, 2018 9:07:14 GMT -6
I don't recall it being anything special which is probably why I don't remember much about it. I run a company called Audio Upgrades. Gear like that has been hot-rodded here since the 1980's. www.audioupgrades.com
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Post by jimwilliams on Apr 28, 2018 19:37:24 GMT -6
I have an old pair of the JBL 4311 (recapped the crossover) that I got almost a year ago, I use them in my home studio. I think they sound great! Those were the standard LA studio control room speakers back then.
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Post by jimwilliams on Apr 28, 2018 19:34:38 GMT -6
Cut the leads and use some Chip-Quik rework solder to lift them out with needle nose pliers. That solder melts at very low temps so you have less risk damaging a plated hole. Then a solder suck tool will clean the holes out.
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