Yeah I was actually eyeing the Phonitor e due to the price since I could save up a bit and get it, but what about a Phonitor 2? I saw one at 1200 B stock? Looks enticing, I really don’t mind cosmetic blemishes as long as the unit still functions internally/sounds good. Also thnx for the quick reply.
Well yeah if you can get a 2 b stock then go for it as long as you aren’t too stuck up on balanced lol. It’s a pretty awesome amp for sure
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Yeah I was also considering the Cayin iHA-6 since it seems to be quite a beast in terms of power. Honestly there are quite alot of options and all of them seem enticing.
Thnx for the reply.
Oof ok so I just found an e for 900 and idk, my wallet says to go for the e but the 2 seems so enticing, how much of a difference is there between both or are they both relatively good and in a similar class?
They are both very good. I think the 2 has more studio features, but the e has balanced output. Sound wise, they are very close with the slight edge to the 2, but in all honesty it’s not that big, so I would say if you want the features of the 2 go with that, and if not the e is very good
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But the 2 has VU meters…
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Thanks the heads up, I’ll roll it around for a bit in my head then and see if the features are worth it or not or if Balanced is better. Both seem to have identical power ratings at identical loads so honestly Balanced Outputs may seem a bit of a moot point here especially since they both get the benefits of balanced inputs for noise rejection and power. I think at this point it may be just the price for the features on the 2 and the very sexy VU meters, which while I’d love to implement into my own amp but I’d rather not get messy with a buffer circuit and having to integrate another power supply into my amp and what not (later on I might though just for the style points), still nice to look at though. Again I’ll take some time to roll around in my head for but either way both seem like fantastic choices.
Oh Also the 2 has a Preamp Output but I’m probably not going to use it since It’ll be a while till I have another amp, besides I prefer to preamp with tubes for a bit of sound coloration.
IKR ;-; they’re so nice to look at ;-;
Yeah they should sound very similar and balanced isn’t the selling point to me for the e, it’s the more compact size and simplicity at a lower price, where the full fat 2 has just all the nice to haves for studio work
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Yeah size is another factor and is pushing me towards the e, since honestly I can make an analogue cross feed system myself with some time (and money) which is honestly the only feature I had any other interest in which can also be done digitally in foobar but I’d imagine an analogue implementation would sound much better, idk to be honest but I could build one, and it’d be fun to find out first hand too as well as making a cross feed for my specifications too I guess, but again, a relatively minor feature in the grand scheme of things.
Lehmann Audio Linear Pro comes to mind.
Or the Cayin IHA-6 (not sure how good this one is, IIRC Z liked it).
When you got high powered amps (1kW RMS or more), then a thin wire could overheat. Apart from that, not at all.
That would throw the incomming AC off by a considerable amount. Current and voltage idealy are in unison (Power factor = 1), having high inductance (coils, electromagnets, etc.) makes the current lag behind the voltage.
Blue is voltage, Red is current.
Not sure what that would achieve, best case nothing, I guess.
Edit: If you have a lot of brown outs or very old wireing in your walls, getting a power conditioner (Furmann is one promenent manufacturerer for these) or a true-online UPS (ABB, APC, etc.) may be a good idea
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It’s pretty good, but I didn’t mention it because it tilts a bit warmer (but not by much), it’s a pretty great amp imo
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Funny enough I already own a Furman Conditioner (Says Power Station 8 on it). Also yeah the most the amp would consume internally is maybe 60 Watts from what I could tell (depends if a 6.3 Volt 2.5 Amp filament is used or a 5 Amp fillament is used), so power cord heating shouldn’t be a problem.
Also I really don’t know much about the deeper complexities of inductance but from my basic understanding an inductor doesn’t like change in direction like AC does, so in a power supply where AC is corrected to DC, DC goes through/is maintained by the inductor, while AC gets blocked at certain frequencies (especially AC that could leak from some less than quality rectifiers?). Now issue here isn’t the AC coming from the transformer leaking out into the system, but the AC coming from my audio signal making it’s way back into my power supply. Read somewhere that since the Driver and Power tube plates are connected to the power supply they could theoretically also throw signal to the power supply too making some noise. I mean either way it’s good to have just in case and audibly in one of my prototypes it did make everything a touch more quiet than it already was.
I’m not that good at using stuff like kicad (altho I do use PSUD) so I tend to just test some stuff head on and see if it goes boom or not (usually doesn’t since I read up on quite a few amp designs and look up schematics of older equipment and see how it worked out for them, also bleeding resistors are great if you want to quickly test and open the amp back up without getting a 200VDC cap shock, that or use a multimeter to test first). If It doesn’t go boom then I go on with the rest of the design and see if I like it. True I use inexpensive parts (I’m not made out of money) cuz it’d suck hard to damage a higher quality/higher price component.
Still thanks for the reply, guess I’ll read up on lagging current then and inductance a bit more, although I could imagine what that means kinda. Also the IHa-6 is also really tempting but I think I might go with a Phonitor e or 2. Will read up on a Lehmann Audio Linear Pro tho. Thanks again.
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Electronics basics
An inductor resistes change in current.
A capacitor resists change in voltage.
A diode as used in rectifiers does ONYL ever allow current to flow in one direction. No matter if it is bottom of the barrel b-grade or the finnest custom made by TSMC.
When designing a PSU, one should make sure to not backfeed interference to the grid.
Means to do that:
- Choke, filters low frequency EMI
- Common mode suppresion choke high frequency (or inrush limiting)
- Common mode suppresion choke medium/low frequency
how common mode chokes work - Class-Y capacitor, prevents high-frequency EMI backfeed
- Fuse/Fuseable resistor prevents current outside of parameters
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So interesting read all around, I’m pretty sure I’m not back feeding interference back into the power grid since even without an inductor, I’m almost sure any signal returning to the PS would be blocked by the rectification diodes since AC would be blocked in that direction, sorry read up again on Diodes and I kinda mixed up Switching Noise with AC (Cree has a 0 Nano Second Delay so I guess I probably don’t have to worry about switching noise though). Also I don’t think the amp has any noticeable stray capacitance outside the circuit so the chokes I’m using (I’d Imagine) are for differential mode suppression inside the circuit itself in order to remove any signal noise trying to go against the DC powering the Plates (I’m not that good with technical speak, I do and hope I don’t mess something up, and either it turns out great or I need to buy new parts for another test). I read upon your link and there’s also this page here explaining other types of noise in a circuit and where to look (https://micro.rohm.com/en/techweb/knowledge/emc/s-emc/01-s-emc/6899) as well as different capacitors and X vs Y Safety Capacitor and their Purpose (https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/technical-articles/safety-capacitor-class-x-and-class-y-capacitors/).
Honestly though I think alot of these concepts may come more into play with SS amplification as well as MOSFET/Transistor Regulated Power Supplies (Look at the Mainline For Example). With Amps using CRCLC Power Supplies, I have to imagine some of those issues may not be present or to better put, different issues are present in such a design. I could have gone the Mainline route and made it transistorized but there’s a particular way I want this amp to sound and making the Power Supply regulated that way may have not been what I wanted, idk alot of people say the Mainline is a bit too SS sounding, although I am using Diodes instead of Tube Rectifiers for Bass Response, Internal Tube Resistances giving a bit of Bass Sag due to how the amp works at different frequencies when getting current from the Power Supply or something. I’d love to test a tube rectifier but those things are really expensive, and I really don’t want to spend 100 dollars on a component that might not give me the sound that I like, there are cheaper rectifiers though but I think I’ve read enough forms to see what the majority distinction is between Tube and SS rectifiers.
Besides so far the amp in prototype sounds pretty good (more to my tastes compared to some other stuff I’ve tried, and WAY better than what my modded Darkvoice can do by a very large margin in both power and dynamics and just overall sound, although I still love my Darkvoice to death since it was the first amp I modded), and ngl I feel that if I start to try to look for noise the amp doesn’t have I’ll go crazy since alot of the amp is based on schematics I read and reproduce, test out, and then adjust what’s necessary for the tubes in question as well for what my design needs and preferences for functionality and sound.
Besides the amp prototype using worse components and no inductors was dead quiet at least, unless noise past the 20Hz-20kHz could affect me in some way (I’ve read theories but idk)?
Thanks for the websites though, really interesting to read up on some of this stuff and it doesn’t hurt to learn a bit more here and there, besides It’ll also help making sense of other schematics quicker (Might try my hand at something electrostatic when I get my hands on some design plans, although I don’t own any electrostatic “Earspeakers” so that may be for the future).
Oh Also just for a reference, The amp I’m building is based on pictures/schematics/design/concepts/sound of the following: Bottlehead Crack,Bottlehead Mainline, DNA Stratus, WOO WA22, WOO WA33, ampandsound Kenzie, Eddie Current Super 7, Felkis Audio Elise + Some Guitaur Amps I’ve had the chance to play around with and disassemble/reassemble. Its surprising how much DNA all of the amps share, even guitar amps. Obviously they all have their way of doing things, different Power Supplies, CCS vs Resistors vs Inductor Plate Loads, Tube Types, Transformer Voltages, etc as well as Tube Phase Splitters in Guitaur Amps and other stuff, but there is a certain familiarity to all of them, I just can’t put my finger on it. Thanks again for the Reply tho.
What about one of the Cavalli liquid series. Less clinical, very, very slightly tube-ish.
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I’ve been interested in the Liquid Platinum since it’s a hybrid amp, but If I ever get a hybrid I’d rather build one myself, Torpedo III Looks Good, but I can’t find the PCB for Sale anywhere, maybe I need to contact the company directly? Still Liquid Crimson looks good but idk where to get that either, or at least schematics to build some of these. Most Likely tho if I want a Hybrid I might make the Torpedo III since I’d have more control over the parts/price of the amp. Thanks for the reply tho.
Oh Also Toroids finally came in the mail for the amp I’m building, 2 Transformers, 200VA and 7 Amp Heaters Each are gonna let me do quite a lot with my build (Planning on using 6528 as one of the tube rolling options, as well as allowing .9Amp Drivers and .6Amp Tube Shunt regulators, all of which need at most 6.5 Amps to function, so I needed a Transformer that could handle 7 Amps, and that’s 7 Amps per side since I’m going with a Dual-Mono Setup, kinda). I’m so giddy, all I need are the Partsconnexion stuff and I can start building the Power Supply Section, It’ll be separate from the amp, Transformers and part of the power supply in Separate box, Signal Circuit and chokes above that so they don’t have contact with each other or have interference between each other, Kinda like the Eddie Current Studio/WA33.
Oh also also, I think I might get the Phonitor 2, I was looking at the X/XE but the 2 seems to have bit more features, albeit without the Balanced Output, still it should have quite enough power for stuff like the Argon (T50rp MKIII) and still takes advantage of being balanced anyways internaly. Besides, the VUs sold me a bit ^-^.
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VU and cool features ftw lol
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The liquid crimson and liquid gold are two of the last amps Cavalli actually sold through his own company they were not reasonably priced amps, I think the liquid Gold was $4K new. The crimson was the hibrid and the gold pure solid state.
according to Cavalli himself the liquid platinum is a balanced version of the crimson, shrunk to use surface mount components and obviously a much cheaper power section. The liquid gold X is a version of the liquid gold with the same shrinkage and reduced power output.
Both interest me, as does the SPL, but I’m trying to limit the number of changes I make to my system until after I get some time I with the ZMF’s, when they eventually ship.
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Man I really want to get some ZMF too but atm I’m kinda doing Amp Stuff, maybe in the next few months tho. Also yeah the Platinum I heard to be a Balanced Crimson Mini Essentially, but I really wanted the Crimson at some point to upgrade it with some higher end parts, tape a Burger King crown on it and dub it King “Liquid” Crimson. I mean, what else are you supposed to do with it?