john_tracy
Responses from john_tracy
| Phono preamp comparison: Herron vs. K&K The best phono stage out there is Kevin's new 3 stage, transformer coupled, differential series feed design. ;~) Unfortunately for us, the last I heard the projected retail was $18K. Fortunately for me I snapped up one of the beta versions when th... | |
| Capacitors in Cary PH302 phono amp To quote J.C. Morrison from his blog: "cary audio does it like radio shack would have in the 70′s, if they smoked crank and gambled on tractor pulls". My guess from the Cary products I've seen is that the original caps were Kimber Caps. | |
| Phono preamp comparison: Herron vs. K&K One thing to keep in mind if you are considering the K&K is the possibility of future upgrades. The very first kit sold can be upgraded to the latest version of the circuit ( I know, i upgraded it for a friend that bought it from me). Kevin pr... | |
| Best way to store cartridges? I've used a FoodSaver vac-u-seal machine to seal a cart. in its factory box. Once sealed a syringe needle connected to a hose was used to introduce dry Argon into the sealed bag and then the bag was resealed to close off the hole from the needle. ... | |
| How can anyone afford this ? Join the DIY bandwagon. Upgrade your system with a soldering iron and not your wallet! | |
| Balanced SUT, what's available? You can wire your transformer (all transformers are inherently balanced) with RCA jacks. Just make sure that they are insulated from the chassis. My arm is wired balanced with RCAs because the arm is hard wired and XLRs will not fit through the mo... | |
| Will a Wavelink or Offramp make a difference? Hi, I'm just starting out playing with PC audio and currently I am using the Halide Bridge USB/Spdif on my MacBook Pro with iTunes. It's feeding a DIY DAC (K&K Audio RAKK DAC). While it's not as open and transparent as my PS Audio PWT feeding ... | |
| audio Research REF 110 and KT 120 tubes Great tubes! I'm using them in my DIY PPPdiff mono-blocks. These amps use 4 output tubes in a "forced" class A push pull differential mode (the 2 pp halves are in series, nor parallel like class AB1 and cannot operate out of class A). Operating at... | |
| "upgrade" from Cary SLI 80 F1 edition As a former SLI-80 owner, IMO you can play around with tube rolling and cap changes until you're blue in the face and still not get around the underlying issues of the basic circuit topology and design execution. I have an old Eico HF-89 that I re... | |
| How to accomodate a balanced only phono stage ? You can run cart. balanced into phono pre with RCAs if cables and input jacks are wired that way. That is the way I run mine. XLR jacks are too big to fit through my arm mounting hole (OL arms use Rega mount with hard wired cables). In my case usi... | |
| Art Audio Vinyl Reference vs Maxxed Out K&K I don't think you have to worry about Kevin getting out of the kit business any time soon. The Sonas Venice is too expensive and complex for Kevin to consider offering as a kit. The retail cost of just the transformers is more than a Maxed Out. Ha... | |
| Art Audio Vinyl Reference vs Maxxed Out K&K The Vinyl Ref. will not have the latest mods. That is: current source plate load for the input stage with the new JFET along with changing the series RIAA filter resistor from a series connection to a shunt connection, IXSYS 1N100D/2N100D2 MOSFETs... | |
| how do you determine anti-skate settings? Some basic physics: the skating force results from the fact that the stylus drag generated by the stylus moving though the groove is not directed straight back to the pivot point due to the off-set head. This drag is the result of friction. The am... | |
| how do you determine anti-skate settings? If you consistently observe mistracking in the left channel, decrease the anti-scating; if the mistracking is in the right channel, increase it. You can use test records for this or just listen to your own records. The inner cuts are usually the m... | |
| What Makes a Good RIAA or Line Stage? I just wanted to pass on a PS update. I recently rewired the PS chokes in my line stage and phono pre. Lundahl PS chokes, like all Lundahl chokes, have 2 coils wound on a C core. Previously both coils were connected in series with the B+ side on t... |