Recent Posts

1

Moreplay / Re: Back again...problems with fading to black

« Last post by anthonynchandler on Today at 06:16:55 AM »

Okay,
I am sorry that this took me so long to fix, but my soldering iron melted down mid-repair...and that may have solved the problem: my Hakko soldering iron feels like it may have been a "fake", and after 12 years of service it slowly had died a bad death.  Anyway, I found a replacement for $17 on Amazon (probably also fake), but it now suddenly works and took away all cold solder looks that I was getting on the joints. It is like night and day, so I redid everything and presto-chango - it all works again.

I expect that this is what caused the capacitor to begin its bulge.I found that once I resoldered everything it was visually clear that the iron had not heated connections well at all. So I expect Paul was right that there was something wrong leading into the capacitor.   I am going to put the Moreplay back into the system and let it run for a bit before vacation. When I come back I will replace the two capacitors and see. Then I will do the upgrade and probably be back in the forum with tears - ha ha ha. 

One last thing...I have found that I can  use the Moreplay output to my Crack with Speedball if I put a Schitt SYS into the chain. Unlike the attenuator solution, I can connect the SYS to the output, then run an RCA cable to the monoblocks and the second one to the Crack. This allows me to mute the channel going to the monos when listening to headphones AND it attenuates the too hot signal from the Moreplay as a passive preamp. When listening to speakers its volume is up and when using the Crack it is down.   Just thought I would share that solution!

Thanks as always...let's hope this stays fixed!

Anthony

2

Technical topics / Adding an idle off circuit

« Last post by ryanppax on Today at 05:55:49 AM »

Hi all, new crack owner here.
Newbie to circuit design but not reading and implementing wiring schematics

I've found myself constantly forgetting to turn the amp off. I'll come back 8 hours later and its still on. So I've thought of putting a timer plug on, even a smart plug with an hourly auto off schedule. But that's no fun...

I'd like to implement something like an idle off circuit. My Modi DAC has something similar, I can hear the relay click on when I turn my computer on. So I'd love to trigger the power on of the crack to when audio is detected, and turn off after some period. Also some power button (non toggle) to function the same and drive a mains relay.

3

Eros Phono / Re: Input resistor change, to 150K

« Last post by Paul Joppa on Today at 04:42:33 AM »

It won't hurt anything in the Eros, but your SUT may not like it. The 3x higher impedance calls for 3x more inductance in the bass, and it will provide 3x less damping of the high frequency resonance. That may or may not be a problem, depending on the particular transformer.

4

Eros Phono / Input resistor change, to 150K

« Last post by Ivan303 on Today at 03:25:30 AM »

So the new Hana SL Mk II 'mono' cartridge wants to see something closer to 400-500 Ohms while my current stepups are PERFECT for the Hana Blue at 150 ohms going to the current 47K input of the Eros2.

Eros II has an extra hole in the top chassis (for a switch?) so I could have the input resistor switchable between 47K to 150K?

Lot easier that building another step-up box.

5

Mainline / Re: Buzz on left channel

« Last post by Tabaia on Yesterday at 05:15:11 PM »

Hello Again,
Still trying to problem solve the buzzing.
Have again and quite meticulously while the amp is on and with headphones  gone through with a bamboo skewer and probe'd all wiring, listening for any changes but could not detect anything.

Also gently wiggled the transformers. Agin could not detect anything.

Kindly advise of the next step to take.

Many thanks

6

Subette Subwoofer / Re: Dumb Question: Connecting Stereomour II + 2 Sublimes + 2 Pipettes + 2 Subettes

« Last post by Doc B. on Yesterday at 12:26:15 PM »

The load from the Sublime amp on the Stereomour output is so much lighter than that from the Pipette speakers that it changes the output loading on the Stereomour very little. So you can put the Pipette load and the Sublime load in parallel like this. I brought the exact system you describe home from our studio last week. It's sitting here in the dining room, fed by an Echo Dot. Works quite nicely.

7

Subette Subwoofer / Re: Dumb Question: Connecting Stereomour II + 2 Sublimes + 2 Pipettes + 2 Subettes

« Last post by rsmiii on Yesterday at 12:03:27 PM »

Thank you; I had to wrap my head around an amplifier's speaker outputs connecting to external main speakers and concurrently connecting to another amplifier via that second amplifier's RCA input(s).

8

Mainline / Re: Mainline - Balanced and Unbalanced expected behavior

« Last post by Paul Birkeland on Yesterday at 11:46:12 AM »

The audio ground moves from one end of the output transformer secondary to the center tap of the output transformer.  There isn't a way to have the 4 pin jack be a balanced output and to have the 1/4" jack doing what it's supposed to be doing.  If you want to listen out of both jacks, I would set the amp to unbalanced output, which will give you the full TRS signal on the XLR jack and the proper output on the TRS jack.

The schematic in the manual shows how these switches are laid out and how they connect.

9

Mainline / Re: Mainline - Balanced and Unbalanced expected behavior

« Last post by e2o on Yesterday at 10:11:09 AM »

That is totally normal.  I also believe that the sound out of the TRS isn't going to be so great with the switch set to balanced.

Thank you, Paul! Is there a description somewhere of what exactly happens when going from Balanced to Unbalanced? I'm curious as to a few things:
1) Is anything happening to the XLR when flipping this switch?
2) Is Unbalanced only using one side, the other side sitting idle?
3) If I do want a listening session out of both (unlikely), would it be better in Bal or Unbal mode?
4) Curious - why have the Bal/Unbal toggle? Why not have Unbal to TRS and Bal to XLR?

thanks again!

\ eric

10

Mainline / Re: Mainline - Balanced and Unbalanced expected behavior

« Last post by Paul Birkeland on Yesterday at 10:02:53 AM »

That is totally normal.  I also believe that the sound out of the TRS isn't going to be so great with the switch set to balanced.