whoa!

[willspeed]

I finished putting together my amp last Friday, and found I had no sound in the left channel - ended up being one of the RCA jacks - small short between the center post and the outside.

I have to say, the sound is amazing. I have a pair of the SEXy speakers (8" front firing subs instead of the 10") which I had tested with another amp (Technics integrated amp) and I thought the speakers sounded good. I was not prepared for the sound that this amp puts out. This is one helluva product!

Now, to install the C4S boards.

[JC]

The SEX amp is quite the little over-achiever, isn't it?

[willspeed]

No kidding! My girlfriend walked in from work and sat down to listen with me. Her first comment was "wow, that sounds amazing". Looks like we're heading in the right direction.

[Grainger49]

No kidding! My girlfriend walked in from work and sat down to listen with me. Her first comment was "wow, that sounds amazing". Looks like we're heading in the right direction.

That is a keeper!

[Maxwell_E]

Which one, the amp or the girlfriend, Grainger? Or both?

[Paul Joppa]

Thanks for the positive words! And, just wait until the parts are broken in!!

Seriously, many people find that caps and transformers actually get a little worse over the first 10 hours or so, sounding thin and weak - kind of constricted, if that means anything. Then it opens up, often seemingly in steps, until 50 hours of music have passed. It will open a bit more after than, and exotic caps can take longer, but that's been my most common experience.

It was some 16 years ago that Dave D. first made a 6DN7 amp, slapping it together at a VALVE club meeting, and it blew us all away. It morphed into the first Bottlehead product, and we've always had a great fondness for this tube. I call it the "poor man's 45". There was actually a run on the tube, and prices got pretty high, after the first SEX amp became popular; fortunately the tides of fashion have drifted in other directions since and there's a pretty reliable supply of them out there these days.

[Grainger49]

Which one, the amp or the girlfriend, Grainger? Or both?

I meant the girlfriend but the amp too.

[willspeed]

Thankfully they're BOTH keepers!

[willspeed]

Ok, my dumb @$$ fried a tube. Connected the C4S upgrade to A6 instead of A5 (d'oh!) and severely crippled a tube. I just got a matched pair to replace, and I'm enjoying the glorious sound.

Lesson for me: TEST THRICE! Plug in once.

Current source: 160GB Classic iPod, playing Seasick Steve, "Doghouse Music".

[JC]

I don't think your dumb @$$ is the first to do this!

With the understanding that it is relatively new, how are you liking the C4S in the SEX so far?

[willspeed]

I really like the upgrade. I had an almost imperceptible amount of noise in the background without (not saying that it wasn't awesome), but with it I hear (or don't?) the improvement. With a source plugged in an in pause, I was turning the amp from 0-Full Blast and I could hear *nothing* from the speakers. The bass response is a bit crisper - the sound is more balanced.

I'm still at a stage of burning in the components - especially since I just installed the new tubes. Another good listen after 8 hours or so will let me get another feel for the sound.

However, I had a buddy over tonight and he was floored. I know I still am.

[willspeed]

Oh, and the amp showed me how crappy this USB powered phono preamp is! I hope the Seduction is here today