So I built my Crack about 3 weeks ago and have been enjoying it immensely. Thought I would share some build and listening impressions.
First of all the instructions were fantastic. I've built a lot of audio related kits over the years and these were some of the best instructions I've ever come across. I'd say it took me about 6 hours with a couple of breaks in between to wire everything up. Add on about 30-45 minutes of troubleshooting nasty hum that turned out to be a cold solder joint on the ground for the headphone out.
Now, on to the wood work. I was dreading this part. I have zero experience working with wood and thought I would most definitely screw something up. The cabinet assembly was very straight forward and took about 15 minutes. The finishing on the other hand took a solid week to get it to where I was happy with it. Once the cabinet was assembled I borrowed a random orbital sander and sanded with a 220 grit pad. After a lot of reading, I decided to go with an ebony Minwax stain due to its availability. I also got the Minwax pre-stain treatment and Minwax poly for the clear coat. I found the pre-stain to be very effective on some old pieces of 2x4 I had laying around from when my house was built, so I would highly recommend that for any n00bs like myself. I applied the ebony stain very lightly, and wiped it off quickly. Surprisingly it came out half way decent IMHO. Much more dark brown than ebony which is what I was hoping for. After waiting 24 hours I began applying the poly. I did 3 or 4 coats of poly waiting 24 hours between each coat. After the first coat I did a light sanding with 300 grit sand paper, but I did not do that after the 2nd or 3rd coats. All in all I am pretty happy with its appearance. Oh yeah I hit the bell cover with 2 coats of gloss black Krylon and it looks pretty good I must say.
A couple of other changes I have made initially were to use an Alps Blue Velvet pot and a new knob to accommodate the longer shaft of the Alps. I rolled the dice and bought an Alps pot from a Chinese Ebay seller and I think I lucked out. It very well could be fake but I checked resistances before installing and both channels were very closely matched. I listen at fairly low volume so this was important to me.
Now as for listening impressions, all I can say is the hype is real. Incredibly good match for the HD-6XX. The first time you fire it up with the stock tubes is a magical experience. It truly is an addictive sound. I had to be torn away by my family the first night I was listening to it and several evenings since.
I've been rolling several budget tubes (have not paid over 10 dollars for a single tube) I scored from eBay while waiting for the kit to ship. Here's what I have tried so far:
6080/6AS7G variant:Tung Sol 6080 - Pretty good, a bit light on the bass, but rather involving.
Tung Sol 7236 - Wow, exciting sound, definitely solid state sounding. Very punchy, but you lose some of the tube magic imo. As good as it sounds, I haven't spent a ton of time with it due
to not being "tubey" enough
Stock JAN 6080 - Weighty tube, both physically and sound wise. I very much like this paired with an RCA clear top
GE 5998A - This thing gets hot...really hot, hotter than the other tubes which are hot! Sound is similar to the 7236, maybe a bit warmer around the edges
Winged C 6H13C - Super cheap, very readily available. I really like this tube. It pairs well with almost all of my 12AU7 tubes. Very good bang for your buck. Its not perfect, is a little
woolly in the bass, maybe a tad bass light, but an incredibly good value.
12AU7Stock Tube - Can't tell the brand
Tung Sol - Pretty good. Warm, soft sounding, some detail lost. Very cheap and readily available.
Mullard 12AU7WA - Great tube. Very good balance of detail and warmth.
RCA clear top - I love this tube. Maybe a bit brighter but pairs well with all of the 6080/6AS7G variants I have. Lots of detail, increased sound stage. Great bang for your buck here.
I think overall my favorite pairing so far is the 6H13C and RCA clear top. I want to try a Tung Sol 5998 but I'm a cheap skate and holding out for the right deal. Yes I realize I could have bought a 5998 by now with all of the other tubes I've bought, but I enjoy tube rolling too much
I plan to install the speedball over the holidays and looking forward to hearing what sort of changes that brings to the table.