The Official Guide to Converting your Quickie for Headphone Use

[Paul Joppa]

You mean, I think, the oldest ones from before the Specos. Your transformers are very similar to the Speco, and should work about equally well.

[Jim R.]

I believe Sam has the Specos as he has a 2.0 kit and I sold him the mq iron for his upgrade.

Sam, the old transformers have yellow tape around them, correct?  If so, the directions are found earlier back in this topic.

-- Jim

[Wormwood]

Being new to this all it's fun and frustrating to read these threads that shift into the pages - Frustrating as I don't know 80% of what is being talked about but fun as I can see ideas being shaped and evolving through a gestalt.

Now my question - would the Head-Quickie mod run AKG Q701? Or is this mod more like a mini Crack?

Was thinking down the track to build one of these for my workpod.


Cheers
Stephen


PS: Doc or site Admin - the pics in the front pages are not linking anymore

[Wanderer]

Now my question - would the Head-Quickie mod run AKG Q701? Or is this mod more like a mini Crack?

With the Speco Transformer/Autofomers as orignally specified I doubt you will get much joy.

My experiments with trying lower impedance cans, Sennheiser 497 and Yamaha YHD-1,  did not yield anything listenable.

Different transformers where briefly discussed above. Maybe something would work. 

                         

[Wormwood]

Would someone mind running me up a shopping list w/links to the parts I would need to convert my Quickie, please.

I have found the Speco on ebay but the chap doesn't sell outside the States - I am in Australia. As for the other parts... yeah I am a tad lost. If you have any Caps that I should swap out that would be great also.


Cheers,

Stephen

[mcandmar]

I have an older pair of the Speco T-7010 transformers which were removed from the original Paramours during an upgrade. These older transformers did not have the same color coding as the new production ones. For installing these in my Quickie, I developed the table below and thought this might be useful for other bottleheads with older Speco transformers.

--Chris

{Editted from original post which was badly worded}{Editted again to fix stupid error in table}

speco_t7010_colours.gif

Here is a first draft of wiring for the two versions of the Speco T-7010 output transformer. This is for the stock setup (not optimized for choke or PJCCS loads). I'll update it when I have done some more measurements and analysis.

first draft Speco wiring.gif

Re-posting missing images, added images of new and old versions.

[musiciseverything]

First of all, thanks to Bottlehead for a great piece of equipment.  It worked right out of the shop without any issues.  I want to convert it for headphone use.  I was confused by all the threads and would appreciate any input regarding the parts.  I have a Quickie 1.1 without the PJCCS (I have the add-on but haven't installed it yet).  Are the following parts the correct ones?
Neutrik NMJ6HC-S 1/4" Stereo Phone Jack Switched
Brand:
Neutrik
| Model: NMJ6HC-S


Speco 10W 70V Line Transformer
by Speco

http://www.amazon.com/Speco-10W-70V-Line-Transformer/dp/B001MJFB8E

Thanks in advance.

[mcandmar]

Ideally you want the newer version of the Speco transformer, that amazon link shows an image of the older version so i can only assume that is what you will get.   

e.g. here is the new style http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Brand-New-Speco-T7010-70V-Line-Transformer-10-5-2-5-1-25-and-0-625-watt-tap-/291423991998?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43da3938be

[musiciseverything]

Thanks for your reply. Does the Neutrik headphone jack look right?

[mcandmar]

Yup should work fine.

[musiciseverything]

Thanks. Is there an advantage to using or leaving off the PJCCS circuit. I have many phones but plan on the Senn 600s. Thanks very much for your advice. TG

[mcandmar]

Sonically it should be better than the stock resistor plate load, lower distortion, better frequency response etc.  The chokes will fall somewhere in between the two, i really liked the sound with plate chokes on mine so that is how i left it.

It only takes a couple of minutes to install so there is really only one way to find out for sure

[Wanderer]

I use mine as  headphone amp with the older Speco. The chokes or PJCCS are really needed to upgrade the gain for my phones. I prefer the sound with PJCCS. If you have the upgrade kit you should try it.

[musiciseverything]

 Thanks, again! You guys have really been helpful. I built a crack headphone amplifier which is absolutely fantastic. I am looking to use the Q 1.1 because it is battery operated and portable. Although I have sennheiser HD 600s,  I also use Sennheiser HD 598. The only issue may be that the impedance is 50 ohms versus the 600s which are 300 ohms. Do you think the upgrade will help or hurt with these other headphones?

[mcandmar]

In theory the headphone mod is more suitable for the high impedance headphones like the 300 ohm HD600/650's.  I have used mine with both the HD650's and low impedance 32 ohm Grados and its the Grados that stay plugged in all the time.

The transformers are only pocket money so just give it a try and see.  There are a couple of different output taps on the transformers you can try and see which sounds the best with your headphones.