Is SEx the best kit of all?

[Chris]

and it does it with  ONLY 2 inexpensive tubes... Cant get too much better of a design...

[Loquah]

Doing the Anax 2.0 today with a little foam and some kinda beaded open stuff used for lining toolbox drawers - similar to the pics here: http://www.changstar.com/index.php/topic,497.msg9987.html#msg9987

If it alters them too much I'll scale it back to the original mod with just the foam ring / trapezoid.

In the meantime, the S.E.X. is killer with the pre-fazor LCD2.2's - just a great experience.

I used my S.E.X. to drive LCD-2.2 pre Fazors while I had them and it rocks. The Mainline still offers some compelling arguments as an "upgrade", but the S.E.X. is brilliant. Now I just need to get the hum out of mine to see if I prefer the Mainline or the S.E.X. with my Nighthawks

[DDDamian]

I used my S.E.X. to drive LCD-2.2 pre Fazors while I had them and it rocks. The Mainline still offers some compelling arguments as an "upgrade", but the S.E.X. is brilliant. Now I just need to get the hum out of mine to see if I prefer the Mainline or the S.E.X. with my Nighthawks

Hi Loquah - been out of the loop for a bit - had a house fire back in September - just back to normal now.

The S.E.X has done brilliantly with everything I've thrown at it, and the LCD-2.2c is my main pairing with it.

Finally, at last, as promised to myself as my winter project, I just this evening completed a Mainline and am getting some initial early impressions with the HD-800's. Stock build except for some Mundorf Supremes in the 10uF coupling role. Waaay early but initial impressions are already very good and things are only 8hrs or so in. I am now the proud owner of a Crack + SB, S.E.X + C4S and a Mainline, many thanks to your reviews and to the braniacs (you know who you are!) behind the BH line.

Hope you track down that hum!

[JamieMcC]

Mainline + HD800 is a superb combo congrats

Nice Sex moment report, I found our old sony TV had a optical out on the back the other day and as the new dac has three optical inputs which is proving handy thought I would hook it up. After listening to Eva Cassidy for many years I was looking forward to watching the dvd Night Bird (live Blues Alley performance recording) so a great chance to try out the Sex and the Fostex's all hooked up to the TV for the first time.  Well all worked just great but the best  bit of all was watching my three month old daughter in the mirror as her eyes slowly closed and she drifted off to sleep on my shoulder as Eva sung Over The Rainbow 

[DDDamian]

Mainline + HD800 is a superb combo congrats

Nice Sex moment report, I found our old sony TV had a optical out on the back the other day and as the new dac has three optical inputs which is proving handy thought I would hook it up. After listening to Eva Cassidy for many years I was looking forward to watching the dvd Night Bird (live Blues Alley performance recording) so a great chance to try out the Sex and the Fostex's all hooked up to the TV for the first time.  Well all worked just great but the best  bit of all was watching my three month old daughter in the mirror as her eyes slowly closed and she drifted off to sleep on my shoulder as Eva sung Over The Rainbow 

Awwww that's an awesome moment Jamie and a great audiophile recording for sure - I have a nice vinyl rip of it.

The Mainline now has 30hrs or so of cooking, and my somewhat-neglected 650's are smiling. Definitely more detailed and nuanced than the S.E.X. Not quite enough power for the LCD 2.2's on lower-level tracks without a bit of pre-amp, but the higher impedance Senns (650/800) are both loving it. I'm sure it would have no issues with the more efficient LCD models.

All three of these BH amps are just amazing bang-for-the-buck. I'd give the nod to the S.E.X for it's ability to pair well with almost anything, the Crack for it's endless rollability, and the Mainline for technical excellence and euphonics. Can't wait to get some more time in on the Mainline, but so far it's just what I want: punchy, detailed, musical and revealing.

[murray]

Stay tuned for news in a few months ... research continues!

I'm slowly saving my pennies up for one of these. Any updates on the research?

[Paul Joppa]

Wow - I had forgotten that post :^)

Last summer we were thinking of a 20th anniversary commemorative edition of the original SEX amp (monoblocks with parallel output tubes). I was hoping to incorporate most of what we've learned over the last couple decades. That plan kind of fizzled out - couldn't see that many customers for something that would cost more than the Stereomour and still not sound quite as good.

We might have to do a minor update of the SEX in the future just to allow for some components that are are getting hard to find, but the circuit itself is unlikely to change much.

[murray]

Wow - I had forgotten that post :^)

Last summer we were thinking of a 20th anniversary commemorative edition of the original SEX amp (monoblocks with parallel output tubes). I was hoping to incorporate most of what we've learned over the last couple decades. That plan kind of fizzled out - couldn't see that many customers for something that would cost more than the Stereomour and still not sound quite as good.

We might have to do a minor update of the SEX in the future just to allow for some components that are are getting hard to find, but the circuit itself is unlikely to change much.

Thanks Paul. I planned to start with the S.E.X as my first trial of tubes and use that to decide where to "move up" from there. I agree that there's no sense in making it dearer than the higher models.

[Paul Joppa]

Thanks Paul. I planned to start with the S.E.X as my first trial of tubes and use that to decide where to "move up" from there. I agree that there's no sense in making it dearer than the higher models.

Perfect! That has been exactly the rationale for the Single-Ended eXperimenter's (SEX) amp in the first place.

[Mordicai]

Just finished the build of the 2.1. My third build (Crack and Stereomour). What a thrill it is to turn it on and ..." Oh my god it works ". Never thought it would sound this good with 5 minutes of burn in. No hum, thank god. It's so clear!!  Building this stuff is such fun, and at the end of it you get to listen music like you've never heard it before. Time to order some Ether C's. Great amp...thank you BH!

[Natural Sound]

There is something alluring about dissimilar triodes. My first experience with dissimilar tubes was a 6T9 compactron tube and a circuit in Nuts and Volts magazine. That amp resides in a friends wood shop with a nice set of homemade speakers. It still sounds great but the S.E.X. amp is better in every way.

It should be noted that the 6T9 is a triode-pentode and the 6DN7 is a dual triode so it isn't an apples to apples comparison.

[murray]

There is something alluring about dissimilar triodes. My first experience with dissimilar tubes was a 6T9 compactron tube and a circuit in Nuts and Volts magazine. That amp resides in a friends wood shop with a nice set of homemade speakers. It still sounds great but the S.E.X. amp is better in every way.

It should be noted that the 6T9 is a triode-pentode and the 6DN7 is a dual triode so it isn't an apples to apples comparison.

What do you mean by "dissimilar triodes"?  Is this specific to the design, or just the choice of tubes?

[Natural Sound]

What do you mean by "dissimilar triodes"?  Is this specific to the design, or just the choice of tubes?

The 6DN7 has two triode sections in one glass envelope. Section 1 and section 2 are different in size, amplification gain, voltage, current, power dissipation etc. Therefore the sections are "dissimilar." In the S.E.X. amp the first section (the smaller one) is used as a voltage amplifier and the second section (the larger one) is a power amplifier. The tube was originally designed for use as a vertical oscillator / vertical deflection amplifier in televisions but it works excellent for audio use as well.
http://www.nj7p.org/Tubes/PDFs/Frank/093-GE/6DN7.pdf

[murray]

The 6DN7 has two triode sections in one glass envelope. Section 1 and section 2 are different in size, amplification gain, voltage, current, power dissipation etc. Therefore the sections are "dissimilar." In the S.E.X. amp the first section (the smaller one) is used as a voltage amplifier and the second section (the larger one) is a power amplifier. The tube was originally designed for use as a vertical oscillator / vertical deflection amplifier in televisions but it works excellent for audio use as well.
http://www.nj7p.org/Tubes/PDFs/Frank/093-GE/6DN7.pdf

Thanks for the explanation. I guess the different specs of each section determine which function they are allocated. It's interesting that they can be used for other than the original purpose (video deflection).

[Adamaley]

Sad to hear that the S.E.X is being discontinued. After having my crack for a few days, I just knew that I had to move up to the S.E.X. Different sounds, but being a planar guy at heart, it made loads of sense. It never disappointed me. The power delivery was always on the money, and it is musical as hell.