EC Aficionado (was: The Studio Jr.)

Discussion in 'Headphone Amplifiers and Combo (DAC/Amp) Units' started by AppleheadMay, Nov 10, 2015.

  1. HitmanFluffy

    HitmanFluffy Hoping to see real genitals someday!

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    Even the king of planar haters @Psalmanazar would agree that it's sufficient power.
     
  2. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    If you feel the ZDS works well with Utopia and HD800 modded, then that is what we are shooting for. ZDS tone, with less veil, higher resolution, and more space.

    BTW, 6SL7 is out. Too much of a classic tube sound. Too bassy thick and warm. It measures well, flat, with low distortion, but it just doesn't sound like EC. Sounds more like Cary. Going back to 2C51 / 5670 family for drivers. 90% certain now.

    Compatible tubes: 2C51, 6N3P. 5670, WE396A, 6385, 6854. Tube rollers can have fun, hopefully enough types so no one feels the need to do strange x-mas tree tube nonsense.

    We found who we think might be the OEM for Jupiter caps, $6 a pop. But we found two other caps we like better. We are late on PS. Might go toroid on power transformer, because MCI won't do anything custom for low quantity. Cinemag is having a crazy year, so might be three months before we can get OPTs.

    Current plan is to have 3-pin XLRs on the back for balanced output into power amps or to directly power 95db efficient speakers.

    Craig has crazy idea of 30W monoblocks to go with this amp. 30W per channel. The idea is 2x SE class A 300B with 6SN7 driver running differential. Projected price would be less than $1000 per monoblock.
     
  3. cskippy

    cskippy Creamy warmpoo

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    Full power output to headphone outs too?

    Hol-eeee-shit! This gonna be good!
     
  4. songmic

    songmic Gear cycler East Asia edition

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    If all this turns out to be true, I believe this amp will appeal to a wider audience than EC Studio regardless of price.
     
  5. ButtUglyJeff

    ButtUglyJeff Stunningly beautiful IRL

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    That might be even more exciting. It also might quell some people wanting speaker taps on the Aficionado section.

    I wonder what would be more popular, a 2 separate chassis design, or a dual mono circuit in a single chassis?
     
    Last edited: Apr 7, 2017
  6. zerodeefex

    zerodeefex SBAF's Imelda Marcos

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    I'm supposed to be logged out of the forum but my spider senses were tingling and, sure enough, I see this. I shouldn't be thinking about this but I am.
     
  7. jmcmasterj

    jmcmasterj Friend

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    Oh dang. I might have to pick up one of these if that happens.
     
  8. bazelio

    bazelio Friend

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    We'll be seeing 5670 to 6SN7 converters at a minimum. Hopefully the 6SN7 still has enough gain in this circuit because there are some good ones out there. WE396A can be warm, too, for those who like that.
     
  9. Hands

    Hands Overzealous Auto Flusher - Measurbator

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    Ah shit, I'd buy that instantly...
     
  10. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    To be clear, I'm not allowed to say push-pull, because Craig hates push-pull. So this is two SET running differential signals. We'll see where this goes. I approached him on a 300B push-pull a while back, which he shot down. Then he got this idea. The caveat is these monoblocks will only take differential inputs. There will be no SE to balanced splitter.
     
  11. Don Miller

    Don Miller Banned from FS; never sell me anything

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    Is ec balancing act the only ec amp yo use 40 kHz a to heat the tubes? What wI'll be used to heat the tubes of the aficionado? What will be done about traditional actually heating hum?
     
  12. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    All EC transformer coupled tube amps in the past few years have been using the high frequency filament heaters.
     
  13. drfindley

    drfindley Secretly lives in the Analog Room - Friend

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    Call me crazy, but I wonder if KT90/KT88s would be possible as an exchange for 300Bs. They aren't the same, but Manley swapped the 300B for KT90s in my mono blocks and they sound great. It's just 300B while an amazing tube can make you sad you don't have WE300Bs.
     
  14. uncola

    uncola Friend

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    Maybe the monoblocks could be craig's retirement offering instead of the studio jr :p
    proposed name: The Graduates because owners might be graduating from headphones to speakers
    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: May 3, 2017
  15. ald0s

    ald0s Facebook Friend

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    I would be very, very interested in monos
     
  16. Contrails

    Contrails New

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    G'day everyone, do you guys think the Aficionado be will be made in limited numbers or will remain as a regular product?
     
  17. shaizada

    shaizada Friend

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    I think Craig's final Hurrah should be a full setup.

    - Aficionado should be a headphone amp and uncompromising preamp. Drop the speaker amp.
    - That should match up perfectly with these 30 watt mono blocks proposed.

    This final offering gives the community a bridge to move over from headphones to speakers.
    That was the vision we shared Marv, in that one conversation we had a long time ago.

    I think this is the opportunity to make good on that vision. Give them a path.

    There is no headphone on this planet, at any price, any configuration, any technology that can even touch a decent speaker rig.
    Give them a chance to experience that.

    After those two pieces are done, design the best TUBED phono preamp section you can (3 inputs, selectable MM/MC on each input, MC loading options, MM capacitance options, Gain options, Transformer coupled output, RCA and true balanced Outputs...everything easily switched on the front panel) and let all these pieces be the final parting gift from Craig and Eddie Current as they stand today.

    I feel, THAT is how you retire.....with a bang that resonates through the whole audio universe for years to come.

    That is how you retire.
     
    Last edited: May 14, 2017
  18. ButtUglyJeff

    ButtUglyJeff Stunningly beautiful IRL

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    ^^^ I'm shocked you didn't ask for a tube phono preamp too...
     
  19. shaizada

    shaizada Friend

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    AND Fixed.
     
  20. cskippy

    cskippy Creamy warmpoo

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    Nothing wrong with having speaker outs for efficient speakers, makes it even more versatile.
     

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