ECP Torpedo III [indexed in first post]

Discussion in 'Headphone Amplifiers and Combo (DAC/Amp) Units' started by FlySweep, Nov 2, 2015.

  1. Jh4db536

    Jh4db536 Friend

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    Just an update on the Tubes roll with all the latest upgrades (HD800S only perspective):

    12AY7 EH (Stock/Default)
    12AZ7 Raytheon

    I prefer the stock EH tubes over the 12AZ7. I think the Raytheons smoothed things out too much, reduced/softened up the bass impact, blended details together, and reduced gain slightly. My ears prefer the sharper/crisp and more analytical sound offered by the Electro Harmonix tubes.
     
    Last edited: Aug 25, 2016
  2. Riotvan

    Riotvan Snoofer in the Woofer

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    Caught up on the last several pages about resistors and heat buildup, first of all maybe it's an idea to use a small thin fan above the pt to blow in cold air and then exhaust hot air through positive air pressure? I reckon if we do this we need some ventilation holes near the front of the top cover otherwise we'll create a hotpocket in the front and heat up the mundorfs and cinemag's too much. Are there any points we can hook up the fan? 5-12v should be fine.

    Also another thought while it might be fine or on the edge now, things will get warmer with dust build up.

    Second of all anyone have any comments on or experiences with Audio-note tantalum resistors?
     
    Last edited: Aug 26, 2016
  3. MortenB

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    The AN tantalum resistors sold at a discount these days are the first generation AN tantalums that were an attempt to copy the Shinkoh tantalums, but not as good sounding. The new generation AN tantalum are crazy expensive, I have not tried them, and I'm not going to because I feel everything from AN is over priced.

    Use the Shinkoh if you want Tantalum, they are very good. IMHO they are -in many situations- the best sounding resistors of them all. They are very transparent and with a bit more ''body'' and organic quality to the sound compared to Vishay Z foils that IMHO are the most neutral resistors around. Between these two resistors I don't think one is better than the other, it depends on what is needed to get the sound you want.
     
  4. Riotvan

    Riotvan Snoofer in the Woofer

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    Thanks @MortenB!

    Think i'll order some Shinkoh's then :)

    Edit: Bah Acoustic Dimension doesn't have the 100k ones..
     
  5. MortenB

    MortenB Facebook Friend

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    It's been 10 years now since they stopped production of the Shinkoh tantalum and all the popular values such as 1K, 10K and 100K are gone long ago. But we can combine resistors in parallel. For instance 130K // 360K = 95.5K and these values seems to be available...
     
  6. Riotvan

    Riotvan Snoofer in the Woofer

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    Ok thats interesting, so is parallel better then in series? Or does the latter f**k with the voltage or something?
     
  7. MortenB

    MortenB Facebook Friend

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    You can do serial also, for instance 43K + 56K = 99K
     
  8. Riotvan

    Riotvan Snoofer in the Woofer

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    Ok cool thanks :)
     
  9. TomB

    TomB MOT: Beezar

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    Just an FYI - there are two kits remaining at beezar.com for the Torpedo III. After that, only fully assembled ones will be available. With all the recent tweaks, it's become too complicated a build to continue offering as DIY kits.

    I really have my doubts about the remaining two kits, but I already made up the parts bags for them. So they'll remain until they're sold or until I run out of parts on hand to build more assembled T3s.;)
     
  10. brencho

    brencho Friend

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    So yeah, this combination is blowing my dick off...

    Utopia plugged into a modded T3 on Low Output Z. I must say, this is a very *very* nice match. The T3 and Utop are both extremely fast, dynamic and super resolving. The result is very engaging, holographic, spot on tonal balance, musicality and details I hadn't yet heard. Closest sound to "being there" I've heard on headphones......

    Makes me want to plug these phones into Doug's other amps -- Mental note to email Doug about this!

    IMG_3685.JPG
     
  11. TomB

    TomB MOT: Beezar

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    One more kit left ...

    The assembled versions will continue to be available.
     
  12. badf00d

    badf00d Friend

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    @TomB - Sorry to see the kit go this way, but I understand it had to be a lot of work on your part. Will you still sell the board, chassis, and Cinemags? That way anyone with the BOM could still put it together if they want.

    Thanks for all the work on these over the past year. First class all the way.
     
  13. dsavitsk

    dsavitsk Friend

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    As much work as Tom puts in, I think the concern here is how difficult this amp has gotten to assemble. We have just crammed so much into a small space, that it is not longer buildable by amateurs.
     
  14. Mr.Sneis

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    I'm balls deep in my t3 right now to swap the plate resistors and the new boards. I was actually planning to remove the Mundorfs and use the spacers but the more I looked at it I decided to just glue what I have in place instead; the standard kit is no joke but cramming the bigger caps in and the upgrade boards does make it difficult to "go back in" in many regards.

    I know it hasn't been very long but Doug, any updates with the heatsinking? I have some spare heatsinks around the place but they are all cheap GPU stick-ons.
     
  15. badf00d

    badf00d Friend

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    It's definitely tight, especially with the Mundorfs and the CCS boards. But it's such a great sounding amp, and I personally have had fun building and modding it. I would consider myself an amateur, and lucky I haven't destroyed it yet. :)

    Maybe a revised T3 with a bigger board? Although I'm sure that puts a big chunk of work back on you...
     
  16. dsavitsk

    dsavitsk Friend

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    Tom has been experimenting with a bunch of cheap stick-ons (which is probably the only real option here), and they do seem to be helpful. He'll comment when he has some definite results. But on the upside, we have not replicated any of the super high temps (suggesting either a measurement error somewhere, or an amp that is not working properly) and the sinks do help some. The whole thing still runs hot, but much much less hot than reported.
     
  17. Mr.Sneis

    Mr.Sneis Friend

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    I sucked it up and finished installing the output CCS boards. My hearing is really messed up thanks to a sinus infection but the amp seems like it is digging into details to an extreme level, though it was always amazing before. Everything sounds like crap with a sinus infection though!
     

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    Last edited: Aug 31, 2016
  18. bazelio

    bazelio Friend

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    Well that is interesting. I know I didn't make a measurement error as the crosshatch is clearly on the parts in question, and the Flir device is good at making point measurements.

    Suggestions on where to check for "an amp that is not working properly" in this case?
     
  19. dsavitsk

    dsavitsk Friend

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    If they are really that hot, then they are either pulling too much current, or the bias is too high. Testing for too much current probably means removing them and testing. Too high bias could be caused by the tube CCS not pulling enough current, or by the plate load resistors being the wrong value, so those are the things to check. But I have trouble believing that they would survive more than a few minutes at 140-150C.
     
  20. bazelio

    bazelio Friend

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    Observationally, the heat went up dramatically when the output CCS boards were installed. But I don't have device temp measurements, e.g. on the plate resistors, from before they were installed. I suspect the tube CCS boards are fine though, and my plate resistors are precisely 100K. I could check the drop across them though, and see if we're in band there...

    How did you or TomB measure the device temp?
     

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