ECP Torpedo III [indexed in first post]

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

  1. dsavitsk

    dsavitsk Friend

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  2. ronl

    ronl New

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    I just ordered the kit. Looking forward to some holiday construction :).
     
  3. TheloniuSnoop

    TheloniuSnoop Friend

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    MisterRogers which Belleson did you use? SPJ17? This sounds like a worthwhile upgrade.
     
    Last edited: Nov 30, 2015
  4. dsavitsk

    dsavitsk Friend

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    I am still of the opinion that a CCS upgrade makes more sense. To that end, I designed some little CCS daughter boards to drop into the existing amp. They'll take a couple of weeks to arrive, so I'll update when they do.
     
  5. MisterRogers

    MisterRogers Ethernet Nervosa

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    Doug - that's absolutely awesome! I'll order a few stock regulators so I can compare stock + CCS vs. stock vs. Belleson vs. Belleson + CCS.
     
  6. MisterRogers

    MisterRogers Ethernet Nervosa

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    TheloniuSnoop - Yea, I used the SPJ17; it installs backwards, ignoring the on/off control pin. Ask Belleson to get as close to 6.3V as possible. For me, it was worthwhile. As can be witnessed by my ordering the EVO caps, I have more disposable income than sense. :) While this does bring about an audible improvement, it's 'finicky' enough to install that it might make more sense to wait for the CCS daughter board.

    I wish I would have taken a few pictures to show the custom mount that needs to be built - a picture would make it clear. To mount the Belleson backwards, you'll need to gently bend the Belleson so it's daughter board allows enough room for the... Arg. I'll pull my board out later today and upload a 'side' shot.
     
  7. badf00d

    badf00d Friend

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    You are awesome. I have no idea where to start on designing something like that, but if the Torpedo III can be improved with a daughterboard... just wow. Count me in.
     
  8. TheloniuSnoop

    TheloniuSnoop Friend

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    Hot ziggidy! The first official tweak. Put me on the list.
     
  9. Dr. Higgs

    Dr. Higgs Boson - Member

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    Ditto!
     
  10. Sylafari

    Sylafari Acquaintance

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    If I were to start this or the Bottlehead Crack with no prior experience. Which one would be easier (or what would the major differences be)? From what I see this one is all soldering to a pcb while the Bottlehead Crack is all soldering wires to joints.
     
  11. MisterRogers

    MisterRogers Ethernet Nervosa

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    Well, they're certainly both well built, well documented, straight forward builds. Each will develop slightly different skill sets (P-to-P vs. PCB). Having built both, if you can swing the Cinemag transformers, I'd go TIII. Crack with Speedball performs pretty darn good, but TIII with Cinemag is a notch above. Take with a few grains of salt, it's been quite awhile since I had my Crack. Build difficulty, they're comparable IMO.
     
  12. Dr. Higgs

    Dr. Higgs Boson - Member

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    I'd agree with MisterRogers that the difficulty is comparable. As long as you have adequate soldering equipment, read the instructions closely, take a good inventory of your parts before starting, double check your solder joints & resistor values as you go (it's easy to mix them up in the case of the TIII), follow the cleaning procedure, and make sure the grounds are attached properly you should be good to go :punk:
     
  13. dsavitsk

    dsavitsk Friend

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    CCS boards arrived faster than expected. Unfortunately, the parts to populate them are still in transit. I should know more early-ish next week.
     
  14. FlySweep

    FlySweep Friend

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    1st post updated with an index of impressions to date here. I'll keep it updated as more impressions and relevant posts roll in.
     
  15. TomB

    TomB MOT: Beezar

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    I just discovered this thread from a customer. It's really gratifying to see such excitement about Doug's latest design.

    A few things after reading this thread:
    1. I'm sorry to hear we have a PT issue with Dr. Higgs. As Doug mentioned, we'll take care of it and I've already confirmed as much in an e-mail to Dr. Higgs. Edcor is going to get a mouthful from me in any case. As best I can remember, we really only had one PT defect in all of the Torpedo I's we've sold. That happened early on in the prototyping. There was another - but the builder sent it overseas without using all the mounting screws on the IEC inlet. The customer plugged it in right away (why not?) and the PT promptly fried.*
    2. I think enough comments were made about the PCB pricing. There is one customer who is ordering one, specifically to replace the Torpedo I in perhaps the finest case job I've seen on a Torpedo.
    3. My opinions change as much or more than anyone. I don't know that the 12AV7 tube is a good fit. After testing the ones I had, I was a bit shocked at how bad the results were. I agree that the EH's are a bit clinical, but the best tube tested (other than EH 12AY7) - at least among the ones that I have - was the 12AZ7. Doug pointed this out early, but it took me awhile to get my hands on a pair. 12AT7's and their 5965 variants also have a great tubey sound, but don't measure quite as well as the 12AY7 variety. I have listened to the 6829's on a few occasions and they sound very good. They paired quite well with the Massdrop THX00's last night using a Torpedo III with Wima MKP4's. Like the E90CC's in the Torpedo I, these are taller tubes that can be changed out without removing the case lid.
    4. I'm not so sure about the caps - at least the cheap ones. I could find no difference in RMAA testing, although Doug says that's not surprising. The Wima's (FKP4's) seem to sound like a workable alternative to the standard Epcos. They kind of hit different spots than the Epcos for a slightly altered, but equivalent result. It may be the Epcos are a bit more sparkly, while the Wimas have better imaging/soundstage, if that's not overly subjective. I also tried some Roederstein MKP4's, but thought they were a bit on the dark and dead side. Again, nothing changes the sound signature as much as the tubes. This is all in the scatter around flat frequency response, too.
    * He also used the wrong fuses for 220V.

    Finally, purrin - yeah, Doug asked me - in person. He came for a nice visit a few weekends ago and asked me about it over dinner. I apologize, but have to point out that Schiit has replaced the Vali design (with the Vali 2) and Jason specifically mentioned the issue of the microphonic tubes as a leading factor in that decision. I'm not so sure how that sounds to the hundreds (thousands?) of people who already have one, but whatever. Anyway ... as Doug mentioned to me, it's more important to sell Torpedoes, so I will (and have) refrain from any other comments (even though it's been quite a while according to my calendar). :)
     
  16. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Yup. You can read all about the Vali 2 somewhere on this site. :D
     
  17. Dr. Higgs

    Dr. Higgs Boson - Member

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    Here's an obligatory pic of the internals now that I opened it up again :). The HD650/600 and TH-X00's have been my favorite pairings so far.

    Big thanks to dsavitsk & tomb for helping me troubleshoot my power transformer!

    [​IMG]
     
  18. TheloniuSnoop

    TheloniuSnoop Friend

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    So, has it been decided that the PT is the culprit?
     
  19. mtoc

    mtoc SBAF's Resident Shit-Stirrer

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    Hello everyone. If upgrading from Val 2 to Torpedo III (Gungnir Multibit/HD650), will these cans sound more resolving than before? Thx...
     
  20. mtoc

    mtoc SBAF's Resident Shit-Stirrer

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    Any results?:p
     

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