EC Aficionado (was: The Studio Jr.)

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

  1. jelt2359

    jelt2359 Friend

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    With the ear amp I run it direct from banana taps. There are plenty of models, some with less tubes than others :)
     
  2. cskippy

    cskippy Creamy warmpoo

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    Which one do you have? Have you heard the HE-6 on other amps like the Stratus, or a First Watt? I'm curious how the EAR compares.
     
  3. jelt2359

    jelt2359 Friend

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    I will PM you so as not to sidetrack this thread.
     
  4. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Note product has been given an official name. It will no longer be called the Studio Jr. Will make changes on the EC website when I am 100% sure. It's 90% right now.
     
  5. GoodEnoughGear

    GoodEnoughGear Evil Dr. Shultz‎

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    [​IMG]
     
  6. JoshMorr

    JoshMorr Friend

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    Any updates? I know lots up in the air design wise, and I'm sure that Eddie Current is trying to make and ship existing orders as fast as possible, but thought I would check in to see if this amp is any closer to fruition.
     
  7. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    The prototype is made (from a chassis that we have on hand - the final version will either be on the BA or 2A3/ZD style chassis. We are getting costs on BA chassis. The BA chassis is multi-piece, which tends to be expensive. Our goal is to get this thing down under $3k. If we can swing it, BA chassis it will be. If not, then the 2A3/ZD style chassis.

    In the past week, this has been inside my house to assess speaker performance. Namely, we didn't want great performance on headphones and soft / spongy speaker presentation. I've been tweaking feedback (no feedback, a little feedback, more, etc.), interstage caps (some pricey, which are really just colored rather than better), and other minor circuit changes every other day or so. Speaker performance holds up. No, it's not as good as my custom 45 amp, lacking that last bit of microdynamic refinement; but then again, it doesn't use expensive Monolith interstages or rectifiers with toxic substances. But it's very close.

    Sound of course is more like 2A3 than 45. This amp is easily more transparent than the ZDS and BA. There's a hint of lushness and it's warmer sounding with more of a bass kick than the Studio. I'd say its about ZDS running a neutral (not warm tube) like the green lettering Philips JAN 6SL7. It's hard to make a direct comparison because of how the higher output Z of the ZDS interacts with headphones. This amp is transformer coupled, so performance with medium efficiency planars such as Audeze LCD, AZ PMx2, etc. is much better than ZDS. Finally, we haven't done a lot of tube rolling to see what kinds of sounds we could get. We've yet to grab a WE396A, which is the probably best of the bunch. There's something about the WE tubes that make them sound better than anything else (300Bs, 417/5842, etc.)

    One area of concern is that the gain is on the low side. Maybe 15db. With a low output source (my MC with step-ups and custom phonostage), I have to turn up the volume knob to the 2:30 position to get moderate/high volume levels with the 92-93db efficient Cicadas. A lot of people tend to have a psychological barrier to having the volume knob turned clockwise near all the way, but there is no harm. With a higher output source such as Yggdrasil, the volume knob somewhere past the 12:00. Also keep in mind that the Cicadas are not particularly efficient. The Omegas or Lowthers are about 3-5db louder. The other avenue to get more gain would be to use a pair of 6SL7s in cathode follower arrangement, but we scratched this idea because we didn't want to amp to be too tubey or soft sounding. In any event, flea powered SET amps aren't supposed to be headbanger amps anyway, and if there were more gain, we'd probably start getting distortion.

    For now, I leave with you photos (again, not the production chassis) of our progress. Note the list of tubes that can be used as the driver. Tube rollers can have a lot of fun with this one. Next week is headphone assessment and trying out solid-state rectifiers. I hope you guys aren't too hung up on solid-state rectification, as long as the sound isn't worse. We won't do it if the sound is worse. We are also thinking about using Neutrik Speakon connectors for speakers. Spades and bananas seem so clumsy, and it's not like you need 8 gauge wire. The neurotic audiophiles might have a problem that terminations aren't plated with cesium or rhodium, and there's a bit of DIY involved to terminate speaker cables to a Speakon plug, so I am not sure if we want to go down this direction.

    IMG_20170221_100250074.jpg
     
    Last edited: Mar 3, 2017
  8. Changeling

    Changeling Tube Slut

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    I can send a pair of LM Ericsson 2C51 if you'd like to try them in this amp?
     
  9. ButtUglyJeff

    ButtUglyJeff Stunningly beautiful IRL

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    @Marvey are you going to also test the "pre outs" too? I would love to hear your opinion feeding something like the Hegel, if you still have it. Will it outshine the ZDS as a pre?
     
  10. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    This is more transparent, clearer and resolving than ZDS. Although ZDS is sort of an OTL that doesn't sound much like an OTL, it's still an OTL, if you get what I mean.
     
  11. ButtUglyJeff

    ButtUglyJeff Stunningly beautiful IRL

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    Yes I do, thanks. The ZDS is special like that...
     
  12. HitmanFluffy

    HitmanFluffy Hoping to see real genitals someday!

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    Will EC still be offering a single 2A3 per channel amp with interstage transformers?
     
  13. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    I guess one could cut holes in the top plate of this amp mount interstages. I'm holding on to a secret stash of the Monoliths interstages I'm using in my amp.

    We are still deciding on the power supply. There's some thought on doing a balls to the walls passive version with an EI power transformer and two chokes that can take glowy mercury vapor tubes. There would be two switches. One for heater, to vaporize the mercury, and another for the plate. We will increase plate voltage too for this, which would be an EC first. EC stuff has typically run power tubes on the lower end of data sheet specs (headphone amps after all).

    Just fancy talk and dreams at the minute. Craig wants to retire soon and wants something solid to end his career on. The one consideration against this is some idiot will turn on the switches in the wrong order or not wait long enough and blow up something while the mercury hasn't vaporized yet. Another downside is this will raise expected price a few hundred bucks more. We are getting quotes from MCI for this, so no promises.

    Old school toxic stuff sounds the best. Mercury gas in rectifiers, PCBs in caps, etc.
     
    Last edited: Mar 4, 2017
  14. HitmanFluffy

    HitmanFluffy Hoping to see real genitals someday!

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    Interstage transformers blow away caps in transparency in my experience, and are what I would opt for personally. The issue is of course cost would jump significantly. I've been eyeing Monolith interstages as an upgrade myself.

    That power supply idea is definitely too prone to being blown up by newbs to consider.
     
  15. JoshMorr

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    Man - all of this sounds great. Glad to see the progress as design moves forward. It interesting to see all the things that you guys would like to see in the amp, even if they arent necessarily feasible, that you are at least trying to test the limits of the design objective. Thanks!

    One stupid way down the road question as I look at speaker options - How do the EC tube amps handle impedance swings of speakers? Looking at some Klipsch Heritage series speakers and they can drop to just below 4 ohms. Just curious if this would be harmful to the amp (and really all EC amps with speaker taps) and I should stick to more conventional wide bander setups.
     
  16. iDesign

    iDesign Almost "Made"

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    I may be in a small minority but I much prefer the 2A3/ZD chassis to BA. In fact, that was one of the primary reasons I bought a Black Widow from Craig a few weeks ago instead of pre-ordering the Aficionado. If the Aficionado Is in the 2A3/ZD chassis I will almost certainly order one.
     
  17. bxh

    bxh Friend

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    FWIW, I way prefer the 2A3/ZD chassis especially in the style of the older variants with the matte side/front panels and the gloss top. All black of course, with the chunky knobs and front mounted sight glass for the internal tube(s), obviously scaled appropriately.

    [​IMG]

    To add; this is pure spit-ballin, not trying to tell @Marvey /EC how to design the amp, just speculating on what would look nice and what I invision the Jr to look like.
     
    Last edited: Mar 8, 2017
  18. JoshMorr

    JoshMorr Friend

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    That's nice @bxh , does kinda look like a Studio JR. I'm of the opinion that I would spend more money on the sound than the looks, but its always a compromise when tying to keep costs down.
     
  19. iDesign

    iDesign Almost "Made"

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    I agree. The gloss black finish and the gold touches like the Eddie Current logo made the design timeless and elegant.
     
  20. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Took a peek at the Klipsch Heritage impedance curves and have some concerns. Hits below 4 ohms in certain spots and curve is a bit wonky. Would be less concerned if Studio (with x2 tubes), but with Aficionado, I wouldn't recommend it.
     

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