Fleko,

I have used this approach a well, at least with insulated wire. My addition would be to replace the clamp with the chuck of an electric screw driver to do the winding. I wonder if this might work with enameled wire without damaging the insulation ?

Nick

Ps like the diagram a lot 

I have been looking for months. I managed to get a suppliers last stock of 8X1000uf standard black gates but unfortunately the only stocks of BGNs seem to be kept by manufactures now.

I was wondering if an array of faster smaller (say 50uf) silmics might be a good alternative. I have never tried this before but then there was a good supply of black gates to hand.

Nick.

Juan hi,

I think this may be the guide you need (see link below). If you use Peter Daniels kits (this is what both Paul and I have used) the guide breaks the build down to is most basic level with good descriptions and lads of pictures, really nice.

If you go ahead I am sure Paul and I could help with ideas on sourcing cases, transformers and other hardware items you need, once past the soldering stuff covered very well in the guide its mainly DIY to get stuff mounted into the case.

see LM3875 USER GUIDE pdf link top right of page

http://www.audiosector.com/lm3875.shtml

Best regards,

Nick.

Mani,

I guess the learning you and Peter have been through must have been frustrating but may help others.

Great to read about the15 mins installation on your another machine, your post reads like the spell is cast even before the DAC is run in, fantastic news.

Nick.

My French is not great, but I can get by ordering food and drink so the priorities are covered.

You'v got me thinking about a nice canard pate. I broke 22 years of being vegetarian recently, so there is a world of interesting food to try while were here 

Nick

Paul,

I know what you mean about the time spent fixing fitting and wiring. The modules are together in a couple of hours and then days of case work etc. Should be worth it though

Have you gone for one module per driver or are you building bridged ? I have a feeling that for our situation with multiple drivers per channel, one gainclone per driver may work the best.

Looking forward to hearing how the amp sounds.

Regards.

Nick.

Sorry should have stated the edit. I was trying to sort out my bad grammer.  Complete does read differently to compete which is what I had intended. 

Mani hi,

I have this vision of you being rooted in front of your system since you made you post at 1:20 this afternoon 

Any thoughts, good ?

Best Nick.

Big numbers guys,

I was getting 0.9mb down and 0.2mb up (the decimals are in the correct place). I put it down to living in a rural area in the UK. I raised a fault after putting up with it for way too long. It turned out that the local  exchange equipment thought that my turning off the ADSL router each night (trying to do my bit for the environment) was a line fault and had lowered the speed on the line !

With everything set back to normal by an engineer and a router that is never turned off I get 7mb and 0.4mb now which feels fast but it is a 20mb service.....

Nick.

Guys,

Not a direct solution to the RC1 update I am afraid but this may help with confidence regarding the performance of Vanilla W7 SP1 from standard Microsoft media.

I recently followed the advice that was kindly provided and upgraded to W7. My install is W7 Ultimate 64bit standard CD media with SP1 included, it sits in a non-networked music PC, so no further windows update activity. W7 SP1 straight from this media sounds very good indeed and although it’s difficult to be sure the bass and top end sounds as people have been describing elsewhere on the forum for W7 & RC1 installs (much, much better than Vista).

If you need to update from SP RC1 to SP1 I guess the problem is stopping any none essential (for music that is) Windows updates being applied. I don’t have a solution there but the vanilla W7 SP1 media seems ok if you have access to it.

Nick

it would be a David and Goliath level performance if by some chance they can compete.

Mani,

The basic amp is very straight forward only a few design decisions to make like rail voltages and cap types if you start with a good design like Peter Danials kit. Help would be good to taylor the application to Quads but if Paul can configure his setup in bridged mode I would really start with a listen there. My guess is you will know really fast if it is worth going further. Now that would really be something if they do drive Quads well. I loved my old ESL63s but as I mentioned before affording amps that could drive them well was a problem at the time.

Back when I was using the SETs and thinking what next for a while whilst I was moving house I was using a Logitec 5.1 computer audio setup for amplification. The thing was it sounded brilliant driven by XX and a decent SPDIF interface. So 15ks worth of "proper kit" struggling to beat 220 pounds of 5.1 system (WTF !). Anyway I had started to read up about gain clones at about this time and decided to take a peak inside the logitechs. There was a row of 5 gainclones and another chip amp for the sub. I wired in my Duo speakers to the logitech amps and the sound was great.

As I say try to get Paul's amp into your system, or mine if you want to try unbridged. I am sure you'll know in moments if there is potential.

Nick.

Ps this could restart my interested in Quads again there's something I really miss about ESLs.

Paul hi,

I am so pleased that you are having such a good experience with the Gainclones. I really must do something with my SETs I really don’t think I will be issuing them again, I guess your probably thinking  the same way  . My SETs are packed full of goodies like VCaps (loads) tantalium resistors Black Gates everywhere, mesh plate 300B’s and silver. I could have built my gainclones for a fraction of budget for the upgrade parts alone. The strange thing is I am very satisfied with the sound and for the first time in absolutely years I have no immediate plans to change my amp. What a bargain these things are 

Your findings with the speaker wires is very interesting. I have always viewed insulation as a necessary evil,  I’m sure the type of dielectric has a massive effect on sound. Your trails with 6 metre runs must really highlight the effect. I also have long runs so you have me thinking now, maybe this could be a project for when the nights draw in.

The next step you have planned to bi-amping was a real real eye opener in my system, a major step, I really hope you have a similar experience. Be sure to let us know how it goes.
 
Mani,

I went down the 2 gainclones per channel route to keep options open to build two balanced input, bridged amps one for each channel. The data sheets show, when bridged Gainclones are able to drive high power outputs and tricky loads.  Looking at the electronics you are considering though (serious stuff  ) I would be surprised  if Gainclones could complete, but then again they do seem to be capable of pulling out a few tricks.....

Best Regards,

Nick.

Peter,

Absolutely great news about the fix for DC off sets, sounds like you have been on a mission to bottom the problem, and the effect of insulating shoes  who would have thought !

Even more to look forward to now, the new USB interface, quieter output stage and listening without the TVCs,  Cannot wait, but as Mani says no rush.

Nick.

Hi Chris,

Yes, in the UK we are on digital tv now and the RF just stopped the picture as I drove past - neat feature. I could live with the feature (not watching tv at the time   ) but the problem was that the engine ECU wasn't too happy with the RF either. I put in a new spark system and its fixed now.

I am defiantly with you regarding  the 407 and Harley  "sources".... sweat music.

Nick