I'm in the process of restoring (I hope) an Audio Research D-350B (OK, it's solid-state) power amplifier.
But I needed a preamp. I put out the word and an AKer offered up this Hyperion BEC-P25T - it's a modern tube preamp.
In reading what few reviews there are out there I determined that it was well regarded sonically but it had reliability issues.
Here's the closest to a review from 6moons:
http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/hyperion4/tubepre.html
It appears that - while this has been on the market since at least 2006 it is still a current product since Hyperion lists it on their website:
http://www.hyperionsound.com/amplifiers.htm
I have been trying for the last week to contact them by phone and email to determine if in fact this is a bad cap scenario or another design flaw. The phone answers with a message and the email doesn't bounce back so all I can figure is that the company is out of business or close to it.
A pity since they appear to make excellent products (notable speakers) and have a reputation for superb customer support.
Well, the deal on the preamp was such that even if it didn't work I'd still be OK for parts alone. And it was NIB (aka New In Box)!
I decided that I'd burn it in (hopefully not 'up') for a week before putting it in a system.
After 40 hours - puff - one of the power supply caps popped (100uf/400v).
Sounds like a case of the 'bad cap plague' - time to recap this baby.
I've ordered the power supply caps from mouser and I've already recapped the logic control board.
This preamp has some neat features like a remote control and high build quality.
In an effort to minimize the signal path the volume potentiometer is mounted on the main PCB and activated by a motor that is in turn controlled by the front mounted pot or the remote.
The chassis is filled with about 1/2" of epoxy to alleviate microphonics too.
Hopefully I'll have this up and running by the end of the week - maybe I'll schlep it along to our get together.
But I needed a preamp. I put out the word and an AKer offered up this Hyperion BEC-P25T - it's a modern tube preamp.
In reading what few reviews there are out there I determined that it was well regarded sonically but it had reliability issues.
Here's the closest to a review from 6moons:
http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/hyperion4/tubepre.html
It appears that - while this has been on the market since at least 2006 it is still a current product since Hyperion lists it on their website:
http://www.hyperionsound.com/amplifiers.htm
I have been trying for the last week to contact them by phone and email to determine if in fact this is a bad cap scenario or another design flaw. The phone answers with a message and the email doesn't bounce back so all I can figure is that the company is out of business or close to it.
A pity since they appear to make excellent products (notable speakers) and have a reputation for superb customer support.
Well, the deal on the preamp was such that even if it didn't work I'd still be OK for parts alone. And it was NIB (aka New In Box)!
I decided that I'd burn it in (hopefully not 'up') for a week before putting it in a system.
After 40 hours - puff - one of the power supply caps popped (100uf/400v).
Sounds like a case of the 'bad cap plague' - time to recap this baby.
I've ordered the power supply caps from mouser and I've already recapped the logic control board.
This preamp has some neat features like a remote control and high build quality.
In an effort to minimize the signal path the volume potentiometer is mounted on the main PCB and activated by a motor that is in turn controlled by the front mounted pot or the remote.
The chassis is filled with about 1/2" of epoxy to alleviate microphonics too.
Hopefully I'll have this up and running by the end of the week - maybe I'll schlep it along to our get together.
