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Andy_H's Pass B1 Build

Nice job Andy,:thmbsp: looking forward to having a listen someday. Perhaps the next C.R.A.C meet.:smoke:
 
marantzfan said:
When can we expect to see your B1 build Ray? :D
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Ahem....:D

Nice job, Andy. Yeah, I found the B1 underwhelming but it does what it's supposed to do very well.

If you get too annoyed with the touch-hum, there are a couple of things you can do to eliminate or lower that. Since you're working with a wood case, ground potentials between the volume control, the board, and the power supply are all different. When you add in the humanoid ground rod, you're changing the potential, as well. As Detailman suggested, connecting some or all of the grounds to a star ground scheme would benefit. I used one of the corner board vias to strap everything together. If you look at the board, the ground trace continues to that screw opening.

What's next on your build list? Maybe you should get with the rest of us Pass nuts and build an F5. It is a remarkable amp.
 
Thanks guys. Mark, it will likely be coming to the next CRAC event.

I wouldn't say that I find the B1 underwhelming. It does just what I expected/wanted it to do. As far as the grounding is concerned, I recall that the ground traces lead to each corner hole, where the standoffs go. So to do a star ground I would tie those four corner points together? I really don't feel like getting back in there right now, and anyway the hum doesn't intrude on listening, so no big deal.

I would love to build an F5. I think I'm to the point now where I'm getting the confidence/skill to take on a project of that magnitude. Mainly I need to save up the funds.

Here are a couple pics of the B1 in situ:

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Pass Labs included a couple stickers with my order so I put one on the back:

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I bet it sounds as good as it looks. I'd like to listen to it some day also.
No, dont tie corners together. TIe RCA jacks and volume pot, back to one of the corners. That willput everything to one common ground.
 
RayW said:
You gonna whip me up an enclosure for it to match the F5?
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Sure can, Ray. No Problem.

My "ahem" was due to the fact that we still haven't seen Mr. Marantzfan's F5 in action.

Matching F5, B1, and power supply cases (I like shiney :D):

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a lovely looking setup! if i wasn't about to get my Yamaha Class-A monoblocks back and then do some refurbishing of those, i'd get much more serious about one of those F5's (i'm also concerned about power). but the B1 (at least the DC shunt version which I have experienced) is truly an incredible value.

linear pots do work pretty well in these, and i found a site that has a nice selection of the precision industrial wire-wound variety:
http://surplussales.com/Potentiometers/PBM-Precision/PBM-Precision-3.html
 
After spending a week with the B1, I am very pleased with the result of this build. The B1 is great - totally quiet, provides the basic controls needed and doesn't get in the way of the music at all. It gets along perfectly well with my Nikko. I haven't tried it with any other amp yet. I was wondering if any of the B1 owners out there have tried theirs with a tube amp. I don't have any tube power at the moment, but you never know when that might change :scratch2: I wonder how the B1 would do driving tubes?
 
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