^^Nice build! Thank you very much for your kind words. I would be needing one SSP for myself too. It's seems F5 turbo too has little gain and hard to drive speakers with CNC phono stage at input.
Omishra,
I replaced 2 of the resistors on the CNC phono with bourns pots, so I can change the gain.
I am very surprised that the F5T doesn't have enough gain. The V2 is 100W class A at 8 Ohms. What sensitivity are your speakers?
What Voltage are your rails? 32V? Source resistors? .5 Ohms?
In danger of thread drift so I'll stop.
Thank you for everything you have shared with us from all around the world!
Your "An International Man of Mystery". Yeah, Baby, Yeah.
(Austin Powers movie)
SFox52,
Optivol board is from Sachin, I believe the redesign is Omishra's. I'm going to have to swap out the pots for 5K because my LDRs do not match up as closely as I would like at low volume. But I REALLY like the "sound?" of the Optivol. It's not there.
SSP,
More of my listening impressions, IMO;
The 823 were obstructive and the music sounded slightly muffled. If you have high sensitivity horns these could be just the ticket. Try 'em out.
2134 Sounded good at first but listening over time became harsh, fatiguing. I've got metal tweeters that are pretty sharp already.
I tried a couple of others that I can't recall the # right now and they were similar sounding to the 823. A little dull / absorbed.
04999, I really enjoyed soldering those tiny, tiny little legs.:yes: This one has a permanent home in my SSP. The piano sounds like a piano, one of the most difficult instruments to reproduce. The resonance from the keys/chords floats in the air and decays clearly. This is hard to put into words but the "ring time" from each key struck is very close to our Yamaha piano down the hall. I guess you could call it "hang time".
I'm not into Jazz but I like Classic Rock, some modern Rock, Metal and Country & Western. They all sound wonderful and clear/realistic with the 04999 in the SSP's pockets.
Alison Krauss gives me shivers and makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck, she sounds so live. Damn, she's hot too. Doesn't hurt the eyes watching her DVDs.
OK, I'm back.........
I have the SSP downstream (after) my DCB1, I have it switched so I can use the DCB1 W/WO the SSP. I get about 1.3 gain with the SSP. I cannot hear a technical difference with it in the circuit (other than gain).
Because of the way I designed my preamp I cannot bypass the DCB1 and compare them side by side, but I'd be willing to bet that the SSP is VERY close to the DCB1 sound quality wise. I'm a BIG fan of Nelson Pass (Papa) and we all know the quality of his work. Impeccable.
For this design (SSP) to sound as good as it does is quite remarkable. I could be happy with just the SSP in my stereo system, yes, it is that good with the right Opamps.
This Preamp has replaced the 6SN7 John Broskie tube preamp in my system, and I don't see it returning any time soon. I'll miss the glow.
Thank you HypnoToad for the circuit, thank you Sachin for the boards.
Ron
) , I would like to blame it on too many chemicals (at work) I've come in contact with over the years....but, I digress.
