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Post by PinkFloyd on Oct 29, 2021 20:33:36 GMT
Hi Dok, please disregard my comments re: "Robert Smith" (the lead singer with The Cure) they were totally out of order.
Mike.
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Post by PinkFloyd on Oct 29, 2021 20:17:53 GMT
I run an X-Pre (with your upgraded parts) that had been running off of a the wall wart for some time. My X-PSU crapped out some time ago. Is there benefit in me opening it it up and exploring a repair job or is the wall wart suitable enough (sonically) for running the X-Pre? thanks
Hi, Welcome to the forum gnostic19. The X-PSU is nothing more than an 80VA toroidal transformer with 4 x 20VA secondary outputs. There is no secondary fusing system so if the 80VA toroidal decides to go into meltdown then the whole toroid is pretty much toast. A very bad design BUT only when things go wrong, the X-PSU is a great power supply but if one of your X-Ponents goes tits up it blows the X-PSU toroids internal fuse (non replaceable) and you are looking at replacing the entire toroid (80VA with 4 x 20VA secondary outputs) VERY expensive and I truly doubt MF could supply one considering they went out of business a couple of years ago. If there was a fuse (of any sort) inside the X-PSU I would advise you to check the fuse but, as I say, when an X-Ponent goes tits up it takes out the non replaceable fuse inside the transformer so your X-PSU is essentially toast. The stock 500mA wallwart is fine, it will get you up and running but to get the best out of your X-PRE you need a PSU with a bit more juice on tap........ most of the "off the shelf" transformers are sold out / awaiting stock at the moment but This one is a lot more beefey than your stock 500mA wallwart and is a plug and play (all ready to go) good / cheap upgrade for your stock 500mA one. Ideally I would go with this one but they are out of stock..... may be worth e-mailing them to ask when they are expecting fresh stock but lead times (waiting times) at the moment are very long due to the f**ked up state of the world at the moment. Bottom line...... your stock MF 500mA wallwart will do the job but if you want it to do it's job properly and get the best sonics out of it then definitely go with a beefier power supply. My Little Pinkie ticks all the boxes but it doesn't come cheap: www.rock-grotto.co.uk/pinkiev2.htmHope this helps, All the best, Mike.
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Post by PinkFloyd on Oct 27, 2021 19:43:50 GMT
My very short summation:
It should be cheaper but pump prices are now between £1.43 - £1.50 per litre
My car is running like shit on it..... with E5 I was averaging 60MPG, I am now averaging 49MPG with E10
A definite lack in performance: Car is deffo not as peppy as it was
A roundabout way for the liberal / conservative elite wankers who can actually afford to buy an electric car (to ease their conscience and go "green" after generations of raping the world's resources) or a way to totally f**k our cars so, those of us (who can't afford an electric car) revert back to either "feet" or a cheap "donkey" to get from A to B.
We are being f**ked "proper" at the moment (moreso than usual) when will people wake up!
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Post by PinkFloyd on Oct 26, 2021 20:39:57 GMT
Let me know how you get on with it and please be honest (be as brutal as f**k if need be) Mike. Very looking forward to getting her back and plugged in to rest of the rig... Shipped this afternoon, should be with you tomorrow (or possibly Thursday) depends on whether or not Parcelforce can actually honour their 24 hour service what with the shortage of drivers etc. Your original pair of JAN Philips 6922 valves (both tested very well) are in the package so keep them as spares..... they will always come in handy. Mike.
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Post by PinkFloyd on Oct 24, 2021 5:16:40 GMT
Let me know how you get on with it Dok and please be honest (be as brutal / nasty as f**k if need be) I really appreciate your down to earth honest (no holds barred) feedback.
Mike.
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Post by PinkFloyd on Oct 24, 2021 4:27:23 GMT
Totallly weird but it is now 5am in the morning...... I went out to the workshop (half naked) 5c temp. to check the X-PRE and the Bee gees (of all people) were singing on the radio (Radio 2)...... New york mining disaster..... I'd forgotten just how good those guys were! www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9Q5_ttJBUIAnyhoo almost 6am, time for bed www.youtube.com/watch?v=S43YhQ_eGTw
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Post by PinkFloyd on Oct 24, 2021 3:55:10 GMT
Perfect job done as always, superb! Cheers Uncle, Mike.
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Post by PinkFloyd on Oct 23, 2021 23:05:37 GMT
Plus two precison matched 1981 vintage (NOS) Russian Voskhod 6H23N valves. Be prepared for a serious eargasm. (or not) At the end of the day your ears are not my ears BUT I think you'll like them (unless you're tone deaf!) that was a joke BTW Mike.
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Post by PinkFloyd on Oct 23, 2021 21:35:02 GMT
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Post by PinkFloyd on Oct 23, 2021 20:33:54 GMT
Well....... that's the old girl put back together again and sounding heavenly! I'm leaving her overnight with a diet of "radio two" being fed into her to get the caps and valves fizzing (poor bugger having to endure a diet of radio two but, hey, it will do the job nicely and save my CD player working overtime on loop. When I was putting her back together I noticed that I had omitted to fit the C11/C12 (100uF / 35V) caps to the power board..... glad I noticed that before putting her back together again! I think I mentioned it before but I will say it again, these are right little buggers to put back together! Quite tricky with the standoffs and the ground tag...... you have to remember to fit the ground tag between the smaller standoff and compensate the height differential with a washer on the standoff without the ground tag to even out the top / bottom board equaliberty. (I hope that makes sense!) It's also essential that you torque up both standoffs, especially the one that the ground tag attached to the noise nulling shield is connected to. Don't just finger tight them...... give them a damned good torque up to ensure the ground tag is well clamped to the noise nulling shield. The stock X-PRE grounding was as loose as loose can be, absolutely horrendous, almost as if they couldn't afford screwdrivers back in MF's Wembley (England) production plant...... seriously, so loose you could undo them with your fingers! Yes, things will still work but nowhere near optimal. Same goes with the ground tag on the enclosure itself..... pathetic...... well worth dremelling all the paint off all four screw points to expose the bare aluminium and torque the face plate and back plate up nice and tight..... it all helps. Initial impressions after the mods can be summed up with one word...... WOW! I initially tested all four inputs with one source (1234) with my Trichord / Pinkie Marantz CD17 KI Sig modded CD player and I am more than happy, over the moon actually, The stock X-Pre "was" ever so slightly in your face but the mods seem to have done the job nicely....... I'll leave it up to DOK to decide (ears are like fingerprints, totally unique) but to my old pair of ears it's sounding spot on. I fitted a pair of precision matched Voskhod 6H23N blah blah blah........ I could go on all night but words mean nothing, the proof of the pudding is in the hearing....... in fact, all of this typing and uploading photos is something I am going to stop doing, it actually takes way more time to type, take photos, upload photos etc. than it does to actually work on the unit and just get the job done. I used to love taking photos of my work and spend ages typing and trust that was useful / helpful to people but, these days, I find it an unnecessary waste of time. Years ago I felt it only right to display my workmanship, or should I say the "pride" I take in my work but these days I don't think that's necessary....... I'm better than I ever was and you're guaranteed workmanship of the absolute highest standards so this inbuilt feeling for a need of "praise" really must stop As I say...... this little thread alone has possibly taken me a lot longer to put together than working on the Pre-amp itself and most of it is just "me" giving my impressions (which could be total bullcrap but aren't) at the end of the day the only person who should be commenting on the improvements / or not (whatever the case may be) is the actual owner of the unit. So...... over to you now DOK..... let me know what you think and don't hold back your punches
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Post by PinkFloyd on Oct 22, 2021 19:37:40 GMT
Part two - the power board: Stock power board: A selection of 470uF and 1000uF Jamicon 85C general purpose capacitors Stripped the capacitors + 1N4007 diodes off the board: Fitted 1500uF Panasonic FK (105c rated) capacitors across the board (extra capacitance) and also replaced the 1N4007 diodes with UF4007 ultrafast types: public.fotki.com/umagumma/doctor-joys-musical/doktor-joys-x-pre-u/dscn9278.html
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Post by PinkFloyd on Oct 21, 2021 22:37:19 GMT
Loving the photos and the detail so far - thank you Mike! Slightly embarrassed to find that maybe the X-PRE I've sent you sounds a bit too fresh because - at 25 years old - it's hardly been used! -Dok Don't worry, used or unused, these are the dog's bollocks mods and will transform your X-PRE into a super pre...... trust me. Will keep you posted Dok. Mike.
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Post by PinkFloyd on Oct 21, 2021 22:05:49 GMT
Doktor Joy X-PRE Part one 21/10/2021 Doktor Joy...... Here is another one I started on this morning. It belongs to Doktor Joy. Dok (Dr. Joy) felt that this X-PRE was a lot brighter sounding than his older (well used X-PRE). I had a quick listen and, yes (to my ears) it did sound quite bright BUT, by the looks of the unit, it's quite possible it hasn't quite settled down yet. I measured the stock JAN / Philips valves and they measured as good / almost perfect with both sides (triodes) very well matched (34.1 / 35.0) on valve one and (35.1 / 34.4) on valve two. Transconductance was well within spec so that would suggest this unit has had very little use...... the valves were pretty much spot on in every regard so no need to change them. The X-PRE is not a proper valve pre-amp as the valves are starved so they are essentially there to add a tube like "colouration" to the sound....... almost like a glowing "equalizer", a totally unnecessary addition to the signal path BUT quite a lot of people are great fans of the X-PRE (myself included!). I know, from experience, that a matched pair of Voskhod 6H23N valves will certainly balance things out and I will be discussing that with Dok in due course. I dealt with the bottom board today and will get to work on the upper PSU board tomorrow. The capacitor changes I have made will most certainly bring about vast changes / improvements in the sound quality. Here is the stock bottom board before I worked on it: Here is the board after I worked on it: The stock 2.2ohm wirewound power resistor runs quite hot. It is both magnetive and inductive (both bad things!)..... a penny a pop piece of crap! I have replaced it with two high quality Ohmite Audio Gold non inductive / non magnetic resistors in parallel (2 x 4.7ohm wired in parallel = 2.35 ohms) I could call it my special "power resistor module" (or some other such like bollocks) bit it is simply 2 x non inductive / non magnetic high quality resistors connected in Parallel. These are £2.40 each (so £4.80 for two) but worth every penny! The other advantage of 2 x 5 watt power resistors in parallel is a greater surface area....... they don't even run warm to the touch, they are almost stone cold in operation. The next nice little tweak are the output coupling caps..... MF fit cheap and nasty directional electrolytics here...... there is zero voltage across the caps but they fit them as a "belt and braces" device...... you can actually jumper across the pads of C109 and C209 and lose them completely out of the circuit. I prefer to go down the sensible route and have fitted non directional / Non Polar caps in C109 / C209 courtesy of Nichicon MUSE non polar types (the green ones): The rest of the 10F caps I have used ELNA Silmic ll (Japanese silk fiber) caps. I think I mentioned it before but will reiterate it again...... the headroom inside the X-PRE (especially between lower and upper boards) is insanely limited so you have to choose the dimension of your capacitor VERY carefully or you will find you have just wasted a lot of money on parts that just don't fit! I had to use nippon united chemi con 105C (superb capacitors) (35V / 1000uF) miniature capacitors (the big brown ones) they were the only caps I could find that wouldn't foul the top board....... they are as fat as f**k (excuse my French) but the best caps for the job. Same goes with the film caps...... I decided to go with 630V 2.2uF metallized polyester film in this instance (for reasons I will explain later) Just look at how tight a fit they were....... I "literally" had less than 1mm so had to form the leads to perfection: Thoroughly enjoying every second working on this (so far / touchwood) just thought I'd add that before I continue....... Fitted a couple of nice Nichicon "Audio" caps (105C rated) next to the non inductive / non magnetic power resistor (power resistor module?) but pure overkill....... they will never feel any heat (unlike the el cheapo 3 watt power resistor positioned right up the arse of the 85C Jamicon caps)....... I'll e-mail Doktor Joy with my work so far and will continue (PART TWO) when I upgrade the top (PSU board) tomorrow Oh (jesus I've had too much coffee) been off the alcohol for a good 3 months now (and not feeling any benefits of being sober) but must also say the 220nF (small yellow caps) are NOS Mullards (or maybe Mallory) and have a tone to die for, they are little beauties. Another big (and I mean BIG) upgrade to the X-PRE is the OPA1644 rockgrotto.proboards.com/thread/11255/musical-fidelity-pre-upgrade-module but that's something that can easily be fitted at a later date. I could have typed all this to you Dok but better sharing it with other enthusiasts......... I take immense pride in my work and would rather share it with the world for all to see rather than just send you a bill. Part two tomorrow Best regards, Mike.
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Post by PinkFloyd on Oct 21, 2021 21:16:25 GMT
Doktor Joy...... Here is another one I started on this morning. It belongs to Doktor Joy. Dok (Dr. Joy) felt that this X-PRE was a lot brighter sounding than his older (well used X-PRE). I had a quick listen and, yes (to my ears) it did sound quite bright BUT, by the looks of the unit, it's quite possible it hasn't quite settled down yet. I measured the stock JAN / Philips valves and they measured as good / almost perfect with both sides (triodes) very well matched (34.1 / 35.0) on valve one and (35.1 / 34.4) on valve two. Transconductance was well within spec so that would suggest this unit has had very little use...... the valves were pretty much spot on in every regard so no need to change them. The X-PRE is not a proper valve pre-amp as the valves are starved so they are essentially there to add a tube like "colouration" to the sound....... almost like a glowing "equalizer", a totally unnecessary addition to the signal path BUT quite a lot of people are great fans of the X-PRE (myself included!). I know, from experience, that a matched pair of Voskhod 6H23N valves will certainly balance things out and I will be discussing that with Dok in due course. I dealt with the bottom board today and will get to work on the upper PSU board tomorrow. The capacitor changes I have made will most certainly bring about vast changes / improvements in the sound quality. Here is the stock bottom board before I worked on it: Here is the board after I worked on it: The stock 2.2ohm wirewound power resistor runs quite hot. It is both magnetive and inductive (both bad things!)..... a penny a pop piece of crap! I have replaced it with two high quality Ohmite Audio Gold non inductive / non magnetic resistors in parallel (2 x 4.7ohm wired in parallel = 2.35 ohms) I could call it my special "power resistor module" (or some other such like bollocks) bit it is simply 2 x non inductive / non magnetic high quality resistors connected in Parallel. These are £2.40 each (so £4.80 for two) but worth every penny! The other advantage of 2 x 5 watt power resistors in parallel is a greater surface area....... they don't even run warm to the touch, they are almost stone cold in operation. The next nice little tweak are the output coupling caps..... MF fit cheap and nasty directional electrolytics here...... there is zero voltage across the caps but they fit them as a "belt and braces" device...... you can actually jumper across the pads of C109 and C209 and lose them completely out of the circuit. I prefer to go down the sensible route and have fitted non directional / Non Polar caps in C109 / C209 courtesy of Nichicon MUSE non polar types (the green ones): The rest of the 10F caps I have used ELNA Silmic ll (Japanese silk fiber) caps. I think I mentioned it before but will reiterate it again...... the headroom inside the X-PRE (especially between lower and upper boards) is insanely limited so you have to choose the dimension of your capacitor VERY carefully or you will find you have just wasted a lot of money on parts that just don't fit! I had to use nippon united chemi con 105C (superb capacitors) (35V / 1000uF) miniature capacitors (the big brown ones) they were the only caps I could find that wouldn't foul the top board....... they are as fat as f**k (excuse my French) but the best caps for the job. Same goes with the film caps...... I decided to go with 630V 2.2uF metallized polyester film in this instance (for reasons I will explain later) Just look at how tight a fit they were....... I "literally" had less than 1mm so had to form the leads to perfection: Thoroughly enjoying every second working on this (so far / touchwood) just thought I'd add that before I continue....... Fitted a couple of nice Nichicon "Audio" caps (105C rated) next to the non inductive / non magnetic power resistor (power resistor module?) but pure overkill....... they will never feel any heat (unlike the el cheapo 3 watt power resistor positioned right up the arse of the 85C Jamicon caps)....... I'll e-mail Doktor Joy with my work so far and will continue (PART TWO) when I upgrade the top (PSU board) tomorrow Oh (jesus I've had too much coffee) been off the alcohol for a good 3 months now (and not feeling any benefits of being sober) but must also say the 220nF (small yellow caps) are NOS Mullards (or maybe Mallory) and have a tone to die for, they are little beauties. Another big (and I mean BIG) upgrade to the X-PRE is the OPA1644 rockgrotto.proboards.com/thread/11255/musical-fidelity-pre-upgrade-module but that's something that can easily be fitted at a later date. I could have typed all this to you Dok but better sharing it with other enthusiasts......... I take immense pride in my work and would rather share it with the world for all to see rather than just send you a bill. Part two tomorrow Best regards, Mike.
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Post by PinkFloyd on Oct 19, 2021 19:47:45 GMT
Yet again I am changing the 20mm fuseholder on the Pinkie. I have chosen to go with the Schurter 0031.3911 FBS1 Fuseholder Fingergrip 5x20mm type: www.schurter.com/en/datasheet/typ_FBS1.pdfI like everything to be bullet proof and safe with my Little Pinkie and the Schurter FBS1 is "medical Grade" so you can't get safer than that! It is essentially "shock safe" to category PC3 so 100% belt and braces in every respect to safety. I love everything about it in fact! Protection: IP40 Rated Voltage: 250V AC Contact resistance: ≤ 10 mΩ at 100 mA acc. to IEC 60127-6 Rated Power Acceptance IEC: 1.6 W / 10.0 A @ Ta 23°C Dielectric Strength: > 3 kV between life parts (50 Hz: 1 min) Impulse Withstand Voltage: > 4 kV between life parts Insulation Resistance: > 10 MΩ between life parts (500 VDC: 1 min) Protection Class: Suitable for appliances with protection class I acc. to IEC 61140 Overvoltage Category: II acc. to IEC 60664-1 Admissible Ambient Air Temp: -40 °C to 85 °C Pollution Degree: 2 acc. to IEC 60664-1 Climatic Category: 40/085/21 acc. to IEC 60068-1 Admissible Torque on Fixing Nut: max 1.2 Nm Material: Socket: Thermoplastic, black, UL 94V-0 Material: Terminals: Copper alloy, tin-plated Best part of £5 GBP per fuseholder but worth every penny....... weather up here today was shite (dark and dismal) so I'll get a pic of the fuseholder up ASAP (as soon as sunlight returns!) Lovely pieces of kit, you essentially slightly turn the fingergrip, pull outwards and the fuse drops out...... you simply drop a new fuse in and push the tray back in. Sorry to get so enthusiastic about a seemingly simple thing like a fuseholder but the Schurter FBS1 finger grip is a thing of beauty and designed to last a lifetime. Mike.
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Post by PinkFloyd on Oct 10, 2021 9:46:18 GMT
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Post by PinkFloyd on Oct 10, 2021 9:22:09 GMT
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Post by PinkFloyd on Oct 10, 2021 9:04:26 GMT
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Post by PinkFloyd on Oct 4, 2021 22:00:42 GMT
Poor old Steve, my trusty steed of many years, is next in the queue to be crushed into a cube Pretty heartbreaking if truth be told but I'm not a great one for long goodbyes and grief. I said goodbye, and thanks for being the best car ever etc., and shed a typically "British" stiff upper lip repressed tear. All things must pass, I realise that, but to see Steve next in line to be compressed into a square lump of scrap metal brought a tear to my eyes. Onwards and upwards........ I kept the wheels (which are in absolutely SHIT condition) and am going to spend "possibly" weeks sanding them down, filling them, etch priming them, priming them, painting them and then applying a laquer. I could go the easy route and get them sand blasted / powder coated (£60 per wheel) but f**k that. The wheels are the only thing I have left from Steve so if it takes me 10 hours per wheel to do then it's a labour of love and well worth the time. Viktor (my Micra 160R street racer) will be glad of a pair of winter wheels so Maybe it was a blessing in disguise and a kick up the arse for me to get the paint gun out again RIP Steve, I will never forget you my friend. Long live Viktor (super Micra sports version)
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Post by PinkFloyd on Sept 17, 2021 23:02:47 GMT
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Post by PinkFloyd on Aug 31, 2021 19:37:44 GMT
That a bugger Mike however your friendly Lidl will have cctv probably covering car park so you may get a reg to trace vehicle and if it’s hired the hire company must give the details of the hirer or pay claim themselves. Good luck Mike No CCTV in Lidl car park Thurso, Highlands of Scotland. MOT runs out in November so I'm just going to scrap my trusty steed Martin. Life "really" IS too short and I'm not going to waste my short time left on this planet getting stressed out with things that are not important.... a "dent" on an 18 year old Nissan Micra is not important
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Post by PinkFloyd on Aug 23, 2021 19:53:05 GMT
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Post by PinkFloyd on Aug 23, 2021 19:51:40 GMT
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Post by PinkFloyd on Aug 23, 2021 19:26:36 GMT
Took my trusty old steed "Steve" to Lidl last Friday, parked him up (as one does) and went into the shop to experience the joys of lidl...... 20 minutes later (yes, I spent 15 minutes queuing to get out) I returned to my car and was like "WTAF!!??" (What the actual f**k!) A mahoosive dent / crumped front bumper + god only knows what type of "unseen" damage lurking below the surface. Some f**ker has obviously reversed into the RH front end of the car and just driven off oblivious There are "literally" thousands of these self drive "motorhome" things up here at the moment (the type of people who can't afford a Hotel or a bed and breakfast but choose, instead, to pollute the roads with these "shanty towns on wheels". When I went into Lidl there were three of these horrid "hostels on wheels" parked in front of me (the dwellers of these "Vehicles" were obviously inside Lidl stocking up on their holiday essentials / treats such as freeway cola and "orlando" dog food) anyhoo...... don't get me started on these folk who think that driving at 40MPH in a f**king "box" and causing major conjestion on the roads are on "holiday" they're cheapskate pests and can't drive for toffee! Most of them are rentals "hire a shanty town on wheels" types and don't have a bloody clue how to drive them. You can diss the old fashioned car "with caravan attached" drivers but those guys knew how handle a car with a caravan attached...... these "rent a tent on wheels" characters shouldn't be allowed behind a steering wheel. Bottom line (I got there at last) one of these obnoxious bloody vehicles had backed into my parked car and, clearly, driven off "oblivious" to the fact that it had smacked into the front RH bumper of my trusty steed Steve. That's driving under the speed limit for you Pictures to follow.
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Post by PinkFloyd on Aug 11, 2021 19:39:23 GMT
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