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Post by Deleted on Nov 13, 2010 14:22:40 GMT
It's done!! I shoved a screwdriver down the spline and opened it. It was as you said - closed. I didn't realise. Put a new gold knob on and it looks really posh now. Thanks Mike. I'll send you a piece of tailor made aluminium Ian... fit it between the groove and it will be perfect  OK Mike. Many thanks. It's something that I didn't even think about and so simple. One for Frans ..... Now all of my amps have gold knobs, the sound seems SO much better. A great upgrade.  I'm going to A/B a silver knob and gold one. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 13, 2010 15:02:50 GMT
You should include plastic knobs as well !
The soft plastic ones will sound muffled .... ruff ruff that sounds ....
You can use my compare gizmo ...
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Post by Deleted on Nov 13, 2010 15:30:22 GMT
You should include plastic knobs as well ! The soft plastic ones will sound muffled .... ruff ruff that sounds .... You can use my compare gizmo ...  You know it makes sense. ruff ruff that sounds ...'I'll pay the price, I'll even pay for labour'. That got it's first live performance last night with an extended instrumental passage in the middle. The audience were in stitches when I told them what it was about before I sang it!! The band latched onto it and throughout the solos, starting putting in some of the words I'd taken from RG!!!! It was very funny. I just can't resist these gold knobs. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 13, 2010 19:45:23 GMT
You should include plastic knobs as well ! The soft plastic ones will sound muffled .... ruff ruff that sounds .... You can use my compare gizmo ... Anybody who needs to use your gizmo to work that out, or can't hear the difference between low bit rate MP3 and CD is wasting their time spending money on upgrades, and should find another leisure activity, such as knitting or playing Bingo!  |
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Post by PinkFloyd on Nov 13, 2010 21:53:16 GMT
You should include plastic knobs as well ! The soft plastic ones will sound muffled .... ruff ruff that sounds .... You can use my compare gizmo ... You know it makes sense. ruff ruff that sounds ...'I'll pay the price, I'll even pay for labour'. That got it's first live performance last night with an extended instrumental passage in the middle. The audience were in stitches when I told them what it was about before I sang it!! The band latched onto it and throughout the solos, starting putting in some of the words I'd taken from RG!!!! It was very funny. I just can't resist these gold knobs. They look good Ian, it's a lovely deep gold too, looks more 22K than 9K.... the Italian chrome knobs aren't bad either, they've got a fair bit of weight to them which I like. Quite funny really, I used to build amps in glorified corned beef tins and thought they were lovely... looks were never important.... nowadays you can get so many nice knobs and things it seems a shame not to finish the amp off a bit better. Still, I loved my old chiarra  |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 13, 2010 22:05:23 GMT
That's going back some time Mike isn't it? I remember one of my first FM radios from Tandy was a wooden box and an analogue tuning dial. Hissed like a box of snakes even on a massive piece of metal on the roof and I was introduced brutally to multi-path distortion on peaks. God it was awful and it looked so ...... boxy.
Those two little amps are gorgeous. The Aune is great with digital input as well and the other one is just gorgeous sounding. More lightweight than the Panda, but they all look as though they're from the same family now.
Maybe we should have a beauty pageant for Pandas. I'm biased but I just love the look of no.2. You really should have engraved it!! The sound is just amazing as well.
I still find the V8 hard to take for long periods. I know it's probably more neutral and all that, but it just doesn't match up to the Panda's weight and shimmer in the treble.
I have never heard the K701 sound so good in all honesty.
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Post by PinkFloyd on Nov 13, 2010 22:36:06 GMT
Ian, I would love to have engraved it but I am not an "engraver" I could have run my dremel across the front panel with "pinkie" but it would have looked like the amp had suffered some serious damage in transit |
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Post by fault151 on Nov 14, 2010 15:15:57 GMT
I have been busy building the board for my first Panda amp. It seems to have all gone ok so far, just hope everything is in the right place. It was a bit of a pain in the ass removing the 300 resistors for the 150's to give me more gain. I wish i had seen the post on the gain settings before i added the 300 resistors. The double plated holes make it very hard work to remove bits once soldered. I have ordered a case for the amp so i will begin working on panels next, then get the amp working before installing it in to the case. Just waiting on a few more bits to arrive. Here's a pic for now. I know all the boards look the same, but here's mine   |
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Post by PinkFloyd on Nov 14, 2010 15:18:42 GMT
I have been busy building the board for my first Panda amp. It seems to have all gone ok so far, just hope everything is in the right place. It was a bit of a pain in the ass removing the 300 resistors for the 150's to give me more gain. I wish i had seen the post on the gain settings before i added the 300 resistors. The double plated holes make it very hard work to remove bits once soldered. I have ordered a case for the amp so i will begin working on panels next, then get the amp working before installing it in to the case. Just waiting on a few more bits to arrive. Here's a pic for now. I know all the boards look the same, but here's mine It's an absolute b*stard removing components from those boards! If I had known you'd already fitted the 300 ohm Mark I would have sent you two more 300ohm resistors.... just solder them onto the other side of the PCB (in parallel) to give you 150 ohm Looking good! |
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Post by fault151 on Nov 14, 2010 15:27:28 GMT
No worries, I managed to do it without destroying the board, just! |
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Post by fault151 on Nov 14, 2010 16:06:18 GMT
For the Varisistor and the x2 cap do they both solder across the live and neutral on the mains input?
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Post by PinkFloyd on Nov 14, 2010 19:13:49 GMT
For the Varisistor and the x2 cap do they both solder across the live and neutral on the mains input? Correct,. |
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Post by fault151 on Nov 14, 2010 19:16:39 GMT
cool, cheers
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Post by PinkFloyd on Nov 14, 2010 20:03:17 GMT
Mark, be sure to set the voltage across the 1K5 resistors to 1.5V (sounds better)
Mike.
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Post by PinkFloyd on Nov 14, 2010 20:15:04 GMT
No worries, I managed to do it without destroying the board, just! Seriously though, best to get the components in the right way round first time out on these boards. I removed the potentiometer from one and that was a PIG to get out  I've even got one of these electric desolder pumps (with built in tip) and even it has a hard job removing the solder from the hole.... no way would I want to try many different components with these boards... just too much of a pig desoldering them and the pads for the resistors are TINY... pretty easy to some damage to them if you spend too much time farting about with a hot iron trying to remove solder..... |
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Post by fault151 on Nov 14, 2010 21:57:09 GMT
I was wondering, will the 6db gain not be too much on this amp? I probably should have tried it with the 300 resistors first before swapping out if I needed to. I'm using sennheiser hd650's.
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Post by fault151 on Nov 14, 2010 21:58:27 GMT
Mark, be sure to set the voltage across the 1K5 resistors to 1.5V (sounds better) Mike. Cool, I'll set it to 1.5v Cheers |
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Post by mrslim on Nov 14, 2010 23:12:19 GMT
So, anyone care to go out on a limb and share any opinions on Panda's SQ vs some of the other DIY amps such as the CK2III, M3, PPA V2, or dare I say, the Beta 22. Also, I'm wondering what kind of improvement a pair of JLH ripple eaters would provide(if it is convenient to find a way to add them).. I'm just in the process of ordering the parts for a CK2III, and if it's worthwhile, I may go for the Panda instead.
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Post by PinkFloyd on Nov 14, 2010 23:33:53 GMT
I was wondering, will the 6db gain not be too much on this amp? I probably should have tried it with the 300 resistors first before swapping out if I needed to. I'm using sennheiser hd650's. 6db will be fine.... no worries mark  |
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Post by PinkFloyd on Nov 14, 2010 23:38:17 GMT
So, anyone care to go out on a limb and share any opinions on Panda's SQ vs some of the other DIY amps such as the CK2III, M3, PPA V2, or dare I say, the Beta 22. Also, I'm wondering what kind of improvement a pair of JLH ripple eaters would provide(if it is convenient to find a way to add them).. I'm just in the process of ordering the parts for a CK2III, and if it's worthwhile, I may go for the Panda instead. Don't get me wrong BUT how long is a piece of string? All I can say is the Panda has a LOT of potential and it's up to you to unleash that potential..... stock kit amp is the best I have heard (bar none)..... up to you to "add" to the recipe... well worth a punt and I look forward to your experimentations Mike. |
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Post by PinkFloyd on Nov 14, 2010 23:53:20 GMT
To my own "personal" pair of ears the stock Panda absolutely decimates the SCHA "big time"... it's a hurricane that has sorted the wheat from the chaff.... the Panda is the best kit amp on the planet IMO and "possibly" the best design currently available to the DIY community.
I will be trying the JLH ripple eaters in Panda 4 but can HONESTLY say that the Panda (in stock guise) is one helluva good amp, I'll say it again.... best I have heard bar none.
Pinkie.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 15, 2010 2:03:00 GMT
To my own "personal" pair of ears the stock Panda absolutely decimates the SCHA "big time"... it's a hurricane that has sorted the wheat from the chaff.... the Panda is the best kit amp on the planet IMO and "possibly" the best design currently available to the DIY community. I will be trying the JLH ripple eaters in Panda 4 but can HONESTLY say that the Panda (in stock guise) is one helluva good amp, I'll say it again.... best I have heard bar none. Pinkie. What I find interesting, is that the main references to Panda , when you "Google", are from Rock Grotto, and a few online sellers. Perhaps it fulfils your personal expectations of what an amplifier SHOULD sound like ?  N.B. I am NOT saying that the Panda isn't far better than most HAs that many members would already be using, rather that there are numerous other examples of competently designed amplifiers out there of equally high, or better performance. I wouldnt sell short the Red Wine Audio offerings either, as I have seen several reports of a very high performance, combined with a high degree of transparency. However, they are not kit amplifiers, of which presently there doesn't appear to be a great many better than average designs to choose from. Yes, Panda does rate very high on the VFM lstings.' P.S. If you are thinking about pushing the RG "Destruct" button, it might be a good idea to clear the shelves of the 18 Pandas first ? |
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Post by fault151 on Nov 15, 2010 7:54:54 GMT
So, anyone care to go out on a limb and share any opinions on Panda's SQ vs some of the other DIY amps such as the CK2III, M3, PPA V2, or dare I say, the Beta 22. Also, I'm wondering what kind of improvement a pair of JLH ripple eaters would provide(if it is convenient to find a way to add them).. I'm just in the process of ordering the parts for a CK2III, and if it's worthwhile, I may go for the Panda instead. I have a balanced beta 22 so I will be comparing it to the panda once I get my panda up and running. |
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leo
Been here a while! 
Team wtf is it?
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Post by leo on Nov 15, 2010 19:53:37 GMT
So, anyone care to go out on a limb and share any opinions on Panda's SQ vs some of the other DIY amps such as the CK2III, M3, PPA V2, or dare I say, the Beta 22. Also, I'm wondering what kind of improvement a pair of JLH ripple eaters would provide(if it is convenient to find a way to add them).. I'm just in the process of ordering the parts for a CK2III, and if it's worthwhile, I may go for the Panda instead. Don't get me wrong BUT how long is a piece of string? All I can say is the Panda has a LOT of potential and it's up to you to unleash that potential..... stock kit amp is the best I have heard (bar none)..... up to you to "add" to the recipe... well worth a punt and I look forward to your experimentations Mike. I've tried the CK2III, It wasn't a bad amp but I thought it only performed decent after lots of faffing about , mods and alterations . The more the stock unit ran in the less I liked it, it just lacked that thing for me . It also gave me the impression it worked better as a pre-amp than an headphone amp for some reason. I felt the stock Panda offers more musically than the stock CK2III (just my opinion) The SCHA in stock form was very average (IMO) it was only after the addition of AK's mods like the JLH's, metal can LM4562's, upgraded Toshiba output devices etc it was transformed into a nice little amp. Music with the stock or modded SCHA has a very different presentation to the stock Panda |
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Post by PinkFloyd on Nov 15, 2010 20:23:06 GMT
That's Panda three up and running and initial impressions are that the cap bypassing has added a certain "airiness" to the sound. The bass, whilst still teeth low enough to rattle your teeth, has become more swift of foot. I think it was Leo who mentioned that the bass was a bit "tubby" with the stock amp... well, yes, now that I hear this version I can see where he was coming from.... I don't "why" but the cap bypassing has certainly tightened things up in that dept. I've also fitted one of those "schaffner" thingways as I couldn't be bothered stitching my own together, let's just say this.... the insight and detail is now a touch clearer so whether this is partly down to the schaffner and partly down to the cap bypassing I don't know so I will remove the schaffner in a few days and have a listen without it.... I used my old ratchet crimp tool to connect the 6.3mm females so no desoldering required, the mains connections are all push on (insulated) on this one. Light quality is crap here today so I'll take some good pics of the completed Panda Three tomorrow.... here are a couple of pretty dire ones:   |
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I've even got one of these electric desolder pumps (with built in tip) and even it has a hard job removing the solder from the hole.... no way would I want to try many different components with these boards... just too much of a pig desoldering them and the pads for the resistors are TINY... pretty easy to some damage to them if you spend too much time farting about with a hot iron trying to remove solder.....
