[Glady86]

Bunch of parts


Finished, testing and playing music. I purchased Audyn true copper caps to replace the stock ones.

[nlitworld]

I purchased Audyn true copper caps to replace the stock ones.

I popped those into my Tubes4hifi phono stage. Pain to work with the stranded leads, but they sure sound good!

Sounds like you had a fun weekend though.

[Glady86]

The kit was a piece of cake to assemble.


Used some good Kester solder and keeping the solder gun tip clean made for easy and excellent solder joints.

[Jon L]

We should thank the Audio Gods there are still audio companies that offer great value for money 

[Glady86]

We should thank the Audio Gods there are still audio companies that offer great value for money 

This amp is dead silent, impressive for a tube amp. Listening near field with NHT  SuperZero 2.0 (my test bench speakers) even with those I can tell this amp is very enjoyable. All the voltage test are spot on.

[mkrawcz]

This amp is dead silent, impressive for a tube amp. Listening near field with NHT  SuperZero 2.0 (my test bench speakers) even with those I can tell this amp is very enjoyable. All the voltage test are spot on.

I will sound even better after about 100hrs with those caps.

[nlitworld]

Luckily those caps don't go through a case of the uglies where they sound like turds before they sound awesome. They're good and then they're great.

[Glady86]

Luckily those caps don't go through a case of the uglies where they sound like turds before they sound awesome. They're good and then they're great.

Good to know, those MIflex change a lot. I’ll try Audyn caps in my speakers if I decide to change the bypass capacitors.

I think the Audyn caps are a little too “fat” to fit nicely in the slots were the caps fit in the amp.

[Glady86]

Btw, try the new PSVane Horizon 300b tubes. They are really good and are very inexpensive.

I have Psvane Horizon 12au7 and Gold Lion 300b tubes in the amp. In case I want to try the transformer upgrade, is it just a matter of bolting on and connecting the wiring?

The amp sounds surprisingly good stock. So what improvements would the transformer have?

[Glady86]

The amp sounded a little too delicate when I hooked it up to Oticas. The gain is a lot less than my Odyssey amps so I tried it with zero feedback and I like it a lot better, it came alive with much better dynamics. Anyone else try it with the feedback disabled?

[mkrawcz]

I have Psvane Horizon 12au7 and Gold Lion 300b tubes in the amp. In case I want to try the transformer upgrade, is it just a matter of bolting on and connecting the wiring?

The amp sounds surprisingly good stock. So what improvements would the transformer have?

If you get the Transformers from VHMusic, he sells them with wire harnesses and some PCBs that soldier to the transformer pins, then the harnesses soldier to the pads of the PCBs. Upgraded transformers get you a bit more clarity and maybe a touch more dynamics. They aren't as dramatic as coupling caps. It's hard to fully judges it without having them in back to back. Zero feedback mode definitely give you more of a classic Tube sound with lower end punch. With feedback, you get a more neutral sound with a more focused center image. It boils down to a matter of taste, I guess. I've had feedback on mostly, but I will probably switch it up now and see how it like it.

[Glady86]

With the volume control up to max and disabled feedback the gain structure is similar to the Odyssey amps. With the feedback on I had to back off the subs volume to match. It needs more time to break in before I can actually judge it, but I think already it’s better than the PrimaLuna amp I tried. Also I ordered a pair of 12BH7 to try.

[Glady86]

Also, I’m not in a hurry to try the better transformers. I Was just curious what improvements people hear.
The thing is sounding better just in the last hour of playing, goosebumps and foot taping is a good sign. It plays plenty loud without any noticeable issues.

[Glady86]

Looks cool in the dark with the cover off.I noticed those 300b tubes don’t glow like others I owned. Only a little at the top.

[Glady86]

 This amp has lots more resolution from top to bottom compared to the Odyssey amps, the surprising part is the bass is more defined. Plenty dynamic, another surprise. So screw distortion % measurements, this proves to me they aren’t all that important. And I learned the Oticas don’t need much power to perform.

Or is the “resolution” actually the 2 and 3 harmonic distortions adding pleasing characteristics? Either way I will actually keep this tube amp.

[Tyson]

Yes, this is exactly why I switched from SS to tube amps a while back.  I still have a couple SS amps, but they are Nelson Pass designs that sound the most 'tubelike' out of all SS amps I've heard. 

[Glady86]

I made a cover with a cutout so I can easily change the feedback jumper socket.

[Glady86]

I’d like to update my experience in case anyone is curious. The Elekit 8900 has an input impedance of 50k ohms vs 20k of my previous amps. I added a .1uf sonicap in series with the .15uf MIflex  cap in my high pass filter to lower the capacitance to .06uf so it starts cutting off at around 53hz. This increased the head room of the amp for better performance at louder levels. It was an easy to hear improvement.

Also like to add that I tried the amp with NFB enabled and still found it a little too laidback. I don’t know if it’s just a matter of the gain structure is more ideal for my system,  but the feedback softens the sound and it’s not nearly as dynamic and it just all around sounds better to me with zero NFB.