[AUDFILE74]

hey hubbard, anything new to report ? with pics? aa

[whubbard]

Yes I do. 

Some good news, Some bad news.

The good news is the system is complete, and I have photos (I will upload them once I am on a connection that supports FTP).

The bad news is I have nothing to report on the sound as I had to leave before I was able to listen. All that was left was the interconnects and speaker wires, but sadly, it was a no go. I will return in 3 weeks and give a good update on how it sounds.

I have tested it and electronically it is good except that when I measure across a tkd on one channel (output to ground) vs the other, the resistance is off by 600Ohms. One measured 9.9, the other 9.3. Not sure if it matters, but I have a feeling it might. I also managed to blow one of the CMCs. I'm really not sure how, but it blew. So I might have to install a fuse before it. (The ones in the amp/gk-1 boxes are fused) it was just the one in the 'power center' I built. Nothing was plugged in either, so it couldn't have been that the component was drawing to much amperage. I'm really not sure.

Photos Soon.

-West

p.s. The photos aren't great quality as I took them while I was leaving, but they should do the job just fine. The only weird part of the system right now is that the knobs look really funny, but they work  )

[AKSA]

Hi West,

Congratulations on a long haul....  it's been an epic and you've done very, very well.

Not sure about the TKD either, cross that bridge when we get to it in three weeks.

Cheers,

Hugh

[whubbard]

Here are the Photos. (I am uploading them now over a connection going about 2kb/s so the links might not work for a few hours)

Completed System
GK-1 (excuse the funny knobs)
Amplifier Boards
Power Center
Inside Power Center
Blown Felix If you look close you can see the blown coil on the CMC.
Burnt Wood

-West

[whubbard]

Everytime I look at these photos I get more and more upset over the orange. When I went to home depot I had a wonderful bright red picked out, which I think would have looked very nice, but I wound up with this orange instead. I think I'll wind up going back and getting the red and repainting them. It shouldn't be to hard as I will just keep them closed as I do it, and put tape on the inside of the GK-1 holes. I might have to leave some of the back panel orange though, as I won't want to paint the RCA/switches/inlets.

-West

[whubbard]

Well I've finally completely finished up my Orions. They sound WONDERFUL! However on each side one seas tweeter seems to be having problems. On the left, its the forward facing one, on the right, the backwards one. There is no sound comming from them, but if I lightly push on the side of the cone, the sound comes back. Any ideas what could be causing this? It just seems odd how lightly pushing on the front would make it work. (I'm not pusing on the cone itself, just the plastic circle going around it).

Now I will have to get into the phase of setting the ASP levels and then selecting which OPA2107s to Replace with the LM4652 to get the 'right' sound for me.

On the scale of the larger project, I have a few more issues to work out with my GK-1, but my LFs are working wonderfully. With my GK-1 I must have installed the attenuator wrong, as its not working! Luckily the turntable will play at a reasonable volume (its still very loud though). Also, I have a hum in the left channel of my preamp, so I'll have to work that out aswell.

I'm also soon going to have to test out the Peter Daniel DAC, and also compare Hugh's MM Pre-Amp to the NAD PP-2.

First thing to work out will be the volume, then next the left channel hum...

-West

[AKSA]

West,

Congratulations - big project, lots of work, huge confidence required to see it through.  You are nearly there.  Hum is always the final frontier;  use a small croc clip and with one end attached to star earth, just touch ground points all over the GK1, searching for one which is not connected.

As for the tweeter, it sounds like the voice coil is poleing, that is, rubbing against the pole piece.  To test, remove it and drive it through a single 4.7uF cap from a known source.  This should give immediate results.

Cheers,

Hugh

[whubbard]

Thank you Hugh. I've sent you an email.

Also, I just went ahead and calculated the total cost of this build (Just GK-1, Amps, Orions)....

$13,000 

I didn't plan to spend that much on the system, but as it all happened over 9 months I was able to keep my budget balanced, and I never quite realized how much was getting allocated towards this project. However, I'm very pleased with the way this has all turned out, and I wouldn't change a thing!

-West

[aurelius]

West,

I had the same problem when one of my tweeters was damaged.  If I pressed on the cone, it would work, but otherwise it would make no sound.  It eventually failed entirely.  Replacement voicecoils can be had relatively cheaply at madisound: http://www.madisound.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=404_405_100&products_id=816  The change is easy to make.

[WerTicus]

do you actually listen to the speakers that close together or is that just for the photo?

way too close together imo, imaging would suffer.

[whubbard]

That was just for the photo. It's much cleaner to view when they are all close like that.

When I actually had them setup the speakers were moved out and brought much farther apart. If you look at the photo you will notice the two side windows slant in. The speakers were placed out by where that window finishes, so pretty much as far as I could given the room.

-West

p.s. I also just realized that I forgot to put in the .1uF Platinum suckout caps in. So I guess I'll have to do that as well.

[PSP]

Hi West,
I read somewhere that you might have done some mods on your Orion ASP.  Any listening impressions and/or recommendations?

I'm about 5 weeks from going home for good, and I'm already beginning to think about the next mods I might want to do...

Peter

[whubbard]

Here is the ASP right now 


I haven't yet gotten around to playing with Opamps, but I will update when I do. Right now I'm focused on finishing up a few other projects related to this whole build. (I'm going to go right out to the shop after this post to finish the DAC)

I'm also intent on rewiring the amps. I did such a rushed job, which has resulted in hum, not much, but a bit. I wan't the hum gone, so now I have to redo the whole thing 

-West

[AKSA]

Hi West,

Great job, lot of work in the Linkwitz ASP....  with those lovely caps it should sound top shelf!

Cheers,

Hugh

[whubbard]

Well,
I started with the wiring instead of the DAC. 1/4 through in maybe 30 mins, but now that I know exactly what I'm doing it will go faster. I also fixed a grounding issue which has now made these speakers silent (they were close before) at full volume. I can't even listen near full volume! Installing the ground was a true PITA. I can't access the ground on the IEC easily so I hard to figure something out:

4 hand cloths - to prop open the lower lid. It's hinged but only opens about 3" as it is restricted by the transformer wires.
2 flashlights - so I could see what I was doing in the box.
1 bent nose pliers - to hold the wire while I soldered
A lot of sweat!

It was tough, but in the end it worked out fine. I tested with a ground outside the box to see if it would help improve even more by installing it on the right side as well. With there was no audible difference, I think I'm just going to go ahead and do it anyways. Can't Hurt.

Here is what the amps used to look like: (this is the right side, but both sides were essentially identical)


Here is a close up of the left side:


Here is the left side I've done, gives an idea of the finished product:


Notes:
1) The patched wire visible in the second photo will be fixed. I doubt it is effecting sound, but I might as well deal with it.
2) The loops of wire visible are for the LEDs I haven't yet hooked up.
3) Black techflex is power, Green is signal. I tried crossing at a 90 and it made no difference in sound. Therefore I left them in the easier configuration.

Off to dinner. I shall finish upon my return.

-West

[whubbard]

Left side finished:


Not 'Perfect' but I believe it's the best layout to reduce wire length and have the least amount of parallel wires.

-West

[whubbard]

Well I'm all done. 

Here is the right side:


Just need to finish up the LED wiring. Hugh, I'll shoot you an email about that.

Any thoughts guys? Critiques are always welcome as I'd love to fix anything that someone will cause improvement. Visually or sonically.

-West

[whubbard]

LEDs Done:


Also thought I would include a nice photo of the tubes (these aren't my nice gold pins, just the stock ones.):


Now it's onto opamp testing for this system. Right now I'm really enjoying the LM4562 in U7 & U8. That's I'll I've changed from the OPA2107 and much more testing is needed before conclusions are even drawn on these two.

-West

[AKSA]

Y'know, there really is something very nice about a glowing tube.....

Real hifi has horns and glows in the dark, mebbe?

Hugh