Too much time on my hands - new set amp (incoming)

SET Man · « **Reply #40 on:** 5 Apr 2020, 04:40 am »

Hey!

Great work on the amp there! Nice and clean layout. And yes caps take sometime to burn in.

By the way, I love NOS DAC. I have a simple NOS DAC based on TDA1543 chip. I wish I have money to try Audio Note or Audio Note Kits DAC.

Again, nice job on the amp.

Buddy

mresseguie · « **Reply #41 on:** 5 Apr 2020, 05:58 am »

Quote from: jmolsberg on 5 Apr 2020, 02:22 am

Yes a credenza. I am pretty gobsmacked by how it sounds out the gate.the caps def need some burn-in but vintage transformers?

Those vintage transformers probably haven't been used in a long, long time, yes? If so, I believe they need to burn in as well.

About the credenza: My parents bought a teak credenza in 1978 and kept it until my mother passed recently. It is now in my home office. It wasn't until about three years ago that I learned its proper name is 'credenza'. From 1978 till three years ago, my whole family called it a 'buffet'. I have no idea why.

jmolsberg · « **Reply #42 on:** 5 Apr 2020, 12:00 pm »

Thanks SET Man!
I think you are spot on w the transformers. Put records in it like I do, call it a credenza. Put dishware in it, and we can call it a buffet all day. We definitely like it. Holds and hides plenty records and those pesky untidy cables

mpv · « **Reply #43 on:** 6 Apr 2020, 07:00 pm »

This look like AC heated. Is any hum when close ear to drivers,please?

jmolsberg · « **Reply #44 on:** 6 Apr 2020, 07:17 pm »

^ yes. But my ear needs to be basically on the driver and it’s very minimal. About the same as my decware zen. The amp does have a hum rheostat located on back. If I tweek it full left / right the hum increases. I have it set dead middle and at a hands length away you are hard pressed to hear anything. Considering the speakers efficiency it’s acceptable.

mpv · « **Reply #45 on:** 6 Apr 2020, 07:24 pm »

No is not acceptable.......We just accept thinking: well is a SET
I don't see a reason why the builders these days don't go DC heated?
You will love the black background with way more details at lower volume.

jmolsberg · « **Reply #46 on:** 6 Apr 2020, 07:33 pm »

I have a linear tube audio. I’ve never heard a quieter amp tube or solid state, period. The dht 45 sound very good at low volumes and is different enough from the LTA, and that was the goal. Achieved.

jmolsberg · « **Reply #47 on:** 11 Apr 2020, 04:14 pm »

I’ve had the amp playing for the better part of a week. Yes, I have nothing but time

The highs sounded a bit rolled off and some passages sounded a bit grainy at times. This seems to be improving with time. The Alan Eaton is amp is wonderfully musical. Tons of prat! It throws a large soundstage, layered (improving) and is scorching fast. A lot more powerful sounding than the 1.5 watts would lead you to believe. It reminds me of my old decware zen. From memory they share more in common than not, but the 45 set has a bit more presence overall. Slightly meatier midrange, deeper bass, and dare I say just a touch quicker sounding. The Zen may be a bit more resolving, again all this from memory. Both amps can put the goosebumps on you and do! It really likes being driven by my Herron vtph-2a and audio mirror dac directly, sans preamp. May need to try a passive so I am not swapping rcas? The smooth dual gain controls begin at noon and gets loud by 3. A bit quirky and I do wish it had a larger range. Most of my listening is done at 2. The L/R gain controls do allow for fine adjustment, which is growing on me quick. I can hear a little power transformer buzz with my ear on top of the transformer. It’s worth mentioning, but not a distraction. Alan calls them lemons inside and assures me it’s fine. It self biasing but has a military grade rheostat on the back. The rheostat works in place of a resistor that way you can fine-tune and compensate the balance on the output tubes. The amp was shipped with tubes of different manufactures but they work. I swapped in some NOS hitachi 6sn7 yesterday and it responded well. Waiting on some tung-sol 45’s from vintage tube services. It’s definitely a quality tube amp with some nice vintage parts and solid looks. I do believe those old Japanese Tamura transformers Alan swears by, bring something special to the sound, along with the famous 45 toob! It has excellent synergy with my 3xrs ho speakers. I reckon with all omega speakers. I like being able to swap between it and my little LTA integrated for a change of pace, although I haven’t felt the need to swap.

EricWe · « **Reply #48 on:** 1 Jun 2020, 11:58 pm »

How is the Alan Eaton 45 settling in? I’ve been I touch with him to get one as well and I’d love to hear how it has been living with it.

jmolsberg · « **Reply #49 on:** 2 Jun 2020, 01:21 pm »

I suppose I haven't updated in a while - sorry. I have had too much fun listening. The amp has improved nicely (smoothed out, larger soundstage and more layered) in the last 6 weeks. As mentioned, it has wonderful synergy with Omega, Audio Mirror Tubadour III DAC and Herron VTPH-2A. The music coming out of these speakers is just so coherent and real sounding - it just flows. I suppose it has an old-school flavor but lightning fast, very powerful, with tight tuneful bass. Rarely does a recording ever sound forced. While I have listened to amps/speakers with better resolution, I am hearing things in recordings I have never noticed before. And again, it just sounds real!
When I first chatted with Alan about building the amp, I emphasized music as being the most important consideration. And I can confidently say he delivered a very engaging musical amp

EricWe · « **Reply #50 on:** 9 Jun 2020, 10:53 pm »

Mine from Alan is on the way! Same design but different color.

Any plans to further tube roll?

Getting exited.

EricWe · « **Reply #51 on:** 9 Jun 2020, 11:08 pm »

And I’m also coming from a Decware SE84UFO Zen amp. It’ll be nice evaluating the differences.

jmolsberg · « **Reply #52 on:** 15 Jul 2020, 05:27 pm »

Eric

The 45 amp treating you good?

AvsFan · « **Reply #53 on:** 15 Jul 2020, 10:13 pm »

Quote from: EricWe on 9 Jun 2020, 11:08 pm

And I’m also coming from a Decware SE84UFO Zen amp. It’ll be nice evaluating the differences.

I'd be interested in your comparisons between the two myself.

I am thinking about giving the tube amp option another go around. I can't get the best sound out of my Omega's with the amps I am trying to use with them. So I really want to see if tubes and SET amps are the ticket to musical bliss with the Omega's.

If I didn't have the volume knob hum issues, I would most likely, still be enjoying the Eaton 45 and Omega combo.
But I sent it back and was refunded. I am thinking about trying it out again though. Or what would be even easier is adding the Decware amp into mt system. I actually have room for that amp. If I added the Eaton 45, I would have to reconfigure my system and how it is set up and I kind of don't want to do that.

So I am VERY interested in your comparison between the Decware and Eaton 45. Obviously if the differences are significant, I'd make room for the Eaton again.

jmolsberg · « **Reply #54 on:** 10 Oct 2020, 03:40 pm »

good morning ya'll. I've had the AE DHT 45 SET for 6 months and I adore it. I imaging anyone with efficient speakers and a 45 SET shares my sentiments. Such a romantic quality to the music. I like to tinker and I figured I could elevate the performance of the amp by doing some of the simpler mods: coupling caps, bypass caps, and volume pots. I am not particularly good at soldering but my partner in crime is the shit. In early August we swapped the coupling caps. So many wonderful cap choices out there, where to begin? I decided to roll the dice with the Vcap Odam. I've read Vcap break-in is painful and it certainly is. I was ready to scrap the Vcaps and then at 150 hours the sound just became butter, liquid, you name it, it just gelled. Everyone seems to like the Miflex caps and they relatively inexpensive, so in went the bypass caps - copper foil, paper/polypropylene in oil. I can't believe how tiny those old caps are

. Those guys did not nearly require the break-in of the Vcaps, they sounded good from the moment I fired up the amp. I was never particularly fond of the alpha potentiometers, they worked perfectly fine, but they could be bettered. Mr. Charles (Rollo) on this forum has become quite the email penpal and recommended the TDK 2500 series with conductive plastic. I had to do some drilling but they are certainly worth the effort. Beautiful taper and wonderful transparency. Ash thought it would be a good idea to run new line level wire while we were elbow deep in the amp swapping the pots. I decided to run a beautiful silver for the new wire.
The mods are neat and the amp retained it's sonic signature! It is just a better version of an already wonderful amp. All those that own the Alan Eaton 45, the smirk on your face is so warranted!

AvsFan · « **Reply #55 on:** 19 Oct 2020, 06:26 pm »

Quote from: jmolsberg on 10 Oct 2020, 03:40 pm

good morning ya'll. I've had the AE DHT 45 SET for 6 months and I adore it. I imaging anyone with efficient speakers and a 45 SET shares my sentiments. Such a romantic quality to the music. I like to tinker and I figured I could elevate the performance of the amp by doing some of the simpler mods: coupling caps, bypass caps, and volume pots. I am not particularly good at soldering but my partner in crime is the shit. In early August we swapped the coupling caps. So many wonderful cap choices out there, where to begin? I decided to roll the dice with the Vcap Odam. I've read Vcap break-in is painful and it certainly is. I was ready to scrap the Vcaps and then at 150 hours the sound just became butter, liquid, you name it, it just gelled. Everyone seems to like the Miflex caps and they relatively inexpensive, so in went the bypass caps - copper foil, paper/polypropylene in oil. I can't believe how tiny those old caps are . Those guys did not nearly require the break-in of the Vcaps, they sounded good from the moment I fired up the amp. I was never particularly fond of the alpha potentiometers, they worked perfectly fine, but they could be bettered. Mr. Charles (Rollo) on this forum has become quite the email penpal and recommended the TDK 2500 series with conductive plastic. I had to do some drilling but they are certainly worth the effort. Beautiful taper and wonderful transparency. Ash thought it would be a good idea to run new line level wire while we were elbow deep in the amp swapping the pots. I decided to run a beautiful silver for the new wire.
The mods are neat and the amp retained it's sonic signature! It is just a better version of an already wonderful amp. All those that own the Alan Eaton 45, the smirk on your face is so warranted!

Look at the two of you collaborating on this project! Now that's what I call bonding and team work! KUDOS!

Looking great buddy and I am sure, sounding even greater. I am trying to get a handle on how everything is sounding stock, then I am sending my Eaton Mono's to you for upgrades!

Folsom · « **Reply #56 on:** 19 Oct 2020, 06:35 pm »

If your binding posts have any metal chassis between them under that plastic cut a channel between them (in the metal, any size is fine, just use a dremel and vacuum or snip it out some if it's really thin) and it'll be a better upgrade probably than what you've already been playing with.

I'd recommend the same for the RCA's but they're so far apart it'd be totally new holes.

jmolsberg · « **Reply #57 on:** 19 Oct 2020, 08:31 pm »

@Folsom here is an older pic the back chassis. What do you think?

rockymystic · « **Reply #58 on:** 21 Feb 2021, 04:40 pm »

i to have recently acquired John hogan 45 set amp... this is my first venture into 45's tube. before that i listened to 2a3 monoblocks from triode lab. The sound of 45 is very good (Romantic). but the amp has softer bass and channel separation is not good. The 2a3's have very good separation and tighter bass. I am now interested in 45 monos. Just need a good amp which can deliver what my 2a3's are offering plus the 45 sound

. Any suggestions?

zmaggio · « **Reply #59 on:** 23 Feb 2021, 12:01 am »

I'd contact Oliver Sayes (sonic_oli) to discuss a custom build. I just had him do an EL84 single ended pentode amp for me and couldn't be happier. He does a lot of 45 based amps and I'm sure can come up with something that would work for you. He does really fantastic work, reasonably priced too.

(I have no connection to him, just a happy client.)