[tanchiro58]

OUr current DAC is finish in development.

We are going to roll out our first batch of prototype DAC for trial purpose.

I will be making 4 sets of DAC for sampling purpose. I will be keeping 1 unit for myself here for further development.
his DACs are intended to be sent out to gauge how well they sound in the field plus problems and and also any room for improvement.

So i will be sending a unit to the US and a unit to UK. Those would like to participant in this trial test to see how well the dac works in your system to sign up

Nick,

I would like to participate in listening to your New NOS DAC. Please sign me in your list. Let me know. Thanks.
I also would like to purchase your ebony cones with brass plates. You are correct about ebony cones under TVC would help improve the sound since I tried to place three Mpingo discs (Shun-Mook used with african or malaysian ebony woods) under my TVC. I find the sound exactly what you described. Then I gave to my friend to try them under his TVC too but he report that he does not see any differences sonically. Can you explain this? Maybe it depends on each set up?

Best regards,
Tan

[guest1632]

quote author=tanchiro58 link=topic=31621.msg330138#msg330138 date=1171091691]
You are correct about ebony cones under TVC would help improve the sound since I tried to place three Mpingo discs (Shun-Mook used with african or malaysian ebony woods) under my TVC. I find the sound exactly what you described. Then I gave to my friend to try them under his TVC too but he report that he does not see any differences sonically. Can you explain this? Maybe it depends on each set up?

Best regards,
Tan
[/quote]

Hi Tan,

I would think that placement is where it's at. It will also depend on how good is your friend's system? Does your friend have also the steel bottom? If not, that will too make a difference.

Regards,
Ray 

[tanchiro58]

Ray,

You are right. My TVC is dual mono type and has a wooden bottom. I place one Mpingo in front and the other two to the back corners with a Black Racing Platform under them.  Whereas my friend's TVC is a stereo volume one and had a platinum bottom but I do not know where he place his TVC with the discs on? He said he does not hear any differences.

Best regards,
Tan

[guest1632]

Ray,

You are right. My TVC is dual mono type and has a wooden bottom. I place one Mpingo in front and the other two to the back corners with a Black Racing Platform under them.  Whereas my friend's TVC is a stereo volume one and had a platinum bottom but I do not know where he place his TVC with the discs on? He said he does not hear any differences.

Best regards,
Tan

Hi Tan,

Yep! if you tap the bottom of your TVC at different spots, you will hear different resonants points. Then go over to your friends house, and do the same for his TVC. You're gonna find that the resonance points that you hear from his TVC will be a completely different character than that of wood.

Now, hears a thought, assuming yours is the single control, take a piece of wooden dowel, say half inch in diameter. Sorry guys I don't know the metric equailivent. Cut the dowel so that you have a 2.5 inch length. Place the dowel just to the right of the left transformer, towards the rear of that transformer right side of it. Put the cover back on and see what happens next. This theoretically should dampen the steel plate.

The idea here is to put that dowelling in the center of the unit. Now, this could also have good effects if both top and bottom are steel. Try it and let us all know what happened.

Regards,
Ray

[Gaara]

Tan,

Sorry it took so long, I did not have my Ref 3 on hand to compare to, just received mine yesterday.  For starters looks wise this thing is stunning, I liked the look of the older TVC with the wooden bottom, it was a nice wood color albeit somewhat plain.  It was dinged up and only one knob sat right, but it looked nice very different.  Well the new TVC is gorgeous, I was just telling Nic this thing is beautiful, the finish is very flat not glossy so it doesn't draw attention to itself.  Mine also has a brass top plate which makes it look all the better.  Overall I prefer the color of the wood on the new unit, the finish looks better, the top plate is better, the rear makes it look nicer, and internally it is a big step up. 

As for sound, I let it burn in for about 10 hours and then did some listening.  There are a few things different about this and the older TVC, not directly related to the sound.  First there are more steps so each step is smaller, and you no longer have the loud click between steps.  One more thing I noticed right away is that the music does not cut out in between steps as the older TVC did.  I always found it weird how it did this, but assumed it was the nature of the beast.  One more BIG thing is this unit is quiter.  By that I mean that playing my Jolida through the older unit there was always some hiss and hum, very little, but noticeable from about a foot away.  In contrast playing my Ref 50 (surround pre-amp) through the old unit with 0db attenuation I could hear the hiss and hum lightly from my seat.  Now with the new unit there is no hum at all with the Jolida, and a slight hiss that I can only hear if my ear is next to the tweeter.  With the Ref 50 at 0db attenuation it is the same thing, but at -4db the noise drops drastically.  This happened with the older TVC, but the hum only quited down, not the hiss.  Now both do.  Overall I am very happy to hear that, as this thing reduces the background noise to nothing when playing CDs, and cuts it back so you have to bee within a foot of the speaker to hear it with DVDs/Games.

As for differences in the units, I'm going to wait to burn in further to report back on this.  So far the changes are not drastic, but are noticable.  Bass seems to be tighter, the decay seems to happen faster then before.  Highs I don't really notice a difference in quality, but there is more quantity.  There seems to be more small details that I did not notice before in the highs and mids.  I'm talking cymbals decaying, voices echoing, and room cues.  Thats the biggest difference I hear right off the bat, there are more micro-details then the previous unit.

I'll report back more once my unit is broken in more, but overall I am loving this unit.  It looks much better then the wood bottom TVC, performs a decent margin better, and integrates in my system perfectly.

Jared

[acd483]

Nicholas,

I would also like to participate in the beta testing for the DAC, especially putting up against the similarly priced MHdt Labs Constantine DAC that I am currently using. I'll email you offline, but this is a very exciting development!

[rollo]

Hey guys,
              Good to see happy campers.Good luck with your new units.
Ray,great idea with wood dowel.I,m going to try the pen blanks in lieu of wood dowel.Right now I use a wood cigar box filledwith sand on top with good results.It resides on a bamboo cutting board which also gives good results.However I always felt Ebony would be the ticket.
       Ron Bauman of mapleshade has been experimenting with ebony and has found the material a wonder for dealing with the resonance of caps.He is in the process of making a D/A Con. based on circuit boards constructed of ebony.It's probably going to be in the mega price zone and leaves out most of us.Nicholas are you listening?Ebony in the D/A.Mr Bauman  has measured all types of ebony for this purpose and claims to date there is no other material he knows of which has better resonant absorption qualities.Enough said.
      I will be at his home in about 2 weeks to hear the unit and his system.That should be a trip.I know his products are expensive but they are very effective.If anyone has a chance to hear the effects of the Omega Micro active powercord with a CDP,TT or any other front end gear you might shit yourself.Ron will be looking at TVC to see if he has any suggestions.He is very excited to hear the unit.He uses his own resistor based passive with resistors he makes under a microscope.We will compare the two units.Then he will rewire the Prometheus with the Omega Micro wire[internally].This should prove very interesting.Let you all know the outcome
 
rollo

[guest1632]

Hey guys,
              Good to see happy campers.Good luck with your new units.
Ray,great idea with wood dowel.I,m going to try the pen blanks in lieu of wood dowel.Right now I use a wood cigar box filledwith sand on top with good results.It resides on a bamboo cutting board which also gives good results.However I always felt Ebony would be the ticket.
       Ron Baum an of mapleshade has been experimenting with ebony and has found the material a wonder for dealing with the resonance of caps.He is in the process of making a D/A Con. based on circuit boards constructed of ebony.It's probably going to be in the mega price zone and leaves out most of us.Nicholas are you listening?Ebony in the D/A.Mr Baum an has measured all types of ebony for this purpose and claims to date there is no other material he knows of which has better resonant absorption qualities.Enough said.
      I will be at his home in about 2 weeks to hear the unit and his system.That should be a trip.I know his products are expensive but they are very effective.If anyone has a chance to hear the effects of the Omega Micro active powercord with a CDP,TT or any other front end gear you might shit yourself.Ron will be looking at TVC to see if he has any suggestions.He is very excited to hear the unit.He uses his own resistor based passive with resistors he makes under a microscope.We will compare the two units.Then he will rewire the Prometheus with the Omega Micro wire[internally].This should prove very interesting.Let you all know the outcome
 
rollo




Hey Rollo,

Sounds like you have a day's or weekend project to rewire the TVC. Before I can do any moding, got to get this TVC Fixed. Just waiting to hear from Nicholas how I can get this back to him for repairs.

Ray

[tbabb]

My Promitheus TVC has arrived.

No problems with packaging and all looks good. Set it up last night and out of the box sounds pretty decent. Burning it in now.

Matt I have your ebony knobs here.  Randall Brown, if your in these foums, I have yours too.  Matt you can pick yours up here when you come over, Randall, I have your address and will put them in the mail to you next week.

[guest1632]

My Promitheus TVC has arrived.

No problems with packaging and all looks good. Set it up last night and out of the box sounds pretty decent. Burning it in now.

Matt I have your ebony knobs here.  Randall Brown, if your in these foums, I have yours too.  Matt you can pick yours up here when you come over, Randall, I have your address and will put them in the mail to you next week.

Sorry, can't see your picture. So tell us about this configuration of the TVC.

Ray

[tbabb]

Odd that you can't see it, it displays fine for me?!

I have the P-TVC resting on Finite Element Cerapucs, which rest on a large tibernation maple platform. Beneath the maple platform are Mapleshade Isoblocks which act as isolation from the table and the rest of my components.  On top of the P-TVC are mapleshade brass weights to further absorb vibration and add more mass to the TVC so it has better contact with the Cerapucs. 

Aside from that, my system is all tube.  VPI Scoutmaster > Bent MU > Wright Sound Tube Phono > Anti ICs > P-TVC > Anti ICs > Wright Sound Company 2A3 monoblocks > Anti Cables > Klipsch Cornwalls

Tim

Here is the link to the pic

http://home.comcast.net/~tim.babb/TVC.jpg

[rollo]

Ray,
   only rewiring input and output leads.Grounging trannies and RCA's
     rollo

[guest1632]

Ray,
   only rewiring input and output leads.Grounging trannies and RCA's
     rollo

Hi Rollo,

So he got rid of that RCA ground bus. Well, will be interested to see what happens further. Is your new one still silver wiring or now all copper?

Ray

[Randy]

Tim,
  Thanks very much.  Those knobs look great.  I'm looking forward to seeing ebonies on my TVC.  Let me know how much I owe you for postage.
  Let us know what you think of the TVC.

[gooberdude]

Hey Tim,
Good to hear it arrived safely, i'll be in touch soon to arrange a listen.   What are your initial
thoughts??      I just received a 3" thick Tiger maple plat from timbernation, it sounds great.  the thicker the better...


Rollo,
that's cool as hell!   Mapleshade's ribbon wire is killer, the innards of your tvc are gonna look crazy.
any idea what Ron's turnaround time is for the work??

matt

[rollo]

Gooberdude,Ray,

             The new unit will be wired with Neotech 7N COPPER.The elimination of the buss system will be done as per my request.Not sure if Nicholas is revising all new units.
          Don't really know how long Ron will take to change wire to Omega Mikro series,I believe he will complete mod and measurements in the 2 days I'll be in Washington.This is being done as a personal favor.He will not be offering any mod work on equip. that is not of their origin.If he likes what he hears I will try and talk him into offering a tweak kit.We will see what happens.
         Actually I am more interested in the way ebony damping works on the trannies and enclosure.The wiring I feel will be killer.I use his speaker cable and power cords and like what they do very much.
         His wires are NOT inexpensive as you know,it could be overkill as the Neotech 7N for such a short run may very well be adequate.You know I am going to try, just a sicko audiophile.

rollo

PS C'mon guys just afew more comments to reach 100 pages of  threads WOW!

[guest1632]

Gooberdude,Ray,

             The new unit will be wired with Neotech 7N COPPER.The elimination of the buss system will be done as per my request.Not sure if Nicholas is revising all new units.
          Don't really know how long Ron will take to change wire to Omega Mikro series,I believe he will complete mod and measurements in the 2 days I'll be in Washington.This is being done as a personal favor.He will not be offering any mod work on equip. that is not of their origin.If he likes what he hears I will try and talk him into offering a tweak kit.We will see what happens.
         Actually I am more interested in the way ebony damping works on the trannies and enclosure.The wiring I feel will be killer.I use his speaker cable and power cords and like what they do very much.
         His wires are NOT inexpensive as you know,it could be overkill as the Neotech 7N for such a short run may very well be adequate.You know I am going to try, just a sicko audiophile.

rollo

PS C'mon guys just afew more comments to reach 100 pages of  threads WOW!

Hi Rollo,

What's the advantage of removing the bus anyway?Seems then you have to run more than one wire to the same point. Maybe I'm off here.

Ray

[rollo]

Ray,
       The bus is silver for starters.That's the whole idea one wire per connection.The buss will remain on the Neg. leg only.Only using one input,two outputs.Just nuts I guess.
    rollo

[guest1632]

Ray,
       The bus is silver for starters.That's the whole idea one wire per connection.The buss will remain on the Neg. leg only.Only using one input,two outputs.Just nuts I guess.
    rollo

Hi Rollo,

Understood. Say, this TVC has 5 selections. There are 4 inputs. What is the fifth one for?

Ray

[GHM]

Here's another knob maker I was notified about by an AC member Thingamaknobs.
Ray I think the 5th selector switch is the mute.