Promitheus TVC passive preamp anyone?

rayd · « **Reply #1480 on:** 16 Apr 2007, 11:51 am »

Folks, so as not to bother Nicholas; after placing an order, does he contact you with an order confirmation, or only when the unit is ready to ship and he supplies a tracking number? I placed an order over a week ago and haven't heard anything. Just wondering...

Thanks,

- Ray

PromitheusAudio · « **Reply #1481 on:** 16 Apr 2007, 02:01 pm »

Ray
Got your order and we have started work on your unit. Currently the chassis is being painted

At the moment we are in the midst of trying to do our own shipment. Normally we shipped with my friend's DHL account and they packed and shipped for us. So sometimes they take a while to ship it out and also take a while to return back the tracking number. So now we are learning the methods on our to do our own shipment with my account with DHL

Also with the new reviews coming out so far we have affordable audio and enjoy the music out and Stereophile in July and Hifi Plus in August/September we are trying to speed up our tvc production lead times. Trying to reduce it to 1-3 weeks lead time.

Cheers
nicholas

Say · « **Reply #1482 on:** 16 Apr 2007, 02:50 pm »

The reviews keep coming in. Soon Stereophile and HiFi+. Congrats Nick.

rayd · « **Reply #1483 on:** 16 Apr 2007, 07:44 pm »

Thank you Nicholas! Please take your time. I'd rather wait and have them do a good job on it.

Don't mean to rush you.

Thanks for the status.

- Ray

gooberdude · « **Reply #1484 on:** 16 Apr 2007, 07:53 pm »

I wonder how the Stereophile crowd will react?

Nick should've put another zero behind the price before sending it in...

Early B. · « **Reply #1485 on:** 16 Apr 2007, 10:14 pm »

Quote from: PromitheusAudio on 16 Apr 2007, 02:01 pm

Also with the new reviews coming out so far we have affordable audio and enjoy the music out and Stereophile in July and Hifi Plus in August/September we are trying to speed up our tvc production lead times. Trying to reduce it to 1-3 weeks lead time.

Cheers
nicholas

That's great news. I'm sure reducing lead times will help sales tremendously. Once the article in Stereophile hits, you'll be flooded with orders and your capacity to handle them could determine the long term viability of your company. Stereophile readers will probably demand a nicer looking chassis.

Also, consider hiring a part-time administrative assistant to track orders and deal with customer service issues. That way, you can focus more on the core business. Customer communication is vitally important, especially for a small, custom audio company with tons of international orders.

rollo · « **Reply #1486 on:** 17 Apr 2007, 04:47 pm »

Quote from: gooberdude on 16 Apr 2007, 07:53 pm

I wonder how the Stereophile crowd will react?

Nick should've put another zero behind the price before sending it in...

Easy man, that's $3700. The beauty of Promitheus is value and bang for buck. I say a candidate for budget product of the year is how they will react.
We shall see.rollo

gooberdude · « **Reply #1487 on:** 17 Apr 2007, 05:16 pm »

Quote from: rollo on 17 Apr 2007, 04:47 pm

Quote from: gooberdude on 16 Apr 2007, 07:53 pm
I wonder how the Stereophile crowd will react?

Nick should've put another zero behind the price before sending it in...

Easy man, that's $3700. The beauty of Promitheus is value and bang for buck. I say a candidate for budget product of the year is how they will react.
We shall see.rollo

Lets hope they do see it as such Rollo.... I wonder if the reviews would be even 'glowier' if Nick supplied all the review TVC's with Ebony knobs?

While staring at the internals of the unit Nels reviewed i could only shake my head thinking 'what if'. Just a few choice tweaks and that TVC is a rockin'...

Maybe that's a part of Nick's plan though, he might want to take a vacation in the next few years!!!

matt

Nels Ferre · « **Reply #1488 on:** 17 Apr 2007, 05:35 pm »

Gooberdude Wrote:

Quote

While staring at the internals of the unit Nels reviewed I could only shake my head thinking 'what if'. Just a few choice tweaks and that TVC is a rockin'...

Matt, don't hold back, what are you thinking? Which tweaks?

gooberdude · « **Reply #1489 on:** 17 Apr 2007, 06:21 pm »

C'mon Nels, you haven't read all 140 pages this thread??

ha!!!!!!!!

In no particular order:

1) Remove the metal rod that attaches the Source Switch to the knob & insert a 10cent wood dowel in its place. loads of bad vibes in that metal rod.

2) Remove the screws holding the Source Switch's L mount to the chassis bottom & insert a 1" square piece of thick foam double sided tape in place of the screws. removes vibes from the trannies going into the source switch. an easily audible tweak.

3) Buy and install a pair of Nick's Ebony knobs... damps the knobs/rods in a musical way. Adds taught bass.

4) Remove the screws that hold the transformers to the base of the chassis. This helps the tranny vibes to not interfere elsewhere. the transformers will hold secure to the bottom of the chassis.

5) Make certain that no screws are attached to the bottom of the TVC (or top for that matter). The Source switch is held with tape and the trannies are held by the damping goo Nick uses. I've taken this an extra length & removed all screws from the TVC chassis. I listen with the lid off.

These simple and cheap tweaks are thoroughly effective in bringing out nuance, tone, body and soul to the TVC. Its all real simple isolation & vibe control...takes about 30 minutes to do all these at once.

If you look at Nick's newest TVC's, they have the Selector switch mounted to the back wall of cigar box...no ugly mounting bracket. Getting it away from the trannies had an audible benefit which i think is due to physical vibrations inherent to the tranformers normal operation.

remove the ebony knobs from my list and you have a complete group of free & easy tweaks for this amazing little preamp. The Ebony knobs add $60.

If you look at some of my earliest posts on this thread you'll see I made wild analogies. to me, most ring true months later: Nick Chua has sold us an Enzo Ferrari. But, at his asking price we have to buy the wheels and tires & do the final tuning of the engine. Nick supplied the engine, body, chassis & technology to make it all work. Its up to us to add some rubber & TLC & hit the race track.

I'm a bit of a weirdo and have taken the TVC to a difft level by using mapleshade's Ultimate Tripleoint brass footers, a 3" thick maple platform from Timbernation and a set of Isoblocks sitting on an empty LP album cover. You mentioned the TVC likes footers, try it out with the 'full-meal deal' of mounts...coupling to a rigid & isolated tonewood plinth. What i'm describing ups the TVC cost to over $800 but i'd bet the tone & silky force that mine exhibits is really something else compared to a stock TVC just sittin' there...
bear in mind i'd use this same mount with any preamp i'd own...it just makes music.

All-in-all its a safe assumption that the stock TVC is a diamond in the rough (the Hope Diamond). A killer DIY project that Nick has done 98% of the work on...

A lot of the vibration control tweaks could be avoided through design IF these boxes didn't have to be shipped from Malaysia. Nick's efforts to tie everything down help them arrive in good shape.

Matt

F-100 · « **Reply #1490 on:** 17 Apr 2007, 07:18 pm »

Quote from: gooberdude on 17 Apr 2007, 06:21 pm

4) Remove the screws that hold the transformers to the base of the chassis. This helps the tranny vibes to not interfere elsewhere. the transformers will hold secure to the bottom of the chassis.

If you remove the screws that hold the transformer to the base, would that cause more vibration since they are not secure to the base?

gooberdude · « **Reply #1491 on:** 17 Apr 2007, 07:32 pm »

By removing the screws that hold the trannies down it is Isolating the trannies from the rest of the chassis. that's the goal of Isolating, to isolate. Those transformers rock back & forth when a signal flows through it....keeping those vibes from poisoning the rest of the chassis is a good thing IMO & IME.

It is a bit odd to incorporate a mount that drains vibrations & at the same time isolate the gear from its own vibrations. i don't think there are any hard rules to this type of tweaking, just go with what sounds right and don't damage your gear...

I just read your post again...the transformers are glued to the chassis base. I wouldn't send my TVC through the mail w/o screwing them back in though.

Removing the screws to the transformers brought out less of an audible change than the other 4 tweaks I mentioned. However, this type of tweaking certainly is cumulative.

matt

F-100 · « **Reply #1492 on:** 17 Apr 2007, 08:02 pm »

The reason I asked this question is because I'm about to embark on building my own enclosure.

I don't think the transformer is glued to the base but instead Nicholas is using some kind of roofing tar as a damping compound for cost effective vibration damping. Because of the dry and hot weather where I live, the roofing tar material is drying up and losing its adhesive properties so I need to find an alternative damping compound for my DIY enclosure.

Anyway it's good info to know. Thanks Matt.

Whitese · « **Reply #1493 on:** 17 Apr 2007, 08:08 pm »

If anyone redressed they TVC in walnut, I would like to see it.....I may wanna match one to RM amp I am getting.

gooberdude · « **Reply #1494 on:** 17 Apr 2007, 08:28 pm »

A while back someone mentioned using Black Hole Pad for under trannies. There's a DIY source in Cali that sells sheets of it for $20. I've been tempted to buy a sheet & see what happens. I think Rollo stated you could also cut up a sheet into pieces and attach them to the sides of the actual trannies, to the cover on 3 sides. Supposedly this stuff is the bomb for isolation...

I'll have to check Nick's goo compund. Its dry as a rock here in Chicago & with my trannies a rockin' I wouldn't want them to get loose and tip over.

thank you for the warning.

Please post pics of your new enclosure if & when. I bet it would be fun to build something nice & sturdy or that matches other components.

i've said it before & will say it again, this TVC is a DIY'ers dream....

Whitese · « **Reply #1495 on:** 17 Apr 2007, 09:02 pm »

LOL..F-100...I just noticed your skiing behind the F-14 Tomcat...

F-100 · « **Reply #1496 on:** 17 Apr 2007, 09:08 pm »

Quote from: Whitese on 17 Apr 2007, 09:02 pm

LOL..F-100...I just noticed your skiing behind the F-14 Tomcat...

It's the magical power of Photoshop

Pacio · « **Reply #1497 on:** 18 Apr 2007, 12:38 pm »

Hello everybody,
I purchased some months ago the TVC ref. 3 dual mono box from Nicholas, and now I have added the tubed active buffer to it, and I just want to share my listening impressions about that.

Well, I only have few hours on the active preamp unit, but what comes clear is the fuller body and better channel separation, like an improved stereo effect.
In my system, music is now flowing easier, just like live music should do..
Everything has got his own place on the soundstage, it's more precise and defined. I first thought it was less precise on full orchestra cuts, but now I notice that it is not true with all recordings. Looks like the combo is more transparent, so to spot bad CDs.
Body and transparency, with no coloration or losses if compared to the TVC alone, and a more liquid sound (thanks to tubes, of course) are easily discernible.
I found piano and cello dramatically improved, like a "you are there" factor; the cello is really huge and the piano is like a piano should be!
I like it so much!..
Thanks to Nicholas for such a wonderful, affordable gear!

Cheers,
Marco

robert1325 · « **Reply #1498 on:** 18 Apr 2007, 03:04 pm »

Hi,

Since reading up on the benefits of a tvc with my trends ta-10 , I'm saving up some cash... One thing I'm not looking forward to is getting another pair of IC's.... Is it possible to solder some short solid core wires from my Modded t-amp to the TVC? Much cheaper and simpler than another pair of IC's

rollo · « **Reply #1499 on:** 18 Apr 2007, 04:12 pm »

Welcome to tweakarama

Matt had some great suggestions for the TVC. If you have a selector switch by all means install wood dowel preferably spruce or maple coated with violin lacquer.
As far as the trannies go isolation makes an improvement. There are several ways to approach this.

1. Install Black Hole Pad under trannies and apply to 3 exposed sides
2. Or remove bottom plate and make a wood plinth same dimension but 2"-4" th. to fit into base, then screw trannies into wood plinth.
3. Or purchase 4 ebony pen blanks and install directly under screw holes of trannie and obtain longer screws to attach to bottom plate. Attach Black Hole Pad to bottom stainless steel plate. This will raise height of trannies approx 7/8" from base and will not allow top plate to be installed. Topless you might say.
4. Internal. separate all input and output leads from each other. Remove plastic ties and move apart.
5. Remove buss connections from positive leads to RCA's and wire individually.
6. Replace negative return leg from RCAs with heavier gauge wire say 18ga.
7. Change internal wiring to better grade silver or copper depending on your preference. The wire used is generic 4N silver. We can do better. I use Notch 7N copper. Soft annealed silver works as well.
8. Footers, if you decide to the leave S/S plate at bottom in place the ebony cones from Promitheus are killer. Just put Black Hole Pad in between trannie and plate and use cones. Mapleshade triple points are very good but expensive. The most cost effective are Vibrapods. My preference are the ebony cones.

That is about it without redesigning TVC. Maybe a forthcoming Statement version. What I envision is a remote controlled Shallco or equal attenuator and selector switch version with larger trannies with different core, say "R" core or "C" core, superior isolation of trannies, copper shielding of trannie, individual shielded wires for all inputs and out [ no busses] , better wiring for trannie and hook up, an all acrylic and wood enclosure with ebony cones screwed into base and Eichman Bullet type RCAs, and of course dual mono. External ground post connected to trannies and neg leg of RCAs.
This should kick it up the performance and price a notch or two. What would you guys like to see as an all out TVC? Do not forget the active Preamp IMO once you hear it you will have same reaction as with TVC alone.

TVC design 101 for the novice, climb aboard and pitch in.

rollo