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Hiraga Le Monstre

Go on, £55 for a bloody switch and no hero shot, wheres your priorities man? We demand a photo.
IMG-20220121-111734-edit-1828550589298587.jpg


It's an AML 30 series switch, same series as the ones used on most Bedini amps (25/25, 802 etc).

The actual item that I've used is a Master Battery switch from a Robinson R44 or R22 helicopter

http://www.transglobalaviation.net/avimages/aircraftlarge/783_6143.jpg

The Strobe, Alternator and Nav Light switchs are the same but plain black.
 
I'm in agreement with you Tony there's many bits of kit with less than stellar numbers that people love and no reason why they should prefer zero distortion over some.
 
I'm pretty sure I've figured out why I couldn't get the full 3V of noise suppression out of the SLB.

The negative channel rotary pot was in backwards, or rather it was soldered exactly as indicated on the board - which is wrong. Not very happy about that, but there we are. The SLB stuffing should be entirely mirrored about its centreline.

Why do we have this fashion for extra thick PCBs? You always end up with little solder plugs that are an absolute b@5t£rd to remove when you need to rework. Add to that dodgy golding that seems to be solder repellant, component mtg holes that are size for size and the SLB is a right PITA to work on.

What did I say Chiily?

I feel your pain. My Stasis build went through three PSU changes and three layout changes before I got it right. It very nearly went of the pile of, "to do later".

Looks like you're getting there though...keep going.
 
I'm not sure that it needs much experimentation TBH. I will measure it once it's had a few weeks to settle.

There's a pic online where one builder has used a 250R feedback resistor, but all the others appear to be sticking with the nominal 220R.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/kleenair/27558285865

It's the red, green, black, black resistor above the blue pot. That's a very 'Gucci' build, but I reckon it will hum.

AFAIK the only real way that I have to tweak the THD is the feedback resistor and I'm inclined to agree with Mr Pass, in so far as chasing the lowest THD isn't the best route.

It will never work as it should without tweaking using real time distortion analyser and when optimum there will be asymmetrical resistor values in use... If you can get it to about 6W and 0.5% THD that's about as good as it gets.
 
I’ve no idea where I think his stuff fits subjectively in the market (even though I have an Aleph 3 upstairs!),

I've built at least 2 of his preamps and an Aleph 5 (which Nelson says is like a 3 with a bit more grunt). IMO they are all at the unsatisfactory end of the subjective scale.
Many of his articles are just him reinventing the wheel, or a wheel-like object that does the same job as a wheel.

Then again, I'm in the minority in not liking coffee.
 
Not liking coffee is just crazy talk.

My wife also hates coffee - it's the basis of a successful marriage!
We always have those disgusting coffee flavoured chocolates left in our choccy selections (after Christmas) :eek:

Maybe I should melt them into oblivion on an Aleph heatsink :D
 
I feel your pain. My Stasis build went through three PSU changes and three layout changes before I got it right. It very nearly went of the pile of, "to do later".

Looks like you're getting there though...keep going.
Wasn't the answer. Quite a lot of unnecessary faff to discover that it performs exactly the same no matter how the pot is installed. Either a resistor change is needed or I just leave it as is and accept that my heatsinks arn't doing very much.
 
Then again, I'm in the minority in not liking coffee.

Makes me a subset of a subset, because I really like the First Watt J2 power amp I have and can't abide coffee.

I identify with anyone struggling with the personality cult that has built-up around NP. I suspect he'd be the first to (secretly) agree that it's absurd. I do like the way he does things, the info sharing and eye to longevity is fantastic, but many of the designs are more adequate than really remarkable. The one I have happens to suit my tastes, sounding a lot like a low-noise SET.
 
I identify with anyone struggling with the personality cult that has built-up around NP. I suspect he'd be the first to (secretly) agree that it's absurd. I do like the way he does things, the info sharing and eye to longevity is fantastic, but many of the designs are more adequate than really remarkable. The one I have happens to suit my tastes, sounding a lot like a low-noise SET.

I get the impression the personality cult isn’t his fault at all. I see a lot of what he does, especially First Watt, as playing and having fun. He’ll dig up some old transistors and try and make something interesting or different with them apparently as much out of curiosity and exploration as anything else. I haven’t yet figured out how this translates to the real high-end Pass stuff, as really the only things I’ve researched are a few YouTube talks, the Amp Camp stuff, DIY Audio and obviously the early Aleph 3. He certainly comes across as a nice bloke who just does whatever interests him and then usually shares the result. He seems to deliberately explore differences to see what they are like rather than following any ideological purism or rigid belief-set. I get the impression he’s produced a lot of stuff that sounds very different and works in different contexts and I doubt he’d expect anyone to like all of it. It’s a refreshing attitude to my mind. Audio design is usually way too full of ego, self-belief, arrogance, marketing etc. It is nice to see something different.
 
He's just having fun building stuff and sharing them. I dig that.

We should run a poll see how many of us have built a NP design. I bet the majority of the diy crowd have but at least one. I wouldn't be surprised if most peoples first builds were one of his.
 


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