if I have a board
If Papa can dust off (sometimes) his Plankey, you can try it in same fashion .........
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I like your build Eric!Got all of the assembly completed and everything seems to check out. I like the little red indicator LEDs in the Turtle board, I thought those little critters were resistors. All that I need now is a chassis.
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What do you mean with LED in the turtle board? I built my metal vegetable a while ago and there weren't any in it.
What do you mean
white little bug near each relay; I added them later, just for fun
which side is the frontside?
with Papa's, every side is right one
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In my best Steve Irwin voice: "What a little beauty!"
I cobbled together a naked and semi-dangerous wiring job and gave it a listen today. Wow! First obvious trait is the bass that comes through with transformers in the signal chain. The next obvious trait is the incredible channel separation - this was obvious even with my first test using test speakers yanked from an old TV. Then come the vocals that highlight the holographic imaging. Wow, what a great preamp! Everything is nice and quiet, the only detectable hum was when I switched to an input that didn't have anything connected to it.
My playback chain was my Marantz streamer, the Iron Pumpkin, followed by my dual-mono SissySIT, then my Calpamos speakers. What a great pre and a fun time! Need to get this into a proper chassis now so I don't inadvertently electrocute myself .
Now I need to make up a few more sets of silver ICs. I'm running out of cables lately.
I cobbled together a naked and semi-dangerous wiring job and gave it a listen today. Wow! First obvious trait is the bass that comes through with transformers in the signal chain. The next obvious trait is the incredible channel separation - this was obvious even with my first test using test speakers yanked from an old TV. Then come the vocals that highlight the holographic imaging. Wow, what a great preamp! Everything is nice and quiet, the only detectable hum was when I switched to an input that didn't have anything connected to it.
My playback chain was my Marantz streamer, the Iron Pumpkin, followed by my dual-mono SissySIT, then my Calpamos speakers. What a great pre and a fun time! Need to get this into a proper chassis now so I don't inadvertently electrocute myself .
Now I need to make up a few more sets of silver ICs. I'm running out of cables lately.
These AVC's are next level for sure. To the point that I wished I had found these things a few decades ago.. Yes cost is higher but it's worth it. The $300 Slagle units I'm using in lieu of the stepped attenuator in my preamp have made a significant and very noticeable difference for the better. I haven't experienced ZM's slick creation here but I'm sure it's killer.
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That's part of why I decided to jump on this project now. I've been eyeballing it for a while and putting it off. In the mean time, I've been reading a number of AVC reviews and they all seem to be very effusive with praise. Some of the prices are quite high and a number of those products are just a "transformer in a box" with no buffers, very little in the way of input switching, anything fancy, or anything else at all really.
As I've built more and more pieces of equipment over the years, I've noted that some of it stays in the active rotation longer than others. A few favorites are emerging for sure. The vFet amps and the Iron Pumpkin are clear winners. The Aleph-J sees a lot of action still, too.
Awesome design, Zen! Thank you for making this available to us!
As I've built more and more pieces of equipment over the years, I've noted that some of it stays in the active rotation longer than others. A few favorites are emerging for sure. The vFet amps and the Iron Pumpkin are clear winners. The Aleph-J sees a lot of action still, too.
Awesome design, Zen! Thank you for making this available to us!
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It’s a beauty for sure, but it’s also a bit precarious even in my equipment rack in the other room. Gianluca is working on some custom drilling and lettering on the front panel of a pesante chassis that should arrive in a few days. So, it won’t be long before it becomes more secure and less dangerous. Then, I’m going to work on a new wiring arrangement that will allow me to switch more easily between the surround sound system for tv/movies and more serious 2ch listening with my Iron Pumpkin/Turtle, both using my SissySIT amp and Calpamos speakers. Not sure how all of that will shake out just yet, but that’s the goal
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Pass DIY Addict
Joined 2000
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Pass DIY Addict
Joined 2000
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My chassis arrived from Italy this week, Gianluca did a great job! I’ll post a few images shortly. In the mean time, is there some reason not to stack the three 10va transformers on a single bolt? This keeps some of the wiring a little neater, but I don’t want to cause a problem. I haven’t built much that has multiple transformers in one chassis…
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