Revisiting Crack

[Downhome Upstate]

Getting started

 

[Downhome Upstate]

Some in-process pics.  Substituted 450V Nichicon KX 'Standard Audio' electrolytics in the PSU. They are bigger than the stock caps, and so I added a terminal strip.

 

[Downhome Upstate]

Substituting a British phone jack, made by Cliff, for the Neutrik stock jack. Looks like this one has better quality contacts. See http://www.cliffuk.co.uk/products/jacksockets/index.htm

 

[Downhome Upstate]

For $27 or so, the PEC pot looks pretty good.

 

[Downhome Upstate]

Substituted Belden 8450 2-wire solid core shielded (as used in the Stereomour) for the 3-wire braid, and grounded the drain wire at the pot (the load), per PB.  8)

 

[Paul Birkeland]

I dig the white plastic headphone jack, nice find!

On the PEC pot, the bottom 1/4 of the rotation of the pot tends to have an unusual amount of channel imbalance, so I would plan on needing to add some padding resistors once the build is complete.

 

[Doc B]

Just need white shoes and belt to go with it. And a white hat.

 

[Downhome Upstate]

I dig the white plastic headphone jack, nice find!

On the PEC pot, the bottom 1/4 of the rotation of the pot tends to have an unusual amount of channel imbalance, so I would plan on needing to add some padding resistors once the build is complete.

Thanks for the tip, Paul!  Any hints on values?

 

[Downhome Upstate]

Just need white shoes and belt to go with it. And a white hat.

Add some liquid refreshment, and all's right with the world.

 

[Downhome Upstate]

Another cheap and cheerful tweak: a Belton octal socket.

 

[Downhome Upstate]

This probably wasn't worth the 5 bucks: a glazed ceramic 9-pin socket with gold-plated pins (can't be very thick gold plate for the $3 to $4 extra over the plain old ceramic socket, but what the hell).

It looks nice next to the white phone jack while you're wearing your white shoes, white belt, and white hat.  ;D

 

 

[Downhome Upstate]

Last bit of nonsense for the day:  Cardas CTFA RCAs.

FWIW, I think I like the pcx house-brand (Connex) Tiffany's better. At least the Connex RCAs have nuts on the outside and the inside, so you don't have to go back in and re-tighten the jacks.

 

[Downhome Upstate]

A minor extravagance: silver wire (and teflon tubing). Handmade Electronics has this for $1.75/ft.

 

[Downhome Upstate]

Using the 24 gauge soft-annealed silver wire for signal wiring, and the 20 ga. silver for grounds. Taking my sweet time, a few small steps a night.

 

[Downhome Upstate]

More of the same . . .

 

[Downhome Upstate]

:  A sign of the need for professional help, or too much time on my hands:

Havin' a good time cleaning a terminal strip.  Where is my life, anyway? I know I left it around here somewhere . . .

 

[Downhome Upstate]

All done. All signal wiring in silver/teflon, and Speedball boards back in. Bypassed the Dayton film caps with .01 uf FT-3's  Even with the 'stock' tubes, this thing sings thru' the HD600's No Sennheiser veil to my ears. Great detail, more air around voices and instruments, fingers on strings, long woody decay on bowed bass notes, great tone, the whole enchilada. The soundstage is surprisingly wide, and imaging spot on. I know this sounds unlikely, but I recently auditioned the Audeze LCD-X's on the Wu SA6-SE amp, and the Crack w/HD600's is a contender. Righteous, Paul.

 

[Grainger49]

This looks like a good sippin' whiskey project.  You work and sip till you feel the effect of the whiskey, then stop and go listen to music.

It is a true labor of love.