The Amp Is Complete!

[BenjaminSmith]

This was a wonderfully satisfying build! Thanks Doc for making it happen! The case is in Greene and Greene style with Ebony pegs and headphone jack nut.  The electronics are mostly stock save the selector switch and dual inputs, volume pot, output caps and a few other bits.  Yeah, blingy blue LEDs I had the aluminum plate waterjet cut to facilitate moving components to the case.  It sounds fantastic.

 

[Paul Birkeland]

Cool!

 

[Mucker]

Awesome! Great job!

 

[Karl5150]

Um...WOW. Beautiful interpretation of the S3X. Enjoy.
Karl

 

[Doc B]

Very nice! Nice photos too.

 

[Tubegopher]

Very nice job! I enjoyed looking at all of your photos!

 

[debk]

Beautiful!

 

[Tubegopher]

I noticed that you have a pair of Cain and Cain speakers, 001 and 002. Are you a friend of the people that built them? I believe they are in Walla Walla, correct me if I am wrong. I built a pair of "Voigt Pipe" speakers 10 or so years ago and used a pair of Audax, Polydax speakers and a pair of soft dome tweeters using a crossover from a pair of large advents. The speaker were just made with mdf plywood as I was thinking of using them in my home workshop.
I was stunned at how good they sounded. They sound better than the pair of Rega NAOS speakers I use in my main system upstairs but there is the WAF (wife acceptance factor).
She agrees they are the best sounding speakers in the house, but mdf doesn't fit with the decor!
Here is a picture of my main system. I built the two monoblock 300b amps with some direction from Paul Birkeland. I would love to see your Cain and Cain system.
Also, the Rega NAOS speakers are a folded version of the Voigt pipe!

 

[Chris Noto]

That is an amazing frame in which to display your amplifier! Artfully presented, at every level. Thanks for posting it here!

 

[BenjaminSmith]

I noticed that you have a pair of Cain and Cain speakers, 001 and 002. Are you a friend of the people that built them? I believe they are in Walla Walla, correct me if I am wrong.

I was an acquaintance of Terry Cain, yes. In addition to building beautiful speakers Terry was initially an extremely accomplished cabinetmaker. He built the cabinets for our kitchen back in 2002 - the last set of cabinets before he went full time into speaker manufacture.  Terry would drive over from Walla Walla to Seattle with another round of cabinets to install and audio gear to audition!  We spent many hours jawing about systems - far more engaging than installing cabinets! When the cabinets were complete he asked if we wanted any audio gear.  Sadly, our funds were depleted by the full house remodel and I didn't bite on the Abbys.

My mistake.

Many years went by, Terry passed away of ALS, and I continually regretted not buying the Abbys. About 5 years ago I began searching for a pair, located two in Telluride, and miraculously the guy was driving to Seattle to meet friends and delivered the speakers.  Serendipitously they are serials 1 and 2, though I'm not sure how the seller knew Terry.  But now I have them. Honestly my Martin Logans sound better but for a small, intimate system the Abbys are wonderful. And my wife loves them too. Here they are in the living room next to the main system being powered by a tube amp that may soon be gone.

 

[johnsonad]

Great looking build! Enjoy!