UK CRACK
- Thread starter vikingtap
- Start date
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Ok so i had a bit of a rethink and decided that i needed a bigger chassis. certainly not as cute as my first effort, but there is way more room to work with. I have adopted more or less the CRACK arrangement be it slightly larger at 10 3/4 x 9 x 3.5". What is very welcome is the drop in temperature of the top plate from 51c down to 35c after running for a few hours. This certainly makes me feel more comfortable and perhaps will extend component life. I have installed the SPEEDBALL and changed the volume pot to a TOCOS. As it stands right now i am really luvin the sounds it produces. i think i shall give it a week or so get use to the sound signature and maybe install a choke or two and possibly add a bypass capacitor (2.2uf i think) to the final power supply capacitor. Again any suggestions are most welcome.
Ok so i've had my crack for a while now and really enjoying it. Problem is i just want to tinker with it some more, so i decided to build another and whilst i was at it add a few upgrades. I was so impressed by the lovely Fi-300b tube amps i thought i might try my hand at making my crack look a little like the aforementioned amp.
;D
I have only had her up and running for a few hours but i am really liking what i am hearing. Though i haven't (yet) installed a speedball (on order) i can turn the volume pot up to full (obviously with no music playing) and hear no hum what so ever. with this one i have just 3 inputs switching between them is done via a USSR rotary selector which i picked up from a guy in the UKRAINE for peanuts! (yet to find a knob for it) the volume pot is a VALAB 100k stepped pot which i think is a bargain for what they go for. I have already made up a rather lovely sieden's/Takman stepped attenuator which i will no doubt install in the near future.
What are you using the DI for? Why not just use the coaxial out on the Pure i-20 to feed the Chameleon?
I'm using a similar setup. See here: https://www.head-fi.org/t/476650/crack-bottlehead-otl/1605#post_9259612.
I'm using a similar setup. See here: https://www.head-fi.org/t/476650/crack-bottlehead-otl/1605#post_9259612.
To my ears with the Di in the chain it just sounds better. I don't really know what the Di does but for me it is worthwhile. The Valab power supply for the i20 is also a worthwhile addition. With the original wall-wart power supply when you turned the volume up to full (no music playing) you can hear a hiss. I then powered it via a li-ion battery and the hiss disappeared. Problem was i kept having to re-charge the battery quite frequently. The valab power supply is a good compromise. i shall be ordering one for the Di soon.
hope this helps.
hope this helps.
Thanks. Fortunately, I don't have that problem with my Pure i-20. Actually, I have three of them, and haven't experienced that with any of them. And since I'm only using the digital signal via coaxial and running it through an external DAC, rather than using the i-20s internal DAC and the analog RCA outs, it seems odd that the Pure i-20 could induce hiss. I wonder if maybe the issue is related to the non-USB inputs on your DAC?
I only ever really heard the hiss, and i am talking very quiet hiss when the i20 was plugged into the supplied wall-wart power supply. That hiss disappears when the i20 is run off a battery, or from the valab power supply. Anyways i am much happier now with the better power supply. To be honest i am not going to be completely happy until i get myself a dedicated cd transport. A few days ago i had the pleasure of listing to a North star 192 feeding a Metrum Octave. All i can say is WOW.
