I have not seen an interstage transformer this big, and it is single-ended which means this is grand enough to make a power amp of 6-8 watts. People at Da Vinci are really mad like me, very much like to see the inside of the power supply of this driver though.
I never know is there any other 300B amp have this much "Big transformer" to serve each 300B tube in these day. The full circuit with the driver, there r 6x 300B & 6x transformer now. (there will be 8" if in mono driver, hope i won't regret to bring only 1 driver here, or i don't need too much in my limit space.)
Last time, Si-Fu & i was a bit suprise during taking of d full dress for Preziuso, it looks very simple inside. I will take some more XXX III pic. on the PS later.
Finally, the Da Vinci concept was completed last night at ccn's home with the arrival of the line driver. The line driver, as PTsang commented on the forum, houses two transfromers for each tube, that are enough for building another amplifier with 8watt class A. With this concept goes far back to the days of Western Electric, the measurement at the amplifier terminal of 16watt class A only shows a partial picture of what the system is capable of.
Think about it. The amplification chain consists of 3 stages, an active preamplifier stage with active gain, going into a driver stage with 8 watts of class A power, before passing to the PSE mono block amp with 16watts of class A power completely in single-ended config. If we view the whole amplification schematic with a bird's eye view, it is not difficult to imagine the "control" of such design must be damn good because there is power at each stage. Da Vinci goes as far as building individual transformers for each tube. There are a total of 3 pairs of sophia electric 300b inside this system now. I wonder what further benefits can be heard with the eventual swap of the basis power supply to the "majestic" power supply. Right now, the amp is very quiet despite 3 stages of amplification. With the majestic power supply, each tube will have its own individual power supply. Right now, each tube has its own transformer but share the same power supply.
I can understand why they do not want to go push pull because of the potential deterioration of musical flow. In order to compensate for control and power, they have to go the most tedious way - 3 stage concept.
The addition of the line driver stage makes a fundamental improvement on all musical aspects in all front. The hidden energy springs musical life. For example, the incremental energy change from the cellos with each passing bow movement can be clearly felt
now. Whereas, without the driver stage, you can only feel the last stroke of energy burst but not the process in between. All frequency becomes much more controlled. At the same volume control, the sound level is now much more controlled, more energy, and simply more of everything.
The speakers already disappeared within 2 hours completely. Upon the final swap of the speaker cable to either SR or SMR, I recommend AE fellows to pay this system a visit. The essence of music (the fundamental skeleton of classical music in particular) is all there.
ccn was connecting the power supply cable behind the SRA craze rack. As usual, mistake usually happens whenever swap of component position requires plugging/unplugging of cables/powercords. At frist, there was no light on the driver switch even we switched it on. Then, sound only came out from one channel. We were calm enough to find out the problem soon enough. It's just that the power cable between the driver stage and the basis power supply was not tightly connected. Geez.....
JLam was not happy with the acoustic last time. He asked me why I did not help ccn's acoustics. JLam has much better ear power than me and he told me that I must at least dealt with the large cabinet on top of the system housing the air conditioner as tremendous amount of resonance energy is trapped there, clouding the basslines. Another area that he said it must be solved is the near the ceiling of the kitchen at the back of ccn's listening positioning. The front-firing of sound energy again will hit that trough. Energy will be trapped there keep on circulating back and forth.
I stood up and put two silver resonators at each aformentioned positions. ccn was shocked by the improvement as it does not touch th signal path at all.
Jlam, don't hit my head. When you listen next time, you will be pleased assuming the current spk cable is gone in exchange for SR/SMR. Also, Marvel still need another 2 silver at the two side walls at upper position to reduce reflection. I had not install for him yet.
Here is the big picture. The large cabinet above the plasma system houses an air conditioner inside. That is a major area resonance storage area. We opened up the grill and put a silver resonator inside. The upper part, all of a sudden, disappeared as though there does not exist a cabinet there.
Before the comment on the driver which need do more exercise on tube. Those two "silver" are doing quite a positive room acoustic, the silver in cabinat of air conditioner kill the extra noise which trap in there and the bass getting improved by the silver at the back roof. The music flow getting better, more silent, better texture... Thanks again for all comment & help!
Comments
Last time, Si-Fu & i was a bit suprise during taking of d full dress for Preziuso, it looks very simple inside. I will take some more XXX III pic. on the PS later.
Have you ask Charles to loan his Serenty Reference spk cable?
see u! charge battery man.....
聽聞查兄已獨自去偷歡自已享受緊SMR喇叭線, 快D問佢借對SR喇叭線試下啦！
Think about it. The amplification chain consists of 3 stages, an active preamplifier stage with active gain, going into a driver stage with 8 watts of class A power, before passing to the PSE mono block amp with 16watts of class A power completely in single-ended config. If we view the whole amplification schematic with a bird's eye view, it is not difficult to imagine the "control" of such design must be damn good because there is power at each stage. Da Vinci goes as far as building individual transformers for each tube. There are a total of 3 pairs of sophia electric 300b inside this system now. I wonder what further benefits can be heard with the eventual swap of the basis power supply to the "majestic" power supply. Right now, the amp is very quiet despite 3 stages of amplification. With the majestic power supply, each tube will have its own individual power supply. Right now, each tube has its own transformer but share the same power supply.
I can understand why they do not want to go push pull because of the potential deterioration of musical flow. In order to compensate for control and power, they have to go the most tedious way - 3 stage concept.
The addition of the line driver stage makes a fundamental improvement on all musical aspects in all front. The hidden energy springs musical life. For example, the incremental energy change from the cellos with each passing bow movement can be clearly felt
now. Whereas, without the driver stage, you can only feel the last stroke of energy burst but not the process in between. All frequency becomes much more controlled. At the same volume control, the sound level is now much more controlled, more energy, and simply more of everything.
The speakers already disappeared within 2 hours completely. Upon the final swap of the speaker cable to either SR or SMR, I recommend AE fellows to pay this system a visit. The essence of music (the fundamental skeleton of classical music in particular) is all there.
ccn will report more.
I am very pleased.
I stood up and put two silver resonators at each aformentioned positions. ccn was shocked by the improvement as it does not touch th signal path at all.
Jlam, don't hit my head. When you listen next time, you will be pleased assuming the current spk cable is gone in exchange for SR/SMR. Also, Marvel still need another 2 silver at the two side walls at upper position to reduce reflection. I had not install for him yet.
Before the comment on the driver which need do more exercise on tube. Those two "silver" are doing quite a positive room acoustic, the silver in cabinat of air conditioner kill the extra noise which trap in there and the bass getting improved by the silver at the back roof. The music flow getting better, more silent, better texture... Thanks again for all comment & help!
查兄, 分享下SR和SMR喇叭線可以嗎？