Kifysara's "Audiophool Optimized" Truepath

[kifysara]

Yeap! Finished at last!
It's been a year since Tim (aka audiophool) sent me an optimized Truepath board but the Greek army has kept me busy! At last, though, the amp is ready and I've been enjoying it for a couple of weeks! Judging from myself, everyone in this forum must enjoy watching pics of "naked" amps almost as much as watching pics of naked women, so, here they come...

[The gallery doesn't seem to be working so I'll post direct links to the imageshack pics of the amp.]

http://www.imageshack.gr/view.php?fi...fvoil7kkqv.jpg
http://www.imageshack.gr/view.php?fi...2s960h3wnw.jpg
http://www.imageshack.gr/view.php?fi...7228woleem.jpg
http://www.imageshack.gr/view.php?fi...38k2jn3egl.jpg
http://www.imageshack.gr/view.php?fi...geftw6wndj.jpg
http://www.imageshack.gr/view.php?fi...hk0tq29u3j.jpg
http://www.imageshack.gr/view.php?fi...00gi28qq1v.jpg

Once again I would like to thank Jan for the great kits he's been offering, Benn for his great work on Truepathm, the 41Hz community for all the help and ofc Tim, who optimized my amp, was patient enough to listen and answer to all of my newbie questsion and also helped me with the smd parts on the Truepath board (though, while building the PSU1 boards, SMD parts proved to be really easy once you get the hang of it!). No words really for Tim... Any active member of the community will certainly know what I mean.

[mikechw]

Great looking truepath.

May I ask what is the 2 black box that is in front of the PS1 ?

[mikechw]

Now I see they are heatsinks

[kifysara]

And some tech specs:

Toroidal by Amplimo, 800VA 2x40V (underrated for sure - it's a beast!)

R-Core by Selectronics, 50VA

Optimized by audiophool for:
- 1VRMS source
- 5 ohm speakers
- 300 W/Ch max
- 0 dB Headroom
- Input Gain 1.41 = 3dB
- Fp=2.1Hz
- ISC = 14.5A, 33% margin on 5 ohm nominal

As for the various components used:
- Neutrik RCA's and XLR
- El Cheapo binding posts from eBay
- 12AWG mil spec cable for the rails
- Canford DC power screened cable (made by Belden) for the regulated voltages
- Kimber 4TC speaker cable
- Belden 89207 shielded input cable
- Belden shielded power cable

Case is a 3U Pesante series case from http://www.modushop.biz/
(Me and some friends have bought many cases from these guys and can certainly recommend them - at least for EU customers.)

That's all folks!

[mikechw]

quote:Originally posted by kifysara

Case is a 3U Pesante series case from http://www.modushop.biz/
(Me and some friends have bought many cases from these guys and can certainly recommend them - at least for EU customers.)

I tried sending them several e-mail asking for a quote for delivery to asia and I never got an reply. So I gave up.

[V-bro]

Hey Kifisara, nice amp! Congratulations![8D][8D][8D]

I totally agree on your opinion about Tim, I'm really glad we have him around here![8D]

Was the choice of certain components inspired by some postings I did or is that just a coincidence?[^]

They are great transformers the Amplimo aren't they? I really like them, the service is also great! I can even order them up to 3KVA!! But they would do any custom job for me, I can even get separate cores from them. I once had to make some video de-hummers in which I needed some cores (they are basically toroidal coils wound with thin video coax on an iron core) They cost me practically nothing!

Mike if you want to know shipping cost I can probably check it out for you, perhaps then you can just order from Modushop after all? Will check it out tomorrow...

------X-max. can be several meters on any driver, too bad it can be done only once...------

[kifysara]

quote:Originally posted by V-bro

Was the choice of certain components inspired by some postings I did or is that just a coincidence?[^]

Haha! We do have some common parts that's true!
Mostly a coincidence though... []
Most of the gear was bought in January 2008 - taking up my living room while I was slacking because of military service!

The Amplimo toroidal was a no-brainer (once I excluded the Selectronic R-Cores - which I did see in this forum for the first time!) because a good friend used to work closely with Vanderveen etc and import all these stuff to Greece so I was aware of the excellent quality and could get a slightly better price for them.

The "Italian Job case" is also a good and proven supplier of my "audiophile gang" here in my hometown. We bought from modushop 1,5 years ago for some Hypex amps that one of my mates built. We were all impressed with the quality (esp considering the asking price) and went ahead and placed a 600 euro group order (which included my case plus one more for another project already underway!)..

Next up I'm planning to bypass inputs and outputs as per AN17.
Then perhaps some PSU caps increase - but I'm slightly put off seeing the price of those Sikorel caps and unless I find some viable alternative I won't mess with that part!

I might add some kind of super-regulator for the 5V rail well but I'm not sure if there'll be any noticeble improvement.
The amp sounds great as it is!

There are many head-to-head comparisons vs Hypex and ICEpower amps on the way...

[V-bro]

I'm pretty sure now that ideas pop up at several places at once (and in several persons heads)

Looking forward to your comparisons!



------X-max. can be several meters on any driver, too bad it can be done only once...------

[kifysara]

Don't tell me you are building a Buffalo DAC as well! ;p

[V-bro]

Well, I'm sure sick and tired of my cd player right now...when it works it sounds great, but I think the laser unit is giving up...

I'd better use my old Philips CD-100 and perhaps a Buffalo DAC...

------X-max. can be several meters on any driver, too bad it can be done only once...------