In Reply to: Re: Dave's autoformer posted by Jim D. on February 9, 2003 at 16:11:13:
Hi, Jim
I built a HOT-ROD preamp very similar to a Silver Rock with only one input and one output. The taps on the autoformer are switched by a gold plated 23 position switch.
Internal wiring was Cardas 21.5 AWG golden section hookup wire, later changed to my "commercial" interconnects, which I make for friends. This change removed a shout in the upper midrange and improved the soundstaging.
Connectors are the best I have found so far, Vampire pure gold plating over OFC copper with teflon dielectric.
The chassis is a special order aluminum enclosure, with iridided finish, which effectively shields the trafos from EMI and RFI.
Short wiring, silver/copper solder, all-silver signal ground wiring, a special solder technique and a gold plated star grounding post complete the best preamp I know how to make.
It wins hands down my AI Mod 3, and a 50 pound 5AR4-LCLCLC PIO Caps +Jensen+ Mills + Riken Berman 76 preamp. It also beats several commercial preamps based on 6H30, 6922 or 12AX7 (yuck).
I actually sold my first TVC preamp to the owner of a high end salon that can buy at dealer cost ML, Krell, ARC, BAT or CAT preamps.
His system is a BOw ZZ-Eight CDP (great stuff), Revel speakers, my preamp, power cord and ICs. It's the most musical system I have ever heard (including attendance to 5 Stereophile HI-Fi shows, one Paris Haute Fidelité Show and three brazilian high-end shows).
No proud pappa syndrome, four audiophiles confirmed that the system sounds awesome.
I have requests from friends for 2 more preamps, this will keep me busy thru my day job vacations. Since this is summertime in Rio, I don't mind spending my days inside an air-conditioned room making audio jewelry.Sorry for the lack of modesty, I am just following on Dave's steps and using lateral thinking to improve things (for example, I believe that copper sounds more musical than silver, however silver is unbeatable as a very low resistance path to the star ground point; it quickly shunts any noise to ground).
The preamp is dead quite with my ears stuck to the speakers.
Call Dave...you won't regret it.Maybe you will need to change a power cable or two or ICs to compensate for the slight loss of tube warmth, but it will be a very enjoyable musical trip.
Nowadays I am buying more music and enjoying new music genres (for example symphonic music). With the previous preamps, only well recorded CDs were enjoyable. Now I find that 80% of my collection is full of musical drama, rythm and complex harmonies. And OH, those heavenly voices!
The kind of change a TVC preamp imparts to a system is very difficult to describe. My best analogy so far is a direct mike feed to a studio control room. If you have ever been to a recording session monitored thru tube amps, you will know what I mean: dynamics in spades, natural timbre, micro dynamics, lots of dynamic "breathing", pace and and rythm.
I hope this helps you make the big leap.
My best wishes
Carlos
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Follow Ups
- TVC preamp - Carlos 02/9/0321:27:05 02/9/03 (2)
- Re: TVC preamp - Jim D. 08:49:10 02/10/03 (1)
- Re: TVC preamp - Joao 04:44:05 02/12/03 (0)