Waiting for the Truth

[farflungstar]

Update. After an email from the maker expressing surprise at my comments about experiencing of a slight hardness (ooer missus..)
.. and having read that this thing allows every colouration to be heard I had a bit of a brainwave over breakfast. I've been playing vinyl direct on the gunmetal tenuto mat, and I thought 'reflections...' .

So I slipped on one of Sound Damped Steel's sorbithane turntables sheets, adjusted VTA (the sheet is 1mm thick), and have been listening to mainly Sade for the last few hours. Result? No hardness, if it's there I'm not hearing it and whilst Sade sings like an angel the recording of it can sometimes fall short and be quite hard.

The wooden sleeve is now in place and also the vintage Bakelite knobs and it's already looking way better, just waiting for the new brushed aluminium fascia engraved with the name then it might look as good as it sounds - yes I like pretty things.

In perpetual pursuit.

[RothwellAudio]

So 1 LED illuminating 2 photocells, each connected somehow between two video buffers.

Andrew?

At a guess I would say the two photocells are one for each channel, illuminated by a single LED so that the volume of both channels is controlled by adjusting the brightness of the LED. The volume control for each channel would be a potential divider formed by one photocell and one fixed resistor. Also there's one video buffer before the volume control and one after it. At least, that's my guess.

In principle I like it. It's a buffer for high input impedance, a passive volume control (potential divider), and a buffer for low output impedance.
However, I would prefer to use a stepped attenuator instead of anything using photocells. Also, I might use a stepped attenuator of about 50k impedance and say that 50k is high enough to be a very light load for most sources - and that would mean the first buffer would be unnecessary and I'd do away with it. And I'd probably also decide that a 60MHz bandwidth has no benefit for audio so I would replace the second buffer with either an audio op-amp or a discrete transistor circuit. So you could say that if it was me I would do it totally differently, but really it's broadly the same - buffer, volume control, buffer - with the first buffer being optional.

Of course, that's all guesswork. The designer has said that the circuit isn't what you would guess, so maybe it's completely different.

[farflungstar]

That sounds like a great way of doing it Andrew but then it wouldn't be the same animal that I'm currently sat listening to...


In perpetual pursuit.

[Barry]

http://www.high-endaudio.com/RC-Linestages.html

This is the review that kicked the whole thing off. I spent a few hours last night rereading user opinions etc and they all (including my own) share 2 things in common - astonishment and a lack of understanding why.

The images from audio karma are from the first prototypes Ed put together, hence breadboards etc.

In perpetual pursuit.

Just as well, as I would be loathed to spend $1,000 on something as poorly built as that. But as you say, other users elsewhere report the same experiences as you.

So are the 'photocells' in question, photovoltaic devices or LDRs?

[struth]

Sure he said they wernt ldrs

[farflungstar]

The pics were from the first prototypes I believe. Now there's pretty printed circuit boards. rolleyes. If you ever looked into the innards of my Cary's I think you'd be surprised at the chaos! But they sound sublime.

What price would you pay if you knew it would be your last purchase? I'm not rich but I bought the quite expensive (for me) Vida knowing it would be my last phonostage.

I think if the maker put the truth into a beautiful enclosure no one would balk at paying 5k for it at a shop demonstration. I think they would have over the money in the first 10 seconds and feel very happy about it.

900$ for components, time and originality is a decent price in my mind - and it's only cost me 50€ to have a nice wooden sleeve made and a pretty fascia so it will look at home alongside the rest of my gear.


In perpetual pursuit.

[farflungstar]

Nope, not ldrs. It's totally different from Tortuga etc, it can drive any length of cable with no impedance issues (so it's claimed, though I can't vouch for it).

In perpetual pursuit.

[Barry]

Sure he said they weren't ldrs

Then they must be either phototransistors or a photo-voltaic device.

[Barry]

The pics were from the first prototypes I believe. Now there's pretty printed circuit boards. rolleyes. If you ever looked into the innards of my Cary's I think you'd be surprised at the chaos! But they sound sublime.

What price would you pay if you knew it would be your last purchase? I'm not rich but I bought the quite expensive (for me) Vida knowing it would be my last phonostage.

I think if the maker put the truth into a beautiful enclosure no one would balk at paying 5k for it at a shop demonstration. I think they would have over the money in the first 10 seconds and feel very happy about it.

900$ for components, time and originality is a decent price in my mind - and it's only cost me 50€ to have a nice wooden sleeve made and a pretty fascia so it will look at home alongside the rest of my gear.


In perpetual pursuit.

Obviously performance ought to outweigh appearance, but I'm afraid I don't like things to look like they've been knocked up in someone's garden shed, regardless of price.

I'm sure the commercial products have a much better build quality. And no, I don't think $900 is too much to pay - my current preamp cost four times that of the Truth, and my phonostage, twice the price. I also regard them as my final purchase.

[farflungstar]

Barry I wasnt having a pop - I wouldn't pay 900$ for what's in the pics - but most 'handmade' products often outperform similarly priced commercial products at significantly less. I was assured before buying that those were prototypes and that quality is now more in line with expectations. Short of opening it up and looking im happy to believe my ears and have faith. Considering that because of the Spanish monkeys at customs my own went through 3 trips across the Atlantic and countless hands it survived perfectly with nowt rattling about in it - so it must be sturdy on the inside.