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Thread: Group buy: Mini T amplifier + 5A PSU at a discount price

  1. #121
    Join Date: Dec 2011

    Location: Kent, England

    Posts: 379
    I'm Lenny.

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    Hm, it's not rats I have, but two very curious rabbits. And let me tell you that rabbits and cable are enemies. It there is a cable within 10 meters of a rabbit, the rabbit will hunt it down and gnaw it into inch long pieces in the blink of an eye.

    I've lost numerous telephones, headphones, and computer mice to rabbits over the years.

    I think I'd better contact Amptastic about replacements. I don't want my little friends to fry!
    Lenny

    Main System: 2 x Mini-T amps (vertically bi-amping), Caiman+ DAC, Sony BDP-S380 Blu-Ray, Sony Bravia KDE320EX TV, Digihome PVR160, Technomate HD satellite receiver, Tannoy Mercury F3 floorstanding speakers.
    Study: NAD 302, Homebuilt PC, Tannoy Mercury MX1 bookshelf speakers.
    RetiredJPW Gold Monitors, MP3 player, Rotel RA-920AX amplifier, Sony MDS-JE530 Minidsic.

    Future upgrades:IPL M1TLM transmission line speakers

  2. #122
    Join Date: Mar 2011

    Location: Southend-on-Sea, UK

    Posts: 147
    I'm Jon.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Mr Nad View Post
    Hm, it's not rats I have, but two very curious rabbits. And let me tell you that rabbits and cable are enemies. It there is a cable within 10 meters of a rabbit, the rabbit will hunt it down and gnaw it into inch long pieces in the blink of an eye.

    I've lost numerous telephones, headphones, and computer mice to rabbits over the years.

    I think I'd better contact Amptastic about replacements. I don't want my little friends to fry!
    Rabbits in your hifi room? Are they some kind of environmentally green bass traps?

  3. #123
    synsei Guest

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    Rabbits in the listening room? It must be hellish having to put up with the constant "Nyeeeeh, what's up doc?" 's during quiet passages in the music...

  4. #124
    Join Date: Mar 2012

    Location: United Kingdom

    Posts: 72
    I'm Chris.

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    A small update: all 5A PSU come with a different style IEC kettle lead with a user accessible fuse - we hope that this solves any previous worries by AoS members.

    Many thanks and no need to worry. The PSU is internally fused also. The 2A plug top version has an internal fuse as well.
    Amptastic Home of the Mini-1 - The spiritual successor to the popular Mini-T amplifier, just £99+P&P, order online today!
    Latest news on the blog
    Follow us on Twitter

  5. #125
    Join Date: Mar 2012

    Location: United Kingdom

    Posts: 72
    I'm Chris.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Mr Nad View Post
    Hm, it's not rats I have, but two very curious rabbits. And let me tell you that rabbits and cable are enemies. It there is a cable within 10 meters of a rabbit, the rabbit will hunt it down and gnaw it into inch long pieces in the blink of an eye.

    I've lost numerous telephones, headphones, and computer mice to rabbits over the years.

    I think I'd better contact Amptastic about replacements. I don't want my little friends to fry!
    What genre do the rabbits prefer?

    Thanks for the email, this is not a problem. By the way, fuse or no fuse pleaaase dont let them eat through any brand of mains cables. Poor little things wouldn't enjoy the taste.
    Amptastic Home of the Mini-1 - The spiritual successor to the popular Mini-T amplifier, just £99+P&P, order online today!
    Latest news on the blog
    Follow us on Twitter

  6. #126
    Join Date: Jun 2009

    Location: S-ex

    Posts: 523
    I'm Steve.

    Default S-Booster and Mini-T

    [QUOTE=wee tee cee;321519]I'm hoping the hint of sibilance settles down. QUOTE]

    Morning all

    I've had Mini-Ts for a while now and heard them in a few rooms and systems. I do admire this amp for it's speed and transparency, it's total silence and dynamics. When I bought the S-Booster for the Squeezebox Touch from Mark Grant I also tried it on the amp and was surprised to hear it had pretty much the same effect. The 2amp power supply had a jack size adaptor that allowed this but the 5amp one doesn't. Chris has sent me an adaptor to try again and here's a quick asessment of the difference I think it makes. The comparison is with a standard lead, no preamp and driving 96db wide range Fostex that are fairly bright, forward and very revealing. The amp was left powered up for 24 hours from new; I do think the Mini-T benefits from being left on and ideally for a minimum of a two or three days.

    I first noted four areas that appeared negative. I wanted to see if the filter improved these and at what compromise; the amp's strengths are well reported already.

    1. The top end, as WTC stated, seemed quite extended but grainy, hard and prone to sibilance.
    2. The bass was light but tight. More influencial was that it had no authority and just seemed to be along for the ride.
    3. Maybe because of this frequency balance, I got unnatural (forced) and unusual accents to familiar music, like listening to a different recording take or a remix.
    4. In an associated way, once past the conscious awareness of the level of upper frequency detail coming across I felt the presentation was disjointed and two dimensional. Not as in depth of soundstage but in pace and the dynamics of a musician's playing. Kind of "everything louder than everything else". I knew there was so much more in the recordings from a musical point of view and became disengaged.

    With the S-Booster in line:

    1. The top end became "tamed". It didn't get more refined and possibly the negative effects were being masked, not cured. If you find an original lack of sparkle then you may not like this, could be speaker dependent. The tendency to sibilance and grainyness (is that even a word?) could still be noted but were no longer calling for attention.
    2. Bass became stronger, quite bouncy and more textured - but still not a driving force. Can't fix that one.
    3. Now we're cooking, this sounded like a different amp. The whole presentation appeared balanced and musically correct, all set against a darker background. The overall feeling was relaxed and easy but at the expense of that obviously brightly lit clarity. Sounded like a more mature, grown up amp - father of the teenager Mini-T.
    4. For me the most crucial difference. A more analogue presentation allowed - no, almost forced me to be drawn into the 3D soundstage to revel in the detail. Now there was musical tension, light and shade to the playing, heartfelt phrasing and emotion, access to a whole canvas of subtler elements that the Mini-T's speed can uncover. Completely engaging without fatigue.

    Whether it's right for you is possibly going to depend on how bright or cuddly your speakers are. At the price it possibly makes a more sensible upgrade to a £60 amp than a linear supply, which obviously also addresses the issue of the noisy SMPS but probably better, as the S-Booster filter only looks to the amp and doesn't prevent the SMPS effect on other components. I'm sure Mark Grant will be understanding with purchase for trialling as this is not the intended or advertised use and will be subject to your system and power arrangements.

    Hope this is useful to some of you at least. Personally I think the improvement at 50% of the amp cost doubles the performance and I wouldn't be happy long term without it.
    Steve & Valerie

    www.electricbeachaudio.com

    If you think you know the answer already, you're not really searching

    A plastic box, some glass bottles, two metal tins and some lengths of string

  7. #127
    Join Date: Oct 2008

    Location: East Yorkshire, UK

    Posts: 1,224
    I'm Mark.

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    Interesting Steve. thanks.

    Can anyone measure how many milliamps or amps the amplifier draws from the PSU at a fairly loud volume ?

    It might be possible to power some makes of DAC and the amplifier from the same after market linear PSU which would save buying two power supplies.

  8. #128
    Join Date: Feb 2011

    Location: Troon

    Posts: 2,476
    I'm tony.

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    I seemed to have got the wee buggers singing properly. I initially had one on each channel running tq black on the treble and blue on the bass.
    Too sibilant and bass light.
    Tried slotting an original bantum in running the treble with the tq black. The mini t on bass with tq blue. The soundstage improved but finding a balance sonically was problematic to say the least.
    re-installed the other mini t and ran one amp on treble switching to the tq blue and the other on bass duties on tq black.....mmmm pretty good. the sibilance is now resolved.
    tony.

  9. #129
    Join Date: Jul 2010

    Location: North Cambs UK, Earth, Sol, Orion - Cygnus arm of galaxy

    Posts: 11,166
    I'm MadeOfDeadGiantStarsThatExplodedEonsAgo.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Grant View Post
    Can anyone measure how many milliamps or amps the amplifier draws from the PSU at a fairly loud volume ?

    It might be possible to power some makes of DAC and the amplifier from the same after market linear PSU which would save buying two power supplies.
    I'll take care of that for you when I eventually get round to wiring it up Sorry guys, but I haven't stopped listening to this Extron I have here since I wired it up, it's pretty addictive


    Running two things off of the same PSU is possible, the problem is that you may get odd ground related interference between them as you'll get a loop formed via the grounds & interconnects. Maybe not the best idea for ultimate fidelity...
    Bests, Mark



    "We must believe in free will. We have no choice" Isaac Bashevis Singer

  10. #130
    Join Date: Dec 2011

    Location: Kent, England

    Posts: 379
    I'm Lenny.

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    Quote Originally Posted by amptastic View Post
    What genre do the rabbits prefer?

    ...pleaaase dont let them eat through any brand of mains cables. Poor little things wouldn't enjoy the taste.
    You think I let them? Rabbits pretty much have a will of their own. Although they can be trained to return to their cage on demand, they learn to recognise their names, are playful, and are easily litter trained, they just can't resist cables.

    And cables in a dark place are even more irresistible.

    Important, expensive, cables concealed behind a cabinet that it inaccessible to humans... well, that is just heaven to rabbits.

    The listening room is the living/dining room, and that's also happens to be where the bunnies live. They are very much part of the family. And if it came to hi-fi or rabbits, the rabbits would win

    In the past 14 years not a single pair of headphones has survived, no corded phone or answering machine, mains cables have been partially severed, and therefore rendered too dangerous to use, remote controls have lost buttons, not a single piece of furniture has been spared the wrath of rabbit teeth... One day our previous rabbit went missing. We could hear her, but couldn't see her. Suddenly she appeared. It took a while, but we eventually discovered the hole in the armchair.

    Anyway, believe me, I have no intention of letting them near the cables and will do to keep them (cables and rabbits) safe.
    Lenny

    Main System: 2 x Mini-T amps (vertically bi-amping), Caiman+ DAC, Sony BDP-S380 Blu-Ray, Sony Bravia KDE320EX TV, Digihome PVR160, Technomate HD satellite receiver, Tannoy Mercury F3 floorstanding speakers.
    Study: NAD 302, Homebuilt PC, Tannoy Mercury MX1 bookshelf speakers.
    RetiredJPW Gold Monitors, MP3 player, Rotel RA-920AX amplifier, Sony MDS-JE530 Minidsic.

    Future upgrades:IPL M1TLM transmission line speakers

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