Coffee LDR loaner list

[machtman]

Hi
I became curious about the Coffee LDR after seeing Jason's versions at Owston, but somehow missed the comparison with the Music First TVC pre. I contacted Jason who told me Chris Daly who sells the kits was sending an assembled loaner to him and suggested I contact Chris about getting on the list. Now Jason is going off on vacation and instead Chris is sending it to me this week. So I am in charge of setting up a list of people who want to test one for 1-2 weeks and pass it on. You will be expected to post it on at your own expense. Chris would welcome unbiased posts about your experiences but it is not an obligation.

This will be a two RCA input and one output version cased. Anybody who wants to hear it in my system is welcome to hear it in Kineton near Stratford upon Avon, or to be put on the list for testing it in their own system.

There are currently 3 people on the list, including myself, and the next slot should be about mid-August. If you're interested please send me a PM with name, address and phone number.

Mark

[awkwardbydesign]

That's a clever idea. I'm waiting for mine to arrive, but if they are as good as they seem to be, he should generate a fair bit of business.

[Sovereign]

Yes please , I'd like to be on the list

[machtman]

Yes please , I'd like to be on the list

Please send me a PM with name, address, phone number and email.

There are now five people on the list.

mark

[Light Dependant Resistor]

Just letting you know, the stereo coffee loaner will be sent tomorrow afternoon, its LDR board and control board were built today, with very nice matching on both inputs. Tonight I am bolting the boards into the case, and will then wire it up. Some images to follow. :)

Cheers / Chris

[Puffin]

PM sent.

[Light Dependant Resistor]

Here are some images of the stereo coffee loaner.

Power supply is a plugpack 12v regulated model. I am sourcing a UK AC plug adapter for it today.
128011280212803

Inputs, 1 and 2 are closest to the DC 12v socket, and the output RCA's are slightly further spaced away. there is a
power switch for DC on the rear. The front panel carries a switch for the series anodes inputs, just a simple push button to select input one and input two.

Enjoy ! :)

Cheers / Chris

[Puffin]

I received the Stereo Coffee today (thanks Philip)

On arrival and after having unpacked the extremely well packed item, I noticed that there appeared to be something loose inside as there was a "loose part" noise when I moved it. Not wanting to have any "shorts" with something that may have come adrift in transit (those pesky Royal Mail workers:eek:) I took the bottom panel off to have a look.

I was a bit concerned to see a lot of unsheathed wires criss-crossing each other, but assumed that they must be lacquered (sorry this is not meant to be an assassination attempt simply my thoughts) Testing with the DMM continuity setting confirmed my suspicions. I could not see anything that had come adrift. Further movement led my ears to the source switch that was the culprit. Not sure if anyone else has noticed this. So, I replaced the bottom panel and plumbed it into the system.

After giving it a warm up I sat down to listen. Initial thoughts :-

1. The volume control is pretty immediate (no surprise as I have built several of these)
2. The presentation was softer than my own LDR pre.
3. The bass had slightly more punch (due perhaps to the softer presentation?)
4. The stereo image was skewed slightly to the left of centre.

Further listening confirmed my initial thoughts. In addition I feel that it does not portray as much of the recording acoustic and ambience as my own and has a flatter presentation. What I thought when I first heard an LDR pre was that it was really pretty much an active pre but with some added je ne sais quoi (you know the thing that you can't quite put your finger on - but you like it:lol:) I feel that this is missing from the Coffee.

I should explain that my LDR pre differs from the Coffee in that I found that the suggestion to use variable resistors to cure channel imbalance (not something that I believe the Coffee circuit uses) was not effective enough and so I devised my own bodge whereby the volume pot is intercepted by two more pots (100k) that provide not only attenuation, but act as a balance control (this means that normal listening begins at about the 9.00clock position - with 11.00clock means it is getting loud). I am probably talking complete bollox, but I feel that (certainly the LDR's I use) are not linear at low volume/voltage?

I felt that the soundstage on the Coffee moved more to centre the louder I turned it (this is something I found with the one's I built)

Power Supply. I assume that the plugpack provided is unregulated? My PS uses a smoothed 7805 circuit together with a JLH Ripple Eater board.

Would be interested to hear what others feel about the above:eyebrows:

Can someone let me know who is next on the list.

[machtman]

I received the Stereo Coffee today (thanks Philip)

Would be interested to hear what others feel about the above:eyebrows:

Can someone let me know who is next on the list.

The loaner has been travelling around the Audio Talk forum. There is one more on AoS who wishes to test it and two on Audio Talk.

When I listened to it, the sound was clean but somewhat sterile in comparison to my S&B TVC based pre. Several others on Audio Talk were very enthused with one exception who had some problems with the treble.If anybody is interested here are the links:
http://www.audio-talk.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=121383#121383
http://www.audio-talk.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=5682

Please PM me if you wish to be added to the list which I am still co-ordinating.

Mark A