ebay Gainnclone - Too good to be true?

[Ari]

Hi Rupert

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Assembled-6-...item1c4d969c7c



In South Africa I bought a 400VA Torroidal ( I bought a couple actually , price was ridiculously good ) , with 230V primary and 35-0-35 @ 5A . The electricity in my town is ~240V AC so I get 43-0-43 ; and rectified +60 0 -60 VDC .

I really like the sound with the dual-rail supply . Seemingly effortless on not so efficient speakers .

I bought 2 of these supplies , but am still using ones I built myself . Mine are Nichicon 10 000uF 80V , the ones on the board being sold are Nippon Chemicon 10 000uF 100V and have the extra R-C filter . As rectifier I am using metal case 600V 30A metal block that looks similar to this :

[r100]

hi, and thank's--- I thought it would be that one (xd218.com).. I have the same with 4 Elcos. I had to swap them out because one of them started to bulge but no big hassle. It works great with the L15D's. Maybe I should try a real "double-mono" configuration one day the only thing holding me off ATM is the price of the transformers. The amps seem to drive the speakers (85dB) without the slightest hesitation even with a single transfo. I get my toroids from Poland (http://sklep.toroidy.pl/en_US/index). They where the best I could get for normal money. They are "audio grade" (whatever that means)

Best
Rupert

PS my parents are from SA but I live in CH

[danilo]

I have been eyeing that amp for a while. Have you built one yet ? If so, does it live up to its reputation ?

Greets
Ru

PS. I have built a couple of Gainclones from Chipamp and Peter Daniel and also a LJM L15D Pro all of which I'm very fond of.

No I've not bought that one.. have tried other Chi Fi ones on a lark ..Too many.
The Lure of almost free draws in the naive.. in droves.
Typically (without fail) Every piece is a Fake. Surprisingly, the resultant sounds were/are decently average... for as long as the thing worked.

Yet a Simple Genuine parts one such as Chipamp... Are leagues better.
And Peter's are that much better yet. But still, no candle to the neurochrome one

IF you've done those, the above Gizmo may dissapoint entirely
Feeling Lucky?

[r100]

The only "disappointment" I've had so far with Chi-Fi bits where the rectifier elcos .. I get my stuff from two or three vendors on ebay (aalong, douk) and so far (touch wood) almost everything has worked as described.. some kit, notably the LJM amps where way better than expected, so they got their own chassis and are sitting in my main setup. I would say that they perform as well, if not better in my system than the Gainclones (maybe due to the extra power capable to drive the 86db speakers ?)

I'm on the fence with the Modulus.. but I have so many amps lying around at the moment

[danilo]

Well then You.. have had Far better luck than I have :-) Congrats.
I have ~ a half dozen total failure (within hours of power up) Chi Fi amps from Ebay/Aliexpress and a few others that make unnerving Noises on power On and Off.
Junk basically... But Hey! really ! cheap to buy with Free Shipping!
Can't cheat an Honest Man ...can you
I've bought Guaranteed 'genuine' Chips from Arjen Helder.. only to have complete garbage in the delivered package.
Recourse ? yeah that's likely.
Yet my USA made / sourced efforts are Surprisingly good sounding and proving reliable as Rocks.

IMO.. We really must stop buying Chinese junk gear .. it does everyone a disservice Here and 'There'.

[Ari]

Running 2x power supplies will improve separation . Maybe you should try it sometime Rupert .

I think I'd rather be in CH than SA right now , our currency is going down the drain , all I can afford is the Chinese goodies . Where do your folks live ? Are they born South Africans ?

[r100]

yep, both are from Jo'Burg but live (lived) in CH and in Spain. I haven't been back since before Mandela was elected.

[DaveFred]

Hello,

I am looking to build and LJM amplifier, which one did you like best?

Thank you,

David.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Assembled-LM...8AAOSw7aBVCmdK

Here's a slightly different take with OPA2604 .



The price is so good , it's probably worth checking out .

I've tried various LJM kits , with very good results , and every time from this seller :

http://www.ebay.com/itm/DIY-KIT-LJM-...item2c92433554

I've tried the following :

LJM L25D ( IR class D ) - very close to IR reference circuit , amazing performance with 400VA torroidal + dual rail supply ( 6x 10 000 uF Nichicon 80V ) ; or with 2x Abletech 53-0-53 SMPS ( one smps on 2x modules blew smps )

LJM L20 ( Class AB ) - excellent with 400VA torroidal + dual rail supply

LJM L25 ( Class AB with onboard opamp pre ) - excellent with 400VA torroidal + dual rail supply

I see that the seller only sells the L15D Pro and L20D Class D's now . I'd like to get these in future too . I can highly recommend the linear dual-rail PSU option . I built my own , but he sells those too , probably cheaper than building your own . SQ with linear supply sounds effortless and is completely neutral . Simply amazing .

[Ari]

Hello,

I am looking to build and LJM amplifier, which one did you like best?

Thank you,

David.

Hi David , I do like both the L25D ( Class D copy of IRAUDAMP7 ) and the L20 ( Class AB ) . The former being quite clinical and the latter a little warmer . There is also an L15D pro , which has speaker protection built onto the board , which may be what I would buy now if I had to buy any pre-assembled modules . The L20 definitely requires a soft-start module , these are also available and require their own power supply .

Do you have any spare parts already ? Like transformers ? That could also influence my choice as I have a couple of 400VA 40-0-40 torroidals .

Cheers
Ari

[Ari]

Oh ... and if you want to build from scratch ... this has piqued my interest recently : https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/pass...st6167110.html