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Thread: Upgrading Lesson learned ( I hope [emoji16] )

  1. #1
    Join Date: May 2016

    Location: Milton Keynes

    Posts: 3,577
    I'm Andrew.

    Default Upgrading Lesson learned ( I hope )

    Some months ago I was very happily listening to my Ruark crusader 2’s hooked up to either exposure ( mono 8’s or dual 4 ) or HD audio amplification , I remember thinking damn this sounds so good and then I spotted a beautiful pair of Mowgan Mabon speakers which were in a beautiful santos rosewood finish, off I went to Essex to view them , after demoing them I was sold and I would collect them the following week, well that all went tits up as the seller just kept messing me about saying he had personal problems and one excuse after another ( I should have known when his wife was just rude at the demo )
    He was clearly just another t%^t .
    Now the seed had been planted and I was obsessively ( my autism ) looking for a better pair of speakers and then I stumbled across Oli’s ( bigman ) Ekta 2’s but they were way out of my price range! Then the Autism kicked in and the brain went into overdrive ( I had to have them ! ) .
    A week later and with a killer migraine I was driving home with them , had to stop around 6 times to vomit and sleep, got home and collapsed into my bed .
    Next morning I’m as bright as a spark and I eagerly hooked up the speakers and …… a cloud of disappointment came over me ( I’d sold the Ruarks btw ) I thought what have I done! I then contacted Oli and he just couldn’t understand why I was so disappointed
    until he asked what amplifier I was using ( I told him) then he knew there lay the problem, not enough power for the speakers THEY NEED POWER he explained , he was so right.
    So I now have the most expensive purchase I’ve ever made on hifi and I can’t enjoy them ( gutted ) so I’m now skint but hey I can look at them right
    But this was like having an R8 only firing on half its cylinders , I had to hear these beauties as they’re meant to be heard and then the next journey began .
    I sold off some more hifi bits and then began scouring the for sale threads and there it was THE BEAST that would drive the Ekta 2’s .
    It was a non working Threshold Stasis 2 ( 200w class A ) once again I obsessively researched the amp and decided to buy it ( or exchange some hifi for it )
    The seller even agreed to bring it to me ( yes the alarm bells rang ) I ignored the alarm bells as something told me that this is what I must have for the speakers to sing at their best .
    Got the amp home and started investigating , burnt boards ! Burnt out traces !


    But that wasn’t enough to stop me resurrecting this beast ( I mean how difficult can it be ? )
    HOW DIFFICULT ? Absolutely incredibly difficult was the answer
    The boards are totally toast and irreplaceable!
    It was then I reached out to some wonderful people on DIY audio and only with their help and guidance I could set about restoring the beast .
    I think it’s one of the most testing of projects I’ve ever undertaken ( even with their help )
    I was told that it’s a very very complicated amp to work for some of them let alone a complete novice such as myself.
    But with persistence, all new FE boards , new power supply capacitors, around 24 On Semi output transistors, all new wiring etc etc it was ready for testing ( 2 months down the line )
    Now was the time that those clever guys on DIY would learn more about the stasis 2 as it hadn’t been done before as far as we knew ( no threads about it anywhere)
    I had to establish the voltage at the voltage rails and loads of different things before powering on ( I bought a variac for this )
    Variable pots were set to maximum resistance and the beast was ready for power on ( I was crapping it ! )
    POWER ON and all is well ( house lights dimmed momentarily)

    Then I had to connect my 4 multimeters in order to bring it to life , I did so and slowly I was to lower the resistance at the pots until it got to a certain mv at a 1Ohm resistor and then in turn the temperature would rise and eventually the amp would become stable .
    More problems discovered at this point, we then learned that a certain number of the output transistors were fake ! Fake Motorola’s in fact , so more On Semi transistors ordered ( now all 48 are genuine On Semi )
    We also learned from one of Nelson Pass’s mates that the amp MUST be all bolted together in order to set the bias , so I bolted it all together soldered everything and powered it on again ( without the variac )
    Now we’re getting somewhere, bias was raised 85mv at the emitter resistor ( over a matter of hours ) but the temperature is too low ( 39c ) it needs to be at 45c minimum so more fiddling with the pots to get to temperature then finally ( after many attempts) it’s stable and the bias is set .
    It’s at this point that I learned that there’s no speaker protection in the amp so if it goes pop then the speakers will go bang !
    After leaving it powered on for a few days I plugged in some cheap speakers and WOW ! Music was actually heard from something that I had restored.
    A few days later I had to try the Ekta 2’s after all they were the cause of this long and at times stressful journey.
    Bloody hell Oli was totally right! Now with this 200w class A beast up them they were/are sounding better than any speakers I’ve ever heard ( PERIOD ) .
    As I write this it’s a week later and the amp just gets better and better and the speakers are just stunning in every way.

    The morel of the story is “ be careful about matching when upgrading “
    Am I as happy now as I was those few months ago YES , was it worth the stress YES , I really don’t think I could better the speakers or the power amp without a shed load of money.





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    Last edited by andyrlb; 25-03-2024 at 11:54.

  2. #2
    Join Date: May 2016

    Location: Milton Keynes

    Posts: 3,577
    I'm Andrew.

    Default

    Oh I forgot to add that I now need a preamp of equal quality.


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  3. #3
    Join Date: May 2012

    Location: Toulouse, France

    Posts: 6,562
    I'm Kevin.

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    The Topping Pre90 is pretty transparent, and not expensive.
    Kevin

    Too busy enjoying the music....

    European loan coordinator for Graham Slee HiFi system components..

  4. #4
    Join Date: Jan 2009

    Location: Essex

    Posts: 31,860
    I'm openingabottleofwine.

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    Well done! I admire your persistency and tenacity. Most of us would have given up long ago!
    Barry

  5. #5
    Join Date: May 2016

    Location: Milton Keynes

    Posts: 3,577
    I'm Andrew.

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by CageyH View Post
    The Topping Pre90 is pretty transparent, and not expensive.
    I’ll research that now , thanks.


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  6. #6
    Join Date: May 2016

    Location: Milton Keynes

    Posts: 3,577
    I'm Andrew.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Barry View Post
    Well done! I admire your persistency and tenacity. Most of us would have given up long ago!
    Mate I very nearly gave up on several occasions, I think my autism has something to do with that not giving up as I’m the same at work when faced with a difficult job .
    Thanks


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  7. #7
    Join Date: Jun 2014

    Location: Chorley Lancs

    Posts: 14,602
    I'm Steve.

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    Truly beautiful speakers Andy, well done. I don't know if you have been following Jason's thread on Audio Addicts this last couple of years (an interesting read), but the dedication and attention to detail he's given to his speakers have by all accounts produced some of the finest products available at any price.

    I believe Firebottle has some similar to yours, and he loves them.

    It looks like they came at some cost physically and financially, but as the saying goes, "The quality is remembered long after the cost is forgotten"
    I just dropped in, to see what condition my condition was in

    T/T: Inspire Monarch, X200 tonearm, Ortofon Quintet Blue. Phono: Project Tube Box CD: Marantz CD6006 (UK Edition); Amp: Musical Fidelity A5 Integrated.
    Speakers: Zu Omen Def, REL T9i subwoofer. Cables: Atlas Equator interconnects, Atlas Hyper 3.0 speaker cables

    T'other system:
    Echo Dot, Amptastic Mini One,Arcam A75 integrated, Celestion 5's, BK XLS-200 DF

    A/V:
    LG 55" OLED, Panasonic Blu Ray, Sony a/v amp, MA Radius speakers, REL Storm sub

    Forget the past, it's gone. And don't worry about the future, it doesn't exist. There is only NOW.

    KICKSTARTER: ENABLING SCAMMERS SINCE 2009

  8. #8
    Join Date: May 2016

    Location: Milton Keynes

    Posts: 3,577
    I'm Andrew.

    Default Upgrading Lesson learned ( I hope )

    Quote Originally Posted by Pigmy Pony View Post
    Truly beautiful speakers Andy, well done. I don't know if you have been following Jason's thread on Audio Addicts this last couple of years (an interesting read), but the dedication and attention to detail he's given to his speakers have by all accounts produced some of the finest products available at any price.

    I believe Firebottle has some similar to yours, and he loves them.

    It looks like they came at some cost physically and financially, but as the saying goes, "The quality is remembered long after the cost is forgotten"
    It will be long remembered for sure and I certainly appreciate the amp more than any other because of the highs and lows I had to endure to get it working. The speakers are just fantastic in every aspect aside from not being very efficient ( but then amp isn’t either )


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    Last edited by andyrlb; 25-03-2024 at 14:19.

  9. #9
    Join Date: Jan 2009

    Location: Essex

    Posts: 31,860
    I'm openingabottleofwine.

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by andyrlb View Post
    Mate I very nearly gave up on several occasions, I think my autism has something to do with that not giving up as I’m the same at work when faced with a difficult job .
    Thanks


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    Well you can rest assured that you are now the proud possessor of one of the best amplifiers ever built.

    I'm a big believer in using single-channel monoblock amplifiers; provided they have the option of a balanced line input, which the Threshold Stasis amps have.

    I use them placed directly behind each speaker, thus using a minimum length of speaker cable (30cm), and run balanced line cables back to the preamplifier, near the sources.

    Initially I used Levinson ML-2 25W class A amplifiers; chosen because I use Quad electrostatic speakers, which must not be presented with a signal of more than 33V peak.

    Like all class A amplifiers, they draw constant power from the mains, and the maximum theoretical efficiency is 50%. In practice the efficency will be much lower. Thus what power is not sent to the speaker is dissipated as heat, so the heating run hot. In the case of the ML-2s the heatsinks run very hot, very hot, to the point that the black anodising had started to bleach, and they made my listening room uncomfortably hot in the summer months! Your Stasis amplifiers are better in this regard.

    So sit back and enjoy the fruits of all your hard work.
    Barry

  10. #10
    Join Date: Jun 2014

    Location: Chorley Lancs

    Posts: 14,602
    I'm Steve.

    Default

    Might be my warped imagination, but the gloss black at the top of your speaker appears to reflect what looks like a bearded man wearing sunglasses, looking at some geezer with his pants pulled down. Not that I'm judging...
    I just dropped in, to see what condition my condition was in

    T/T: Inspire Monarch, X200 tonearm, Ortofon Quintet Blue. Phono: Project Tube Box CD: Marantz CD6006 (UK Edition); Amp: Musical Fidelity A5 Integrated.
    Speakers: Zu Omen Def, REL T9i subwoofer. Cables: Atlas Equator interconnects, Atlas Hyper 3.0 speaker cables

    T'other system:
    Echo Dot, Amptastic Mini One,Arcam A75 integrated, Celestion 5's, BK XLS-200 DF

    A/V:
    LG 55" OLED, Panasonic Blu Ray, Sony a/v amp, MA Radius speakers, REL Storm sub

    Forget the past, it's gone. And don't worry about the future, it doesn't exist. There is only NOW.

    KICKSTARTER: ENABLING SCAMMERS SINCE 2009

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