M125 build

So here are some pics of the M125 monoblocks I’ve been building over the last few weeks.  This is the first time I’ve built something like this, it was actually a lot more fun than I expected and has inspired me to make a matching pre-amp to go with the power amps.  Both amps fired up basically first shot with no issues and sound unbelievable ! I have a Schiit Audio class A amp but these are noticeably better ! The sound stage they create is pretty wild.  





Black & white ebony faceplates






1/4" thick steel inserts were epoxied into the back of the wood faces to prevent any future warping and to make mounting easy








Some initial testing and burn in



Wood faces mounted up, I'll do some engraving on the faces in time to dress them up some more.  I polished and waxed the wood faces to a pretty good shine, unfortunately the pics were taken at night so they're a little dark.  I'll get more this weekend.



Here are a few rough pics of the laser cut pre-amp chassis, more details on that another time.

Yet another twist and new look on a pair of M-125s. Beautiful... Enjoy the music. It looks like you have quite the CNC machine with all the cut metal in the background.

Mike...

Beautiful. I do want to hear more about the chassis and the process used. It gives a great amp a very unique look.

Those look awesome. Makes me almost want to run in an 8 tube configuration. I've been running two tubes in each amp for the last 5+ years. With Cornwalls that is all I need.

They sure look cool with all 8. That little rectifier tube has its work cut out - I went down to two tubes per amp to protect my precious rectifier tubes - that and the new bias adjustments which came down - in the old days of 1.2 for 4 tubes and 600 for two tubes really eat tubes - now with 1.0 and 500 - much more stable - I've been running the same tubes for years.

Which Sovteks are those?

kFish wrote:Beautiful.  I do want to hear more about the chassis and the process used.  It gives a great amp a very unique look.

For the chassis I just relocated all the switches and stuff to the rear of the amp, also used black oxide hardware to keep the dark theme going. Paint is just wrinkle black out of a spray can, if you follow the directions you'll get great results.

costerdock wrote:Those look awesome.  Makes me almost want to run in an 8 tube configuration.  I've been running two tubes in each amp for the last 5+ years.   With Cornwalls that is all I need.

They sure look cool with all 8.   That little rectifier tube has its work cut out - I went down to two tubes per amp to protect my precious rectifier tubes - that and the new bias adjustments which came down - in the old days of 1.2 for 4 tubes and 600 for two tubes really eat tubes - now with 1.0 and 500 - much more stable - I've been running the same tubes for years.

Which Sovteks are those?

Yeah I went with 8 tube configuration to drive my Evo 4.2s, I gotta say it really is good, even better than my Schiit Class A amp.


These are 6550WE's.

Brandon3212276 wrote:
For the chassis I just relocated all the switches and stuff to the rear of the amp, also used black oxide hardware to keep the dark theme going.  Paint is just wrinkle black out of a spray can, if you follow the directions you'll get great results.  

Wow, I never would have thought to use that kind of paint on the chassis. I thought it was some crazy chemical process. I will steal your idea for some future project (if I can ever find time for future projects...).

So now that I have some hours on these amps I've REALLY grown to like them, I actually enjoy them more than my Musical Fidelity KW750 that retailed for something wild like 10K.  I felt that these were deserving of a bit of a face lift so they look a little less DIY.  I am also going to see where I can upgrade any existing components to maybe bring them to the next level.

I have designed a new pair of chassis and transformer covers from scratch, the chassis will be wrapped in solid birds eye maple.  I'm going to paint the chassis a dark battleship grey and have the wood dyed a transparent jet black.

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Cap upgrades came in last night for the power supply and coupling caps.  Should hopefully get them installed this weekend.



Copper foil Miflex caps

These actually made a surprisingly big difference, really opened up the top end clarity and detail.