Finished this up earlier this week and have been enjoying it since! I made a few mechanical modifications to Roy's kit, but the board is stuffed with stock parts save for the Mundorf output caps. I figured I would go with the board as Roy sells it, and then upgrade parts later if I want. That way I can see if I am making a difference. But the switches and wiring are not going to ochange so I did it as I wanted now. The selector and attenuators are Goldpoint, along with the selector being rear mounted with an extension rod. I figured by doing so I could reduce the total amount of wire and shorten the tape loop, which I do use. The signal wire is Cardas litz, another rea$on for attempting to minimize the amount of wire in it. I also changed out the RCAs for Cardas ones. Can't say if they will make one bit of difference, but thats what I wanted so I bought them. I also routed signal wire around the board instead of under it as Roy's standard practice appears to be.
How's it sound? Great! Definitely noticing it go through some phases as it breaks in, but nothing extreme. For a while I thought the low end sounded a bit bloated and tubey, but that seems to have gone away. Probabably coming up on about 20 hours now and it seems pretty stable. No listening fatigue at all. Highs are crisp and defined without being bright. Low end is now pretty solid. I need to reach around back and move the outputs to the Russian PIOs to see how they sound, but I don't want to turn things off while I'm listening.
For anybody thinking of building one, it is not very hard to make. Roy just gives you a stuffing diagram and wiring layout. He does not give you step by step instructions. But he has plenty of pictures of his builds so it is pretty easy to figure out.
I am blaming Roy for the lack of sleep I have had this week. Been staying up an extra few hours listening when I should have been going to bed.
I'm not totally happy with my wiring job across the front attenuators. It could have been neater.
How's it sound? Great! Definitely noticing it go through some phases as it breaks in, but nothing extreme. For a while I thought the low end sounded a bit bloated and tubey, but that seems to have gone away. Probabably coming up on about 20 hours now and it seems pretty stable. No listening fatigue at all. Highs are crisp and defined without being bright. Low end is now pretty solid. I need to reach around back and move the outputs to the Russian PIOs to see how they sound, but I don't want to turn things off while I'm listening.
For anybody thinking of building one, it is not very hard to make. Roy just gives you a stuffing diagram and wiring layout. He does not give you step by step instructions. But he has plenty of pictures of his builds so it is pretty easy to figure out.
I am blaming Roy for the lack of sleep I have had this week. Been staying up an extra few hours listening when I should have been going to bed.
I'm not totally happy with my wiring job across the front attenuators. It could have been neater.