If you already own the 2x4, there's no harm experimenting with an active crossover setup like you described, which sounds like it would work fine. If you're pleased with the proof of concept, then you can consider the DAC question. Just my 2¢! 🙂
Your journey with lower-watt tube amps -- Can a kit be good enough?
Looking for stories about your low-watt amp journeys.
Here's the situation: I have new speakers, 97 db. Trying them with lower watt tube amps (45/211, 300b, etc) seems generally wise. I am attempting to borrow some from audiophiles in the area.
The horizon beyond trying these things involves actually buying some. I'm looking at a budget limit of about $5k.
Curious as to folks' experience with lower-watt amp kits vs. those of good makers (e.g. Dennis Had, etc.).
If you have any thoughts about the following, I'd be interested:
Did you start out with a kit and then get dissatisfied? Why?
Did you compare kits vs. pre-made and find big differences?
Did you find you could get the equivalent level of quality in a kit for much less than the same pre-made version? How about kit vs. used?
Also: did you find there was a difference between "point to point wiring" vs. "PCB" in these various permutations?
I realize that there are good kits and bad ones, good pre-made amps and bad ones. I'm hoping you'll be comparing units which seem at comparable levels of quality and price-points.
Thanks.
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@bruce19 There's a kind of ceramic cap called an 'NP0' (for Negative Positive Zero) which can sound surprisingly good. They are available with leads and in the value you need, are about the size of a small bead. By ceramic cap standards they are expensive, costing a few dollars each. You might look into them; we've compared them to a number of high end coupling caps and heard no difference. I don't think they are available in values above about 0.1uf. But they are available in Voltages as high as 630V. You only need 50v though so the part will be tiny. Here's a link from DigiKey: https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/murata-electronics/RDE5C1H273J2M1H03A/10703951 |
Thanks again! You mention using them as coupling caps. I'm curious might they also work well as coupling caps in my Elekit TU-8900 kit or other sets with 0.1 uF coupling caps with say the 0.1 uF and 1kvdc rating? I built it with the stock coupling caps figuring I might try the expensive type later, but at $4 apiece these are a much cheaper experiment than Audio Note copper or silver caps. |
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