Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Saskia]

Threshold T200 photo:
https://images.app.goo.gl/iAHiTcywxth8fGSC7

It's in a different league than the Denon.

Reason might be the price tag associated with the equipment and the personal preference of the designer /developer

[bd139]

If you put a stick on that, Thor would be happy

[BU508A]

Revox B250:

[psykok]

Threshold T200 photo:
https://images.app.goo.gl/iAHiTcywxth8fGSC7

It's in a different league than the Denon.

Reason might be the price tag associated with the equipment and the personal preference of the designer /developer

The reason is exactly that the price and also the dimensions.

[med6753]

http://www.soundstagenetwork.com/maxdb/maxdb071998.htm

[BU508A]

As always: the devil lies in the details. Ever.

[nixiefreqq]

Got me a nice goodie box from Sphere today.

* Replacement nixies for my other 3440A voltmeter
* A foot of 2N2222As on tape for dirt cheap...very handy to have around. (not pictured)
* 10 more very hard to find HP pushbutton feet....not cheap at all. 
* Some oddball tubes for my collection
* Some extra nuvistors for the Tek 184
* Last, but not least, a really neat circular slide rule that has a Smith chart rule on the back side.

First picture is left at full resolution so nixiefreqq gets a real eyeful. 

that slide rule is coooool! 

tried and tried to think of why anyone would allow an hp11c to take up space on the bench.   it might be perfect as a shim under that wonky table leg down in the basement (a long time annoyance).  classic case of two birds killed with one stone.  mail it to me and i promise pictures after it is in place. 

[Kosmic]

@Kosmic the H310 is about the worst Board you can get for a 9600k. Try to send it back for a Z390 Pro wifi or similar. You castrate the 9600k by using anything less than a z series chipset. Honestly, trust me on that

I'm going for low budget, low noise, and small form factor. Plus, there is some features I want on that MB. Probably going to be alright for my usage.

[McBryce]

Threshold T200 photo:
https://images.app.goo.gl/iAHiTcywxth8fGSC7

It's in a different league than the Denon.

Reason might be the price tag associated with the equipment and the personal preference of the designer /developer

Only a different price league. I've taken a look at the power input and this is it. Pretty much just a fuse to common mode choke which then gets fed to a FULL BRIDGE RECTIFIER!! (that one's for you ElectroBoom) and a second pair of diodes (1N4007) with MOVs in parallel. The top cheapshit diode failed short and has removed the track that joined them and blown the fuse (2A). I don't usually fix this type of gear so a few questions:

1 - The MOVs both read 1.2M, should a swap them anyway?
2 - The device uses standard IEC type plug just like a scope, but it has no earth pin on either side?? Why would they leave a device like this floating?

McBryce.

Should mention: The MOV's are part No. 103M KY250 and there's a capacitor before the choke. The choke seems fine.

[0culus]

Got me a nice goodie box from Sphere today.

* Replacement nixies for my other 3440A voltmeter
* A foot of 2N2222As on tape for dirt cheap...very handy to have around. (not pictured)
* 10 more very hard to find HP pushbutton feet....not cheap at all. 
* Some oddball tubes for my collection
* Some extra nuvistors for the Tek 184
* Last, but not least, a really neat circular slide rule that has a Smith chart rule on the back side.

First picture is left at full resolution so nixiefreqq gets a real eyeful. 

that slide rule is coooool! 

tried and tried to think of why anyone would allow an hp11c to take up space on the bench.   it might be perfect as a shim under that wonky table leg down in the basement (a long time annoyance).  classic case of two birds killed with one stone.  mail it to me and i promise pictures after it is in place.

But it's not an HP11C...it's a 15C! 

[Saskia]

@Kosmic honestly, the 9600k is not the best CPU for the H310. There are Z390 itx boards out there that give you a lot more performance and throughput. If you really want the H310 then a 9400 will do just as well (you could save the money for the 9600k)

[beanflying]

Put in an appropriate place like as a chock for a steamroller 11C or 15C Meh 

[mnementh]

Time to get back to some TEA or even making some sawdust for the rest of the week, Fusion and I have spent to much time together recently. Laser System Model is complete apart from maybe some tweakage. Feel free to peek and critique https://a360.co/2XZg1u0 and I will consider or ignore as appropriate 

That's really nice... but where is the [FIRE LASER] button?!? And the [FIRE LASER SHARKS] button?!? 

No, seriously... nice work. I certainly don't even know where to begin doing something like that in Fusion; I'd probably just say fuck it and start building, then get stumped halfway through when shit doesn't quite fit or I run out of a certain type of cabling needed. 

mnem

[nixiefreqq]

Got me a nice goodie box from Sphere today.

* Replacement nixies for my other 3440A voltmeter
* A foot of 2N2222As on tape for dirt cheap...very handy to have around. (not pictured)
* 10 more very hard to find HP pushbutton feet....not cheap at all. 
* Some oddball tubes for my collection
* Some extra nuvistors for the Tek 184
* Last, but not least, a really neat circular slide rule that has a Smith chart rule on the back side.

First picture is left at full resolution so nixiefreqq gets a real eyeful. 

that slide rule is coooool! 

tried and tried to think of why anyone would allow an hp11c to take up space on the bench.   it might be perfect as a shim under that wonky table leg down in the basement (a long time annoyance).  classic case of two birds killed with one stone.  mail it to me and i promise pictures after it is in place.

But it's not an HP11C...it's a 15C! 

OH. sorry.  that does make a difference.

you would not want to use a 15c as a shim.

it would be better suited as a puck for street hockey.

[beanflying]

Like all things Fusion open it up and pick a plane and Create Sketch ....... Simple Really 

Keeping a strict set of Order of operations and Rules and using Components and Linked Models is Key. Then to hang them together in the Sketches avoid as much as possible referenced dimensions between those Components or Models so you can still move bits around and in a lot of cases not break the wires which are hopefully auto following those moves.

That and I did actually have a Paper Block Sketch and I idea of what bit would go where before starting the layout. 

Number of Sketches overall likely 150+ number of bodies 500+ and might be closer to 1k 

[mnementh]

Not really TEA, but I've just been given a Denon AVC X8500H to repair. It has the biggest transformer I have ever seen inside a commercial device.

McBryce.

(for info, the primary side of the PSU shorted for some reason, haven't found out why just yet).

What I've never understood: in such high priced stuff, why don't they use toroidal transformers? Always wondered about that.

                  

They do. 

mnem
 

[mnementh]

that slide rule is coooool! 

tried and tried to think of why anyone would allow an hp11c to take up space on the bench.   it might be perfect as a shim under that wonky table leg down in the basement (a long time annoyance).  classic case of two birds killed with one stone.  mail it to me and i promise pictures after it is in place.

But it's not an HP11C...it's a 15C! 

OH. sorry.  that does make a difference. you would not want to use a 15c as a shim.

it would be better suited as a puck for street hockey.

mnem
 

[Cerebus]

Not really TEA, but I've just been given a Denon AVC X8500H to repair. It has the biggest transformer I have ever seen inside a commercial device.

McBryce.

(for info, the primary side of the PSU shorted for some reason, haven't found out why just yet).

That's a baby. Check out the back of a Crown DC300A:



There's a lump inside the case as deep as that cover on the back of the transformer, plus mountings and terminals. The transformer winding is easily a foot deep in total.

Edited to add: I can testify from personal experience of humping those babies into and out of racks that they also weigh a freaking metric ton. (OK,I exaggerate it's a mere 18.2 kg) I've manhandled them solo in the past, but with a bath chair and a hernia beckoning I think I'd leave one of these to a couple of young 'uns nowadays.

[capt bullshot]

Not audio class, but a (small) power amplifier designed to deliver 500VA (yes VA, not W) continously (except for PA and stage equipment, audio amplifiers cannot sustain continous power delivery of their rated power):



http://wunderkis.de/AC-Source-EAC/

[edavid]

Not really TEA, but I've just been given a Denon AVC X8500H to repair. It has the biggest transformer I have ever seen inside a commercial device.

McBryce.

(for info, the primary side of the PSU shorted for some reason, haven't found out why just yet).

What I've never understood: in such high priced stuff, why don't they use toroidal transformers? Always wondered about that.

Higher inrush current, more expensive, no real advantage...

[Cerebus]

Not really TEA, but I've just been given a Denon AVC X8500H to repair. It has the biggest transformer I have ever seen inside a commercial device.

McBryce.

(for info, the primary side of the PSU shorted for some reason, haven't found out why just yet).

What I've never understood: in such high priced stuff, why don't they use toroidal transformers? Always wondered about that.

Higher inrush current, more expensive, no real advantage...

Why do you think that? All other things being equal the inrush current (unloaded) is going to be determined by the amount of flux to be generated, not by its shape. I'm quite prepared to be educated...

[AVGresponding]

The only real, non-audiophool reason for having a donut instead of house brick is size and weight.

For a given continuous rating, the electrical performance will be close enough to identical to make no difference to the sound, unless the regulation and filter circuitry was designed by an infinite number of monkeys sat in front of an infinite number of pcs running (insert your circuit design software of choice).

[med6753]

Oh but it does matter. With a donut the electrons go up and down. With iron core they go side to side. The golden ear crowd can hear the difference and the vast majority think side to side is best. 

[bd139]

Actually the magnetic field on toroidal transformers tends to be a lot smaller. Thus less induction elsewhere particularly in audio bits. Less hum if the circuit design is shite.

[Cerebus]

The only real, non-audiophool reason for having a donut instead of house brick is size and weight.

And stray field. The difference in stray magnetic field between a toroid and other topologies is quite remarkable. The ratio is about 8:1, more if you slap a flux band around the outside of the toroid. If you've low level signals inside your box (e.g. signals from pickups for pressed media made from the secretions of the Lac Beatle) a toroid makes your life much easier in a bit of integrated audio gear.

Where I've been surprised to not see toroidal transformers in use is in instrumentation. I'd have thought that the gains from low field emissions would have more than offset the additional cost of toroids for instrumentation that has sensitive, high impedance inputs. True, it's easier to add an electrostatic screen for suppressing common mode interference to a classic transformer but it's not impossible on a toroidal, just a bit more awkward.