New setup...

DocfosterDocfoster
edited June 2014 in Amplifiers
OK.

So, I'm sitting in my living room in my underpants trying out the new TOCA SECA, sweat dripping off me, windows open, an egg frying on the heatsinks...

image



I'll save thoughts for the TOCA for another time. (They are good thoughts...! (And also, curious thoughts... 20 watts of audio power out of a 500 watt device... now where could all that power be going...? I'll think about that while I get another iced drink...)

Regular visitors will notice that those aren't 1973 Goodmans Goodwoods (RFC refurbed of course!) on those oak stands... No indeed! They are JPW AP1s I believe. And doing a stirling job too... (The Goodwoods will be back.)
Some may notice that there is no vinyl front end... Again, another story.
But the change I want to draw attention to is that there is no pre-amp between digital volume control in the TFS and TOCA SECA 20 watt power amp...
Please rush to tell me why I should be panicing...

Comments

  • DocfosterDocfoster
    (I don't know why there is a four pack of bog roll in front of the right speaker. Acoustic damping....?)
  • DocfosterDocfoster
    edited June 2014
    Also, you'll notice the large pile of hifi detritus on the left:
    NVA Phono 2 with 2 PSUs, NVA P90SA, NVA AP30, Pioneer PL-71, Incatech ID25, various cables...
    When's the next car boot...?
  • ColinColin
    Ben when did you get the TOCA?
  • DocfosterDocfoster
    Met up with a very nice man at Bridgewater Services on Sunday evening...
    He mentioned that he knew you... :-)
  • uglymusicuglymusic
    Welcome to the Single Ended Club, Ben. (Doesn't that sound rude?)
  • AlanAlan
    Ben, seriously nice kit, man! Wow...
  • chrisbchrisb
    Very nice.
  • ColinColin
    Met up with a very nice man at Bridgewater Services on Sunday evening...
    He mentioned that he knew you... :-)
    I bet it was that hitman I forgot to pay.

    How does it sound OK??


  • DocfosterDocfoster
    edited June 2014

    Welcome to the Single Ended Club, Ben. (Doesn't that sound rude?)

    Yes. And I'm not using it if you go first.
    Ben, seriously nice kit, man! Wow...
    Thanks. Although there's not much left now outside of the 'to sell' pile.


    Also, I'm also aware Alan, that whereas I have simply bought a rather good media PC and power amp you are actually building your own, so real kudos to you...!

    Very nice.
    Thanks. I should point out that the TOCA is currently just on extended demo from Paul (Quickie)
    Met up with a very nice man at Bridgewater Services on Sunday evening...
    He mentioned that he knew you... :-)
    I bet it was that hitman I forgot to pay.

    How does it sound OK??


    I thought the coffee tasted weird...
    Yes Colin, it sounds very "OK". Thanks to you for another half decent amp ;-) and to Paul (Quickie) for bringing it back to its best. The sound is even cleaner and smoother that the ID25. Before I make a definitive decision I want to try it with the Goodwoods when they get back from Dr Paul (RFC) where the new (SH) drivers are awaiting doping (understandable delay in supply chain).
  • DocfosterDocfoster
    Different speakers today!

    image

    For reasons that I won't go into, I have ended up with some of my old speakers (that I gave to my Dad a few years back).
    I bought these about 15 years ago when I was setting up a home studio with a couple of mates. They were marketed at the time as a good budget monitor.I think they were less than £200 new. Spirit Absolute Zero they are called.
    Tbh I was never very impressed with them. They always sounded a bit light weight, a bit too much lift in the upper mid. And poor bass. (A lot of the tracks we mastered using them have embarrassingly loud bass simply because we couldn't hear it during mastering. )
    But on the end of the TOCA these little cuties actually sound really good. Really really good. The frequency repsonse sounds much flatter than I remember, and the bass, whilst not thunderous is present. The TOCAs sweet smoothness shines through perfectly well. I think with the TOCA I might prefer Absolute Zeroes to the JPW AP1s... Which I am very surprised by.
  • AlanAlan
    The SECAs can do that, they grab speakers by the scruff and force them to do things they were never intended for... bass from little monitors indeed? I ask you!

    The SECAs work really well with small monitors bearing little long throw drivers, as the truly monstrous amount of damping factor they have is the only thing able to fully control the cone movement.
  • DocfosterDocfoster
    edited June 2014
    The SECAs can do that, they grab speakers by the scruff and force them to do things they were never intended for... bass from little monitors indeed? I ask you!

    The SECAs work really well with small monitors bearing little long throw drivers, as the truly monstrous amount of damping factor they have is the only thing able to fully control the cone movement.
    It's funny you write that Alan. That "grabbing" is actually the word I mumbled to my (confused) waman earlier. Although also, it does sound like that the TOCA is just charging along those speaker cables and simply passing straight through the speakers, rendering their limitations irrelevant. I'm sure I could attach mere baked bean tins to the ends of the speaker cables and the sound would be identical. Perhaps I could simply take away the speakers altogether and the sound would burst forth from the the Z-plugs alone.
  • ColinColin
    edited June 2014
    We tried an experiment once in a dealers shop in London using Wharfedale Diamond's customers were convinced  the thunderous bass was from the Isobarbaricks next door.
    We left the amp with the dealer for long lone period, he sold more diamonds than any other dealer that year.
    All about control, and a bloody big PSU's, and speed.
    The Iridium does the same but much better with a damping factor of over 2000 (measured by Noel Keywood).
    Not bad for a single ended amp DC coupled. Some of the early 1KW Crown Amps which are push pull B Class managed a damping factor of 1000. But the BW was only up to about 20Hz 40KHz, not 5Hz 250KHz like the Iridium.
    Simple to design, NO WAY a bugger to get right.
  • AlanAlan
    SECA rules OK!
  • uglymusicuglymusic
    Even the little Green Goddess does some of that trick in a room of similar size to yours, Ben. Ok, big speakers would be better (good big speakers, that is), but it's almost more fun to have visitors play hunt the sub :-)
  • ColinColin
    Even the little Green Goddess does some of that trick in a room of similar size to yours, Ben. Ok, big speakers would be better (good big speakers, that is), but it's almost more fun to have visitors play hunt the sub :-)
    U271 or Red October


    image
  • AlanAlan
    C.S.S. Hunley, first sub sunk in action during the American civil war.

    image


  • uglymusicuglymusic
    Love the cowboy submariner!
  • DocfosterDocfoster
    edited June 2014
    Even the little Green Goddess does some of that trick in a room of similar size to yours, Ben. Ok, big speakers would be better (good big speakers, that is), but it's almost more fun to have visitors play hunt the sub :-)
    I'm not sure where the sub is in this short video... :-/



    And actually, these are even more ludicrous. When they get going it looks like they might have a SECA up their ass...


  • ColinColin
    Even the little Green Goddess does some of that trick in a room of similar size to yours, Ben. Ok, big speakers would be better (good big speakers, that is), but it's almost more fun to have visitors play hunt the sub :-)
    I'm not sure where the sub is in this short video... :-/



    And actually, these are even more ludicrous. When they get going it looks like they might have a SECA up their ass...


    And a Roll Royce Merlin Engine to run them, what do you think Alan.
  • AlanAlan
    Here you are Col, a Bentley with a Merlin (well, almost - an meteor) engine.

    image

    That should do the job!
  • quickiequickie

    Has the beast set your curtains on fire yet Ben ?  :-)
  • PACPAC
    Cracking good amplifiers there Ben.  I hope that you get many years enjoyment from them.  Still waiting on the doping compound for the speakers, and you'll have the Goodwoods back I'm hoping in the not too distant future;-)
  • DocfosterDocfoster

    Has the beast set your curtains on fire yet Ben ?  :-)
    :-)
    No. Altho the blinds are starting to look scorched... ;-)
  • DocfosterDocfoster
    Cracking good amplifiers there Ben.  I hope that you get many years enjoyment from them.  Still waiting on the doping compound for the speakers, and you'll have the Goodwoods back I'm hoping in the not too distant future;-)
    That'll be the litmus test...!
    Can't wait. :-)
    (Hopefully by end of week...?)
  • PACPAC
    Guess what's just arrived Ben?
  • DocfosterDocfoster
    Roll a fat one and light that blunt!
    Paul's dope is here. :-) :-) :-)
  • sovereignsovereign
    Roll a fat one and light that blunt!
    Paul's dope is here. :-) :-) :-)
    Takes me back a few years, I'll be round with some munchies

  • DocfosterDocfoster
    Roll a fat one and light that blunt!
    Paul's dope is here. :-) :-) :-)
    Takes me back a few years, I'll be round with some munchies

    And dude, bring a wide open mind... It's all going fractal over here...
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