Here we go. It's just under where the screw driver is pointing. You can see the wires that used to connect it hanging off the board. Before being removed, C4 looked exactly like the little orange-yellow capacitor that's still next to where it used to be (the one immediately above the LED). As I say, I just ripped out C4 with a pointy knife. It half came out and half disintegrated (I didn't take the board out). All fine, though as I say, probably not the "Youtube tutorial" way of doing it...
Iv taken c4 out and the amp still works so must have done something right Haven't had it up Lound yet but dose seem nicer at the top end. Still has awesome bass and the lumley's have a good deep bass so with the seca it's fantastic and it hits you and travels through the house.
Relieved to read that you and the amp survived the procedure. (I was beginning to worry whether my professional liability insurance as an educational consultant would cover injury to third parties resulting from my suggesting how electrical components should be hacked out of high-current circuits with kitchen knives.) Looking forward to reading your impressions when you've had the chance to let the amp stretch its legs a bit...
Really impressed with the amp this morning. My system is as spot-on as I've ever heard it. The One4 is carrying off that rare trick of presenting a sound that's realistically full bodied in tone, but also realistically separated spatially. "Sweet guts" indeed Mr. Wonfor... This is a good piece of work by One4 industries. For a £500 price tag I'm not aware of any serious competition (albeit a kit). This morning, all the differences from the TOCA now sound like improvements. The only remaining test is to use it for a movie. I absolutely love the way the TOCA presents dialogue from Bluray / hi-res soundtracks. Previously I had heard the One4 to be slightly less full-bodied / realistic with this. We'll see over the weekend... :-)
Colin, what can you explain about: 1. Why removing that tiny little C4 has pushed on the performance so far (to my ears anyway)...(what do capacitors do to the sound)? And; 2. Why was it there in the first place?
They look the business. Beautifully made, and even though I don't know how they work / are designed, they look aesthetically fascinating. Most importantly I'm experiencing a great keenness to get them fitted. :-)
I'm about to expose my embarrassing ignorance here, but I think I may have understood what they do tho...!
In my head, I was expected to see 2 sets of terminals: one power in (from the toroids?); the other power out (to the existing amp boards). But I notice they have 4(?) sets: From left to right and top to bottom... 1. Sp terminals: + and - 2. +V, GND, GND, -V 3. dynpsu, +cnt, gnd, gnd 4. AC1 GND AC2
So, what I'd like to know is... How to these beautifully made boards connect to the yellow orange red and black wires flowing from the toroids and; How to they connect to the amp boards (via the corresponding AC (yellow), 0V (orange), 0V (read), AC (black) terminals).
What are all the terminals for? I'm guessing sp + and - is speakers...?
Great. Many thanks Colin. That diagram is massively helpful. Looks like I'll be able to manage that. =D> I hadn't realised that once the PSU fed the SECA, the SECA fed the speaker signal back via the PSU! I won't even ask what that's all about! @-)
Thanks for the speaker cable runs too. I notice one run is white, the other black. What's the story there...?
Okeydokey... Arcam are telling me that Class G is the "ultimate amplifier technology". Also explaining how it's intermitent contribution means that it doesn't produce much heat, answering why your PSU doesn't need massive heatsinking...
That was hard work! Though thoroughly enjoyable. :-) Never stripped and soldered up the ends of so many wires in my life...!
Also I made a meal of drilling the holes to secure the PSU boards. All good now. Quite pleased with it actually... (Quickiesque cable ties used on some of the speaker signal cables... B-) )
Ooo! And I got an eletric shock. \:D/ So I assume I get extra brownie points for that...? During the work the mains fuse safety guard that Colin gave me fell off (there's an irony somewhere in this tory (edit: story)...). I remembered to put it back on, just after I took the photo below. Obviously I flicked the switch to off, but, Idiot that I am, I forgot that the fuse is before the switch in the supply chain and got an interesting split second blast into my index finger. It didn't go anywhere (rubber shoes...?) (would it have been only 120V due to the Sov's balanced supply that was feeding it at the time...? One for the techies amongst you).
James... I've been listening for 15 minutes. First thing I noticed was that things sounded smoother. Silky silky smooth (as in realistic, like real sounds are)! Which surprised me, as I already considered the solo-SECA version to be very smooth. Second thing I noticed was more separation between instruments. But as I've listened I'd say it goes beyond this, there's almost more separation within instruments - i.e. the different sounds that make up a single instrument are presented with quite delightful realism (e.g. the woodiness of a bass note, and the impact of a bass note, and the depth of a bass note are all in clearer definition). Very good indeed that. Hard to know whether bass is louder or deeper as I'm so struck by the improvement to the quality of the bass. Very nice indeed. Third is that there is more dynamic impact from split second to split second. More difference between momentary quiets and louds. Impacts (drum strikes, guitar strums, etc.,...) really do explode. Whether related to that last point...I'm listening at a quieter level than I normally do. The sound was "too loud" with volume at my usual level. This may be coincidence or due to something else. Not sure.
Overall, definitely worth the addition. Everything simply sounds even "righter", and it was sounded pretty right before. For £190 assembled, these boards are great. :-) Fun to put together too. I'm averagely handy with things, but I am absolutely no electrical engineer. If you can drill a wall for a shelf, fit a new ceiling pendant for a light, and post occasional question for help on this forum, you can have a good go at these. And to clarify, all my work here was based around boards that Colin has already assembled. I simply put everything together in the case. Obviously building the boards themselves (as many here have done) is a different kettle of fish (I imagine).
Comments
It's very easy. Simply ripped mine out with a knife. (Not sure if that's the recommended method.)
Spot the bongos! Another frustrated percussionist here (mainly kit), haven't played in, phewwwwwwwww, a long long time
Have a couple of congas in the loft.
It's just under where the screw driver is pointing. You can see the wires that used to connect it hanging off the board. Before being removed, C4 looked exactly like the little orange-yellow capacitor that's still next to where it used to be (the one immediately above the LED).
As I say, I just ripped out C4 with a pointy knife. It half came out and half disintegrated (I didn't take the board out). All fine, though as I say, probably not the "Youtube tutorial" way of doing it...
Let's hope you get back on your feet soon Aswell Colin.
Haven't had it up Lound yet but dose seem nicer at the top end. Still has awesome bass and the lumley's have a good deep bass so with the seca it's fantastic and it hits you and travels through the house.
(I was beginning to worry whether my professional liability insurance as an educational consultant would cover injury to third parties resulting from my suggesting how electrical components should be hacked out of high-current circuits with kitchen knives.)
Looking forward to reading your impressions when you've had the chance to let the amp stretch its legs a bit...
My system is as spot-on as I've ever heard it. The One4 is carrying off that rare trick of presenting a sound that's realistically full bodied in tone, but also realistically separated spatially. "Sweet guts" indeed Mr. Wonfor... This is a good piece of work by One4 industries. For a £500 price tag I'm not aware of any serious competition (albeit a kit).
This morning, all the differences from the TOCA now sound like improvements. The only remaining test is to use it for a movie. I absolutely love the way the TOCA presents dialogue from Bluray / hi-res soundtracks. Previously I had heard the One4 to be slightly less full-bodied / realistic with this. We'll see over the weekend... :-)
Colin, what can you explain about:
1. Why removing that tiny little C4 has pushed on the performance so far (to my ears anyway)...(what do capacitors do to the sound)? And;
2. Why was it there in the first place?
I'll have you know that I spend considerable amounts of most days eroding democracy and antagonising my neighbours.
I made reference to that merely for the purposes of the joke.
X_X
We all know how much Colin enjoys electric transportation...
>:D<
Smooth, but clear.
Incisive but gentle.
Bing-bang-bosh, but honest.
Love it.
^:)^
They look the business. Beautifully made, and even though I don't know how they work / are designed, they look aesthetically fascinating.
Most importantly I'm experiencing a great keenness to get them fitted. :-)
I'm about to expose my embarrassing ignorance here, but I think I may have understood what they do tho...!
In my head, I was expected to see 2 sets of terminals: one power in (from the toroids?); the other power out (to the existing amp boards).
But I notice they have 4(?) sets:
From left to right and top to bottom...
1. Sp terminals: + and -
2. +V, GND, GND, -V
3. dynpsu, +cnt, gnd, gnd
4. AC1 GND AC2
So, what I'd like to know is...
How to these beautifully made boards connect to the yellow orange red and black wires flowing from the toroids and;
How to they connect to the amp boards (via the corresponding AC (yellow), 0V (orange), 0V (read), AC (black) terminals).
What are all the terminals for? I'm guessing sp + and - is speakers...?
Many thanks Colin. That diagram is massively helpful. Looks like I'll be able to manage that. =D>
I hadn't realised that once the PSU fed the SECA, the SECA fed the speaker signal back via the PSU!
I won't even ask what that's all about!
@-)
Thanks for the speaker cable runs too.
I notice one run is white, the other black. What's the story there...?
X_X
But... I will certainly look into it now. Thank you!
^:)^
Arcam are telling me that Class G is the "ultimate amplifier technology". Also explaining how it's intermitent contribution means that it doesn't produce much heat, answering why your PSU doesn't need massive heatsinking...
Things just rattling around in there at the moment, so need to screw everything down before I have a proper listen!
Thanks again Col'!
Never stripped and soldered up the ends of so many wires in my life...!
Also I made a meal of drilling the holes to secure the PSU boards. All good now. Quite pleased with it actually... (Quickiesque cable ties used on some of the speaker signal cables... B-) )
Ooo! And I got an eletric shock. \:D/ So I assume I get extra brownie points for that...? During the work the mains fuse safety guard that Colin gave me fell off (there's an irony somewhere in this tory (edit: story)...). I remembered to put it back on, just after I took the photo below. Obviously I flicked the switch to off, but, Idiot that I am, I forgot that the fuse is before the switch in the supply chain and got an interesting split second blast into my index finger. It didn't go anywhere (rubber shoes...?) (would it have been only 120V due to the Sov's balanced supply that was feeding it at the time...? One for the techies amongst you).
James... I've been listening for 15 minutes.
First thing I noticed was that things sounded smoother. Silky silky smooth (as in realistic, like real sounds are)! Which surprised me, as I already considered the solo-SECA version to be very smooth.
Second thing I noticed was more separation between instruments. But as I've listened I'd say it goes beyond this, there's almost more separation within instruments - i.e. the different sounds that make up a single instrument are presented with quite delightful realism (e.g. the woodiness of a bass note, and the impact of a bass note, and the depth of a bass note are all in clearer definition). Very good indeed that. Hard to know whether bass is louder or deeper as I'm so struck by the improvement to the quality of the bass. Very nice indeed.
Third is that there is more dynamic impact from split second to split second. More difference between momentary quiets and louds. Impacts (drum strikes, guitar strums, etc.,...) really do explode.
Whether related to that last point...I'm listening at a quieter level than I normally do. The sound was "too loud" with volume at my usual level. This may be coincidence or due to something else. Not sure.
Overall, definitely worth the addition. Everything simply sounds even "righter", and it was sounded pretty right before.
For £190 assembled, these boards are great. :-)
Fun to put together too. I'm averagely handy with things, but I am absolutely no electrical engineer. If you can drill a wall for a shelf, fit a new ceiling pendant for a light, and post occasional question for help on this forum, you can have a good go at these. And to clarify, all my work here was based around boards that Colin has already assembled. I simply put everything together in the case. Obviously building the boards themselves (as many here have done) is a different kettle of fish (I imagine).
Top job Mr. Wonfor. Top top job.
Interesting...
:x
<:-P
1. Which Tory?
2. How's the shape of percussive events(tm)? :-)
Thanks for the proof read... ;-)
^:)^