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Tom's Cherry Bomb

June 26th, 2019, 3:44 pm

Tom paid me a visit today to play with his toys in my system. A $95 D.A.C. and his Cherry Bomb.

Tom's Cherry Bomb MOSFet S.E.T. amp. was very surprising considering it was solid-state (UGH!). It only provides 15-watts/channel, but with efficient horns that is not an issue.

Having said that -- it and my Altecs got along beautifully. It had the musicality and slam of tubes without the issues associated with capacitor and transformer coupling. It was 100% DC coupled all the way.

It did not have -- by a long shot -- the irritating solid-state edge -- yet it had the transparency and detail one would expect from hi-end audio without the hard edgy quality I have come to associate with solid-state. The little beast served the music.

The problem with the Cherry Bomb is that it is a one-of-a-kind amp. and not a product one can buy.

The $95 D.A.C. was a remarkable surprise for both of us and competitive with my "He-Man" Sonic Frontiers D.A.C. Now this piece of kit can be purchased. Contact Tom with regards to where on can obtain one.

Re: Tom's Cherry Bomb

June 26th, 2019, 4:37 pm

The DAC is the Khadas Tone Board. It comes in assembled board form including mounted connectors. It has gotten rave reviews but since I'm using my eggs tri-amped this was the first time I heard it. Very good indeed and a steal for $93 plus around $17 for a housing. Here are some links:

https://www.khadas.com/tone

https://www.boxenclosures.com/product/bex-series-2/

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/foru ... -dac.4823/

Re: Tom's Cherry Bomb

June 26th, 2019, 8:15 pm

SoundMods wrote:Tom paid me a visit today to play with his toys in my system. A $95 D.A.C. and his Cherry Bomb.

Tom's Cherry Bomb MOSFet S.E.T. amp. was very surprising considering it was solid-state (UGH!). It only provides 15-watts/channel, but with efficient horns that is not an issue.

Having said that -- it and my Altecs got along beautifully. It had the musicality and slam of tubes without the issues associated with capacitor and transformer coupling. It was 100% DC coupled all the way.

It did not have -- by a long shot -- the irritating solid-state edge -- yet it had the transparency and detail one would expect from hi-end audio without the hard edgy quality I have come to associate with solid-state. The little beast served the music.

The problem with the Cherry Bomb is that it is a one-of-a-kind amp. and not a product one can buy.

The $95 D.A.C. was a remarkable surprise for both of us and competitive with my "He-Man" Sonic Frontiers D.A.C. Now this piece of kit can be purchased. Contact Tom with regards to where on can obtain one.


Thanks or the kind words. One minor correction. The FETs used in the amp are not MOSFETs, but rather VFETS. MOSFETs have the similar characteristics to pentodes while the VFETs behave like triodes. I'm including characteristic curves of the VFET, an 845 and a pentode for comparison.
Attachments
Yamaha 2SK77 VFET #2.jpg
845 ratio 48 no offset.jpg
Pentode.jpg
Pentode.jpg (52.55 KiB) Viewed 7112 times

Re: Tom's Cherry Bomb

June 27th, 2019, 10:24 am

SoundMods wrote:Tom paid me a visit today to play with his toys in my system. A $95 D.A.C. and his Cherry Bomb.....

....The problem with the Cherry Bomb is that it is a one-of-a-kind amp. and not a product one can buy.

Better be careful Walt, you've let the camel get his nose inside your tent. :-) You don't have to worry about the Cherry Bomb being a one off because it's audibly indistinguishable from his $300 QSC pro amplifier in a double blind test. ;-)

Re: Tom's Cherry Bomb

June 27th, 2019, 11:32 am

Jim G wrote:
SoundMods wrote:Tom paid me a visit today to play with his toys in my system. A $95 D.A.C. and his Cherry Bomb.....

....The problem with the Cherry Bomb is that it is a one-of-a-kind amp. and not a product one can buy.

Better be careful Walt, you've let the camel get his nose inside your tent. :-) You don't have to worry about the Cherry Bomb being a one off because it's audibly indistinguishable from his $300 QSC pro amplifier in a double blind test. ;-)


If only. Auditions like that depend a lot on the entire signal path. A system can mask the differences to the point where one is convinced there are no differences. Having said that -- the QSC is a typical class-AB push-pull bi-polar transistor amp. The Cherry Bomb is a single-ended class-A V-FET amp. with a minimal signal path and overdone power supply. For the Cherry Bomb to survive the audition through my system with accolades rather than negative criticism is major. I have prejudice regarding solid-state anything based on past experience. That experience was solid-state until that moment of truth experience with tubes (ca. 1990s) . I actually went into the audition hoping the Cherry Bomb (Tom) would not be embarrassed. That was then -- this is now. I just hope Tom's hat size hasn't changed. LOL!

I also commented to Tom that his Cherry Bomb would be a great Quad ESL amp. I will add that even after a warm-up waiting to be hooked up, the Cherry Bomb had a somewhat grainy sound quality. After about an hour of processing assorted music from classical - to jazz - to "money" rock - it came on song. The grain disappeared and the Cherry Bomb took on a liquid quality with a more open mid-range. HOLY VACUUM TUBES BAT MAN!!!

And yet -- Tom doesn't use the Cherry Bomb in his own system. ???? :confusion-confused:

Re: Tom's Cherry Bomb

June 27th, 2019, 12:46 pm

The Cherry Bomb is a fascinating one off amp. The reason I don't use it is because as Jim said it is indistinguishable from the QSC amp that does not dissipate 100 watts in standby and has lots more headroom although that is unnecessary when driving the tweeter. If anyone would like to try the Cherry Bomb out in their system let me know as I do not use it on a regular basis. I'd be interested in the feedback.
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