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PostPosted: March 17th, 2021, 9:54 am 
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Joined: March 17th, 2021, 9:46 am
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Hey!

My name is Justin and I run a little studio in New Albany, IN (across the river from Louisville) called Mud Hill Music.

Very fortunate to own and use the center section of The Who's Ramport Helios console into a 16 track 3M M56

I drive my Auratone 5Cs with a GEC 912+ amplifier that I converted to stereo using a pair of Dynaco Z-565 OPTs.

Looking to build TWO pair of Williamson amps to biamp my Tannoys and subs.

Love this site and looking forward to learning from you guys. Peace,

Justin


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PostPosted: March 17th, 2021, 10:16 am 
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Joined: July 24th, 2015, 4:17 pm
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Location: Parkville, Maryland
Shaffer wrote:
Hey!

My name is Justin and I run a little studio in New Albany, IN (across the river from Louisville) called Mud Hill Music.

Very fortunate to own and use the center section of The Who's Ramport Helios console into a 16 track 3M M56

I drive my Auratone 5Cs with a GEC 912+ amplifier that I converted to stereo using a pair of Dynaco Z-565 OPTs.

Looking to build TWO pair of Williamson amps to biamp my Tannoys and subs.

Love this site and looking forward to learning from you guys. Peace,

Justin

Welcome to the audio "nut farm!" :crazy: I looked up your mixing desk and noted that the gain blocks were discrete op-amps (nice!) but was shocked to see the signal-path littered with electrolytic capacitors.
You could do yourself a service and improve recording quality substantially by a global upgrade to polycarbonate and/or polypropylene capacitors wherever possible and maybe even signal-path resistors should be addressed.
Where space prohibits the physically large film caps the electrolytics could be replaced with electrolytic caps that have hi-end audio "chops."
Otherwise it appears to be a well constructed mixing desk.

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PostPosted: March 17th, 2021, 10:43 am 
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Joined: March 17th, 2021, 9:46 am
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SoundMods wrote:
Shaffer wrote:
Hey!

My name is Justin and I run a little studio in New Albany, IN (across the river from Louisville) called Mud Hill Music.

Very fortunate to own and use the center section of The Who's Ramport Helios console into a 16 track 3M M56

I drive my Auratone 5Cs with a GEC 912+ amplifier that I converted to stereo using a pair of Dynaco Z-565 OPTs.

Looking to build TWO pair of Williamson amps to biamp my Tannoys and subs.

Love this site and looking forward to learning from you guys. Peace,

Justin

Welcome to the audio "nut farm!" :crazy: I looked up your mixing desk and noted that the gain blocks were discrete op-amps (nice!) but was shocked to see the signal-path littered with electrolytic capacitors.
You could do yourself a service and improve recording quality substantially by a global upgrade to polycarbonate and/or polypropylene capacitors wherever possible and maybe even signal-path resistors should be addressed.
Where space prohibits the physically large film caps the electrolytics could be replaced with electrolytic caps that have hi-end audio "chops."
Otherwise it appears to be a well constructed mixing desk.


Thanks so much and thanks for the advice! Those 'lyrics are mostly in the 100uF and above range... I'm not sure if and where lower values of film caps will be viable, but I'll look into it. There may be a couple locations in each channel where that's a viable and meaningful upgrade. I'll consult with the few surviving Helios experts.

As you probably well know, there are some divergent philosophies between pro audio guys and hifi guys. I'm somewhere in the middle as you can probably deduce from the Williamson amps, etc (where most pro audio guys would use 400W Brystons... not that there's anything wrong with that)

That said, I appreciate the input. Peace,

Justin


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PostPosted: March 17th, 2021, 10:50 am 
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Joined: February 28th, 2013, 3:31 pm
Posts: 1780
Welcome and don't worry about the absolutely correct technology. Any technology if done right gives great results.

Tom


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PostPosted: March 17th, 2021, 11:30 am 
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Joined: January 15th, 2015, 7:19 am
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Location: Baltimore MD
Your ears, heart, and brain is what counts, and what you had for dinner last night


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PostPosted: March 17th, 2021, 11:35 am 
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Joined: February 28th, 2013, 1:19 pm
Posts: 914
Welcome.

As far as electrolytic caps in a low voltage signal path, ELNA Silmic II series capacitors are very well regarded for audio, though some prefer Nichicon Muse, Audio Note Kaisei. If you need 100uF+ for high voltage power, there are interesting new options with DC Link polypropylene capacitors available in large sizes and voltage ratings (even up to 1200V) to avoid use of electrolytics or big motor-run oil filled polypropylene capacitors.

David


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PostPosted: March 18th, 2021, 11:09 am 
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Joined: July 24th, 2015, 4:17 pm
Posts: 1701
Location: Parkville, Maryland
Thanks so much and thanks for the advice! Those 'lyrics are mostly in the 100uF and above range... I'm not sure if and where lower values of film caps will be viable, but I'll look into it. There may be a couple locations in each channel where that's a viable and meaningful upgrade. I'll consult with the few surviving Helios experts.

As you probably well know, there are some divergent philosophies between pro audio guys and hifi guys. I'm somewhere in the middle as you can probably deduce from the Williamson amps, etc (where most pro audio guys would use 400W Brystons... not that there's anything wrong with that)

That said, I appreciate the input. Peace,

Justin[/quote]
I didn't have the time to pursue this thread further, but this is where I am coming from. I have no clue why the designer of your mixing desk chose such large-value coupling caps in the first place not to mention using aluminum electrolytics.
But let's say, for one example, the output coupler of one stage is 100-ufd and the load provided by the next stage is only 50-kOhms. Replacing that 100-ufd beast with a high quality 2-ufd film cap (preferably polycarbonate for not only sound quality but form factor) that gain block will be good down to 1.5-Hz. Far below what the tape medium can even deal with. With only 0.5-ufd you are still down in the bottom at 7-hz. Should you wish to limit the low-pass function to help with tape head-room then you could be more aggressive. If you wish a lower limit of only 30-Hz. then we are talking about a mere 0.1-ufd.

Making those changes could dramatically improve the overall sound quality of your work product. Now to be clear I am talking only about inter-stage and output coupling capacitors, and not power-supply support.

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PostPosted: March 18th, 2021, 12:08 pm 
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Joined: February 19th, 2017, 9:43 am
Posts: 530
Hey Justin,

Welcome! I usually visit Louisville every spring with a group I belong to to pick bourbon barrels, but I'm skipping this year. Maybe next year, we'll see. If I do go I'll let you know to see if you have any time to get together.

Dave

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PostPosted: March 18th, 2021, 12:45 pm 
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Joined: March 17th, 2021, 9:46 am
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Thank you for all the well-wishes. This is the most welcoming board I think I've ever been to. Can't believe it took me so long and glad to be part of it :) Here's to hoping I can bring something valuable to the table as I learn from you guys!

And anyone visiting Louisville is welcome to stop by the studio for some listening and coffee or bourbon :)


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