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Thanks to Dan Donovan aka fishy for helping me fix the Bugle Pro I was attempting to build. I made mistakes which Dan not only fixed but overreached by shielding and dressing the signal wires, reversing the caps and regulators, even shieldeds some of the coupling caps where they are soldered to board. Thanks muchly, amigo.I am posting an edited email I sent to Dan earlier:
Listening: EGADS! It is far smoother and effortless than the Cambridge
540p by leagues. Leading transients are attacked with ease and are
fuller. The sound is actually fuller all around which was a complaint
against the 540p, it being thin. Detail is amazing when listening to a
mono 2eye columbia of Shostokovich's Cello concerto w/ Ormandy.
The top end is amazingly clear and more detailed than before. Bass is fuller with some slam.Surface noise is handled as an after-thought rather than an irritant
that it was with the 540p. There was always something in the 540p that
irritated, always something. This Bugle is more than just
non-irritating, it is soothing. There is an approach to a sense of
presence. Only an approach that might be made palpable with the Denon
DL-103 or another low output MC. But with the HOMC DL-160 this preamp
gives a much higher level of presence to everything.I left the output opamp as slotted so I can swap opamps. There are one or two opamps that
are said to have valve/tubelike qualities I will try. At the moment,
though, the preamp seems very smooth without any edge to it. No "grain",
as they say. And not cold [solid state] at all. There is a warmth to it...
especially coming from the 540p I suppose.I guess coming from an entry level Cambridge 540p my reaction to this
amp is pedestrian, but I think I can live with the Bugle for a good long time.
I guess the next step up may have to be the Cornet.
Follow Ups:
O'Malley....Is the Hagerman that tough to build on your own, or is the lack of any good manual or procedure the issue?
Let me know since I am thinking about a Cornet half kit....but am worried it is beyond my ability to complete the thing on my own.
Tubes - I've built both the cornet II and clarinet and they're great. For anybody with a basic understanding of soldering and tube electronics construction/operation the half-kits are a foolproof no-brainer. You need to know which end of electolytics/diodes is which (easy)... and you probably should know how to measure B+, etc., safely, too, as well as basic safety procedures for working on tube equipment (danger - High Voltages!).Beyond the electronics is the chassis construction. This was far more time-consuming for me than soldering things up but it can be done relatively cheaply (Aluminum Hammond chassis/hole saws/files/hammertone paint is what I did). Judging from the plinths you are building this wouldn't be much of a problem for you...
that's the issue.this was my first electronic DIY. I never soldered a board before and what with all the frontal lobe damage ....
I did some simple things wrong like putting the caps in backwards, putting the regulators in wrong. I figured out what the problems were with the help from AudioCirlce but when I realized the mistakes I made I copped a plea and asked Dan to help me out.
In other words, I could have finished it but I gave up on it after seeing all the work yet to go. Lazy, and still not sure of myself, wanting the thing run to finish.
The caps was the most stupid mistake. not knowing that diodes are +/-, stupid again. Dan suggested I get a simple ratshack electronic 101 book, which would have served me well starting out.
Seeing how Dan worked out the mistakes I made is instructive, for an idiot that is, and I will buy that book and keep 'trying' to build things.
But you are dauntless. Anyway, with some help from folks here you will get the thing finished. If you are thinking about doing it then it is worth following thru. It gives you the ability to work on your equipment and upgrade your amp, say, without having to resort to $$$ for someone else to do it. I will get around to destroying all my equipment soon and really look forward to the experience. :-)
Heck I have paid more for going out on the town and had less to enjoy the day after.....Cornet half kit is just 99 bucks for the board. I just wonder how much is provided to get the thing to the point I can solder and enjoy.....
Cheers!
nothing else is provided except the board.
the chassis and all components have to outsourced from DIGIKEY and say Hammond for the case.the thing is, though, that you can take your time and budget the building in phases. Buy the board, then a bunch of compenents from here and there, etc. Could take onths to get finished but when done ...
This is true. I actually rebuilt mine a few times since I kept finding better parts to try. I'm real good at unsoldering now. I still remember how great is sounded in totally stock configuration. I learned a great deal with each and every component upgrade, it's all fun. My Cornet is the corner stone in my audio system, and it's my least expensive component by far.Hint: use the 370BX tranny.
I'm sure you've read through the AudioCircle forum and seen several fine Cornet examples, right?
-S
what with all this talk it may look like i actually know something but Dan helped me get out of the mess I made of my Bugle.But confidence is high that I can keep on ... but I am willing to stay with this Bugle for some time.
What is the 370BX? I have sort of mentally settled on the Lundahl's either alone or in kit from K&K. That kit looks like something I can actually finish without help.
I built a Cornet earlier this year and am mightily impressed. For a total of about $400 in parts and three evenings soldering I have a very impressive phono stage. Its leagues ahead of the MF X-LPS I was using - everything you said about the Bugle is true in spades. And the kit was a joy - the PCB makes it easy and the support at the Audio Circle forum was there when I needed it. I couldn't be happier with this project.
What was your source for the parts and pieces other than the board kit from Hagerman.I have an itch to try this phono section. I like the fact it uses no negative feedback and a passive RIAA filter.
I got everything from two places: Digikey for almost everything, and tubestore.com for the remainder. The Digikey order is super easy now that Hagerman has pre-loaded the parts list - its almost one-click ordering
Hagerman provides a full set of parts to fetch at DIGIKEY. There is also a template of those parts at DIGIKEY so you don't have to tediously put the oder together manually, which is a help since it removes the possibility of leaving something off the list. Buying everything from the stock list cuts down on shipping as well.BUT, you may want to buy better caps, or use different NOS tubes, or better resistors. Going that route only takes an email to Jim asking him to confirm your choices and then go for it.
The beuty in this half-kit approach is that it gives you the ability to upgrade as you build it. You are not stuck with caps you don't want to use but paid for.
So do you buy a board from one source, parts from another and get support from some underground groupie web asylum?Sounds like my kind of action!
I just worry about the gain of the Cornet.
I can buy a Jadis 9 for 5 bills and have more than the gain I need for my buffered passive preamp, or pay 400 bucks or so and have inadequate gain......
I need a bunch of gain right now for the LP to DVD-A project. These professional conversion boards are looking for 24 volts instead of the 10-15 you find in most home audio pieces.
get the board and board only from Hagerman.
the use his parts list to get stuff from digikey.
make changes at this point regarding components if you wish.
next get a chassis, aluminum enclosure from somewhere else.
next buy expensive wooden knobs and thumb your nose at everyonesupport to be had via email from Jim Hagerman or bettrer yet there is a Hagerman forum at AudioCircle. Also, right here at home.
After building two standard Bugles now for friends, I have to say I agree with your assessment of the Bugle. Even in it's most basic "non-Pro" form the Bugle is FAR AHEAD of any of the "entry level" stand alone phono preamps.It's neutral character makes it about the best thing going for under $500 IMHO.
Glad you got yours together one way or another!
--
Al G
I really love the overall circuit....looks perfect for my day to day requirements....However, I need mucho gain right now for my LP to DVD-A conversion of a friends Jazz collection. The pro audio board I am using in my PC is looking for the output from a professional mixing station--like 24 volts....and the phono sections I have been trying give me somewhere about 10-15 volts and it just sounds way thin....
Guess I need to run the home stuff to a mixing console and then into the capture card. I just like to cut down all the unnecessary connections I can. Plus professional mixing consoles rarely sound audiophile quality if you know what I mean!
I am nothing but pleased with my M-Audio Audiophile 24/96 soundcard that I use for Vinyl to CD-R transcription. It is really neutral sounding and has a very low latency so I can surf, edit other audio projects in CoolEdit and do almost anything but chew on video/DVD recoding projects while recording to my hard drive. It's easy to get my recording job done while I surf (as I would probably be surfing anyway!).
--
Al G
this is 24 bit 192khz with some awesome sound. I just need a bit more gain. My old PF C7 was up to the task. It was designed to power a passive preamp stage.The Jolida looks very intoxicating because it has huge gain by using op amps in the front end and using a pair of 12ax7's as a cathode follower.
I just wonder how 3 Dimensional a soundstage the Jolida can deliver? I suspect the Cornet will have a soundstage to die for!
you can add SUTs glued to the inside of the Cornet Chassis for 20 more dB. The above photo is a Jim Hagerman application. You can also use standoffs from the main PCB or anywhere away from the transformer.You can also just build the outboard K&K Lundahl kit for about $250.
Lunahls alknoe are under $200.Anyway, with the SUT @ 1:10 you would have 63dB. Enough for a DL-103.
This application didn't work entirely but he fixed it and is selling the finished product on audiogon for $899.
~Slainte,
The OMalley
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there is an outboard kit here at K&K: http://www.kandkaudio.com/you can get the SUTs individually as well. He is the page with the list: http://www.kandkaudio.com/transformers.html
There are debates about which one is better, LL1678 or LL9206.
It is said that LL1678 has more 'oomph' and that LL9206 has more detail. How that is supposed to relate psychoacoustically is that the LL1678 is good for Rock and LL9206 is good for Classical. Who knows? I think I will opt for LL9206 as there are many more positive comments re this tranny and when using a tranny the more detail you retain the better.
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After reading and researching I figure you can build and finish a Cornet2 (which has a much improved circuit to the standard Cornet IMHO) for about $400 in parts. This would include the case, iron, run-of-the-mill new production tubes and upgraded signal caps.
Most parts are sourced from DigiKey with the transformer from Hammond and the case from Hagerman. It is sold fully finished and assembled for $1000.I would supply my own NOS tubes from my collection for a bit of "savings".
The Bottlehead seduction uses the "dreaded" 6922 which I don't particularly care for. I have a large collection of 12a*7 types which makes the Cornet attractive to me.
Now I gotta get back to rubbing my Nickels together to stimulate their reproduction (grin)!
Dig the link and read the manual, parts list, schematic and build notes. All are available to peruse before purchasing at the provided link. There is even an order template for digikey that has all the needed parts saved to a list for easy ordering. The Cornet's instructions read pretty straight forward and if you have built a kit previously, they are certainly on par or better than a Velleman kit's instructions (which are pretty good).
--
Al GTravelin' light; It's the only way to fly - J.J. Cale
yeah but the Cornet2 has the mono switch. After using that last night I wouldn't want to do without it.
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