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Last week when I was moving my Electrocomapniet ECP-1 around after I reconnected to the new SUT, I did not make sure (stupid me) that one of the temporary mods I did was still ok (AC wiring from the power transformer wall wart unit). Well I plugged the ECP-1 phono preamp in and within a few minutes I started to smell something like a component burning. I shut everything down. Traced the smell down to the power transformer on the Phono Preamp. Mind you, it had been working connected like this for years flawlessly until I made that mistake last week.
Well, it turned out to be that the secondary wires that I had soldered to the PCB moved when I was moving the unit around and shorted to one another. I had some shrink tubing around the exposed wire but somehow it moved and the two wire were touching. I opened up the power transformer casing it stunk bad and I checked the secondary wiring disconnected from the Phono preamp, it had zero volts so the transformer was gone.
Check the rest of the components in the power supply section and everything was fine. So I went to the Antek website and ordered a power transformer that was at the same voltage but with a little over double the current output of the original. There is a mod like this out there on the web for sale for these ECP-1 units.
Well this disaster has a silver lining! The new Antek transformer came in on Thursday, and on Friday I got to work on making a new proper cable/connectors for the new transformer and ECP-1. After I finished and checked to make sure everything on the transformer side and output were fine, connected the ECP-1 up to the power transformer and powered it up. Everything lit up (LED's) inside of the ECP-1 and was fine. I checked the outputs of the ECP-1 with a scope and all was fine! let it run just by itself for a few hours and it passed the smoke test! yes!
Hooked the ECP-1 back into the system and all was dead quiet (A Good quiet). let it warm up and started playing tunes, this new transformer is awesome and the unit sound way better than before the accident. Listened to music for about 5 hours on Friday and yesterday, this ECP-1 is in another league now with everything more controlled and spaced out better than before. Still a little bass shy but that would come as the unit breaks in.
As of this Morning (Sunday) the ECP-1 sounds way better than yesterday and keeps getting better. The bass is coming into it's own and sound defined and deep. Mids are sweeter than before and the highs are not as tizzy as before but more natural with good decay. All instruments are seperate better than before and there is more depth and wider sound stage now. It reminds me like when you put a bigger better power transformer in an amplifier that didn't have a proper size transformer and everything is better with more authority and less strain. What a better transformer can do for an already nice sounding Phono preamp.
I know this will get better as the hours go by, so I will have an update on this coming Friday.
I'm really happy with this new power transformer and what it has done to the ECP-1. It's sounds really nice and is getting better by the hour/s.
Follow Ups:
"Bass is the place..the rest is filigree and lace" Doug Sax
...Where they got a "jaw dropper" improvement by using a transformer 100 times larger than necessary in a preamp (link below), your speculation about a "better transformer" may be correct.
Their eventual conclusion was the lower secondary impedance of the larger power transformer which caused the improvement they heard
.
630mA compared to the original of 250mA. I could have went higher but I just wanted to see how this new output would sound first. I am really liking what I'm hearing with the new Antek transformer. Everything is just more from that of the original transformer. It just way better!
....about 15 years ago someone here recommended replacing transformers in a tube amp with the same output voltage but higher current, maybe 2 to 3 times as much. I used 2 new Hammonds.
I had 2 monoblocks running some Altec 604's and 515's and the improvement was quite noticeable. It's NOT imaginary.
Cheers!
"Bass is the place..the rest is filigree and lace" Doug Sax
...I will post the link to the article where Paul McGowan talks about Stan Warren's "discovery", and explanation.
The objectivists start to clam voodoo, until the explanation of lower secondary impedance is given. I've always built my power supplies with larger than necessary (for the circuit to function) transformers after reading that.
Do you still own your 604s?
I sold them here on the Trader to someone setting up a new Sterling Sound Mastering facility in Teaneck NJ. They wisely picked them up to avoid any shipping damage.
I kept the Onken type cabs and loaded them first with the 515's and now University C15w's with new surrounds. They are both about the same for sub use down to ~25hz. I run 3 subs and 2 woofers for my Quads, all barely breathing but giving a superb performance. I am quite crazy and devoted.
Long live AA.
"Bass is the place..the rest is filigree and lace" Doug Sax
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