{"id":667,"date":"2012-07-31T11:46:17","date_gmt":"2012-07-31T15:46:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.timramich.com\/?p=667"},"modified":"2017-02-12T13:16:26","modified_gmt":"2017-02-12T18:16:26","slug":"bottlehead-crack-deconstruction-and-build-log","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.timramich.com\/?p=667","title":{"rendered":"Bottlehead Crack deconstruction and build log"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I bought a Crack off ebay some time ago, pre-built.&nbsp; It came with A\u039eON output capacitors.&nbsp; I've since replaced the RCAs with Neutrik ones and the headphone jack with a Neutrik latching jawn.&nbsp; The octal tube socket just plain sucks and the signal started becoming intermittent, so I took the amp out of commission and I am going to do a whole slew of things to it.<\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li>I ordered new tube sockets.&nbsp; They are the teflon composite type from Parts Connexion.&nbsp; They have a silver-plated crown springs inside the contacts made of beryllium copper.<\/li>\r\n\r\n<li>The capacitors came dangling.&nbsp; I just used packing tape to keep them held up.&nbsp; It works and can't easily be seen because it's clear.&nbsp; It's not ideal so I designed some brackets in SketchUp and are having them made at shapeways for $3.96 apiece.&nbsp; They made specifically for my capacitors, and you can see the slots for the zip tie.&nbsp; <a href=http:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/model\/649991\/capacitor-bracket.html target=\"_blank\">Click this sentence to visit the site and maybe purchase them.<\/a>  I don't get anything for it.&nbsp; I designed them and put them up for everybody.<\/li>\r\n\r\n<li>The headphone jack is crooked and could use some mounting work.&nbsp; I am going to look for a machinist to just nip into the top plate a tiny bit to the shape of the jack's flange so it absolutely will not move.<\/li>\r\n\r\n<li>I am replacing all hardware with torx hardware.&nbsp; I haven't found a place where I can get all the same alloy for all of the sizes I need and inexpensive.&nbsp; McMaster-Carr has them all for cheap, but in different alloys.&nbsp; Aaron's has any size you can imagine and in whatever alloy you want, but small quantities are expensive.&nbsp; I would maybe go for larger quantities if people would go in on a buy (hint hint).&nbsp; Fastenal doesn't really have anything, anymore.<\/li>\r\n\r\n<li>I am going to have the top plate and transformer end bell powder coated.<\/li>\r\n\r\n<li>I am looking to add in an audio spectrum analyzer circuit I bought some time ago.&nbsp; I would like it to be after the volume control.&nbsp; Will there be any impedance problems?<\/li>\r\n\r\n<li>I am looking to add a timed relay circuit that won't connect the headphone output at power on until a set amount of time.<\/li>\r\n\r\n<li>The Speedball upgrade will be done.&nbsp; What hardware does that kit use?&nbsp; If I have excess quantities from the bulk I order for the Crack itself it would be nice to have these used for mounting the Speedball.<\/li>\r\n\r\n<li>I am thinking about solid silver wire with cloth insulation, and not with PVC or teflon innards.&nbsp; Does anyone know of a place that sells a decent selection of sizes and colors (red, white, and black)?&nbsp; I found a place in the UK, but I would prefer somewhere in North America.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p>So far I'm impressed with the amp.&nbsp; I didn't think the sound would change that much from the on-board amp on my STX card.&nbsp; Naysayers obviously don't understand that impedance is only measured at one frequency point and high-impedance headphones like my HD-650s are quite demanding of power for bass.&nbsp; You need a healthy reserve of power to drive low frequencies. More Updates to come.<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I bought a Crack off ebay some time ago, pre-built.&nbsp; It came with A\u039eON output capacitors.&nbsp; I&#8217;ve since replaced the RCAs with Neutrik ones and the headphone jack with a Neutrik latching jawn.&nbsp; The octal tube socket just plain sucks and the signal started becoming intermittent, so I took the amp out of commission and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[13,12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.timramich.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.timramich.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.timramich.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.timramich.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.timramich.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=667"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/blog.timramich.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1193,"href":"http:\/\/blog.timramich.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667\/revisions\/1193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.timramich.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.timramich.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.timramich.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}