Przem's Phase Linear 700 Series II White Oak Conversion

[laatsch55]

The book is done...now we can pack this puppy up...

 

[P.L.F.]

The book is done...now we can pack this puppy up...

I'm so happy, Lee...

THANK YOU ONCE MORE!!!

 

[laatsch55]

You're very welcome Przem, sorry it took so long...Ya might want to PM me that freight forwarder address...and do I Fed-Ex it to him and forget about the rest of the trip??

 

[P.L.F.]

You're very welcome Przem, sorry it took so long...Ya might want to PM me that freight forwarder address...and do I Fed-Ex it to him and forget about the rest of the trip??

Oh, don't be sorry Lee please... It's my pleasure to join such a great PL fans' community thanks to you!

I'll send the US virtual address in PM...

 

[laatsch55]

Przem----Fed Ex Tracking number----771546049020....Enjoy!!

 

[P.L.F.]

Przem----Fed Ex Tracking number----771546049020....Enjoy!!

Hi Lee, is the number correct? No tracking data available at Fed Ex US... Pls double check when possible. Thank you!

 

[laatsch55]

The sensors would be a dry contact off a gauge or float...

I generate those at the house Przem. I just finished loading the amp in the back of Janis pickup so she can take it to Fed Ex. They don't open till 10am and it won't register until it's scanned.

 

[P.L.F.]

I generate those at the house Przem. I just finished loading the amp in the back of Janis pickup so she can take it to Fed Ex. They don't open till 10am and it won't register until it's scanned.

Thanks a bunch, it's working now! She going back home...

 

[laatsch55]

Good deal!!

 

[P.L.F.]

home, home, sweet home...

And the baby arrived back home...

Before setting the WOPL to my main system, I'm going to run some sound tests loaded with Yamaha's S4115H. Initially DC offset when the unit was cold was: R = 0.007 VDC, L = 0.011 VDC. When I pushed the mains button the light in my house dimmed for a second - a new interesting adventure... When plugged to my interim setup with 102dB-effective Yammies, no input, amp's pots at max volume - .... dead silence!!! Nothing AT ALL. No buzzing or similar 'effects'.... Excellent!
Then with "Where Do You Think You're Going?" and "Communiqué" of Dire Straits with preamp 'at 11' I was literally blown out from the room ...!

TBC...

 

[laatsch55]

It is time to retire the cardboard box..

 

[fitz43]

And the baby arrived back home...

Before setting the WOPL to my main system, I'm going to run some sound tests loaded with Yamaha's S4115H. Initially DC offset when the unit was cold was: R = 0.007 VDC, L = 0.011 VDC. When I pushed the mains button the light in my house dimmed for a second - a new interesting adventure... When plugged to my interim setup with 102dB-effective Yammies, no input, amp's pots at max volume - .... dead silence!!! Nothing AT ALL. No buzzing or similar 'effects'.... Excellent!
Then with "Where Do You Think You're Going?" and "Communiqué" of Dire Straits with preamp 'at 11' I was literally blown out from the room ...!

TBC...

Is picture #2 an optical illusion? To me it looks like the gain controls are on top.

 

[P.L.F.]

Is picture #2 an optical illusion? To me it looks like the gain controls are on top.

Lee probably could do that too ... No, but he didn't. It's the illusion...

 

[P.L.F.]

A small bench intervention required: Lee has anticipated to me bad quality of RCA input sockets and the fact that one of them got too tight. I forgot to treat them with Deox and while plugging off the RCA cable from the left channel input, a part of it got stuck inside the socket...! (pls don't pay attention to the cable red color mark on the picture attached - reversed channel connection) That's what we call Murphy's law example... After taking out the top cover I discovered that when I was trying to turn left & right the plug to get it out, one 220k resistor got disconnected from the input copper ground plane. Too much force applied. So one RCA input had to be replaced and resistors re-soldered. Used this opportunity to swap input connections as per Lee's recent advice too.

BTW, while looking at the amp's back:

Lee, I have a question regarding the direct/normal switch. I got the amp with this switch in 'direct' position - see the last pic. It was exactly the same as per your photo here: http://forums.phxaudiotape.com/show...ear-700-Series-II-White-Oak-Conversion/page68, post no. 679. Is this correct to use 'direct' mode while listening to the music at home? Or should I apply the 'normal' position?

 

[laatsch55]

Direct mode bypasses the 1uf cap, normal mode puts it inline. The purpose of the 1uf cap is to strip any DC coming from the preamp...

 

[laatsch55]

Glad you got that fixed Przem....

 

[P.L.F.]

PL700II sound after White Oak conversion

I've promised Lee to share my personal experience with this new WOPL 1000. And here it is.

The gears used for the testing were as follows:

Sources: Meridian 500 CD transport + Meridian 566 20-bit DAC, Dual CS 460 v.4 (Dual NOS platter and the original rubber mat) with Ultra Linear Power Supply Unit

Preamplifiers: Carver C-4000 (just fully recapped and cleaned) - as the main preamp; Graham Slee Project ERA GOLD V + PSU1 - as phono stage

Processors: Phase Linear 1200 II RTA, Phase Linear 1100 II Parametric Equalizer (however bypassed for most tests)

Power amplifier: WOPL 1000 built by Lee ...

Loudspeakers: JBL Ti 5000 with crossovers professional upgrade by Acoustic LAB and HF extension with Bohlender Graebener Neo3-PDRW Planar Tweeters

Signal wires: all RCA type by DNM Reson Single Solid Core

Speaker wires - bi-wiring: LF with Monster Cable Z2 Reference and MF/HF with DNM Reson Speaker Dual Solid Core cables

Power supply:
PS AUDIO Duet Power Center connected with house power box through dedicated shielded OFC 6N wires, where:
- zone 1 powers the WOPL Amp
- zone 2 powers all other sources, processors and preamps + PS AUDIO noise harvester x2.
Power cables used: PS AUDIO, ENERR and FURUTECH.

Remark - above may look as over-investment, however my house is located in a small village where local energy supply network adds surcharges definitely too often. And on top, in about 2km distance, there is one of Warsaw airport marker beacons giving strong HF interference to PS and RCA signal cables. That is why the whole route of 240VAC from underground connecting point at the house electric power distribution box to my audio system goes end to end through high class shielded wires.

I’ve planned to do some sound testing earlier but it was not easy - my kids caught a bad cold and staying home and there was always something more important to do... This weekend however I found some free time.

I picked a few high quality CD's and one vinyl LP and started listening session. These were my favorite choice:

• Best Of Chesky Classics & Jazz & Audiophile Test Disc, Vol. 2
• Carver C4000 calibration CD
• Eternal, Branford Marsalis, CD (track 1: The Ruby And The Pearl)
• Art of Ballad, Best of Mapleshade, HD recorded CD (track 1: Ballad for Frederick; track 9: I'll Close My Eyes)
• Houses Of The Holy, Led Zeppelin, SHM CD Japanese pressing (track 7: No Quarter)
• Brothers in Arms, Dire Straits, XRCD2 Japanese pressing (track 2: Money For Nothing, track 6: Ride Across The River)
• Led Zeppelin II, SHM CD Japanese pressing (track 1: Whole Lotta Love, track 2: What Is And What Should Never Be)
• 90125, Yes, SHM CD Japanese pressing (track 1: Owner Of A Lonely Heart (track 4: Changes, track 6: Leave It)
• Amused to Death, Roger Waters, Mastersound Gold CD SBM (track 10: What God Wants Part III, track 11: Watching TV)
• The Dark Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd, 20th Anniversary remastering CD (all tracks with focus on Time and Money intro)
• Wish You Were Here, Pink Floyd, 20th Anniversary remastering CD (all tracks with focus on Welcome to the Machine)
• S&M, Metallica and San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, SHM CD Japanese pressing (track 1: The Ecstasy Of Gold - Live With The SFSO, track 2: The Call Of Ktulu - Live With The SFSO)
• Face Value, Phil Collins, Audio Fidelity 24K Gold CD (track 1: In The Air Tonight, track 5: Droned)
• Concierto, Jim Hall, Vinyl (track 4: Concierto De Aranjuez)

At first I played the two pure testing disks, from Chesky Records and Carver C4000 calibration CD. The first one is a truthteller about your system overall setup. It starts with the 'Music' part - here I picked three / four jazzy tracks. Then after all listening and technical tests, with percussion imaging, depth of image of acoustic clicker, dynamic drum test, bass resonance test, speakers height test on the list, I’ve run for general image and resolution checkup (track 47). This one is a must have sound experience. Tells you about your sound system imaging capability only within 1min 31sec... If someone tells you that two stereo speakers will never give you a perfect 3D illusion, where you head stays right in the center of zillion sounds flowing around you, just run track 47. No Carver sonic hologram feature active of course.

From Carver CD I run all the tests. The tones recorded are useful to check frequency response on both Phase Linear 1200 II RTA and with your own ears. I had a problem to hear 15kHz single test and wondered if I'm getting that old... But it was caused by poor quality of the Carver Calibration CD bought on ebay. I actually heard up to about 18kHz when applying modulated signals throughout the hearable frequency spectrum. Imaging tests may be skipped from that disc if the setup was already correct, so one could jump to track 13 directly to listed to spacial recordings. The sonic hologram on some CD's works very convincing, sometimes doesn’t - depending on the amount of processing done in recording studios. Older LP’s sound is becoming really spacial when this function is active. Your choice to play with it or not....

So after more technical sound checkup my house became the audiophile’s listening room with no limits for one night. The outcome? Well I could write a lot about new emotions that Lee’s job of converting my old PL700 Series II into next century gear gave me. But I’m not good in telling stories in audiophile slang. To me this upgrade gave simply lots of sounds which I didn’t hear before! I enjoyed very detailed yet powerful sound experience with clearly wider soundstage than before, fast dynamics’ changes and much extended low end. I found WOPL 1000 as almost a volcano of dynamics without a sacrifice of all the colors and sound effects that give you listening pleasure and joy. Regardless whether I took jazz, rock or metal music this amplifier handled the program extremely well and engaging to me as the listener. When I was listening to Time of Pink Floyd, the sound clarity, its bass base and headroom sent cold chills down my spine and backward… Listening to live recording of Metallica with San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, when the Carver C4000 preamp volume pot faced 12 o’clock, was like a suicider’s jump to the middle of audience area during that concert with shaking your body low end… And after Whole Lotta Love - OMG! - I had tears in my eyes. The sound of Page guitar riff was sharp as a knife, one should watch out of not being cut and get bleeding… Later on I found the percussion of Phil Collins in In The Air Tonight as tight, totally controlled and earth-quaking… Yeah, it was SOMETHING… Then I changed the mood towards jazz. Not too much saying - there were just 3 CD tracks that I’ve listened to: The Ruby And The Pearl of Bandford Marsalis and Ballad for Frederick as well as I'll Close My Eyes from Art of Ballad, Best of Mapleshade. What more can I say? These are important for me tracks and sonically quite demanding too. The SS WOPL played this time mellow-like with amazing clarity, convincing instruments imaging and again with lots of headroom… It was reconfirmed also while listening to the Jim Hall’s LP Concierto - truly classy sound feast!!!

Lee, thank you Buddy for all these and next good emotions!

 

[laatsch55]

WOW!! That's quite an evaluation..and your welcome....that's why we do it!!

 

[P.L.F.]

Yes Lee, I'm having a great time now while listening to my music.... Had to share it a bit...

BTW, when ordering with Joe the backplane and the driver boards, are the wires already in (or included in the package)? Is the rev.C driver PCB compatible with backplanes for PL700 fully comp?

 

[laatsch55]

NO and No....