Introduction
I'm not sure what exactly this version of the RTP3 ought to be be called, since it isn't strictly either an RTP3C nor an RTP3D. The circuit I am working from, which was included with the Tube Preamp Cookbook in November 2005, has a few differences from the published RTP3C (dated 2000). However, it certainly isn't an RTP3D either, as I gather that the main differences between the two versions are in the external power supply, and the PSU in mine is unlikely to be the same as either of the commercial versions.
To clarify, what I describe here consists of the phono stage module described as DPH1X88-1A and the line stage DLT5X88-5A, both circuits dated 2002. I am building these more or less faithfully, with only small changes (see below), and using component values as close as possible to those in Allen's schematics. My layout is based on the RTP3C shown in the photos here, which I gather belongs to Emile Sprenger.
The power supply
There isn't much information on the contents of the external power supply box in either the RTP3D brochure or in the TPCB itself, save for the strong recommendation to use choke regulation at least for the main B+ line. This involves inserting a large value (5-10H) choke between the rectifiers and the main reservoir capacitor, and has the significant advantage of smoothing the charging pulses through the transformer and rectifiers, although it does reduce the DC voltage available. I am using a couple of Maplin's 10H, 150 ohm chokes for current regulation, which should drop a maximum of about 11V with a load of 70mA. The shunt regulators in the preamplifier need 330-350V DC at their inputs to give adequate headroom over their 300V output to the RTP. Beyond this, the PSU requirements are fairly straightforward, including +15V DC for the shunt regulator op-amp, -29V DC for the regulated bias supplies and three floating 12V DC supplies for the valve filaments.
For now, the power supply, comprising several handfuls of mains
transformers and the recommended chokes, is in a separate half-width
steel box.
Following my usual practice, the whole thing is dual-mono, with separate
transformer windings for each channel.
There are three transformers for the valve filament supplies, the two
secondaries of each of these being split between channels.
I used a 300V 180mA transformer from VVT for the main HT supply and a
10H 200mA choke, and found that I needed about 1.5uF before the choke
to get 350V at full load.
The latest RTP3D has polypropylene reservoir capacitors everywhere,
but my box doesn't have room for these, except for the couple of
microfarads right after the rectifiers; I am using 47uF 350V
electrolytics for the main reservoirs after the chokes.
I have also included a couple of 9V DC supplies for logic circuits, which I take from the spare 6.3V windings of the main HT transformers. One of these powers the mute relay, and the other could be regulated down to 5V TTL logic level if required.
The PSU is connected to the preamp through a pair of 12-core umbilical cables, which mate with Amphenol 17-way connectors on the back panel of the latter. When I was making up the umbilicals, I forgot that the preamp box doesn't have its own chassis safety earth, which is definitely not optional in a circuit where over 350V DC is present. I added a couple of grounding posts, one on each box, which are connected with a single safety earth wire (visible in the photo below right). Eventually I will re-wire the power lead to include a safety earth.
The first incarnation of the PSU buzzed (audible from the other side of the room in quiet moments), and got quite warm, even with the lid off. I suspect that this is mostly because the choke and HT transformers, each with a 100mA current rating, are only marginally adequate to the task. Allen mentions that in the RTP3D the power supply components are "over-specified", and I would expect that doubling the current rating of both transformer and choke would give some improvement, as well as reducing the level of mechanical noise. I also plan to rebuild the PSU in an enclosure matching the one containing the preamp, which should help to further quieten the system.
The enclosure
As far as possible, I am following the construction of Emile's RTP3, which I assume was a VSE kit, built along Allen's guidelines. My RTP3 is housed in an approximately 3U full-width box, built up from 3mm sheet and 8mm square rod aluminium, with a 5mm thick front panel. There are removable aluminimum chassis plates, one for each of the phono and line stages for each channel, with all components mounted on these and hardwired to the valve sockets.
My one deliberate deviation from the original is to use compliant mounting
for the plates: instead of bolting these directly to the chassis, I inserted
rubber grommets into the aluminimum sheet where the bolts would go, so the
mounting is mechanically decoupled.
This is the approach I used for my solid-state preamp and active crossover,
and I feel it is especially desirable with a valve circuit, where
microphonics are more likely.
The top of the box is perforated steel, painted black, while I decided to do without a base (which would be a definite no-no for a commercial unit!). There is a rubber foot at each corner underneath, mounted to the chassis via triangular aluminium plates.
Connectors and control
There are four line inputs and one phono input for each channel, with both RCA phono (standard Maplin gold-plated, PTFE insulated) and balanced (Neutrik XLR) connectors. These are arranged similarly on the rear panel to the official RTP3, though I'm only using XLRs for the balanced signals, and not the optional Redel sockets. I have doubled up the tape output (RCA only) sockets to let me use a headphone amplifier as well as my cassette deck.
The layout of the front panel controls is the same as on the original, with a mute switch in the centre, flanked by the volume controls and then the source selectors at each end. The original RTP3 allows selection of either polarity of each source: in terms of circuit operation, this is very elegant, as it reduces two selections to a single switch per channel, though ergonomically it is a little clumsy and requires dual-gang twelve-way switches, which don't exactly grow on trees. For now, I am dispensing with the polarity switching, and just using a pair of Maplin's standard 6-way 2-pole rotary switches with silver-plated contacts for the source selection. Allen tells me in no uncertain terms that these are "junk", and I will definitely replace them in the near future, with dual 12-position switches from Elma or equivalent. The front panel knobs are 38mm aluminium spun finish knobs from RS, while the mute switch is a DPDT long lever type from Farnell (stock code 918441), which seems to be a DPDT version of the type on Emile's RTP3 (though unconnected in his!).
For a long time I resisted the idea of dual volume controls, having found them very frustrating on the Croft preamps I have used over the years. I don't normally need to use a balance control, so the main ergonomic advantage of dual controls is lost on me, and I found it very difficult to get a centre balance setting when I changed the volume. The situation is made worse in my current situation, where I have a very high-gain power amplifier (Croft Series 5) so that all the volume settings lie between twelve and two o'clock, and any tracking differences between the two pots are magnified. In the end I succumbed, however - partly because I wanted to get as close as possible to the physical layout of my RTP3 to the official version, and partly because I realised that with the stepped attenuators that I will eventually instal, repeatable volume settings are far easier to find. To start with the volume controls are Sfernice P11 dual 50K linear pots, which worked well in my solid-state preamp, though these have poor channel balance at low levels. I plan to replace these soon with stepped attenuators, which are certainly my preferred way to go.
The HPHV shunt regulators
I downloaded the construction manual and PCB foils for Emile Sprenger's HPHV Regulator from his website, but he has in the meantime taken them off there - I guess he hasn't the time to deal with all the enquiries from builders! I corrected the error on the underside of the board described near the start of the construction manual before etching the PCBs (actually the correction in the manual there is still wrong - if you are interested, e-mail me for details!). Because the board is very closely packed, and my inkjet printer isn't too state of the art, I had to cut a few shorts on the PCB, particularly around the guard ring next to the op-amp, which is extremely fine as well as very close to the nearby pads.
The parts were mosly the same as those specified in Emile's parts list, with one or two exceptions. I couldn't find a local source for the Sanyo Oscon electrolytics, so I used standard Panasonic capacitors. I already had a handful of 2SK170bl, so I used the ones with the highest Idss from this batch instead of buying the 2SK170v grade specified - all the same, these gave good results in the circuit. Finally, I couldn't get hold of the LND150 MOSFET, and used BSP135 surface-mount devices, which are compatible but with a slightly different pinout (for this reason I mounted them underneath the board). The parts for the PSU and regulators come from Maplin, RS and Farnell, all here in the UK. The heatsinks for the regulator are from Farnell, and the ones I used had stock codes 707-429 (for the current source MOSFET: 9oC/W) and 707-480 (for the shunt regulator MOSFET: 4oC/W). The regulator boards are mounted in the middle of the box, as in the official version.
The current draw of each channel of the RTP3 is about 60mA, of which the phono stage draws 19mA, the line input stage 12mA and the line output stage 29mA. I set the shunt current in the HPHV to 10mA (17% of the load), so the total HT current suppled by the PSU is 70mA. This is as much as I would comfortably take from a 100mA rated transformer (and a 100mA rated choke): the transformers indeed got quite warm after an hour, though this is partly because of the crowding in the PSU box. The transformers supplying the valve heaters got warm too, even though they are working well within specification.
Component mounting and wiring
I couldn't get hold of the terminal blocks used in the photos, which appear to be some kind of plastic (I assume PTFE) blocks, about 5mm thick, and have what looks like silver U-section contacts at about 5mm spacing. There are ten of these with nine connections, six with six and two with three. I made my own using 15mm-wide strips of 5mm thick PTFE sheet, and drilled a row of 1mm holes along the top of each these for component leads and hookup wire. They are attached to the chassis plate with 3mm bolts, two for each terminal strip.
The internal wiring within the circuit modules is partly with 0.9mm solid-core 99.99% silver wire, and partly with 0.4mm single-strand silver-plated copper wire with PTFE insulation from Farnell: this looks very similar to the blue wire on Emile's RTP3. Instead of the silver ribbon used in the latter for ground and HV connections, I used bare silver wire, insulated where appropriate with 1mm bore PTFE sleeving.
Part selection
Allen constantly points out that the circuit topology is more important than specific parts selection (above a certain minimum quality, of course), and the bones of the RTP3 and the basic design conception make a lot of sense to me. For this reason I am starting off with standard good quality parts in most locations, as these should give a high level baseline performance.
The standard grade of Maplin 0.6W 50 ppm/oC metal film resistors are probably good enough for this preamp, and to start with I have used these almost throughout - Emile seems to have used very similar resistors in his, though they could be the more expensive Roederstein MK-2s. One exception is those resistors with voltages higher than 200V or so across them, which means essentially the series resistors for the bias circuits and the 1M0 series resistors on the filament voltage elevation circuits. For the former I have used Holco H2 1W resistors, which I happened to have around, while for the latter I simply put two 0.6W resistors of approximately half the desired value in series. The other exception is the 25K cathode resistors, which Allen specifies as Mills non-inductive wirewounds. Allen gets these made to order by Mills (I can't guess why he doesn't use a nice E12 value like 22K!), so I used four 100K 2W metal films in parallel in each of these positions.
I started off using fairly ordinary metallised polypropylenes for the coupling capacitors, but after a couple of years upgraded them to Mundorf KP-SN tinfoil and polypropylene film (Allen's default type for his kits), and was pleasantly surprised by the improvement. I am generally sceptical when it comes to perceived changes in sound from passive components, but I did hear more midrange "texture" in instruments. The CD recording of Debussy's piano Preludes, arranged for orchestra by Colin Matthews and played by the Halle Orchestra under Mark Elder, has always sounded a little recessed and indistinct in my system, but with the Mundorfs in place I could hear a lot more of what was going on. Why I should hear a marked improvement in a high-end preamp, though, when listening to a middle-range 1980s CD player, baffles me.
The larger capacitors in the RIAA network are 0.5% polystyrenes, which I found in a Maplin "lucky bag": these are grey square parts, which I've never seen elsewhere, and are marked "TGL" and "KS". I can't find any reference to this range on the Web (though Thorsten Loesch assured me that they are from the former East Germany), but the narrow tolerance does at least imply good quality, and they certainly look more businesslike than the standard aluminium foil Styroflex types. I managed to get close to the "3.18us" value with a 23n7 in parallel with a 1n0 axial polystyrene, while the other was made up with 40n2 and 34n4, again with an axial 390pF polystyrene to trim it to the required 75nF. The TGL parts are only rated to 25VDC, so I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that the differential architecture of Allen's circuit will keep the DC offset between the anodes well below this. Most of the rest of the capacitors are 630V Epcos radial metallised polypropylenes: most of these are a higher voltage rating than is necessary, but this shouldn't be a problem (apart from the large size), and this usually means more linear operation.
Allen has suggested to another RTP3 builder that the specified 2SK170bl JFETS, which are expensive and quite hard to find, can be replaced by the RF device BF245C. These have a large Idss, quoted in the datasheet as in the range 12-25 mA, which makes selection for the required currents (particularly in the output stage, with its standing current of about 12mA per leg) easier and more economical than with the 2SK170bl parts, which have an Idss of 6-12mA. I bought fifteen of them to start with from Maplin and found that they worked well in all the current sink circuits, with a variation of only about 5% in the current across the whole batch. The current sinks for the first two stages aren't shown in the published RTP3C circuit, but they are very similar to the JFET arrangement in the SLCF output stage. These current regulator circuits in fact strike me as quite clever, as they reduce the sensitivity of the current to the transistor parameters, compared with the simplest type of regulator where the current is strongly dependent on the Vp of the FET. Still, I expected that I would have to adjust the constant-current circuits to give the required current, given that the Vp is larger in the BF245C than in the 2SK170bl. In the end I grouped the FETS into three groups of four, so the currents would be best matched in each of the three stages of the preamp.
The valves are Electro Harmonix 6922s, supplied matched and balanced by Banzai; I chose this brand because EH seem to be one of the most often recommended current manufacturers on the Tube DIY Asylum, and are currently the ones supplied by Allen with his kits. The sockets are pretty basic ceramic items with nickel-plated (I think) contacts, but they do grip the valve pins very securely.
Measurements and tweaking
I hadn't appreciated, until I installed the valves into the phono stages for the first time and powered up, that the DC balance of the phono stage was so sensitive to the quiescent current. Of course, in retrospect this is obvious, as a 5% change in the current from the ideal 9.4mA leads to a change in anode voltage of 12V (in other words, an error of 18%). In the end I made the source resistors in the current sinks individually adjustable with preset pots so I could hit the desired 65V. This does mean I will be able to adjust for any future drift, though I don't expect this to be significant.
The DC balance in the line section is less sensitive, but the biasing of the SLCF output stage does depend on the correct DC operation of the input stage, so I thought I ought to get it right. I found I had to raise the values of the source resistors in the current sink in the tail of the cascode by 20% to get close to 150V at the upper anodes,though I did expect to have to change them when I changed the FET type.
A fellow RTP3 builder told me that Allen currently recommends that the grid bias on the upper valve of the line input stage be increased to 80V to increase the overload margin and avoid grid current, so I changed the voltage divider here to 82K/220K. Allen apparently also prefers 1K gate stoppers on the BF245C JFETs, since these devices (intended for RF application) are more prone to oscillate than the 2SK170 audio FETs. I don't know if this would be a problem with mine, but all the same I replaced all twelve of the 100 ohm resistors in this position with the higher values.
The phono stage gain is the one aspect of the RTP3 that is determined by the parameters of the active devices: here the relevant parameter is the transconductance of the bipolar transistor pair. The RTP3D brochure quotes the gain in MC mode as 70dB (no frequency given), although this includes 20dB of line stage gain, so the net phono gain is 50dB. Measuring the phono stage gain of my RTP3 at 1kHz, I got about 450 (53dB), which suggests that the SSM2210 current gain is towards the upper end of the manufacturer's range. The two channels were matched to better than 1%.
First listening impressions, part 1: the line stage
My comments here need to be qualified by the observation that my system is currently not up to the job of revealing the full qualities of my new RTP3. There is a slight dullness to the upper midrange, which robs the music of some if its sparkle, clarity and presence. I have narrowed this down to the active crossover (the "Full Monty" version), which I am now convinced is far too complex and clever for its own good, despite its flexibility: it is stuffed with op-amps, relays and cheap rotary switches, and I'm not happy with its gain structure either. The crossover also has some hum and a tendency to pick up Japanese radio stations, and I wouldn't rule out the possibility that there may also be a frequency response error. When I first set up my homebrew speakers a few years ago, with a different (simpler) active crossover, they sounded much clearer and crisper than they do now, so my next task after finishing the RTP3 is to sort the crossover out.
Starting at the most functional level, there is no hum or buzzing from the preamp itself, although to start with there was a low level hiss from the tweeters which wasn't there with either of my other preamps. Allen told me that the RTP3 was optimised for sound quality, rather than for low noise, and thought that this kind of noise would be expected with a high sensitivity power amp like my Croft Series 5 and my 90dB/1W speakers. I modified my power amp to reduce the gain by 6dB, and this brought the noise to an acceptable level, and using the balanced input on the active crossover (another 3dB) further improved things. The phono stage is VERY quiet: even at maximum volume setting there is a TINY bit of hum, but I can't hear any change in the hiss from the tweeters.
Despite my caveats above, there are aspects to the sound of my RTP3 that already clearly outclass by a large margin both the preamps I was using before it: the Croft Super Micro A valve MM-only preamp, and my own design solid-state line preamp, both partnered by the Audio Synthesis ADEQ solid-state phono stage. The attribute of the RTP3 which stands out most to me is its effortless presentation of real musical detail, which brings performances to life. There is a natural ease to music of any genre, which makes listening very easy and engrossing. On complex pieces, such as much of Bjork's extraordinary Medulla, every voice comes out distinctly with its own character intact.
Another outstanding quality of the RTP3 is its dynamics. This was first obvious in its handling of percussion instruments: the Brazilian percussion ensemble which opens Paul Simon's Rhythm of the Saints has a palpable physicality and gives a mesmerisingly convincing illusion of having the drummers there in the room. The big drums sound huge, and there is none of the apparent compression I have heard with other preampliers. Another example is Benjamin Britten's Sinfonia da Requiem (Britten conducting the English Chamber Orchestra), where the percussion now has a real impact, and the Dies irae section becomes terrifying.
Although the RTP3 doesn't throw detail in your face, it is very revealing. As an example of this, I have always known that my ancient Marantz CD60SE CD player needs to be switched on for a good twenty minutes before serious listening, otherwise it tends to sound a little thin and flat, and lacks bass weight and impact. Through the RTP3, this is more obvious than ever, and before I realised this I had almost been ready to throw away some of my CDs, assuming that the new preamp was simply too revealing of poor mastering and production. Once the CD player is warmed up, though, I was surprised how listenable good recordings sound. Although my turntable runs rings around it in terms of realism and texture, I can still hear far more of what is going on on my favourite CDs than I could through my previous preamps, without any extra fatigue (though I wonder whether the tonal balance of my system hides some of the failings of this old multibit player!). Roberta Flack is one of my favourite singers, and her soulful voice on her "Greatest Hits" CD became really seductive in songs like I Feel Like Making Love and Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow, in contrast to the previous relatively bland performance through the Croft. Similarly, Diana Krall's Live in Paris comes across as the excellent recording it is, with real energy and presence; the single studio recording on the album, Just the Way You Are, clearly lacks the live ambiance of the rest of the album.
First listening impressions, part 2: the phono stage
I listened to the RTP3 phono stage in comparison with the solid-state ADEQ phono stage, feeding the the latter through the RTP3's line stage. The source was my recently-modified Pink Triangle Anniversary Vector turntable, with SME IV tonearm and Lyra Lydian Beta cartridge, and the input load on both phono stages was 1000 ohms. The two were very similar in tonal balance, which at least suggests that the RIAA equalisation in the RTP3 has no gross errors. I was very relieved to notice that the slight listening fatigue I felt with the ADEQ, which manifested almost subliminally as a tensing of my jaw after a side or so of listening, vanished with the RTP3 phono stage. This confirmed my hunch that it was the phono circuitry, rather than my turntable system, that was putting me off longer listening sessions.
Listening to Debussy's Fetes (Concertgebouw/Haitink; one of my long-time favourite test recordings - partly because I love this piece, and partly because this is a terrific recording), the general impression of external detail was similar between the ADEQ and the RTP3. The trumpet fanfares were a little more forward through the ADEQ, which had a slighly more exciting presentation, while through the valve preamp the instruments had a "wholeness" and substance which seems more natural to me. The orchestra seemed to have a more holistic presence through the RTP3, especially in the rather Ravelian passage in the middle where the harp comes in quietly with an insistent rhythm which builds in the rest of the orchestra until the snare drums bring in the thrilling climax. During this section the harp seemed to hang in a more consistent acoustic background through the valve preamp. The RTP3 also seemed to have a wider dynamic range, so that the orchestral tutti swelled into the room, while the ADEQ was on the edge of straining in the louder passages.
Listening to the simple arrangements on Tracy Chapman's self-titled first album through the two phono stages was fascinating - again, the differences were subtle. Chapman's voice is more distinct through the RTP3, and is more tangible and three-dimensional. The trenchant lyrics on this album are also more intelligible: the lines "Little black girl gets assaulted / Aint no reason why" at last make sense - I had always heard this as "Little black girl gets a sausage...". I had previously assumed that the slight crunchiness on the high-pitched percussion were artifacts of the digital mastering, but through the RTP3 the cymbals and dulcimer on Across the Lines had much more realistic character and less sizzle. On Donald Fagan's The Nightfly - another digital recording - the cymbals, slightly sibilant and hard through the ADEQ, were again better resolved through the RTP3, and this album was generally more listenable.
I was surprised to find that the valve preamp seems to be more transparent and controlled in the bass than the solid-state one: the difference in the bass guitar sound between the Tracy Chapman album, where it is fat and enveloping, and the thumping, almost slapped, bass on Joan Armatrading's Me Myself I was much more obvious through the RTP3 than through the ADEQ. The solid-state ADEQ seemed to have less bass control, with a slight tendency to wallow that the RTP3 didn't have at all. This was also evident in the Debussy recording, where the double basses sounded more distinct from the orchestra, rather than coming across as a background drone.
I certainly hear no trace of what Brad Morrical calls "thin-sounding" orchestral strings in his Positive Feedback review of the RTP3D. Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings (South German Radio Orchestra) on LP sounds very lush and "bloomy" through the RTP3 in my system, even though this is a digital recording - as does the analogue Karajan/Berlin Philharmonic Berg Lyric Suite.
One thing I have noticed with longer listening is that the RTP3 definitely needs to be on for an hour or so to sound good. For the first half hour or so the bass sounds weak and the midrange is quite muddled. Allen says he leaves his own RTP3 on all the time, and indeed told me that it need to be on for twenty-four hours before it sounds its best. The RTP3 consumes fifty watts or so, so I don't feel I can justify leaving mine on continually at the moment, given that I tend to do most of my listening last thing at night, but I do compromise as far as switching it on when I get home from work so it's nice and warm for when I listen later. I have no idea what might be changing during the warm-up time that should give such an obvious apparent change in frequency response!
So, what do I think?
I still have reservations about some parts of my system, specifically the active crossovers. My speakers are in some senses an unknown quantity (even if they are very familiar to me by now) as I have never tested their neutrality or transparency in any controlled way. All the same, I am very impressed by my RTP3, as it presents music in a very unforced, natural and realistic way, with no fatigue at all.
This was a long project, taking over a year from start to end, and definitely not cheap, but well worth while. I look forward to trying component upgrades (particularly the coupling capacitors and in the power supply) and to hearing the effect of replacing my active crossover. I am confident that both of these will result in improvements, and feel that the RTP3 will stay in my system for many years.
The only thing I still want to change about my RTP3 is a practical one. The phono stage relies on a load impedance of exactly 5K to give the intended frequency response, and this rules out the common and simple fix of using a shunt resistor after the a linear volume control pot to get something closer to a logarithmic resistance law, since this changes the input resistance of the pot. The linear potentiometers I installed are not ideal, as almost all my listening is done between the eight o'clock and nine o'clock positions of the knob, so it is very hard to get repeatable volume settings. It also means that it is hard to get a good balance between the channels - every time I change the volume I have to go back to the listening seat to check for the central image, and usually end up needing to tweak it again. In due course I will definitely change to a switched attenuator (as Allen supplies with his kits) with a more useful logarithmic law and repeatable level settings.
Acknowledgments
Firstly, of course, I am very grateful to Allen Wright for the original inspiration and circuits, as well as for his generous and helpful advice. I have had many stimulating and productive e-mail exchanges with other RTP3 builders - especially with Arthur Cheng and Okan Karagoz. I would also acknowledge Sebastien for pointing out the error in the HPHV PCB.
Note, October 2007
About a year after I finished the RTP3, I carried out a very interesting comparison with the legendary Audio Research SP-11: the RTP3 came out the superior preamplifier by a surprising margin, with better tonal resolution and more natural dynamics.
RIP Allen Wright, February 2010
I heard with great sadness that Allen has recently died from a malignant melanoma. This was a shock to me, as from all acounts he lived a healthy and active life, and he looked so well in all the photos of him I've seen recently, but these things happen to the best of people. I regret never having met Allen in person, as I would have loved to have the chance to chat to him. My condolences to his friends and family, and many posthumous thanks to his memory.
Update, January 2012
After completing the changover from semi-active to fully passive crossovers, I now understand why VSE's production RTP3 doesn't have a mains power switch! Allen always told me that the RTP3 sounded much better if it was left powered up continuously. For a long time after I completed the preamp, I got in the habit of switching it on when I got home from work at six o'clock, and turning it off before I went to bed: the mechanical hum from the power transformers, as well as the not-inconsiderable forty watts or so of power consumption seemed good enough reasons to switch it off. The physicist in me just couldn't accept that any change could be possible once the whole preamp had reached its equilibrium temperature, which it seemed to me ought to take at the most an hour or so.
The system was definitely more listeable with the passive crossovers in instead of the box stuffed with op-amps, but once I had gained confidence in the transparency of my system I decided to see what difference leaving the preamp on all the time would make. By the following day I was very pleasantly surprised by the improvement, and after a couple of weeks I am now convinced that leaving it on twenty four hours a day is well worth while. The subjective sound of an audio system is very difficult to sum up in concrete terms, as it tends to alter depending on mood, time of day and the kind of music being played. All the same, I have noticed one major change in how my system reproduced music. This is an ease and naturalness to the sound: now I really get the impression that there is little in the way between the record groove and the room, and it is much easier to relax listening to music. I now understand what the reviewers of the RTP3D were talking about: Jack Roberts, in his Dagogo review, writes
When you start to listen to this preamp nothing jumps out at you. You don't say, "Man listen to that bass" or "how about that soundstage." No it's not a jump-out-and-grab-you kind of sound. Yet, after just a few minutes I turned to Warren and said, "That really sounds nice." And, it does sound very nice indeed, nice, relaxed, and very pretty. There is a lifelike naturalness to the sound of this preamp that is so easy to listen to. It never sounds like it's trying to impress. It's so transparent you can't imagine there is anything between you and the performers. It never strains, yet it is not overly smooth or in anyway makes things sound the same.
Pat Kennedy, in his review of the RTP3D in Six Moons, described it this way: I immediately knew that the RTP3D was different. But how? First off, it immediately relaxed my shoulders. Have you ever noticed how neck and shoulders tighten when listening to a poor recording or an imperfect system? With the RPT3D, the relaxed shoulder factor is amazing. Instead of listening for sonic and flaws, strong bass, extended highs or any other hifi attribute, I lose sight of the hardware and just enjoy the music. The musical captivation quality creates relaxation and I want to listen to more and more music.
Rather as I did when I had finished my differential active crossover (though without the unreliability that plagued that project), I now feel it's time to stop messing around with the system and start listening to my records again.
Discussions
A discussion on DiyAudio on the HPHV regulator.
Component sources
Westward Plastics, who supplied the 305 x 305 mm piece of PTFE that I cut up to make the terminal blocks.
Cricklewood Electronics who provided the valve sockets and silver wire.
A discussion of current production 6922 valves on the Audio Asylum.
The offputtingly-named Banzai Musical Effects in Germany, who supplied the valves for this project. They stock a great range of valves and other good-quality parts at excellent prices (how do so many UK suppliers get away with the ridiculous prices they charge? Hooray for Internet shopping!).
Variable Voltage Technology Ltd, providing a range of transformers and chokes.
Foremost Electronics, a supplier of ELMA rotary switches in the UK.
Metal Supermarkets in Southampton, where I bought the aluminium sheet for the enclosure - good for small quantities of sheet metal for the DIYer.
The rest of the parts were from Maplin, RS or Farnell.
Alex Megann, November 2005 - December 2007
