What's new?  This Stuff, of course!

 

We started the "What's New" page in December 2001. If you want to see what was new in other years, then click on the links below. 

 

                                              2001    2002    2003    2004    2005    2006   2007   

 

 

What’s New for 2010

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AN OUTBOARD POWER SUPPLY(OPS) ............ was recently built at the request of a Musical Design SP-2B owner. He wanted to get even better performance and prepare it for a future phono stage installation. We began with a sturdy ventilated enclosure. The natural power transformer of choice was the toroid transformer we use in our Chameleon preamp. Capacitor choice was based on past good results.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can see most of the details. We used Schottky power rectifiers for the heater voltage and our favorite IXYS HyperFred bridge for the high-voltage. Obviously this OPS has massive current capability for the intended application. It sounds great, but why wouldn’t it. We connected the SP-2B with a DIN umbilical cord using ferrite beads for RFI attenuation. (07-26-10)

 

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AN INEXPENSIVE AND THRILLING IMPROVEMENT............ is easily achieved by replacing the bridge rectifier in your power amplifier. Below we have a neat installation into a Hafler DH-220. Other amps can be modified similarly, nearly universally. The IXYS HyperFred bridge rectifier we’ve chosen offers superb sound quality, ultra-fast switching, superb soft-recovery, 22 Amp/600V toughness and simple installation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Using the original hole which located the stock bridge rectifier we have installed a “euro” connector. We then bend and cut the leads of the rectifier for a nice fit. We temporarily put the rectifier in place long enough to mark the new hole for the hold-down clip. Then you drill the hole and just install the rectifier. The rectifier has a metal, heat dissipating backside which is not electrically connected. Since the rectifier never seems to get warm, even without heatsinking, you shouldn’t need to use silicon transistor grease or heat dissipation pads though you can do so if you wish. It’s a neat, simple and no mess installation - then great sound with minimal cost! This amp has the standard power transformer as you can see, plus a single pair of our custom-built LC-200 (27,000uF/80V) power supply capacitors. That’s right you have a 54,000uF, low-noise, sweet sounding, low-inductance power supply for a song (pun intended). (07-26-2010)

 

 

What's new for 2009

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WE'RE DEFINITELY EXCITED..............with the coming introduction of the Chameleon preamp. We think we have something really special here. What you see below is the pre-production metalwork without the silkscreen and fine finish steps which adds a lot to the package in terms of appearance. Don't be cruel, it's a prototype. Working late in the evening here so I will just post some photos and add more later. One small point is that the front panel bolts will not be there in production. A smooth panel with no visible bolt heads showing is the final look. Okay, it looks empty, but when you install the phono stage it starts to fill up. In the future there is room for a remote control volume board, optional power supply and maybe even a headphone amp! Thanks for looking! 

 

 

 

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THE FIRST OF A NEW SERIES.........the Musical Design DM-100C ELITE is being introduced and so here it is. The Elite gets it name from the Elite parts which make it so special. Firstly, we have a quiet pair of 330 Watt toroids. We have found the Jensen four-pole power supply caps incomparably great even compared to a certain black cap from the recent past. We use the highest performance, super quiet Dale resistors, not the standard, but already fine "brown" Dales that you see in so many amps nobody can afford. We have found the Elna Silmic II capacitor superb in it's natural octave to octave balance and it's silky smooth frequency extension. See our page on this new amp.

 

 

 

THAT SPECIAL HAFLER DH-500 FACEPLATE........... is on the way. It's a shame that so many of those original face plates have been damaged in shipping or with just years of wear and tear. Help is on the way! Our new panel is made with a finely brushed, high-strength aluminum alloy. You can order it in black or silver anodized with attractive silkscreen. It is just slightly larger than the the front sub panel of the amp, i.e. smaller than the original in width. It is not a rack mountable panel. It is thicker and far tougher than the original. The original handles could be used to secure the panel, but attractive contrasting color bolts will be provided if you prefer that look. It is as simple as could be to remove the original panel and replace it with the four screws provided. We will have some suggestions for knockout looking, commercially available handles if you prefer the "handles look".  Just that quickly you'll have a classy looking amplifier instead of an ugly duckling! Kit is $95 either color

 

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OKAY, WHAT’S THIS DOING HERE?...... I thought that I just had to share this story. I was challenged by a customer, who absolutely loves what we've done for him with a Hafler amp, to take a Hafler solid-state preamp and get it close to tube sound. Now this customer isn't just your average Joe that's owned a stock Hafler or Adcom. He's owned all manner of goodies including hybrid amps, Futterman OTLs, lots of other tube preamps and power amps, many turntables, cartridges, speakers. You get the idea, he's a seasoned veteran with great ears. Hey, I'm buying a new set of speakers on his say-so if that gives you some idea.

 

Hmmm, we have a dilemma. Where oh where to start? Wait a minute, I find I'm stunned with the sound of the Jensen caps in solid-state power amps so wouldn't those sonic qualities transplant into a preamp. There's a bit of head scratching and then "let's just go ahead and try it". What else to do I wonder? Oh yeah, we have massive capacitance available with these four 10,000uF caps so who needs voltage regulation. A simple resistor-capacitor pi filter will do. I was starting to get excited about the project. Let's throw in our favorite Dale resistors, a high performance volume pot, silky smooth Silmic II caps, Schottky rectifiers and, sure, a toroid equipped outboard power supply. Hey, hey lets keep it simple, DC coupled, since I'm a big advocate of the KISS principle in audio. 

 

So what happened? The envelope please! I did not believe the results and neither will you unless you hear it!!! It's a true jaw dropper. Here it is with some of it's clothes removed. Have we equaled tubes - several local audiophiles heard "tube sound" coming from it! Have we exceeded tubes? Well it's still breaking in, but it's a sort of spooky miracle in my view! 

 

 

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HERE IS A LOOK INSIDE OF A NEW MUSICAL DESIGN HYBRID AMPLIFIER.............. It sounds just too natural to believe. Be prepared for a level of detail and an acoustic envelope that is truly breathtaking. A few details: You see a pair of NOS 6922 tubes operating at 250VDC, but you can use the 6DJ8, ECC88, 7308 and the other 6DJ8 variants. Those are MOSFET outputs you see on the heatsinks. You are also looking at an incredibly simple SRPP front-end with no feedback!!!  You see it here installed into the Musical Design D-75/DM-100 chassis which the amplifiers will share. We rate it at 100W/CH. A less powerful 75W/CH version is available too for use with efficient speakers and bi-amping. The 100W version has four MOSFETs per channel, larger heatsinks and taller chassis. This is our all-out version with Jensen filter caps for all except heater voltages. Our Platinum grade resistors are used in most positions. You see the Audience Aura-T Teflon coupling capacitor used in coupling applications. Some of you will notice the little red BlackGate cap there and Cardas connectors on the back.  Our T-100 Elite Ultra model is $4495.

 

 

 

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Sample installations of our new Musical Concepts PS-200 power supply board

 

      

 

 

Above you have a Signature modified Adcom GFA-5400 with twin dual-mono configured PS-200 boards which are populated with the 10,000uF/63V Jensen caps. The caps here are doubled up(paralleled) and there is the one transformer-one PS-200 per channel implementation. The amp is just simply delicious sounding, the essence of natural and entrancing!! It yields even more sense of drive and dynamics than the single supply setup. Initial comments from the owner are extremely positive. 

 

OWNER COMMENTS: WOW! WOW! WOW!  The new separate power supplies and the eight Jensen capacitors really are rockin' my world!  My resolution from mid to top is extremely coherent and palatable; heck, we are talking smooth and flowing, my sound cup runneth over...  My new bass is simply ferocious, tight, taut, fast and scary good.  Lastly, my soundstage is now a little too bodacious (not complaining) and way deeper, holographically speaking.  - Thomas R. 

 

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The pictures above are the inside of a Hafler DH-500 minus the face plate. This is our Platinum modification with a custom dual-mono configuration. Here you see two of our PS-200 boards with a total of eight Jensen 6800uF/100V caps installed. The listening test was good for some serious goose bumps. Here is what the customer thought about his modified amp.

 

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Here is a single PS-200 with the Jensen 10,000uF/63V caps installed in an Adcom GFA-545. If you look closely you'll see that there are two stacked 330VA toroid power transformers too. This produces totally dual-mono operation. The modified amp sounds so natural, clear, three dimensional and instantaneous that, like live music, it can be soothing and exciting at the same time. These extraordinary Jensen caps beautify everything they touch! This audiophile had some definite ideas about the results here.  

 

allow you to improve neatness of installation, shorten current paths due to "inverted" capacitors which is good, improve sound quality and lower the price for high-performance dual-mono sound. Life is good!

 What you can do with the PS-200:

 

 

PS-200 Board Features:

 

 

Why we developed the PS-200:

 

Previously our dual-mono mods were very labor intensive. We sold these in a kit form but for the first time builder it was complex and very time consuming to install. It all fit really tightly into the amps too - no room for errors. Now you can easily install it yourself and save on labor and freight charges. With the PS-200 there is plenty of room after installation. The large toroidal transformer is no longer a challenge to locate and install with the dual-mono configuration in Hafler 200 series amps. The PS-200 makes is so convenient to add real dual-mono performance to your amplifier.

WHAT’S NEW?