I’ve absolutely no idea what this chap is talking about but his cheery, knowledgable presentations are a real pick-me-up. Welcome back.

@thunderbeam9166

8 ай бұрын

That’s the best part about him, it doesn’t matter what your level of knowledge is, it’s enjoyable for everyone!

@Samsgarden

2 ай бұрын

Me neither but I think he knows something about electronics and optimism.

@stevebowbrick9024

Ай бұрын

Same!

@WeeWeeJumbo

Ай бұрын

all the world loves a smiling face. i need to put this knowledge to use in my own life

Probably the highest quality device I've ever seen with the label "Made in China".

@jobertvangool9961

10 ай бұрын

True, absolute quality!

@edmaster3147

10 ай бұрын

hopefully there aren't many chinese insulted now ;)

@usefulrandom1855

10 ай бұрын

"Chi-Fi" has come a long way! They make some excellent products now that as you can see are not cheap either!

@ElxCriiO

10 ай бұрын

They always will be a lot more pissed of by cheer number of people

@moffarocka3537

9 ай бұрын

Soo much effort, sooo much complexity, such an overkill for what basically is a 4-way switch with a potentiometer, albeit audiophile and with balanced I/Os, extreme filtering, magnetic shielding and all... Now, I wish they'd have gone the last few steps to perfection, like constructing the backplate to go in without bending and stressing the PCB, having transformers made properly with a healthy amount of reserve (say, leave a margin for like 260V mains, heck, why not even make it 300?) It's not like price is of any concern. I remember seeing some old broadcasting or recording studio equipment which is sometimes built like a tank. Not with tons of capacitors, but it can handle abuse and will work overhead and underwater 😁

Thank God You are back 🎉

@til2003

10 ай бұрын

That’s what I thought!

@marcse7en

10 ай бұрын

He's NOT God, you know! 🤣

@smyken1000

10 ай бұрын

I second that

@metalman4141

10 ай бұрын

@@marcse7en Didn’t say he was did I !

@marcse7en

10 ай бұрын

@@metalman4141 Well, my comment got a like, and yours hasn't, thus far!

Mark is back.....All is well with the world 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

I've never seen the inside of an amp this beautifly made.

@HansDelbruck53

10 ай бұрын

beautifully

@dingskydongsky

10 ай бұрын

flutybully@@HansDelbruck53

@martinda7446

9 ай бұрын

@@HansDelbruck53 He might have been talking about a colourful wasp.

@E-raticWarrior

9 ай бұрын

It's a pre-amp.

@dingskydongsky

9 ай бұрын

@@E-raticWarrior yes sweetie, it is

Glad to see you back! Love watching your videos. Even the wife recognises your theme tune and sits down to watch with me!

This preamp only costs about $2000. Therefore, one probably had to save a little in the selection of components. A short circuit in the primary winding of a presumably little loaded transformer suggests an inferior quality. Overall, I classify the device as audiophile silliness.

@MeriaDuck

Ай бұрын

Especially the volume relays (no messy pots, ow no!) and the custom chip or was it an FPGA.

@noneofyerbeeswax8194

Ай бұрын

You get what you pay for. No audiophool should expect to get good sound quality for the silly 2 grand. This thing’s connectors aren’t even lubed with snake oil!

New (old) rule: Overkill construction does not always equal trouble-free longevity. Fine work, Mark. Glad I subbed.

@jaymz168

10 ай бұрын

More parts is more chances for failure. I get the approach of paralleling caps for lower output impedance of the PSU but I really fail to see how a *preamp* can really benefit from that. The preamp is not delivering any appreciable current so the approach is less than useless., it will only result in worse reliability and more expensive repairs. So basically standard practice for this corner of the audio market lol.

@pauldavies6037

10 ай бұрын

@@jaymz168 Totally bonkers design

@peterlarkin762

8 ай бұрын

It does reduce supply impedance, but also reduces ripple far more effectively than using a couple of massive capacitors. The lower impedance is actually important lowering harmonic noise on the regulators. Granted, it is a bit showy and grabs attention in marketing material, but it is good engineering theory!

@cls9474

6 ай бұрын

@@peterlarkin762 Not necessary. Good amp designs have massive PSRR. This is really bad engineering practice and a perfect example of audio phoolery. It's a waste of resources and about as useful as homeopathy. The resulting products are for people with weak egos who think that massive alumin(i)um cases and a collection of caps and relays would impress someone. I worked for a similar company for much too long and I quit because it's just stupid and also a waste of engineering. We have real issues to solve.

It couldn't cope with UK power supply? Not very well designed. 🤣 "Audiophile" anagram of "saw you coming"! Welcome back. Entertaining and informative as ever.

Another brilliant episode from my favorite electronics repair guru! Thank you sir!

Interesting fact: You put three feet on the bottom of box, it will not wobble if the surface it is sitting on is not flat, so it is always stable - effectively self levelling!

@mattmoreira210

10 ай бұрын

Yes. Triangles are amazing, aren't they?!

@OKuusava

10 ай бұрын

Yes, I have sit in 3 feet chair, real hifi!

@johnbravo7542

5 ай бұрын

Yeah Audiophiles already know that.🙄

Beautifully made machine. And the video, the time to film just one bolt being tighten just made it complete and beyond great. Excellent filming and editing.

@georgedyson9754

6 ай бұрын

Except it seems not to handle UK mains voltage very well!

Wasn't expecting it to be the transformer but the 220/240V issue is a real problem. In Aus we also have 240V mains and I'll bet 99% of people with 220V devices are totally unaware. Great video as usual.

@guillermofalcon8841

5 ай бұрын

In Spain IS most normal more of 240Vac...

Nice piece of audiofool hardware there! Great vid as always.

@nevillegoddard4966

10 ай бұрын

@@macstar8317 Audiofool lol! Aint THAT the truth!

@E-raticWarrior

9 ай бұрын

lol!

@zedcarr6128

9 ай бұрын

I think the correct spelling is Audiophool. 😃

Excellent. Seeing all that, those banks of capacitors and host of relays, I'm left wondering how much better this unit is than an ordinary mid-budget HiFi preamp. I think it's rather about diminishing returns, that you spend five times as much to gain a 0.01% improvement in signal quality! As for me, my 65 year old ears would never tell the difference...

@georgedyson9754

6 ай бұрын

Yes, I thought the same. But it makes a show piece for your audiophile friends!

@Sonnell

5 ай бұрын

Probably 99% of these products would fail in a proper blind A/B test. And their owners as well :)

@WeeWeeJumbo

Ай бұрын

well, you might be surprised at what is possible. high resolution audio devices change the way you listen

I’d have put a Perspex lid on the amp. It’s beautiful in there!

Nice to see you back, hope you’re feeling better.

A very satisfying repair. Thank you for sharing.

Thanks Mark, you have really helped me to understand the old analog circuits and have been able to fix a few pieces for my friends. Keep up the good work. Cheers from the US.

Always a pleasure watching you repairing stuff Mark. "Thank You"😅

Hello, amazing design, I have never seen a potentiometer made like this using an "n"-coder and resistance dividers switched with signal relays, that battery of capacitors is also impressive. You're lucky you have the cordless screwdriver, otherwise you'll be screwing at least until tomorrow 😂 Thanks for the example. Nice day 🙂 Tom

@tjtreinen7381

10 ай бұрын

it would be a b%tch to have to find a bad capacitor in this arrangement.

@Edisson.

10 ай бұрын

@@tjtreinen7381 Or replace all capacitors due to their age 😂

@HansDelbruck53

10 ай бұрын

Nothing wrong with screwing until tomorrow.

@KneppaH

10 ай бұрын

@@HansDelbruck53 Haha screwing like there is no tomorrow.

@mattmoreira210

10 ай бұрын

Also, that attenuator design is just atrocious. If they were so worried about distortion and stuff, they should not have put EMF-generating components anywhere near the signal path.

An audiophool's delight. I'm not sure if there are enough capacitors to handle the massive preamp current from those little transformers :-) I see they carefully sandwiched that noisy switch mode supply under the board. Can't have the purists noticing that red flag.

@garygranato9164

10 ай бұрын

surprised they even use smps !

@nevillegoddard4966

10 ай бұрын

@@tenmillionvolts Yeah tenmega, I wonder if the double layer anti-interference sheets were required just to keep out the interference from that SMPS? It really is a stupid unit! It would be more useful modified into a power supply! I don't know if Mark even showed us the 'audio preamp' part of this white elephant? And what about the bs useless digital display? They would been better off installing signal bargraph meters there instead! Good on Mark for fixing it, & he should have charged the idiot owner $1000 for the repair for the insult! The owner would have been rich & dumb enough to pay without question.

@Lenny-kt2th

10 ай бұрын

@@nevillegoddard4966 SMPSs or DC/DC converters aren't necessarily noisy. I've seen them being used in extremely sensitive measuring equipment, stuff that would put most "high end" audio to absolute shame when it comes to noise or interference.

@nevillegoddard4966

10 ай бұрын

@@Lenny-kt2th In principle OF COURSE they are noisy! It's just how well you can shield them, to keep all that noise contained. They generate high voltage, high frequency AC = high interference! Don't you get that? Then in the pursuit of keeping the noise in, the risk of overheating has to be considered. 3 acres of capacitors, & an SMPS the size of 2 matchboxes it must have been designed by an obsessive sociopath. The whole concept of this piece of crap is stupid. 4,350 electrolytic capacitors for filtering, then they put in an SMPS? Fucking idiocy!

@gadgetwob

10 ай бұрын

​@Lenny-kt2th True that. But i am hard pressed to understand why a designer would choose to take both approaches simultaneously!

Notwithstanding the smart army of Elna caps ready for duty in that thing, there's enough SMD and flimsy ribbon cables to annoy my old eyes. Glad you nabbed that errant blob of solder. I saw a fellow earlier doing a KZread video about arc welding and how not to die. He picked up his welder and shook it around. Something was rattling around inside. He said it had done that since day and he proceeded to do precisely nothing about it!

@hydorah

10 ай бұрын

I run a Furman power conditioner in front of my valve amps. Before anybody beats me up for being an audio snob, these are guitar amps. UK mains supply voltage and permitted tolerances are 230 volts -6%, +10%

OMG look at all those. Caps Shango would love that lol another enjoyable post 👍

@jerryspann8713

10 ай бұрын

And all those relaytercoclickers.

@shaunsiz.itsbetterbytube2858

10 ай бұрын

@@jerryspann8713 Absolutely

What a distribution of components, really nice. Good job on the repair.

I have to admit those clicks were very satisfying. That device was well engineered. Cheers!

@WeeWeeJumbo

Ай бұрын

once you’ve experienced a stepped attenuator, you won’t go back

Nice vid Mark, good job as always. It seems that the Denafrips design philosophy is 'more is more' and 'complicated is better'. I mostly find that electronics are better kept as simple as possible with the best suited materials of high quality and components for audio selected on sound rather then operating principle. But everybody should do as they please :)

@gadgetwob

10 ай бұрын

I agree. In fact, I find there is something quite distasteful about this level of misguided over engineering for little or no benefit. The gratuitous use of materials....and after all that, did they really just drop a switcher in the bottom? I have to admit though, the volume control is kinda slick and silly at the same time. Hope those relays have gold contacts...

@robinbowes

8 ай бұрын

@@gadgetwob The switcher will be for the display, and control chip, etc. The other supply is for the audio stages. It's not necessarily over-engineering - the performance of analogue preamps very sensitive to the quality of the power supply.

Another interesting fact: Toroid transformers give out a distinct magnetic field which can be picked up by sensitive electronics n the front end of amplifiers. Some Amplifiers where the transformer is not particularly well shielded can induce a slight hum. This can sometimes be 'tuned out' by turning the the toroid slightly and effectively changing where the magnetic field lobes are pointing. I had this demonstrated on an Ashdown Mag 300 Bass amplifier!

Fantastic Mark. love the videos.

I love your skills and thorough repairs

Brilliant as always Mark what a machine wow

Brilliant, I love it when we get a new video, thanks Mark.

This is so great! Great channel, great Mark, great Amp! Thank you!

Hi Mr. Mark. You are the ultimate Rockstar to me in your field with your videos on this channel. You are the best of everyone else. Respect! Karsten from Hanover... (an old electrician from germany)

Keep them coming mark very interesting

You have some of the most enjoyable vids to watch. Keep them coming!

Superb… As always Mark.. Love your channel 😊

I love your videos more than most Mark. You are just a ray od sunshine!

Love watching your subscriber count grow. Another great video.

Wow all those counterfi …beautiful genuine Elna caps! Nice work!

@ncooper8438

10 ай бұрын

Why have they used a hundred capacitors, is it to reduce the height?

@mattmoreira210

10 ай бұрын

​@@ncooper8438might be to reduce the atrocious ESR to acceptable levels.

Glad you are back. Great job.

A very enjoyable video. Well done! Very interesting over engineering on this unit. I quite like it.

9:05 I'm surprised by this. The UK and Europe now have the same voltage range of 230+/-23 (so 217-253), so why would they sell a product that couldn't sit comfortably anywhere in this range? Even if it was sold before the standards were harmonised, the old UK range was 240+/-14 (226-254), not that much higher than the old European range of 220+/-22 (198-242). Did they just cheap out on the transformers or something?

@jhareng

10 ай бұрын

Used toroidal transformers rated at 230v, my 35 year old Welsh made amp has 240v toroidal thats run at 253 to 257v for years.

@chrisd6719

10 ай бұрын

The Voltage harmonisation was nothing more than a bureaucratic exercise - nothing physically changed with the grid in the UK, meaning our voltage is usually between 240/250v and very rarely goes below 240v. If the equipment isn't built specifically for the higher voltage or (as was more common years ago) a switch fitted to select the appropriate voltage ( 220-230/240-250) it will cause all types of issues such as burning out transformers.

@markianclark9645

10 ай бұрын

@@chrisd6719the vast majority of consumers just assume the 220/240v or they don't even care as long as the appliance works...my mains supply is probably lower than average at a constant 242v...every time i check it's 242 and quite stable...some areas get voltage spikes...mains doesn't come with a warning "can be over 250volts a/c!" most appliances can take it...Vacuum cleaners..freezers..washing machines..hair crimping tongs..blow dryers..heaters..even most TV's and set top boxes..delicate super HiFi Amps not so much..i've only ever owned cheap budget LoFi...

@garygranato9164

10 ай бұрын

@@chrisd6719 +1 i get 245v from my sockets

@Recessio

10 ай бұрын

@@chrisd6719 "if the equipment isn't built specifically for the higher voltage" this is the part that is confusing me. Why would an amp sold in the UK either a) if built pre-harmonisation not meet the UK voltage range, or b) if built post-harmonisation not meet the full extent of the range and only be comfortable in the lower half of it? I wonder if it's an European product that they just wired a British plug on and didn't think anything of it... But given that it seems to be very high quality construction otherwise, I'm amazed they would have this oversight...

Glad you're back mate ! That's an impressive piece of kit.

Good to see you Mark, and really appreciate the walk through the circuit and what the readings should be. Excellent stuff! 👌👍

Congrats on your new workshop! Looks great!

Welcome back Mark Great video, no idea what's what but I find it all very fascinating ❤

Short but sweet one this time...excellent as always.

Saved from the scrap heap again. Great stuff Mark.

Nice to see you again, awesome video!👍👍👍

I remember these Mark, at the Hi Fi fair at Earls Court. Sounded absolutely gorgeous on the end of the right Kit. Very high end that came with a huge price, Probably worth twice as much now. Thanks for sharing, and Keep 'Em Coming.

You got to applaud the so very neat and organized design

Thanks Mark, excellent vid. Peter

Nicely built but rusty screws in the IEC mains socket

@Plons0Nard

10 ай бұрын

I noticed that too. A bit worrying. Moisture ?

@tommeier2299

10 ай бұрын

and Mark didn't do anything with them! Ususally he would create new ones from titanium on his lathe and anodize them with gold ;)

@martinda7446

9 ай бұрын

@@tommeier2299

@wattage2007

25 күн бұрын

@@tommeier2299 hahaha!

How much patience do you need with so many screws to undo?! Good to see you again, Mark.

Great video, what a crazy device. Anything sold for the European market should be able to cope with 240V though (230V +/- 10%) - but then again if someone is paying for a preamp like that they can probably afford a power conitioner too.

Mark, you get a thumbs up just for the intro, your happy face always cheers me up.

such an (unnecessarily probably!) beautiful machine! Great to see you found a spare, those would be almost impossible to find! Thanks for the video!

absolutely in awe of this man!!

Thank you! Hope your channel get more audiophile equipment in for repair as things do go wrong regardless of QC and it's good to know the weak parts in the product. Subbed :)

Nice work. Thanks for sharing

I'm looking your channel in Hannover Germany. It is a pleasure to see how you solve the technical problems. Continue in this way. I love your channel. Best wishes Dirk Hauke

Here is a quick tech tip. Instead of unsoldering the primary wires on the power transformer to find the short just put an amp clamp meter on the primary (while using the dim bulb in series with the primary) and see which one is pulling the excess current.

thank you for showing how to test things and I hope your batteries on the screw driver are ok , thanks for the video

Nice. There is something very satisfying in opening a dead device, troubleshooting it and finding the problem. Then, tada !!, make it work again.

Great video Mark.

That was one beautiful piece of kit ! That volume knob !!!!! Great to see you back Mark ! Hope your back is doing better ! Well done as always !

@paulperry7091

10 ай бұрын

Might LOOK beautiful, but something that regularly fails catastrophically & expensively with a slight mains overvoltage, is a disgrace to the world of electronic engineering.

I was just watching one your old videos last night hoping you’d be back soon 👍👍

Mark, great job. I only wish that on a project like this, you would explain to us non audiophiles just what a pre amp does and also play some music to demonstrate., thanks.

Welcome back Mark!

Thank you for posting 👍👍

No idea what that does, but its beautiful, that has been crafted like art. I love the volume clicks, very cool.

I thought about your channel today. Good to see ya

A nice easy fix for you, Mark. But what a piece of engineering. Thanks for sharing.

@mattmoreira210

10 ай бұрын

A nice piece of (bad) engineering, indeed...

I love your videos Mark. Happy and cheerful, knowledgeable and fixes things at the end. Thanks by the way, as I was thinking about buying one of those Athena pre-amps. But here in my home, the voltage (in summertime) usually hovers between 240 and 250 volts. That will kill it in no time! So I guess a step down transformer or some kind of battery buffer will be a good plan. My older streamer doesn't like the voltage either... Cool!

Great Video as always (and a great title too !)

Thanks Mark, I hope you told Alvin you were going to make a video of this so he can pass it on to Denafrips. Think they might not like a lot of the feedback that's been given but it hopefully might stir them into correcting what seems to be quite a few faults with this expensive piece of kit. Glad to see you back on form, great video. Looks like I need a step down transformer then 😁😉👍

What an insane bit of kit - amazing!

Too long of a period of time passed. I miss this guy's repairs.

great repair as always, good to see inside one of these units, interesting point about the 240v, something they don't mention.

very good job ! awesome repair ! cogratulations Mend :-)

Very nice job!👌🏻

Another great repair as normal, That is a piece of art if it was mine I would put a perspex lid on it so you could see inside 👍🏻

Fantastic, really brilliant

Welcome back🙏👍

Here in Australia with lots of sunshine, my Audio setup is a simple Car Radio CD with Sub Woofer and Jamo Satellite Speakers. All running from a Solar Panel and 12V Battery. I'm certainly NOT an Audiophile, but the sound quality is really good, no power cost and also green. No 230VAC to worry about - and Definitely NO Mains hum! Even the very best (Mains-Powered) Audio systems will develop some 'Mains Hum' at some point in their life. And that is the difference. DC power supply is pure...... Mark, you always fascinate with your extensive knowledge, and many will question: How did you reach such greatness in repairing almost anything electrical? Years of hard study I guess, with a good Teacher behind you. The Test Equipment behind you is also mind-blowing!

Not designing equipment to be able to deal with 210-250v (when it doesn’t have separate 220-230-240 settings) is pretty bad form.

@shantrannyduck

10 ай бұрын

especially for 2 grand :]

@cbmsysmobile

9 ай бұрын

Made in China.... Even the website is full of grammatical errors. And this sort of failure doesn't inspire confidence in this price bracket

@clevermusicbox3630

9 ай бұрын

Yep

@peterlarkin762

8 ай бұрын

This happens with equipment made anywhere... It's just industry standards for transformer production. I've seen same issue on Audiolab, Arcam, Luxman.

Wow, you were super lucky to get that replacement transformer. Although it is not that difficult to rewind it yourself if you have some free time and patience. Thanks, Mark, brilliant as usual.

@clevermusicbox3630

9 ай бұрын

They likely realised it was going to be bad PR if a primary blew with such over-enginnering, it's clearly the QC that's lacking not the UK power. A case of reputation management for the manufacturer.

I made several amplifiers in my life, and I've always thought that they were an engineering overkill. This amplifier is a true overkill dwarfing my perceived achievement. 😢😂

Great job! And tremendous good fortune on that find... nice landfill rescue!

Blimey thats impressive build quality😃😃😱😱

Gdzie byłeś tak długo mam nadzieję że na urlopie. Dziękuję za twój kanał. Pozdrawiam Roman

Beautiful machine.

Thats one of the most beautifull amplifier i have ever seen

I wonder if Denafrips will bring out a nice looking dedicated power supply 😊 Of course well/over engineered.. Great video Mark keep em coming 👍

Nice work !!

Aw shucks Mark 😁. I was waiting for the part where you give your impressions which usually goes something like : Well, you put this on, and it does this, and sounds like this, and makes your Pink Floyd sound better. 👍

I was surprised by that impeccable quality construction so I checked for online prices... quite a bargain! I wish more stuff today had the same construction quality and I'd totally pay the price for having a complete through-hole construction. I enjoy surface-mount devices as long as they work... I can't tolerate working on them as I am certainly biased on the matter.

Thanks for this! I'd been wondering how to access the power section of my Athena for the longest time, but didn't want to desolder or risk damaging anything just for exploratory purposes.

Impressive, but totally over engineered. I am an audio enthusiast for sure, but for me, keep it sweet and simple :) I wouldn't want to own anything that is filled with so many caps, has such complexity etc, just give me a simply, short signal path class A pre and I'm very happy.... Plus this beast is priced at $3000 ! Superb video Mark, love your approach, and your workshop puts mine to shame ;)

@martinda7446

9 ай бұрын

Hi Richclips, I've been in the industry for over 40 years and have run the service departments of a fancy London retailer or two for many years - I agree with you 100%. Not only that, but there may well be some disadvantage having a volume control spread all over the circuit board. I immediately raised an eyebrow. I certainly admire the engineering, but wonder how much depth they went into with the design elements. (I guess they would tell me I'm an idiot and that they covered every conceivable nook and cranny). Anyhow the more stuff there is often poses some real complex problems and many are simply not considered or addressed. As you say the signal path integrity must be maintained as audio design philosophy No.1! Minimum active component counts always seems to get good results. One and a half triodes per channel is plenty😸. Simplicity is king, up to a point. Some things deserve a little complexity thrown at it over and above the most basic arrangements as this often pays dividends in certain areas. Here they certainly went to town on the power supply, and that can generally thought of as a good thing, as of course, that is what we are modulating with our 'simple short signal path'. 😸 PS.Oop's I just noticed you are an engineer (with a workshop etc), so, sorry I may have been responding with a patronising tone. I am now going to check and see if you have a KZread channel.

@martinda7446

9 ай бұрын

PS. Some great hi-fi keeps it (relatively) simple regarding signal path AND is 'over engineered' (in both meanings of the term, complexity and bulk!) The Audio Research amps spring to mind. The SP8 being one of the very finest preamps, I loved it. Edit: The complexity is associated with maintaining optimum performance from the active elements without interfering in the signal path.

@guilfordterminal

2 ай бұрын

All those caps scared me. Out of all the audio/video equipment I repair, the most common failure are capacitors.