What I mean, GG top and side plate are made of copper, not painted. Looks like all pacific top plates are painted in different colours.
Pacific dac: Lampizator's new top of the line dac
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Yeah GG, TRP, B3 top and side are from one folded pcs of as you said copper. Pac side panels are i would say from Aluminium while top no idea but painted and lacquered. I’m just making myself top notch anodized silver top plate (guess you’ve seen it here)
I have a balanced Pacific, currently running KR-242 output tubes (my favorite in the Pacific). My system is balanced throughout. One thing, I recommend getting the direct output Pacific without the built-in volume controller with which the higher gain of the 242 tubes is a perfect match.
My Pac's output is to a Tortuga LDRxB passive controller which has no physical switches, potentiometers, resistor arrays, etc. in the signal path. Keep in mind that the Pac's built in attenuator routes the output through an attenuation ladder with impedance increments of 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32. That's a lot of contacts for the signal to traverse. The Tortuga also provides user selectable input impedance which is a great feature with the Pacific whose tube output stage is especially responsive to even tiny (1 kohm) the downstream input impedance steps. That allows fine tuning of the tube output stage's sonic signature.
Below is an extract from Pacific manual:
“Tube technology allows us to set practically unlimited volume level at the output, up to 10 x higher than from a normal CD player. We have decided to adhere to one internally set standard: the test tone of 1 kHz at -20 dB produces an output of sine wave 300 mV AC under the amp load of 47K. Thats equivalent of circa 3 V pp. Shall this be inconvenient for some reason – it is adjustable in the range of 0-1800 mV by just one resistor change. The test tone is available from me via email in the form of WAV or AIFF or FLAC or MP3 file.
Generally - we prefer the sound of the DAC with high output levels, and most amps don’t have any problem with that. A simple potentiometer or stepped attenuator in the amp’s input stage takes care of that. Only solid state chip based preamps will saturate and distort thats why we need to know in advance about such solid state chip volume system being driven by the DAC. We will keep then the volume level at the “book” level of 2 V pp. Having said that - chip volume systems and preamps with opamps belong in home theatre (cheap one) and DEFINITELY not in high end.”
This explains, why some people with active preamps struggle with Lampi gain. By default, the volume level is 1.5 times higher than normal even with low level output tubes like 300B or 45. It is much higher with PX25 and 242. I think all the potential customers with active preamps, who consider a dac without volume control, should be aware of this potential issue.
“Tube technology allows us to set practically unlimited volume level at the output, up to 10 x higher than from a normal CD player. We have decided to adhere to one internally set standard: the test tone of 1 kHz at -20 dB produces an output of sine wave 300 mV AC under the amp load of 47K. Thats equivalent of circa 3 V pp. Shall this be inconvenient for some reason – it is adjustable in the range of 0-1800 mV by just one resistor change. The test tone is available from me via email in the form of WAV or AIFF or FLAC or MP3 file.
Generally - we prefer the sound of the DAC with high output levels, and most amps don’t have any problem with that. A simple potentiometer or stepped attenuator in the amp’s input stage takes care of that. Only solid state chip based preamps will saturate and distort thats why we need to know in advance about such solid state chip volume system being driven by the DAC. We will keep then the volume level at the “book” level of 2 V pp. Having said that - chip volume systems and preamps with opamps belong in home theatre (cheap one) and DEFINITELY not in high end.”
This explains, why some people with active preamps struggle with Lampi gain. By default, the volume level is 1.5 times higher than normal even with low level output tubes like 300B or 45. It is much higher with PX25 and 242. I think all the potential customers with active preamps, who consider a dac without volume control, should be aware of this potential issue.
@abeidrov
Taking this in consideration , are you of the opinion that the Pacific DAC with volume control connected to "Direct in" rca in my Crossfire ( in this connection this is just a power amp ) will be a better choice than the DAC without VC connected to Crossfire as an integrated ie with pre section and volume control ?
Taking this in consideration , are you of the opinion that the Pacific DAC with volume control connected to "Direct in" rca in my Crossfire ( in this connection this is just a power amp ) will be a better choice than the DAC without VC connected to Crossfire as an integrated ie with pre section and volume control ?
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This looks like you are in the privileged position to try and find out
But iIrc the direct-in of the Crossfire 3 is VERY high gain
Please try it.
My gut feeling is that the VC of the Pacific might be even better sounding than the poti in the Crossfire 3...
To check this option I should ask Lukasz to install VC in my Pacific cause untill now I assumed that the pure DAC is all I need. But if the VC in my Pacific will make possbile to use 242 tubes I could be tempted .The test I made some time ago showed too much gain but very good sonics of KR 242.This looks like you are in the privileged position to try and find out
Reply to Chris: Yes, and also on where the sweetspot of the active Preamp is too. It’s why just a low and high gain switch is not offering the same level of precision, even if most times that’s all you need. VC is a precise tool to dial in the perfect match and it’s also great to switch inputs, etc without getting out of the listening chair..... for those of us with multiple digital sources.
A couple of newbie Pacific questions as I am sight impaired and can't go back and reread the thread for answers.
Is there a trick to getting the plastic fuse container out of the back? I can get it to come 3/4's of the way out and then it will not allow me to pull out any farther. I was going to put a different fuse in it.
If I use the remote or the front underneath button to turn it off, is it totally turned off despite the back power switch still being on? There is not a convenient way for me to turn off the back power switch.
Is there a trick to getting the plastic fuse container out of the back? I can get it to come 3/4's of the way out and then it will not allow me to pull out any farther. I was going to put a different fuse in it.
If I use the remote or the front underneath button to turn it off, is it totally turned off despite the back power switch still being on? There is not a convenient way for me to turn off the back power switch.
Hi Will,
I hope you’re enjoying your Pac.
On/off button on the front of the unit is actually Standby button and it has the same function as the on/off button on the remote control. With this one unit goes into standby mode meaning tube part is turned off while i believe digital part is ON and some other settings are kept from last listening session like VC level. With master switch at the back, all is turned off.
Fuse holder is a bit finicky and it does not go out easily afaik - i only played once with it to change the fuse so can’t really remember what i did.
Take care,
G
Thx Golum...Pacific is still breaking in. I also have the fuse container figured out. It does not pull out totally like all of my other components. There is a catch that stops it. There are two fuses (one a spare). I needed a tiny screwdriver to push the fuse down and out. I then popped the new fuse in from the bottom.
Wouldn't it have made more sense to first fully break-in the Pacific and only then after really getting acquainted properly with your Pacific, change to another fuse?
Like this, you can't be sure that the change is also due to more break-in of the Pacific or purely due to another fuse.
What fuse did you insert anywas?
No, sorry.
Unfortunately not.
And apart from the absolutely outstandingly excellent sounding Amber3Amp also no experience with Lampi Amps
Christoph ---you are always the voice of reason and sanity.
And, you are probably right.....but, i have had a lot of luck with my other components using the SR Blue and now the Orange Fuse. I just trust what I have heard using the SR fuses. I am still waiting on my LMDS so I will have another period of time for break in to hopefully hear my nirvana sound.Similar threads
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