Headphone Heights

Nice system. Just be sure to keep a fire extinguisher handy...

74.202.214.22

genungo

In Reply to: RE: I want to update/improve my headphone rig posted by Mike K on May 19, 2014 at 08:51:56

Singlepower amps have been known to go up in flames. Those types of problems (and poor customer service) caused the company to go belly-up. Or so I've read.
If I were you, I would turn the amp off before leaving the house...

Edits: 05/20/14

Follow Ups:

Not generally this model - Frihed89 09:49:23 05/23/14 (0)
Especially the pre-2007 models. His early models had some minor safety problems, but the real problems started after 2007....many problems. I never had a problem with my MPX3 model except for lack of bleeder resistors and an undersized switch I never used.

Observe, before you think. Think before you open your yap. Act on the basis of experience.
Internal Pics of my old SDS - mulveling 08:57:57 05/21/14 (2)
This was above par for the course, for Singlepower -- at least the bigger caps are all tied down. Air mounting was very common.
- RE: Internal Pics of my old SDS - Caucasian Blackplate 16:36:36 06/03/14 (0)
  What keeps the big blue power caps from twisting and shorting out the high voltage supply?
- Pic of the outside - mulveling 09:14:40 05/21/14 (0)
  And this pic shows the ludicrously large PS caps -- no way those were fitting inside the chassis. 3300 �F @ 350V each. These should've had bleeder resistors from day 1.
  
  Edits: 05/21/14 05/21/14
RE: Nice system. Just be sure to keep a fire extinguisher handy... - mulveling 08:54:55 05/21/14 (0)
I have some experience with this, having owned a couple and hearing (locally) a few more. Even met the owner a couple of times; "nice" guy until that awful, awful end. The ones more likely to be a danger are the later builds, when the owner seemed "cracked out", right before he disappeared (holding others' amps and money).
His workmanship was always sloppy. There were problems especially with the more "tricked out" amps, especially near the end. For example, I foolishly had my SDS (the 2nd made) "enhanced" to put more voltage on the output tube plates (6SN7/6BX7) -- never mind the lack of any tangible sonic advantage to this mod. The Black gate output caps he chose for this upgrade (2 in series, which does NOT guarantee an equal voltage distribution) did not have sufficient voltage rating, and it melted the voice coil on a nice pair of Sennheiser Jubilees (almost my friend's R10) with a epic POP when the caps inevitably arced in spectacular fashion.
The other common problem was HUGE power supply caps without bleeder resistors among them, allowing dangerous voltages to build up. Because of the amount of energy stored in these ridiculously large caps (comparable to those in a huge power amp), the potential for disaster was likened to a hand grenade. Basically, the guy couldn't be trusted with high voltages and proper cap selection/configuration.
With the OP's early PPA build, he PROBABLY has a relatively safe amp which probably sounds wonderful (I would guess better than what can be sourced today for equivalent prices -- these can be GREAT sounding amps). However, it's not a bad idea to get it checked out by a competent tube tech. Especially that PSU section (bleeder resistors). The PSU caps in a PPA are going to be much, much smaller than those in Supra/SDS models.

Edits: 05/21/14 05/21/14 05/21/14

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