Ultramatch Mikrolampized

March 2010

In order to keep the Ultramatch inside its own box and to have it lampized  I had to come up with a really compact solution.

Having spent one year on the Behringer improvements, I already knew most of the tricks:
1. Input bypass - all the way from RCA to the receiver chip.
2. Oscons everywhere
3. Lampization with signal straight from DAC chip

To keep the tube arrangement fully inside and concealed - I decided to use these great subminiature tubes from Soviet Union: 6H16.

Below you will see what I did.






New RCA's - two for output and one for input. Digital transformers removed.





Above: very good arcotronics capacitors. (output decoupling)






Main PSU block has just CRC with 2 x 820 uF / 250 V Rubycon caps and 10 K resistor. (the cap values are HUGELY oversized)






Above: signal stealing points and oscons in the supply of DAC chip.





General view







My transformer: 20 VA, 160 VAC + 6,3 VAC





Above: two mikrolampizator tubes mounted horizontally on a vertical PCB (Thank you Valdemar for providing your ideas here)












Just look! What a joy! Some people get excited by the all MBL system with 8 monoblock amps 500 W each. I get excited over THIS.

This system sounds great - equally good as the normal noval version in bass and treble department, and audibly better in midrange department.
It is not simply a "midrangey" sound - no - it is well balanced, simply there is more magic and inner lighht in the mid range.

Highly recommended.
I used following settings: no dither, no emphasis , mode: sample rate conv, clock: internal, Word 24 bit, Upsampling to 96 kHz.