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Endorphin P17 & Zen Triode (Read 2565 times)
Enrico
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Endorphin P17 & Zen Triode
10/29/21 at 08:13:46
 
Dear friends, I want to share with you my beautiful adventure.
I built the Zen Triode almost for a bet, because I had read his fantastic review on TNTaudio. I had long ago built a preamp with 6SN7 cathode follower and a power amp with 300B set, driving a nice pair of Goodmans Axiom 201 in Coral Beta horn. I was pretty happy with the result, but when I built the Zen Triode well ... I happily replaced the pre and power amp!
I am a passionate DIYer and crazy experimenter, I spend a lot of my little money on my hobbies that make me happy. And while studying on the web, I came across the Lampizator site and learned a lot of things from him. I also learned to trust, what he writes is all stuff with a lot of experience and experiments behind him. And so I built the Lampucera tube DAC, and then I modified an old Sony CD player with the famous TDA1541 by making it tube output. All nice things ... but every now and then I stopped to study that pair of speakers called Endorphin P17. Naaa, I said to myself ... I already have the excellent Goodmans! But one day on ebay I came across a set of rare Saba greencones, two fullrange and two tweeters both with alnico magnets. I said to myself <and when does it happen again?>. I already had a nice pair of 15 "HH woofers, only the inductors, the capacitors and the wood were missing. Practically with € 400 I built a couple of speakers that have no compromises. But let's go one step at a time ... the photos of the furniture. They are open baffle, also in the bass section which is in dark walnut varnished mdf. The mid-high part is a rosewood varnished birch plywood panel. The whole thing was then smoothed and waxed. Forgive the clutter of my garage ... in addition to hifi I am passionate about VWt1 and I am restoring one of 1959.
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Enrico
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Re: Endorphin P17 & Zen Triode
Reply #1 - 10/29/21 at 09:27:45
 
These are the famous greencones, mid-bass and tweeters taken from the old Saba tube radios. The image was taken from the web, mine are less discolored. Smiley essential that they are the ones with alnico magnets and that they have the tweeter basket open. They are found (rarely but found) on ebay for figures around € 150.
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Enrico
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Re: Endorphin P17 & Zen Triode
Reply #2 - 10/29/21 at 10:03:29
 
The crossover is very simple and I stick to the Lampizator scheme. It is a crossover without resistors (which suck energy) because the efficiencies of the various loudspeakers are similar. In my case the large woofer in my small tavern was causing excess bass and so I had to add a 2 Ohm resistor in series with the woofer. That's all. In the photo everything is messy but when I have more time I will rewire it better.  ::)
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Enrico
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Re: Endorphin P17 & Zen Triode
Reply #3 - 10/29/21 at 10:04:43
 
My Saba greencones...
the tweeter condenser is very important, in this case a paper in Mundorf oil.
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Enrico
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Re: Endorphin P17 & Zen Triode
Reply #4 - 10/29/21 at 10:14:01
 
And here are the finished Endorphins. In reality, one thing is still missing that I have omitted: the midrange must be mounted on a thickness of 12mm to bring it forward and optimize the phase with the tweeter. I will do it as soon as I have the time, in the meantime I enjoy these jewels.
Tonally nothing is missing, and the soundstage is incredibly high, wide and deep. The thing that takes your breath away is the feeling of being in front of those who play and sing: they are impressive! I had some doubts about the volume because they have an efficiency of 95dB but I assure you that the Zen does it great, it also manages to make me feel the kick of the bass drum in my chest and make my ass vibrate! Guys, I'm enjoying it.
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Brian
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Re: Endorphin P17 & Zen Triode
Reply #5 - 11/04/21 at 07:42:31
 
"The thing that takes your breath away is the feeling of being in front of those who play and sing: they are impressive!"

I am glad they worked out so well for you. AlNiCo magnets and light weight cones seem to have a most musical sound.  

I hope they bring you much joy.
Brian
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