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In the Forum: Melquiades Amplifier
In the Thread: The one-stage Melquiades.
Post Subject: Some thoughts about transformer for my MF channel.Posted by Romy the Cat on: 5/1/2007

First of all thanks to all who assist me with this project, including those who did not post here.

Jim, Electraprinted Jack is great guy but he does not believe in exotic cores, very unfortunate because I like to deal with him.

Jessie, you are right I did forget the AE Europe source. It would be interesting what they say. BTW, I would need all secondary sections all go outside with marked polarity….….

op.9, could you in term of subjective impressions and associations describe what your Sowter did with the Sound of you treble horns?

Still, without exclusion of all other opportunities, I would like Bud to bid with his transformer wounded around an amorphous stick or amorphous bagel…

Anyhow, I would like to share some my concerns about the transformers for Vitavox S2 channel. A common thinking about famous transformer would not be really applicable in my case as I did not see anyone judge transformer in context of DSET use. Within a very low power, within very small size and within a very limited frequency range it would not be difficult to make a very good transformer but then the question would be: how to make it to sound in a seatrain way. This is the zone in wish I have absolutely no experience which buttons to push and no knowledge what ingredients to mix. I less case about the transformer for tweeter channels – there is not a lot of sound there but with the midrange with S2 driver the transformer in this project would be a very interesting subject.

Let me I explain my objective for this transformer. In my mind  (the mind of user bit the designer) in this transformer should be 4 entities that should be properly balanced:

1) Harmonics
2) Speed
3) Dynamics
4) Connectivity

HARMONICS is hardly the properties of the transformer itself but rather the plate loading via transformer. So the secondary sections should be stuck out allowing remapping the sections on fly. Still, read about the “speed”.

SPEED should be maximum possible. However it is a different speed then juts unloading the tube, striping the harmonic tails and converting SET into the crappy OTL sound. Usually in “betters” SETs the output stage loaded slightly les and it create the feeling of speed. I do not like it. Along with this “speed acceleration” the sounds slightly flatten the parabola with which the notes roll it their pitches. As the results it create slightly “flat” (musically) sound. The speed that I am taking about should not interfere with harmonic pattern. It should be maximum speed of exchange of information but it should be absolutely indifferent to harmonics. Still, read about the “dynamics”

DYNAMICS should at it max as well but there is more to it. The speed of information exchange should be identical (or different) at different dynamic ranges. I do not know if at minus 60dB the speed of information exchange should be identical to the minus 20dB. It might be that it should have own speed deviation… However, when it sounds I know that it is wrong when it sounds wrong.  Some transformers do change the speed of information exchange at different dynamic ranges but they do it according to wrong algorithms. I do not know what the right algorithms are: I am not in the business of design the things but in the business of bitching about others. Anyhow, for my transformer I would like it to be able to have own dynamic intelligence and know what speed to demonstrate at wish dynamic level, still keeping the dynamic window as wide as possible. Still, read about the “connectively”.

CONNECTIVITY – this is the key. The connectively is something that differentiate a right transformer from anything else. What is important also that a good transformer should have absolutely maximum connectivity with absolutely maximum speed and dynamics. So, what the connectively is all about? The connectively is the association between the events that being transmitted via a transformer. The individuals sounds, properly harmonically structured at this max speed and with no compression it not enough. In music notes have inferred references to other notes and even if to virtually cut out of music the referred notes (along with their harmonists) then the referencing notes still will imply the removed notes. Bad transformers have no speed and no dynamics but if the bad transformers do have speed and dynamics (with correct harmonics) then they have no connectively between the notes. With bad transformers sound feel like a porcupine’s back with a zillion individuals needles stick out of Sound and each needle do not know about the sharpness of other needles. In a good transformer each needle of event (would it be a note or a pause) are kind of managed by one mind, the same mind that manages the speed and dynamics. Also it is very important that the connectively should not be loosing itself at high and low dynamic levels… In a way a transformer in it’s connectively should be more like Michelangeli play….

Well, I would love to tell you that I know HOW to do it but I do not know. The only one transformer that I have seen that had the absolute maximin of connectively, speed and superbly smart dynamics were the Expressive Technology transformers. Well, it would be very interesting to find the transformer for my S2 channels that would be able to do the same. It looks like that within a limited bandwidth the task should not be  too difficult…

Rgs,
Romy the Cat

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