Mr Gorham Mosfet Monoblocks

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SimonC
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#16 Re: Mr Gorham Mosfet Monoblocks

Post by SimonC »

Call me a radical, but sometime I'd love to design a mosfet amp that wasn't a large black monolith....
I'm sure that they will sound awesome though, especially with the extra overhead given by the new power supply set-up :)
Looking forwards to hearing it

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andrew Ivimey
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#17 Re: Mr Gorham Mosfet Monoblocks

Post by andrew Ivimey »

ooooooooooooooooooooooooo you're just a radical.

It's the heatsinking and the very boring nature of the stuff inside a mosfet amp that does it. Add some huge Vu meters and a few knobs to twiddle!
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Nick
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#18 Re: Mr Gorham Mosfet Monoblocks

Post by Nick »

I thought I was being radical by having two curved lines on the front panel :-). You might not believe the amount of work and cost of getting the cases made. I agree they do look like most other solid state amps, but given the effort to get to that point, the next step may be beyond my symbolic mind :-)
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pre65
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#19 Re: Mr Gorham Mosfet Monoblocks

Post by pre65 »

andrew Ivimey wrote:ooooooooooooooooooooooooo you're just a radical.

It's the heatsinking and the very boring nature of the stuff inside a mosfet amp that does it. Add some huge Vu meters and a few knobs to twiddle!
Something like this ? From the Philips "black tulip" range.

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#20 Re: Mr Gorham Mosfet Monoblocks

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Nick wrote:I thought I was being radical by having two curved lines on the front panel :-). You might not believe the amount of work and cost of getting the cases made. I agree they do look like most other solid state amps, but given the effort to get to that point, the next step may be beyond my symbolic mind :-)
I know the amount of time I put into the aesthetics of my own kit rarely goes beyond deciding which plank of wood to screw it to, and to Nicks point designing commercial kit is a trade off between time, cost and function vs the financial returns you get for that effort. Plus passing the EMC tests almost dictates a sealed box as the lowest risk of failure... I know how much effort and cost bespoke cases are, its very similar in the medical world with instrument cases. It can cost more than the instrument itself and I wouldn't be surprised to find that your case cost as much as the internals if you discount the heat sinks.

As I can dance to a different tune with DIY I'm thinking of a more radical approach, but maybe I should just put my money where my mouth is and make it :lol:
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#21 Re: Mr Gorham Mosfet Monoblocks

Post by andrew Ivimey »

That's a big pair Philip!

Go on Simon - you know you should. Aesthetics comes down on my list too, you might have noticed ahem... and I more than agree about, for example, medical equipment, and what some of them charge to change a jack socket - totally appalling.

1. Sound quality
2. Safety (possibly, well its certainly given some thought)
3. Now it works ... then aesthetics but that is wholly theoretical and never passed on to 'the design team'.

hope I can get to here this amp!
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#22 Re: Mr Gorham Mosfet Monoblocks

Post by cressy »

I think some of the best looking kit I've ever had or seen were the musical fidelity x range. Still completely unique in looks to this day.

What i also liked is that they didn't have to be shoved in a rack, they could be displayed. Mf have gone backwards in terms of styling imo since then.

And I loved the inca design katana cd player. And the chord dac 64

A very clean design there nick, like it :D
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#23 Re: Mr Gorham Mosfet Monoblocks

Post by Nick »

and I wouldn't be surprised to find that your case cost as much as the internals if you discount the heat sinks.
Just about spot on, if you include the cost of the heatsinks with the internals the two totals are about equal. The heatsinks were a small fraction of the total case cost. But its not a off the shelf case, so it involved a day exchanging emails with a draftsman to get the design to the point where it can be made. Then they have to program all the CAM to make the things. But all that said, the accuracy they are made to is impressive, everything lines up, there are no unexpected gaps. Getting more made misses most of that out, so the cost to repeat the casework will be less than 50% of the first two. But you have to take the first hit.

Originally I thought I would have to have two heatsinks per side, as that was the largest I could find (which would not have been thermally ideal), but going direct to the German manufacturer I found they did ones just the size I wanted.

22000uf @100v * 8 isn't zero cost either.
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#24 Re: Mr Gorham Mosfet Monoblocks

Post by Nick »

Something like this ? From the Philips "black tulip" range.
The thing is, once you repair a few products from that era, you realise that they are mostly just bent steel and plastic. Functional and aimed at their market, but if I remember that range was never considered a classic.
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#25 Re: Mr Gorham Mosfet Monoblocks

Post by Nick »

And the chord dac 64
In a way, getting something machined from solid is simpler. If you want something like that I can point you at a company that can do that as long as you like.

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#26 Re: Mr Gorham Mosfet Monoblocks

Post by pre65 »

Nick wrote:
Something like this ? From the Philips "black tulip" range.
The thing is, once you repair a few products from that era, you realise that they are mostly just bent steel and plastic. Functions and aimed at their market, but if I remember that range was never considered a classic.
They are some who aspire to them, one on TAS recently.. :)

Classic, or not, there is a visual appeal. But then, I like the look of Quad 11's as well.

I've spent many hours trying to "design" a new look for the 833a monoblocks, without much success. :( Making things functional, and good looking is obviously an art skill, and I don't possess it.
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#27 Re: Mr Gorham Mosfet Monoblocks

Post by Nick »

Oh, and Colin, about 180mm with the feet.
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#28 Re: Mr Gorham Mosfet Monoblocks

Post by cressy »

I go about casework arse about face, try to make it look nice then ram everything into it. Then hit issues when it's built. I should know better, but i still do it........
When i did the lenco for simon though, it was built in a way to address several things that were issues with the first one, so there was a solid brief to work from. In a way I felt hamstrung by certain aspects and had to make it look good based on a set of compromises.
So the way nick has done this amp is the way it should be done, the proper way. Get the prototype done first and then design the casework once there is a set of design requirements for the brief
With this amp, i suspect it was more difficult than his other products such as the dacs as their casework has to fit a rack but there is plenty of space inside to work with. I would imagine with this amp it was a pig to make it all fit into a rack size case and not compromise the circuit design

The lenco was the first time I had actually drafted a design, dusting off some old technical drawing skills learned from an old bloke at bridon ropes.

Rather than it falling out of my head as it usually does.

And also redesign certain parts.
Its a very involved process
Last edited by cressy on Fri Sep 09, 2016 3:47 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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pre65
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#29 Re: Mr Gorham Mosfet Monoblocks

Post by pre65 »

cressy wrote: And also redesign certain parts.
Its a very involved process
But, you do it so well. :D
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Mike H
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#30 Re: Mr Gorham Mosfet Monoblocks

Post by Mike H »

All verrry interestink.....


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