Last night I finally finished the design work for Trinity.  Its done!  I had to sacrifice a little bit of gain to achieve the noise performance I was looking for, but that's okay since there was just over 80dB to work with.  Noise is low low low, frequency response is flat, all the controls work great, super low THD, I'm so very pleased.  Designing Trinity has been the most difficult thing I have ever done in my entire life.  I'm so very proud of it and so massively relieved to finally be finished.  That was a grueling 9 months of long days with no more than a rare day off.  Serious stress, but now I can take a deep breath and relax for a moment before going into production.  I'm planning to build a bunch of channels before the release so I can have inventory ready to ship upon order.    

Since the beginning I was doubtful 80dB of gain could be achieved with this design... at least with any kind of respectable fidelity.  Early on I set my goal at 70dB.  The first many prototypes peaked out at around 65dB and that was not with a flat 20-20kHz response.  Over the past couple days I had some major break throughs.  Trinity now has 80dB of gain, -90dB S/N ratio, 0.204% THD+Noise, and a flat frequency response (+/- 1dB) from 20Hz-20KHz with a total response from 1Hz-100kHz.  It sounds fantastic. I worked out all the bugs with this new batch, so its finally starting to look like I might be just a short step away from a final product.  A little bit of stress has been lifted from my shoulders.  Looking forward to the next step!  

In order to keep the R&D process as affordable as possible, I will have to disassemble the prototype units to salvage as many components as possible for the next batch.  It seems like such a shame since they were looking pretty decent, but I have no choice.  There is no way to salvage the situation without a complete rebuild from the ground up.  The greatest loss is my time, but I'm not too upset about that because I learned some very cool things along the way.  My previous blog posts cover the details of this past prototype phase in greater detail.

I wanted to take quick photo of the builds before disassembly so I have some documented record of that particular phase in the development of Trinity.         

Trinity is my curse and salvation.  Every step closer I get to the perfect scenario, I take a 1/2 step back due to unexpected hurtles.  It seems like a constant battle that keeps dragging me down, but I keep getting back up because of that 1/2 step forward.  I can't complain about it taking 8 months so far because the end goal is a life goal.

I had to face a stark realization today.  I f-ed up and there's no one to blame but myself.  I made a gamble and I lost.  To sum things up, I made a number of design changes.  Some things really worked out amazingly, others not so much.  The things that worked out pertain to the sound being much nicer, the THD is down to 0.177%, and the frequency response is flat from 10Hz-23KHz with a range that extends out to 65KHz.  However, the downside is the noise.  At -70dB, that's just unacceptable in my book.  Sure, lots of vintage gear is worse than that, but this is a brand new design.  -70 is not going to fly.  My minimum goal requirement  is -90dB RMS with no weighting.  That's challenging, but not an insane goal IMO.  Problem here is that the things I did with the most recent prototype build are irreversible and will require a complete rebuild from the ground up.  The good news is I can salvage most of the components to keep the R&D cost to a minimum.  There are, however, some new components and a couple replacement chassis' that put this mistake at ~$300.  That's not the end of the world, considering the entire build costs thousands.  Lessons have been learned - the hard way.  I will not release a product unless I feel it is as perfect as a human can make something.

Many have said before, "There is always room for improvement."  As my customer, investor, and now friend, Joe Griffin has said, "It's done when the Artist says its done."  I think the later is a better method of thought.  It will be done when the noise is acceptable in my book.  Aside from that, the sound is absolutely glorious.    

Joe Griffin, of Bamboo Room Studio in Kentucky, funded the construction of the first production prototype of Trinity.  That unit (#002) is a stereo version which now lives and works at the Bamboo Room.  Joe and the Bamboo crew were so impressed by Trinity they had to have more.  About a week ago Joe placed another order, but this time its a bit different.  I decided to make some changes for the better in terms of the layout and component quality in both the power supply and Trinity.  The biggest difference is now the power supply is much bigger (2U rack mount) and Trinity is mono and a single rack space.  The power supply can power up to 4 channels of Trinity.  Joe wanted 4 more channels of Trinity, so his order is for the new Beast Mode II power supply and 4 mono Trinity channel strips.  When completed, the Bamboo Room will have six channels of Lightning Boy Audio Trinity channel strips, more than even LBA Studios has (at the moment).  

As the first person outside of Lightning Boy Audio to hear Trinity, this is what Joe had to say:

Okay, that's good news.  lol.  I then asked Joe if he had the chance to play around with the EQ on Trinity at all.  Here's what he had to say about that:

All good feedback and I really appreciate Joe's support for the development of Trinity.  When the job is done I'll update the Trinity page, but the product still won't be released.  I have to first built a 4 channel Trinity system for Lightning Boy Audio to keep.  That setup is in the financial funding stage (almost there!) and when its complete a lot of photos, videos, and reviews will have to happen in order to release the product.  We're getting closer to an actual product release, but its still a ways off.  Meanwhile, I will continue to accept orders for pre-release Trinity channel strips and I'll give you a super sweet deal!  

Just wrapping up with the first Beast Mode II Power Supply Unit.  No expense has been spared in creating this.  It is the biggest, most badass power supply I have ever created.  It has been said that bigger is not necessarily better.  However, in this particular situation bigger is absolutely better.  The Beast Mode II has been designed to supply ultra low noise, high current power to four Trinity channel strips.  It has separate power transformers for the B+ power, phantom power, and tube filament supplies.  The big blue transformer supplies the B+ and also has a 6v tapoff, which powers the LED circuitry.  Inside is a massive power filter choke, a pair of low noise toroidal transformers, and the electronics necessary for regulation of each power supply within the Beast Mode II.  On the back side can be seen the can caps, a thermal relay tube, a pair of voltage regulator tubes, the heatsink associated with the tube filament regulator supply, and the octal power sockets used to connect power to each channel of Trinity.  

Its definitely a strange hybrid, but it performs unbelievably well.  Silicon diodes were used for all power rectification (B+, filament supply, phantom power, LED power supply).  A very expensive military-grade solid-state voltage regulator is used to perfectly regulate the DC voltage for the vacuum tube heater filaments in order to achieve supremely low noise.  The square black heatsink can be seen on the back side of the Beast Mode II.  The two large vacuum tubes on the back are actually not vacuum tubes.  They are filled with Xenon gas and are used to regulate the B+ voltage - in conjunction with capacitors & a filter choke. The resulting B+ power is perfectly free from ripple or voltage swing.  The small tube on the back is actually a thermal relay vacuum tube.  It controls an automated start up sequence that's much like a standby switch on a guitar amp.  This standby switch automatically flips on 60 seconds after the power switch is turned on.   The phantom power section offers a dedicated power supply for each channel, with each one being regulated to provide up to 2 amps of direct current at exactly 46.6 volts.  The LED power section is the only non-regulated supply in the Beast Mode II.  It provides 4 amps (way overkill) of direct current at 6 volts to power the LED lights on each connected channel of Trinity.   

Outputs (via rear panel octal sockets):

• B+1 = 363vdc @ 250mA
• B+2 = 345vdc @ 250mA
• Phantom Power = 46.6vdc @ 2A
• Filaments = 6.3vdc @ 5.5A (7A peak)
• LED's = 6vdc @ 4A

My work of Art is not ready for the public yet.  It needs to be 100% problem free, perfect in every way, and rock solid for life.  Its pretty much that already, but its now a matter of fine tuning.  I decided to go with some Texas Instruments regulators for the DC filament supply.  These puppies are over $50 each for American-made quality vs. the $5 chinese knockoffs I used during prototyping.  I figure the American stuff will probably last longer even though their technical specifications are the same.  I also decided to change the power supply tether design to something safer, more robust, and unfortunately more expensive.  I'm leaving the 5-pin XLR connector design and moving on to the bigger, more powerful 8-pin octal tube socket connectors... similar to the connections you would find on a vintage Wurlitzer electric piano or maybe some hammond organ stuff.  Big cables with big connectors.  The connectors and cabling are 3x's the price, but Trinity is destined for greatness and no parts skimping can be a part of that.  I decided to go with a bigger, more power PSU which will be able to power 4 channels of Trinity.  From extensive testing I have determined Trinity needs to be a mono unit, not stereo.  This will ensure perfect isolation from cross talk between multiple channels. 

As you can see, a lot has been going on in the further development of the product.  Its going to be a major player for LBA, so there is no point in rushing to meet a deadline on this one.  Its done when its done.  

The 1401 Stereo Mic Preamp has dropped in price from $2499.99 to $1799.99.  For more information visit the 1401 Stereo Mic Preamp page here.

The release date for Trinity has been pushed back to Black Friday.  This will facilitate the time required for a proper release.  Meanwhile, I have begun the extensive testing of Trinity.  A couple new features have been added to the design, such as a Turbo Boost switch, which adds 10dB of clean gain and a switch that toggles between Ultra-Linear mode or Semi-Linear mode.  Read all about that and more on the Trinity page here.  

That is all.  Have a marvelous day and thanks for reading!

I started the build process with the most important element first.  The power supply.  The power supply is responsible for far more than just mere power.  Its generally the largest source of noise, a major source of headroom, and a significant factor in the origins of punchiness.  Therefore, in order to make a great power supply, great care and skill has to go into its design.  Ladies, Gentlemen, and Rough Folk, I'm proud to share with you the first production model of The Beast Mode Power Supply Unit.  Please forgive my novice photography at the bench (unofficial photos).    

The Beat Mode PSU is the power supply for Trinity (October 2015) and can power up to two Trinity units.  It will also very likely continue on to use for future products.  This is a hybrid sort of power supply since it has both solid state and vacuum tube technology onboard.  The vacuum tube seen in the above photo is actually a thermal relay tube, which controls a time-delayed soft-start for the tubes on any Trinity connected.  You can think of this as an automatic standby switch.  Also seen in the photo is large heat sink.  This is for cooling the linear voltage regulator below it.  That regulator is related to the heater filament power for Trinity's vacuum tubes.  It keeps it at a very stable DC voltage for superior low noise performance.  The massive blue power transformer is one of 3 onboard.  The other two transformers are internally mounted.  

This thing is really over the top in such a good way.  All point to point wired.  Thick high quality wiring for maximum current delivery.  Big wattage resistors for low thermal noise.  Low ESR, long-life electrolytic caps.  Separate power transformers for each section of power:  B+, Filaments, Phantom Power.    

The Beast Mode PSU is a heavy weight contender (it weighs a lot), but it is not the entire power supply for Trinity.  Onboard each Trinity is the voltage regulation circuitry for the B+ section of the power supply associated with that particular Trinity Unit, so that each connected Trinity will have its own separate B+ supply.  The regulators onboard Trinity are not solid state, they are inert gas VR tubes.  In fact, nothing onboard Trinity is solid state.  That definitely means the audio path is 100% pure vacuum tube heaven.  And, ultra-low noise, of course.     

Now that I have a working prototype the next step is building a production model.   I have actually been working on this for about 4 days now.  I don't like to think about this stage like prototyping, but it kind of is in a way.  First step was plotting out the layout of the front and back panel components.  The front panel controls needed to make sense in their layout, but also had to make sense with respect to the internal wiring.  Shorter wires are always a plus, but not always the answer.  The back panel layout has all the sensitive electronics; tubes, transformers, in/out connections.  By sensitive I specifically mean in regards to susceptibility to electromagnetic interference and the transmission of such fields between channels.  The back panel components had to be laid out in such a way as to minimize the effects of EMI to the greatest degree.  After getting everything plotted I machined out the first production chassis and power supply.  This stage of the game is where looks really matter.  I wanted to go with a color scheme that reflected the Lightning Boy logo.  Unfortunately, I was unable to find Lightning Boy yellow in my normal brand of paint.  I did, however, find it in a different brand.  Big freaking mistake.  I painted the power supply and etched it.  Looks great - no problems.  Clear coated it and baked it.  Done.  Moving on... I painted the chassis, but when I started to etch it the paint began to flake away.  WTF?  Okay, maybe I messed up something when I painted it.  Stripped it and tried again.  Continued etching.  Paint flaked off again and looks terrible.  Its that damn paint!  The chassis is not even salvageable.  The paint was not adhering to the steel chassis, but strangely it adhered to the aluminum power supply.  Ok, chalk this up as a loss and a learning experience.  Back to machine work.  I machined out a second chassis, but this time I found Lightning Boy yellow in the brand of paint I normally use!  Yes!  Had to do some serious hunting, but I have a source now.  Got her painted and its currently drying.  I'll etch it on Monday.  I'm expecting it to work out really well.  This paint brand has never failed me.  More to come...