KuSh Audio Clariphonic for mastering [Review]

[ionian]

Originally Posted by scruffydog

Anyone know why my clariphonic looks different to the pictures?
i don't have a switch on the back for balanced /unbalanced and the IEC mains is not in the middle but to one side at the back?
is this a revision?

I've never heard of anything like this. Can you post a photo? Have you emailed Kush to ask them about it?

Thanks,
Frank

[farhadkd]

Originally Posted by Lagerfeldt

After some discussion with my tech guy I've decided to mod the Clariphonic with Elma switches and 0.1% resistors. That should translate to more than 0.03 dB precision. I'll post more info and some pics later. The price will be about $750 for the complete mod.

Why wouldn't you use Grayhill switches over the ELMA's?? Just curious?

[Virtalahde]

Originally Posted by farhadkd

Why wouldn't you use Grayhill switches over the ELMA's?? Just curious?

I've personally had a few Grayhills literally break down in pieces in my hands, but all the Elmas I'm using are still going strong.

[Lagerfeldt]

I'm simply going with my tech guy's recommendation regarding the switches.

Anyway, I couldn't recognize some people's experience with the pots being problematic to match or that they're off. Perhaps I've just been lucky with my unit. So I decided to measure at all legend dots of both the Focus: Lift-Diffuse (using a 1 kHz test tone) and Clarity-Shimmer (using a 5 kHz test tone).

Generally the signal is within a 0.1 to 0.2 dB margin and this is with a dial of the pots based on the exact legend. No measuring and re-adjusting, which would bring it within three digits of precision of course.

I'll plot the numbers into an overlaid graph perhaps. It'll probably be useful when we solder the resistors.

Focus: Lift - Diffuse
Test tone: 1kHz sine @ -15 dBFS, DAC cal. +18 dBu.

Loopback DA-AD (through Dangerous Liaison): -15.23/-15.23 dBFS
Clariphonic on, FF mix on, bands bypassed: -15.22/-15.15

Band engaged:

Dot - L/R
01 -14.94/-14.85
02 -14.94/-14.85
03 -14.93/-14.84 (9 o clock)
04 -14.85/-14.75
05 -14.70/-14.61
06 -14.35/-14.25
07 -13.64/-13.60 (12 o clock)
08 -13.32/-13.29
09 -12.84/-12.82
10 -12.12/-12.07
11 -10.58/-10.45 (3 o clock)
12 -7.79/-7.57
13 -5.90/-5.77
NA -0.83/-0.82 (maxed)

Clarity - Shimmer
Test tone: 5kHz sine @ -15 dBFS, DAC cal. +18 dBu.

Loopback DA-AD (through Dangerous Liaison): -15.24/-15.24 dBFS
Clariphonic on, FF mix on, bands bypassed: -15.22/-15.16

Band engaged:

Dot - L/R
01 -15.10/-15.02
02 -15.10/-15.02
03 -15.09/-15.01 (9 o clock)
04 -15.04/-14.97
05 -14.95/-14.89
06 -14.75/-14.71
07 -14.45/-14.26 (12 o clock)
08 -14.26/-14.07
09 -14.03/-13.83
10 -13.62/-13.49
11 -12.72/-12.70 (3 o clock)
12 -10.91/-10.98
13 -9.25/-9.47
NA -4.88/-4.80 (maxed)

[u b k]

Originally Posted by scruffydog

Anyone know why my clariphonic looks different to the pictures? i don't have a switch on the back for balanced /unbalanced and the IEC mains is not in the middle but to one side at the back?
is this a revision?

Yes, this is the first rev since we first started producing the design. The line receivers are now 'impedance balanced' rather than 'active balanced', which eliminates the need for the manual switch and/or snipping leads on cables to avoid distortions and insertion loss (gain drop) on unbalanced connections.

Also, the unit now powers up via a relay rather than direct AC mains connection to the power switch. This allowed me to move the IEC receptacle to the more traditional position, which is cool because I'm a huge fan of the daisychaining IEC shorties that plug into each other and it always bugged me that I needed a longer one to get to the Clariphonic's PS.

Eliminating the 120v current to the front panel, and getting the complicated switching connections onto pcb's rather than twisted wires got the noise floor of the unit down by about 5dB, to -95dB.


Gregory Scott - ubk

[dcollins]

I've been following this thread on DIY audio, and they brought up some points wrt curve shapes and phase in parallel EQ that I had never considered before.

Parallel EQ


DC

[mixerguy]

cool thread

to those who did mods on their Clariphonics - are you happy with the end result?

and..

I had a good look at one the other day... and i THINK i could recall it with accuracy - as long as I ended up right on a #.

thoughts?

[Red Mastering]

Originally Posted by dcollins

I've been following this thread on DIY audio, and they brought up some points wrt curve shapes and phase in parallel EQ that I had never considered before.

Parallel EQ


DC

interesting read,
thank you

[ionian]

Originally Posted by mixerguy

cool thread

to those who did mods on their Clariphonics - are you happy with the end result?

and..

I had a good look at one the other day... and i THINK i could recall it with accuracy - as long as I ended up right on a #.

thoughts?

Also would love to hear because ultimately I got rid of mine because it wasn't stepped. I loved the unit but my whole setup is stepped or switched and this was the only bottleneck / inaccuracy in the chain during recalls. If I could get it modded for switches or stepped pots I'd get another one in a heartbeat.

Regards,
Frank

[Lagerfeldt]

The mod is not yet done but in progress. It's almost finished on the test unit, they're trying to get some custom knobs. I'll post more info in details.

[paintitblack]

I also would like mine stepped. In very very small increments of course.