"Zoi" - EAR834p tube phono stage

 

After the sale of my latest SET amp to a local he came back to order a tube MM phono stage. The EAR834p kit was a top of the range selection with very high-end parts on a extremely well produced PCB. It comes partially assembled but to complete it I added the taller parts on the back of the PCB to allow the tubes to poke through the top. 

Because they run the tubes at 6V the current draw on filament is at an amp. I had to make a special external PS to handle the current. The PS get quite hot but the preamp runs dead quiet due to choked dual Pi filtering. A 5H choke and 400uf of high voltage caps insures that and heavily filtered filament DC.

Initially I thought it rivaled my EAR834p kit phono stage of a few years back (still in play) but after listening to both I would be happy with either. Though forced to take just one I would take the newer Zoi over my current unit. 

Looks great in Indian Dark Red and sounds big and full in sound. Excellent depth and really well presented detail with fine treble. Not the cheapest kit on the market and the sale price to the buyer was $710. I feel, based on the sound and quality of parts a fair price. I have thought about making one for myself, its that good. 

“Persuasion” - 5998/6AS7 SET

 

Finished yet another SET. Meant to be another 6AS7 SET but I setup the HT on a 5998. When I put the 6AS7 in all biases and HT was wrong. So this time its a 5998/12AU7 SET. I Prefer a 5998 anyhow.

Note: since posting this amp I have made changes to the PS section which now allows the use of either 5998 or 6AS7 tubes. Though not tested 6080 tubes can also be used. 

Hammond power Tranni, Edcor 10W premium OPTs sprayed black. Triple Pi filtration and SS rec. dead quiet PS. Last filter cap is a 4uf PIO. Ceramic sockets and all Cat5 solid core wired, no shielded cable, not required. The power tranni is isolation mounted on split rubber grommets. Mundorf Supreme interstage caps and NP Cks. 

I called the amp “Persuasion”. So far but very good sounding and excellent bass.

"Koto" - 12AU7/6AS7 SET amplifier

 

Still on a roll to use expensive parts, stored away for many years in store room, here is a 6AS7 SET amp. Its been many years since I've built one of these. I remember being impressed with my first which sold quickly. I had the Edcor power tranni, Edcor 1.7K OPTs and expensive Jensen copper, paper and oil inter-stage caps, new 5Y3GT rec. tube, base and ABS top plate plus and tube sockets. No excuse not to build a two-stage SET.

Apart from NP caps as cathode bi-pass and Cat5 wiring throughout there is nothing else exotic in parts. The PS once more is double Pi - CRCRC - with 5Y3 tube rectification and further filtering at the driver stage. 6AS7 is a well used RCA but a new Genalex Gold Lion 12AU7 was used as the driver tube. The sound is open, detailed with depth and wide sound stage. Bass extends well. Only a few watts but in my system enough. Also pictured here is my EL34/KT88 SE UL amp with KT88s installed. I could happily live with either. 

"Timbre" - UX-171A power amp

 

I was commissioned to build an amp based on 100 year old UX-171A (71A) tubes. Fortunately I had a few pairs and was able to match two. The driver tubes - 6SN7 - are Ozzy RCAs which I also had. The rectifier tube is an"80". Along with the power tranni, base and top plate, some caps, choke, ceramic sockets and OPTs (Edcor) I needed just a few minor components. 

The schematic I had only found a few days before the request to build the amp. The recipient was happy with all vintage tubes though I suggested, what I felt might be better, other driver tubes. Suited me, I had all the above parts and tubes for years and was looking for an excuse to use them.

Colour is Ocean Blue Hammertone epoxy enamel. Base is Australian Spotted Gum and heavy. Filter is double Pi - CLCRC - with further RC feeding the driver stage which is SRPP. 71As are DHT and the amp is a DHT SET producing about 1/2W. That's low power but the amp will be used with very high efficiency speakers. On my 92db speakers it played plenty loud enough for me. The "80" rec. tube, double filtering and 5H Hammond choke provide a dead quiet robust PS with 260uf of caps. Total current drain is low at 40mA. 1.5mV of noise measured in my system with all gear on. Nothing to hear at the speakers. 

The Hammons power tranni is way over spec but I had it on hand and time to put it to use. Inter-stage caps are Russian PIO copper jacket types which always sound good. The jacket was earthed. I used solder from the 60s and single strand copper wire to ensure a retro sound which the client was after. The top plate is fused and earthed. Sound is silky smooth (think low power 45 or 2A3) with exceptional bass, creamy smooth mids and clear highs. Highs are not over stated and I would say the amp is a little on the dark side providing a very relaxed presentation. 

"Apparition" - 6H3N triode headphone amp

 

Having a small Hammond power tranni and three 6H3N triodes on hand I was looking for a build. Usually my headphone tube amps are based on the 6AS7 twin triode tube as power tube and 12AU7 as driver. But I stumbled on a schematic I had had for some years and it used two triodes in a HP amp. The backend is a White SRPP know for low output impedance. This HP amp was not designed for 6H3Ns but with some tweaking I could make it work. After the build voltages and biases were way out and it took four days of head scratching and tweaking to get it all balanced. Fortunately as a preamp or HP amp it is really excellent. Not sure why there isn't more designs around this inexpensive great sounding double triode. 

The chassis is cast Al with Ocean Blue Hammertone epoxy enamel double coat. All wiring is P2P or Component-2-component and hookup wire is mostly fine copper wire with a silver plate. Not shielded wire is used. The PS is triple Pi with 300uf of caps (CRCRCRC) and a further smoothing to the driver tube with another smaller storage cap and resistor. The amp is absolutely dead quiet though AC feeds the heaters and no shielded wire is used. The chassis is earthed and mains fused. Caps are polies and low ESR electrolytics. The power tranni is mounted on split rubber grommets to isolated any vibration from tubes. 

Elna caps are used on the output and the two stages are direct linked. Soldering in the audio path is with BWT silver based solder. Resistors are mainly metal film with some 1W carbon and 5W wire wound where required. Pot is an Alps blue velvet with 4oz solid brass gold plated knob. All caps in the PS and in the audio path are snubbed with 0.1uf polies making for a very clean sonic presentation. 

As a preamp playing through my KT88 SE UL tube amp "Apparition" exhibited extreme detail with very extended reverb tails. The longest I have heard anywhere. To me this says it is bringing forth every nuance of detail even at the extreme low level of volume. Stereo image is wide with all instruments well placed and standalone. Central image is well defined and feels deep. Bass is good down to 30Hz in my system. On headphones Apparition would keep up or exceed the best I have made to date and no problems driving 250ohm phones. I'm inspired to build a dedicated preamp with this tube of which I have another quad matched set. 

"Palladom" - high performance F5

 

Palladom start life as a Turbo F5 build for another. But after some months he was not happy with the sound and offered to sell back the enclosure and PS. The PS is extreme with 2X 300VA double secondary windings trannies, 16X 15A double diode bridges all with heatsinks and 192,000uf of  capacitance. The only part I had to replace were the amp boards. I used the DIYAudio F5 boards with Dale resistors and matched FET pairs.

Easy to see the PS in a 5U enclosure is way over-speced. Fortunately it produced an extremely good sounding example of a high-performance F5. Being able to push the current up this amp will produce 32Watts of Class A and about 50W of Class B. In the image above the yellow alligator leads were used temporarily to establish the right earthing setup. Because there is so much heatsink area the amp gets just warm. Very heavy though and now sold.

"Thirty-four" - EL34 SE UL amp

 

Again using up expensive parts on hand another SE UL tube amp. This time using a tweaked schematic which favors EL34s. I have a number of brands of EL34s on hand including:- Svetalan, Siemens, Black Sable, Tung-Sol and Electro Harmonix. Some quad matched sets like the Tang-Sol and Black Sables. With a mix of carbon and metal film resistors, mustard caps as snubbers on Ck and Jensen copper foil paper and oil inter-stage caps this is a real mixed build. Once more the whole idea is to use up what is on hand. KT88s can also be rolled for a different sonic presentation.

On hand I had the big Hammond 600V 200mA power tranni, open frame Edcor OPTs (under the bonnet), the wood base and top plate, inter-stage caps most resistors, ceramic and resin tube sockets, tubes and all components for the SS rectification cct. and smoothing caps. The PS is a triple Pi config but this time no choke. CRCRCRC with 100uf caps and 330ohm 5W Rs has produced an extremely quiet amp with only 0.9mV of noise. Total caps is 750uf.

The base is Australian Spotted Gum and after being sanded smooth and oiled was re-prepped with "0000" steel wool and re-oiled. The timber looks rich and is extremely smooth. The top plate is sprayed with Hammertone epoxy enamel after being sanded and etch primed. The finish looks lush and the Hammertone hides any dust particles or blemishes. The top plate is 2mm Al and the Tranni is isolation mounted to it to reduce vibration to the tubes. 

Cat5 solid core wire for the audio path and HT is delivered with either twisted pairs of Cat5 or heavier wire. There is no shielded wire and the audio is delivered to the 6N1P via Cat5 twisted pair. Where I found the sound of the KT88 amp - Toccata - very open with a huge sound stage this amp sounds a solid and grounded again with a large sound stage. Once more a very transparent earthy presentation and now with the Siemens tubes in place a cleaner open sound. Bass is full on and extends down to 30hZ.