Curious_George

I have (technically, it is my wifes) a Yamaha V-Star 650. It is a mid-size cruiser. It is a blast to drive. she doesn't ride much anymore, so I mainly ride it around the campground. My workamper has an Indian 2015 Roadmaster and he thinks he is "The King" on it. It's a very nice bike, but he can't afford to pay attention...

A year or so ago, I bought an older Sony AVR (pro-logic) AVR at an antique shop for $10. I figured it was worth that to hook-up in my barn (garage). I hooked up my Heresy's to it and it rocked! I could not believe it. Typically, those Sony's always sounded "thin" to me compared to an Onkyo, Pioneer, Denon, etc. but it is the best sounding Sony I have come across.

Based on what you wrote above, I would suggest a separate preamp and 2 channel amp. This will give you maximum flexibility. Try and find a NAD 1130 / 1155 / 1240 preamp. The 80's produced some good preamp gear and the price is nominal depending on who made it. These are excellent preamps for the price. Then seek out some 2 channel amps.

I argued with "my boss" all the time at one job because he was an idiot. Corporate gave him enough rope that he eventually hung himself. A fitting end. You can be a boss, but if you are not respected (and a people person), then your days are numbered.

Router with a 1/4 round bit. Looks beautiful and is quick.

The biggest factor when using a passive preamp, is the interconnecting cables. They need to be low-capacitance type (not expensive, but LOW CAPACITANCE) or you will get additional high frequency roll-off. You are already going to get some HF roll-off depending on your amplifier input section. In addition, any output buffer capacity (in other words - low impedance output) that your source unit has will be eliminated by the passive preamp (unless it is a transformer type). My ears tell me ever type of music needs some type of tone control, so I don't do passives or line stages.

Maybe he skipped his meds recently...

My JBL L100 killers (another name for my non-stock Heresy I classics or HIP's) sound awesome after the changes. If I had to give up all my speakers, I'd keep these and a powered sub.

I love oils...?

More time listening to the HF-87 clone... I hate to use typical audiophool adjectives, but this amp is one of the best sounding amps I have heard, regardless of price (tube or solid state). This is quite a statement coming from me. Why? Because typically, I can only barely perceive differences in amps when comparing them unless they are just junk compared to something good. It is totally transparent, but powerful. Sound, soundstage, imaging, noise, frequency extension (high & low) are excellent. If you are looking for a moderately powered push-pull tube amp, this is the one to make. For Heritage speakers, you do not need more than 35 watts per channel which this is rated at.

Ask Rich, he may be in the market to sell his. Just a suggestion, I do not know.

I used to use the analogy of someone being a "tornado" in corporate meetings when the time was appropriate... same premise.

Since Mullard/Philips was a European company, any equipment manufacturer in Europe who needed an EL-34 type tube in their equipment used one. Although they were a good tube, they were also very inexpensive and that is why they were so prevalent at first, not because of their sound, reliability or other attributes.

What are you doing now for a 71A amp?

The name of the section(s) have changed too. It is no longer Technical/Modifications, it is Technical/Restorations.

As long as I am running at 80% or less, that is all I care about. But seriously, I know. At this point in my life, tube life is not important to me, the sound is.

You have to prioritize your time. And that was a good choice. I could be better at it myself, but my wife knows that I love to tinker.

The EL-34 (NOS at least) were very rugged tubes. The 25 watt plate and 3 watt screen dissipation rating were fairly conservative (in my opinion). The guitar guys would really runs the EL-34's hot and they seemed to last a long time. The Svetlana tubes (and most Russian tubes) seem very well made. I'm not worried about running them at the current setting. I also like the JJ tubes. Asian tubes are my least favorite, but if you pick and choose, you can find some good ones (meaning reliable and perform correctly) at a decent price. If the price for a given tube is the same from three makers such as Russia, JJ (Slovakia) or China, I would pick the Russian tube first, then JJ, then Chinese. I'll probably buy 4 JJ EL-34's as back-up since the price of tubes today will be lower than in the future.

Henry - I think the ST-70 stripped down to just the amp section would make a great little PP amp. I can redraw the schematic for you to just include the amp section if you want. I see that it is fixed bias. Do you want to retain that feature or go with cathode bias? Both have thier advantages, but if you are not interested in every last bit of power (which I know you are not), I prefer cathode bias due to it's simplicity. With fixed bias, if you have a failure in the bias circuit and you don't catch it fairly quick, you will destroy your output tubes unless there is a least a fuse in the output tube circuit somewhere.

If you have basic mechanical skills you could always build a 300B amp yourself. After locating all the parts with shipping you will be looking at around $1,000USD just for parts/basic aluminum chassis.

So do I, but it is more efficient to look things up that I have written down.

I did sell it to Rich, but typically, I do not make and sell amps to anyone. He was an exception. I'm selfish. I like to have all my time for myself to build when I have the time to build. Money could be good, but for the way I like to build, I'm not interested in making money building and selling amps. I'll leave that to others. I'll help someone build for a DIY project, but that's it.

I made the 300B for Rich. Probably identical to the Had 300B. I don't know for a fact because I have never seen Dennis publish any of his schematics.

Depending on where in the circuit said cap is, sometimes the original value is best. Some caps can be increased for better performance, some caps should not be increased (or decreased).

Good modern quality caps will make a difference, but a value change will definitely change the sound.