henry4841

Maynard's Little Sweetie amp with 1 watt of power has great bass with just the 1 watt on LaScala's. If someone were to come to my house and listen to it playing not knowing what it was they would be shocked to learn it only has one watt.

Nobody really wants to show or see ugly. I did get a chuckle seeing this thread though. I would say my room may not suit every one but it sure is comfortable.

The kit is now available for purchase at $20. DIY Front End. file:///C:/Users/admin/Downloads/DIY%20FE%202022%20(1).pdf https://diyaudiostore.com/collections/amplifier-front-ends/products/diy-front-end-2022 https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/diy-front-end-2022.394339/

Just thought I would add, the same is true with transistors. Bigger transistor bigger sound. There are guys at diyaudio playing with big SIT transistors with positive reviews.

My experience as well. Bigger tube, bigger sound.

Happy Birthday.

Nelson makes SS amps that sound like tube amps. IMHO tubes still rule when it comes to sound though. The majority of his amps sound more like pentode tubes than triodes. It is in the curves of the devices he works with. Other than the discontinued SIT amps the mosfets he uses have curves like a pentode tube and not a triode. SS amplifiers rule the market so there is more money to be made building SS amps.

Most techs figure out a way to physically install two separate caps instead of the dual cap in a case like yours. I never mess with trying to find a dual cap anymore when restoring old gear from the 70's or before. There are some that worry about the inside appearance and take the old can apart and install two caps in the old cap case. Being new caps are much smaller than the old ones makes this possible. Mostly seen in guitar amp restorations though where one wants to keep the original appearance. Anyway that is the way I have seen it done. Electronically the amp could care less.

There are plenty of available caps you need at Mouser. I assume you know the value does not have to be exactly 1500uf. Slightly over is perfectly alright. Same with voltage rating, higher rating fine as well. Many techs consider slightly higher values to be better actually. https://www.mouser.com/c/passive-components/capacitors/aluminum-electrolytic-capacitors/aluminum-electrolytic-capacitors-radial-leaded/?capacitance=1500 uF&voltage rating dc=50 VDC&instock=y&sort=pricing

300 watt for tube gear, 100 watt for SS is what I use.

My thoughts exactly. PP tube amps sound very much to me like a good SS PP amplifier. Not a bad thing by any means if ones needs a lot of power but wasted on our Klipsch speakers that operate mostly on less than a watt. The good thing is one can have really excellent sound that is as good as a 5 grand SS amp.

I am sure you meant EL84 above and not EL34. I do the same thing at times. The Russian 6P14 is the EL-84 equivalent. You have to connect the 3rd grid, to the cathode for the 6P15P to work much as the EL84 which has the 3rd grid connected to the cathode internally. Steve does this when building where you can use the 6P15P along with the EL84 or 6P14P. Guys this amp with this small tube from Decware is a really good amplifier for the price but lets not make it out as something it is not. The schematic was once posted on Decware's website but not really necessary being it is such a simple circuit as most SET amplifiers are to design oneself. I built one many years ago and it does sound really good and is worth every penny but in a direct comparison to a big KT-88 or 300B one will immediately hear a difference. I mean same quality parts in build of course. The bigger the tube the better the bass is going to be. Just as big speakers have big sound big tubes have big sound as well. Just plain physics of electronics. None of this makes any difference since the amp does make decent bass but not what I would call the same quickness and control a big tube amplifier has. That and a much larger sound stage and presence of the bigger the tube. I could be very happy with the SET EL84 amp I have if it were the only amplifier I own and would never complain about how wonderful it sounds. Decware sells those bigger tube amps as well for a lot more money for a reason though. Congratulations of your new purchase and enjoy. In no way take this as criticism of your new amplifier. Hey it is being run as a single ended triode, my favorite form of amplification.

Pretty much when it cost more to fix than worth. Not many repair techs left in this throw away world . Television techs are pretty much the thing of the past. When I worked at a copy machine co. the techs do not repair boards but rather replace the entire board with a refurb or new one. Parts changers. Sorry to be a bearer of bad news but a quick look at schematic tells the story.

Do you have a basic knowledge of electronics? Even very knowledgeable electronic gurus are not the best diagnostic experts. Many technicians are parts changers, much like mechanics that work on your car, instead of a good electronic repair technician. Most of the time one can expect output transistors along with driver transistors to have failed with one dead channel. Of course there are many other causes as well. Many youtube videos on how to test them in circuit or better yet with a transistor tester out of circuit. Quick but not definitive test is to check each pin with an ohmmeter to ground. Would show a shorted lead to ground. BJT transistors are basically two diodes in one package. Below is good place to start. https://www.hifiengine.com/manual_library/harman-kardon/avr135.shtml Looking at the schematic I would not touch it and I restore and repair old audio equipment as a hobby. The reason is most newer receivers use chips instead of discrete transistors like most made in the 70's. Virtually unobtainable aftermarket. Hard enough to get discrete parts for repair these days. Sorry for rambling but I was checking out the schematic while typing.

The ones on the One Electron will not fit. The only other source I am aware of is Edcor for bell covers but not sure they will fit either.

This is where the problem lay. It is the way the tube socket is made for the 300B tubes. I first had to drill out the largest hole I could then nibble out where the pin connections are when first building the top plated for all the components. The picture shows after removing the socket and filing away more material where there is no longer electrons jumping from the socket to chassis. This was not an easy find being that during first testing the amp work perfectly and tested good but when I hooked it up to my main system it started blowing fuses. It was a coming and going problem, the hardest to find and fix. The arcing destroyed my precious OPT for this amplifier. The best OPT's I ever have bought. It happens.

To many too count but I am old and slow now working only a couple of hours a day. I just finished this amp yesterday after destroying one of my One Electron OPT's. One of the 300B tube socket connections was too close to the chassis and arced over shorting out the transformer. As it happens at times this One Electron OPT is no longer available making the problem worse. I had to install two Hammond 125Ese's on top to finish the amplifier. Not as pretty as when first shown but not too bad looking considering. I possible could have installed both OPT's underneath the chassis but then I would have big holes left where the old transformers were mounted. The other option is to start over with a new top plate which I have the material to do but not the desire at this time. This was after all a rebuild of an old 10 year old build. Luckily the big 300B tubes hide the OPT's some. Sounds and test excellent never the less. Not as much 2nd harmonic on distortion analyzer as some of my other SET builds which was very surprising. I need to do some tidying up underneath before showing my work. I had it looking real neat and proper but then I had to get the dang thing to work. During finding the short problem and fixing it, removing and reinstalling wires it takes a toll on neatness.

Not totally convinced that is true but never the less that is what subs are made for. 🙂 The talk is mainly about the bass or lack of with a SET but many SET's make remarkable bass for watts produced. Granted the damping factor is not the best but if one wants to sacrifice where truly music lives, SET's make the sweetest mids you will ever hear, and are only concerned about strong bass look no further than a good Class D amplifier. In my stable of amps, 25 last count, class D makes the quickest sharpest bass I have heard but then the mids are not going to project in the room or sound as sweet as with a SET. As you may guess I am in PWK's camp of music lives in the mids. Bi-amping is an option but the bass of a good 5 watt SET is plenty good enough for me. Using a good sub takes it to the next level sacrificing nothing along with remarkable mids. This all depends on the music one listens to of course. If ones taste is hard driving electronic music you will be better off with a SS amp, in general terms. I am talking about quality music, acoustic instruments with solo or group singers. Real trained singers and not the ones that scream at the top of their lungs and call it music. I do listen to soft rock, country singers as well but not as much as when younger. Hard rock, at 73 almost 74, not much anymore.

No.

This is a Heritage leaning forum and there is a good reason for it but the main line of retail speakers have good reviews and offer great sound at affordable prices. The main line is very competitive to what others offer with the advantage of high efficiency. Not every one can afford the heritage line of speakers. I have read a lot of good reviews on Amazon about the floor standing Klipsch options. Let's not overlook them.

Now this is a deal for someone close.

My sweet spot for SS is 25 watts. I have some really good sounding class A SS amps with less power but I like to see 25 watts when it comes to SS. But what really is my favorite is a good SET tube 5 or 6 watt amplifier. It is the purist choice when it comes to sound. IMHO the way music is supposed to sound. More of our members should experience the single ended triode sound with our horns in their lifetime. I was 60 years old before I found out what all the talk of an SET was about. For years I wondered why an idiot would spend thousands for a tube amplifier with only 5 or 6 watts. Like many here I thought it was crazy. Everyone knows you need at least 100 watts, right. The thing is only serious audiophiles really sit down and concentrate on the music. That is the only way one will ever tell a difference. There is magic in big tubes. Those that consider louder as better will never know the difference.

Has more to do with the design of the amplifier rather than from more power. I've seen a 5 watt amplifier have more and better bass than a high power SS amp. The power supply section of an amplifier has a lot to do with how strong your bass is going to be. By the way that is the most expensive part of the amplifier build and where cost cuts typically happen.

I should have no comment being this subject that always comes up frequently. I love tubes. Tubes still rule when it comes to sound for me. My sweet spot as far as power with my LaScala's is 5 watts. I never run out of power with 5 tube watts and never hear clipping or distortion. Either this reflects on what is true or on my hearing, could be failing after almost 74 years. 🙂 I do not think so but who really knows, I only hear what hear and not what you hear. Serious though, tubes can clip on peaks and you will never know it. It is the nature of how tubes clip compared to SS. You clip a SS amp and you will cringe. When the master of horn sound says what the world needs is a good 5 watt amplifier one needs to at least pay attention and not pay attention to so called internet experts. Busting the power myth with horn speakers is not going to happen with many that have been taught since birth that more power means better. Mine has more than yours is always going to be a strong selling point to the unknowledgeable public. Auditoriums were filled with sound many decades ago with big horns and little tube power. It is all they had before the big power SS amplifiers made their introduction. That should tell skeptics something but I doubt it.

A reputable maker like Pass Labs have outstanding amplifiers. With our speakers all is needed is one of their 30 watt per channel amplifiers. If you spend more money than what than what the XA30.8 or the XA25 in their line the money will be wasted IMHO unless you believe the performance at a few watts is somehow better with one of the more powerful amplifiers. In reality one of the Firstwatt offerings is perfect for our speakers and will save a lot of money. But for one of the best quality amplifiers Passlabs is where you want to look. Much can be said with other vendors such as Dan D'Agostino as well. Many other quality built amps out there as well.