henry4841

Recently finished building one of Maynard's amplifiers which to me really accentuates vocals. This voice just sounds wonderful on it. You can find it on Ebay factory sealed for around $10

My reason for posting cartoons here. On another thread I was told I was not wanted. I am just trying to bring a little humor to such a serious world.

My brother about my same, age 73 ,said he will often get asked questions he really does not want to answer so he just shakes his head and says "I just do not know." You can get away with doing that when you reach our age. Advantage of old age.

Some more work done today. Lot's of time put into layout and a little time drilling holes. That's enough for one day for me. Any more and it becomes work and not pleasure.

Guys I did not know whether to mention this I saw on Ebay being I did not want anyone to think I am recommending this guy but he is the one I just bought my signal generator from and I am happy with the buy. 100% feedback rating. Anyways he is selling some analog oscilloscopes for just a little money for what oscilloscopes are selling for these days. Perfectly adequate for audio work. Harder to get voltages and such, you have to learn how to do it on an analog scope vs the newer digital scopes that displays such along with the signal, but if you just want to look at the signal for problems it will work just fine. I would not want to be without an old analog scope in the playing I do. https://www.ebay.com/itm/265864241373?hash=item3de6be60dd:g:2LwAAOSwlOpi~865

Ebay sold section is the first place to look to get real world price's sold recently. https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=harman+kardon+730&_sacat=183077&rt=nc&LH_Sold=1&LH_Complete=1

Hey guys, I just found this guy on ebay who is selling chassis' to build your amplifier with. Good 100% feedback. Give it a look. Not custom built with hand cut dovetails but who cares if they are more concerned with sound than looks. Take a lot of work out of building a tube amplifier. My chassis I am building is approximately 16 1/2" X 11" X 3" https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_dmd=2&_dkr=1&iconV2Request=true&_ssn=hma60&store_cat=8055728010&store_name=iagdiytubeaudioproducts&_oac=1

Maynard, remind me again why and what purpose is C3 in the circuit?

Morning guys. It is officially a month since I first started this thread and we have had 9K views. I would have never dreamed there would be so many views in just a months time about an old man building a tube amplifier. I just started this thread to have something to do being that it had been a few years since I built a tube amplifier and I do enjoy doing so. I am glad so many check in everyday to see what I have to say. That and the others contributing to the thread being so popular, especially Maynard. After all I am just building his amplifier design, it is his creation. For me an amplifier is all about the output power tube. Every other circuit works for the king of the circuit, the 6Y6 tube. It is what the other two circuits are there for, to make the power tube operate. The power supply circuit is self explanatory, the king needs a correct voltage at the right pins for it to operate correctly. Get a flow of electrons, think water flow, going inside the tube. There is electron flow going on in all the components of the amplifier, much like a river and it's tributaries. When you flip a switch you start the electron flow. The pre-tube, called pre-tube for a reason, works for the king as well. It has a job to do for the 6Y6 tube, increase the tiny signal to a point where the 6Y6 can use it. The 6Y6 cannot use the tiny signal as it comes into the amplifier, it needs a more powerful signal to get it started working. Maynard has mentioned one tube amplifier not needing a pre-tube, sometimes called a spud amplifier. I built one of those when I first started building tube amplifiers 10 years ago. Because it is easier to build. Just two circuits instead of three. Before then I had only built SS amplifiers using a ready made PCB board. Building a SS amplifier from a board is much easier than building point to point from a schematic. You stuff two boards, usually, and all you have to do is connect them together using wire and viola you have a working amplifier. That is if you stuffed the boards correctly. That involves putting component A in the holes on the board at point A. Component B in the correct holes on the board at hole B, etc and on and on. Just following directions not needing to know exactly why you are doing so. For me building a tube amplifier point to point is more challenging. On this next build I think I am going to build just one channel at a time instead of doing both at the same time. Doing both at the same time was the way I did it a few years ago but on the last build I made some mistakes and had to spend time finding where I made them and fixing them. Being rusty and too cocky I tried doing it the way I stopped doing it a few years back. Learned my lesson diagnosing the problems made during assembly not being careful and precise enough. Anyways back to the subject of the king of the amplifier the power output tube, the 6Y6 on this amplifier. The power stage is where the rubber meets the road and the main contributor to the sound you hear. The other two circuits contribute to the sound but supposedly in just a minor role. Optimally not contributing at all in the sound you hear. Anyways that is the way I look at it. Now at this time in his life this is what Nelson devotes his time to, operation of a certain power transistor he is working with. He had his pre guy, Wayne Colburn, build him a front end capable of working with multiple output devices. Those SS guys do not have the luxury we do of having really good active devices to work with, audio tubes. The making of a new audio transistor is practically non existent. Been that way for years. Nelson has to try and find a new transistor made for some other purpose that has the properties that will make a good audio signal. Most often made for switching applications. Well I think that is enough rambling this morning. My plans are to get some holes drilled in the Premium Sweetie plates this morning. There has been a post about the price I am going to ask for the Premium and I said wait till it is put in the garage section for that. I will say the parts count is approaching $500 and I would not build another case like I am building for someone else for less than $300 if that. That will give someone an idea of what the asking price will be. Just the chassis to build one of Nelson's SS clones is going to cost you $294. https://diyaudiostore.com/collections/chassis/products/deluxe-4u-amplifier-chassis-steel?variant=39313326473289

I have not heard anything more than what Area51 posted a few days ago when he agreed with me about this amplifier is all about the mids and vocals. When selling anything not hearing something after selling is usually a good sign. 🙂 I have not contacted him via PM because like everyone else there are more important things in life than a social media site. I believe he will say more about the amplifier in due time. I hope it is positive when he does. Maynard and I like the sound so I hope someone else does as well.

Below is a picture of the amplifiers I was comparing two nights ago. The Sweetie on top of my test SS amplifier setup and my EL-34 amp with the 6L6 tubes. I also used the Gold Lion KT-77's in the EL-34 as well to compare the sound character of each tube set I described in my last post. All three ways are really good sounding but different. I played one song on an LP all 3 ways to get an idea of the differences between the sound of the 3 sets of output tubes. Did my best to keep the sound level the same for each test.

Well, there you go. SET for the 6Y6 it is. I like the tone of the 6Y6. Tone is what the 6Y6 brings to the table that is absent from the modern day production tubes. At least the ones I have played with. My Gold Lion 300b amplifier has a little tone in the sound signature but nothing like the 6Y6. Possible an EL34 amplifier I have with some of those old Russian 6L6 audio tubes as well but less so. I have a pair of Gold Lion KT77 tubes I can use in the EL-34 amplifier but it has no what I would call tone. Clean and clear and really good sounding but no tone. Many will prefer that kind of sound and I can appreciate it myself. I am just trying to describe what I am hearing between some different tubes. Being 73 years old I grew up in the 50's and perhaps the 6Y6 just pleases my self conscience from an old radio my mother played in our house when I was growing up. Tone is what you get with those old audio tubes. Kinda like those old tube juke boxes in bars when I was in my early 20's sound. This is one thing that is nice with most SET EL-34 amplifiers. One can swap many different tubes in and out of it hearing a completely different sound character quite easily. The EL-34 family of tubes is quite large. Never heard my EL-34 with some USA made NOS tubes but I bet you money it will take an EL-34 amplifier to another level in pleasure.

Mikeb is what I call a serious lover of music with his personal dedicated room to listen in. I think I can safely use the word audiophile to describe him.

I would like Maynard's thoughts on increasing the power of the 6Y6 tube. Ultra-linear or pentode operation is a couple of ways to achieve it. Me personally, I have always clung to triode operation even with it's lower power figure. IMHO perfect for Klipsch speakers. The one watt the Sweetie, as it is now designed, will make a sound level in your room 3 ft. away 95db or better with Klipsch speakers before clipping. Guys 95db is loud. Too loud for extended listening. That is for sensible people. With my LaScala's one watt equals 103db. From the net. "Is 80 dB too loud? 80 decibels is considered potentially harmful to your hearing. Especially if exposure exceeds 8-10 hours/day. The maximum noise level you can be exposed to without having to worry about hearing damage or potential hearing loss is 70 decibels over a 24-hour period." I see power as what old audio folks talked about in their youth among other audiophiles, if I can use that word for me and my friends. My amplifier has 150 watts so it must sound better than your measly 100 watt amplifier, in a nice way of course without offending your friend. Just some BS from sellers of amplifiers that they want you to believe to promote their product. More has to be better, right? Anyways getting back to increasing power from the 6Y6 tube, for me using another way of operation just does not set right. It is in my head from what little I know of amplification. I kinda turn my nose up on other ways of using a tube. It is all about the curves in the data sheet of any active device whether tube or transistor. Pentode curves go horizonal and triode curves go vertical in the data sheets. Two distinctly different sounds. Most all transistors have curves like a pentode tube. There is only one transistor that I have heard about that has curves like a triode tube, static induction transistors. Nelson has been playing with them for the last 10 years coaxing the triode sound from a SS transistor. I cannot make an ultra-linear amplifier from the 6Y6 tube with the OPT's I now have. But I think it is possible to make the Premium Sweetie build into a pentode amplifier with just some minor changes in the 6Y6 circuit giving this tube possible a couple more watts. Not that I think it is needed but it seems most like to talk numbers on this forum. My ears like the pentode sound it is my limited electronic knowledge that leads me in the direction of the triode tube sound. Perhaps Maynard will post his thoughts of doing this and what would be involved in his design.

CBH made some good points. When painting a car you want to be sure and get a good bond and you must adhere to sound technic's. After final sanding then cleaning with a degreaser you apply a primer. The primer insures a good bond for the hard paint. And it acts sorta like the the cushion under your carpet at home. But then a car is exposed to the elements with a lot of expansion and contraction of the metal possible every single day. A home environment amplifier, not so much of a problem. If I do not scratch the aluminum and it looks good I think a shot of clear over the aluminum will be just fine. I will clean it first with some lacquer thinner if I have any left or brake cleaner in a spray clean. Brake clean is what you want to use around your house if you want something really clean without leaving a residue. Should last longer than the clear coat of some of the older cars one sees in the parking lots.

Well said

Morning guys. We are up to 8.8K views on this thread and it is not even a month old. There seems to be an interest in the country boy way of looking at things. I think Maynard and I make a good pair. I try and give the country boy way of looking at electronics and Maynard gives the technical side. I am pretty sure if Maynard and I were neighbors we could sit on the front porch in the evening watching the sun set in our rocking chairs without having to say very much. First thing this morning we all need to congratulate Dean for becoming an authorized builder of Klipsch crossovers. I am sure it can be a long and happy relationship as long as Dean builds the Klipsch sound. That is what buyers of Klipsch speakers are looking for when they buy a pair of Klipsch speakers. The Klipsch sound. When people buy a Pass Labs amplifier they expect to hear the Pass Lab sound and yes they have their own signature sound. Nelson has stated this on some of his videos. Buy a Pass Lab amplifier and you are going to get a dependable well built amplifier with the Pass Lab sound, consistently. Same goes for Klipsch. Your old Heritage speakers may have not came with the capacitors that the sound guys of yesteryear liked but the sound guys at Klipsch now have determined that the parts chosen for their crossovers is the sound they want reproduced in their speakers. Their personal sound signature. If one wants to hear what the Klipsch sound engineers have determined sounds best in old Klipsch speakers you will want to get the capacitors they recommend. And if you do not want to do it yourself Dean is now the guy to see and not some of those other after market sellers of crossovers.

Can you blame them? Ford does not want Chevrolet on their site promoting Chevrolet's.

Congratulations Dean.

What Maynard just described is why I have never attempted to build a tube phono amplifier. A few transistor ones yes but never a tube one. Everything becomes critical when you are dealing with such a tiny signal coming from a phono cartridge.

I suppose you could. Would not hurt.

Many may have noticed how often I mention Nelson Pass. No doubt he is a genius in his field. When he walks into a room of electronic engineers and geeks he does not try and show how much smarter he is, he knows he is the smartest one in the room. But the main reason I follow everything I can about him is he shares some of his knowledge for the hobbyist and electronic geeks all over the world. Special individual. About the discussion Travis mentioned, Nelson tries really hard to remove just one resistor in one of his designs if he thinks he can do without it. The feeling being less parts, better sound. My following his philosophy is probably why I like a simple amplifier like this Sweetie. Just two circuits in the audio part of the amplifier. A well designed SS push pull amplifier will have 8 or 10 circuits for each channel instead of just 2 circuits like in most SET tube amplifiers.

Glad to have you join in the conversation Maynard. After all this amplifier is your creation. Great find that 6Y6 tube. For years I have been telling you how much I like the sound of that tube.