Jump to content

DRBILL

Regulars
  • Posts

    652
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by DRBILL

  1. This might be a case for "Occam's Razor." A while back I heard something really bad coming from my left Klipschorn. I took everything apart and strewed it across the floor in three rooms. It took half the night at the tube tester. Then it was the bench with the frequency generator and the oscilloscope. In desperation I put everything back together and listened to the same CD and it was as bad as ever. Almost as a whim, I took the CD to the bedroom where the TV and the five speakers preside. I dropped the CD in and started it up. You guessed it. It sounded like sin warmed over. It was a good label. DDD. It sounded like mud. Too often we assume that "it has to be my stuff if it sounds bad." Which reminds me of a story. I friend of mine was on at the ground floor in the development of the RCA system of color TV. At midnight each night the engineers pointed a color camera at a bowl of fruit on a table and left everything on like a test pattern until the first program the next day. This allowed the other engineers to adjust the color TV sets they were developing. My friend slipped in one night and replaced the banana with another banana that he had painted red. You can finish the story. It took three days to put everything back together! No fooling. did you listen to the flute CD on another system?[6] DRBILL
  2. For starters, take a look on e-bay, key word, "relay rack". They have all breeds of racks and shelves, adaptors, etc. Take a look and see if there is one that is a standout from your experience. I don't mind used, scruffy, because I have the gear to make it look OK. Thanks! DRBILL
  3. I have run out of room putting my audio gear in/on furniture. I wondered if anyone had used relay racks for this purpose. Back in the '30's, my dad had his ham gear mounted this way and it looked professional and good. Everything was accessible, front and back and got rid of the jumble of cords. Your suggestions and experience will be appreciated. DRBILL
  4. When I was in high school (50's), the shop where I worked did a very big business in PA rentals. I did routine maintenance on our Bogens. They were built for PA use. My impression was that they had a fairly narrow bandwidth. The treble was supressed to minimize feedback. The bass was also missing because it was useless in a PA system. It might be that this deficiency was deliberate and reversible. They were built like a boiler --really tough. DRBILL
  5. SPEAKERFRITZ, Yes. I looked at the link you suggested. It is easy to set type and D. hard to produce a satisfactory electronic product. We shall see what we shall see. I hope they have astounding success. DRBILL
  6. Risingjay, Where to start? If your cap boards are performing to suit you, keep them. One of mine failed ten minutes after the initial power up. It was a dud electrolytic cap. Unfortunately, the short worked its way forward and caused considerable damage on the driver board. Joe was no help. He blamed me for not following instructions, wiring errors, etc. NOT! After everything was settled, there was hum. I was glad to get rid of them. But yes. If your power supply is fine, the TRIODE board will work with it. The more I listen to mine, the more impressed I get. It is like a canvass. You can paint it to suit you with the options you choose. The choice of tubes, alone, boggles the mind! DRBILL
  7. Well, anything that you install that adds to or "enhances" a performance results in a degradation of "fidelity" or truthfullness. Run over to SLC and listen to the famous choir and organ and stunning acoustics. Then buy one of the records and take it home and play it on your system. The degree to which it sounds like your memory of the live experience is the degree of "fidelity." This doesn't touch on personal taste. "There is no accounting for taste," as the saying goes. Maybe you really like an exaggerated bass line. And there is nothing wrong with that. But if that's what it takes to make a fulfilling musical experience for you, then there are hundreds of speakers out there that will cost a fraction of what you are about to pay for Klipsch speakers. I tried a sub with my Klipschorns. I spent the better part of a day moving it around from place to place to try to meld it to the system. In frustration, I returned it to our modest HT setup where it does wonderful things with special effects. DRBILL
  8. Finding the magic configuration for organ music is like the quest for the Holy Grail. You can see it in your mind's eye, but when you reach out to touch it, it crumbles to dust and ashes. In my youth, I was both a church organist/choirmaster and an organbuilder (Casavant). So, I know what organs sound like in the wild. Reproducing that sound is a tough assignment. It is only in rare, fleeting moments that my Klipschorns "disappear" playing pipe organ music. It is that tough. Forget the subs. They muddy organ music. Go for power. I have Mark IIIs (60 W) and sometimes I wish for more power. Forget SS. It has to do with odd numbered distortion frequencies that our ears hate. Organ music brings out the worst of this phenomenon. I had three CornWalls before I got the bargain-of-my-life Klipschorns. For organ music, the CW's are modestly better than the K-Horns. I hate that I committed that to print! Beware! A lot of organ CDs are poorly recorded and then butchered by ignorant editors who love to twist knobs. "DDD" is no assurance of life-like performance! I hope this helps a little. DRBILL
  9. "I like the sound of those boards myself Dr Bill. I got some of the first ones this spring after they sat on back order since November". DEAR 3-D, Were you able to find trimmer pots for the AC balance? I found some on the West Coast. I had to buy a minimum lot of ten. So, if you need some, drop me a PM. DRBILL
  10. "it is amazing how few parts these amps really have" SPEAKERFRITZ, Yes. While I was working on the MARK IIIs I returned my Williamsons to service. I keep them on a shelf to loan out while I'm waiting for parts for clients' equipment. Talk about SPARSE, when you turn these over you think you've been robbed! I think they are the best sounding all-around amplifiers I have ever seen. That "first magic watt" is stunning. So, why, you might ask, are these not my regular amps? TWENTY WATTS! I listen to a lot of heavy pipe organ music. When the 32' Principals kick in, the Williamsons flutter. But I do use one for my center speaker. DRBILL DRBILL
  11. FINI, No, I didn't. There is so much out there! I like to listen to things a couple of years before I sack them. Let's see -- I'm in my mid-'60's. So .....[sn] DRBILL
  12. LARRY, I did that a while back. I did the two network boards and the power supply board. I was a little disappointed with it. There was still residual hum that was less than before but still audible. My biggest problem with the FM-3 was tuning. This design presumed an age of very few stations and a lot of space between them. Here in the Fort Worth-Dallas "Metroplex" the FM band is full from one end to the other. Adjacent station rejection is really poor with the FM-3. So, I boxed mine and put it away. I use a Factory Dynaco solid state tuner. I get a lot of razzing from my friends and family. There ARE some things that solid state does better. DRBILL
  13. I just finished replacing my Curcio capboards and driverboards. They were not bad, but they were not what I had hoped they would be after a couple of years of careful listening. I replaced them with Triode Electronics (Uncle Ned's) boards. The capboards were a piece of cake. Assembled and installed in an afternoon. The driver boards were another thing. This is a new, inhanced version which allows for dual bias controls and AC balance controls and has jumpers that will allow you to select from a huge tube list. If you are into tube rolling, this is your big chance! As wonderful as this is, they seemed to have spliced together their old manual instead of writing a new one specifically for this new board. This made for some omissions and some confusing information. I ordered the board and parts kit. Between the two, the order was either short 16 items or contained items of the wrong value. When yours arrive, immediately do a parts inventory! This is certainly not a kit for a novice. I had to hunker down and follow the traces to make sure where the jumpers and many parts went. I selected the 5814s for my tube options (4), and the AC balance option. I may add the dual bias controls later. Was it worth it? You bet it was! The improvement in sound (and this is subjective) was as much as the improvement the Crites tweeters and crossovers made. No more muddy mids and pinched bass. It is a thumbs up. Just keep in mind that this is a start-up for Triode and they have had some difficulties which are being rectified. I paid a small price in inconvenience in order to be the first kid on the block. As time passes, I'm sure all will be well. They have been very prompt and cooperative in making things right. DRBILL
  14. www.vacuumtubes.com Michael Marx is very savvy and is a treasure of tube lore. His website is a little chaotic and often not up to date so it is best to call him and explain your needs. He'll make sure you get the biggest bang for your buck. He also stocks refurbished tube testers and adaptors to allow you to use nos 6BG6 (6.00) instead of 6L6! N.B., this is a different site from "vacuumtubesinc" above. DRBILL
  15. Less than a month ago I tossed mine in the recycle bin. The bearings were galled out in both axis (pl. axis?) and the internal wiring had lost a ground. I never heard it. It came on a turntable that saw many years service at a Dallas FM station. It was truly "worn out." DRBILL
  16. I saw one of these demonstrated at Parker Music Company in El Dorado, Arkansas c. 1954. It took several tries to get it started because the inner pickup kept skipping a groove. Roy Parker had only the Cook demonstration disk and an obscure Requiem by some group unknown to me. It was fitting, though. Roy was never able to get another recording and in time the equipment disappeared from his shop. DRBILL
  17. Jeez, I wish I had said that. I printed it out in case I have to write another sermon sometime. I hardly know how to footnote it. DRBILL
  18. One thing I forgot in my wanderings, and I haven't seen anyone here address it. It is absolutely necessary to clean the tip of the iron before each use and frequently thereafter. Use a piece of old terrycloth cut into a four inch swab. Plug in the iron, and when it gets just hot enough to melt solder, hold the tip over the trash box and flick the old solder off. Tin the iron and get to work. Any time the tip becomes dull gray (as opposed to silver) repeat the cleaning. This is particularly important if several minutes have passed since the last junction was soldered. Someone else mentioned this but I'll improve the answer. In choosing which wattage iron to use, err toward the higher wattage. It will make the junction quicker and there is less time for the heat to travel. My dad always quinched the solder joint with spit! He would wet his finger and then touch the newly soldered junction. I never imitated him. He also would check for live circuits by touching the wires. I never imitated him! I DO blow on the junction and I also use the aforementioned heat sinks if I am dealing with sensitive parts. Solder slowly dissolves copper. Your tip will erode to a jagged mess. Reshape it with a file. Reheat and tin the bare copper. Never file a silver tip. DRBILL
  19. I have never found a use for a solder gun. The results on a junction always looks like a bird dropping. There are a bunch of 25-40W irons that do great electronic work. I have several of each. I really like the ones with silver tips. They are getting hard to find. As to heat sinks, I have a box of alligator clips of various sizes. They are fine for most work. I also have some hemostats (surgical clamps) for special circumstances. They latch, so you free your hands. In older work, never overlook the usefulness of soldering paste (NoKoRode) and others. You don't need much! Touch a q-tip to the paste and then to the junction. If you can see it, you used too much. For larger work, I have several sizes of propane torches. Touch the junction with paste, heat the joint with the torch. Remover the flame from the joint. Flow the solder on. You can "brush" the joint with the flame to make it pretty if it isn't. You can buy a "soldering station" for several hundred dollars or several good irons for $10-12 each and expect very much the same results. It all depends on technique. Any old-time bench tech can teach you to solder in 15 minutes. It is like anything else. The art comes with practice. Here endeth the evening lesson. TBTG. DR BILL
  20. The quick answer is NO. There will certainly be other opinions. Keep in mind that the operative word is "noticeable". DRBILL
  21. When it wears out it will make a splended boat anchor! It is on my bench for some simple routine issues. It has a feature that boggled my mind. There are two screwdriver pots on the back for setting the bias on the two banks of power tubes. Next to each of them are two LEDS, red and green. If you set the bias WAY too low, neither lights. When you get it too high, both light. When it is just right, the red goes out and only the green lights. It occurred to me that this would be an excellent addition to almost every amplifier I touch. So, I rushed for the schematic to see how it was done. The rats only showed test points across 1 ohm resistors between the cathodes and ground. No suggestion of the presence of LEDS. Yeah, I know, just look the the PCs, trace it out and write it down. It would be a day's work taking it apart and another putting it back together. Nothing is easy. And I don't have a floor jack! So, anybody out there know how this circuit works and willing to share? Wouldn't it be great to have this. You could set the bias daily, instead of once a year or never. ANYBODY?
  22. When I was a college kid ('50's) everyone was supposed to balance a Mercury-head dime on top of their cartridge shell. Roosevelt wouldn't do. Can you believe that it accomplished exactly the same results as the pebbles! And what a savings! It just so happens that I have a small box of them in the back of my desk drawer. I could let them go for -- say -- $50 each. Naturally, I pay for the S/H. Anyone?
  23. By the way. I wouldn't buy tubes on E-BAY. There is no telling what you are going to get. There are a number of excellent NOS vacuum tubes dealers that will stand behind their wares. My favorite is www.vacuumtubes.com Michael Marx is an encyclopedia of tube information and he keeps an unbelievable inventory. And he ships the same day. DRBILL
  24. I pulled my file schematic and took a quick look. It is somewhat unusual to have the heater winding open (burned out). The usual thing to go is the secondary (B+) or the primary. Those Eico power transformers really run hot. It is surprising that more of them don't burn up. It really doesn't matter except in a sort of academic way. You will need a new power transformer. Craig does a lot of Eico work and probably has a new or used one on his shelf. Wait a discreet period before contacting him out of respect for his father's death in case you han't heard. DRBILL
  25. Im sorry Im so tardy with this. It seems like it has been days since I was able to log on to the Forum. Why do you suppose this always happens on the week-end? But I digress. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> The first thing I did was to remove the old arm and associated wiring taking care to make notes as to where everything went. I had a new SHURE M97xE on the shelf so I fitted it to the shell using jewelers tools and a large lens. The wiring was easier than I had expected. Almost any brain surgeon could have done it. The pins on the cartridge had color coded plastic collars at the base so you just matched the color of the wire to the color of the collar. Here is the scheme: White=Left, Blue=Left Ground, Red=Right, Green=Right Ground, Black=Chassis Ground (Earth). I used miniature needle-nose pliers to push the connectors on the pins. It was as I had been told. This arm assembly was a drop in component. It was just like dropping dimes in a coke bottle from the roof of the house. It took two trips to Ace Hardware to get the right spacer washers to bring the arm to the proper height of the cast turntable (1 3/8 including the rubber mat.). My wife was kind enough to hold the arm in place while I threaded everything together and made sure that the fine little wires all came through unharmed. (Ill help you if you will just tell me what to do and stop making those grunting sounds! Im no mind reader!) The wires that emerge from the arm under the chassis could easily be mistaken for spider webs. Imagine stripping insulation off of spider webs. Im an old geezer. I wear trifocals. I suffer from RA. My medicines make my hands shake. But I cut those little wires to length and stripped the tips. That turned out to be the easy part. The little strands were so fine that they wouldnt stay twisted around the solder lugs. Instead, I tinned them and heated solder onto the lugs and before it solidified I touched the little wires to them. I checked them with the ohm meter and all was well. I now feel qualified to perform vasectomies on fleas. I hooked it up to the power strip and to the preamp, set the tracking force to 1.25g, popped a disk in place, and it was wonderful. It was worth all the aggravation. The vinyl lobby is on to something. And the old engineering worked. The great weight and mass and inertia solved most of the problems that haunt modern turntables. Now, Ive got a lot of catching up to do. DRBILL
×
×
  • Create New...