Johnny dB Posted February 23, 2003 Share Posted February 23, 2003 Here's a shot of my S-5 amp. My very first DIY anything! I think it came out nice, considering. Just need to go back to Mendelson electronics for a bigger gain knob. I have about $180 in this including shipping and misc. parts from PartsExpress (upgraded RCAs, power switch, and banana jacks). This is a cheesy kit, but it sounds decent; highs are pretty harsh and lows are all but non-existent. It also needs to break-in more so maybe it'll tame itself. Should be getting my 299 back from Craig tomorrow so I can compare the two. Still waiting for my bottlehead preamp to arrive. I'm looking forward to tackling that kit! If anyone wants to see anymore pics just let me know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny dB Posted February 23, 2003 Author Share Posted February 23, 2003 Wow that image is huge! sorry about that. I'm new to this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justin_tx_16 Posted February 23, 2003 Share Posted February 23, 2003 Look'n good. what are the specs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny dB Posted February 23, 2003 Author Share Posted February 23, 2003 Specs: Input Impedance 100k ohms Output Impedance 8 ohms Output Power Push Pull 8 Watts per Channel Minimum Input For full output .4 V Frequency Response 20 to 20,000 Hz Total Harmonic Distortion <1% at 1 Watt as per their website. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik Mandaville Posted February 23, 2003 Share Posted February 23, 2003 You can get some pet spot remover for your pillow -- But what a great job you did on your amplifier kit! This got very good reviews in Audio Express, considering it's uncommon price tag. Did you get the ceramic tube sockets? The review I read mentioned there had been a problem with melting... Congrats and good work! Erik ...I don't know if you did this, but if the amp. runs a little on the hot side, you can drill holes in the bottom plate for some updraft cooling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny dB Posted February 23, 2003 Author Share Posted February 23, 2003 Erik, Thanks for the tip on the updraft cooling. I didn't get ceramic sockets, but they send Hi Temperature Fluoro Carbon "O" Rings to put underneath the tubes so they don't melt the plastic sockets. They say they're looking for replacement ceramic sockets that will still make this kit affordable... Thanks for the praise. It was your post that turned me onto this. Regards, John B. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leok Posted February 23, 2003 Share Posted February 23, 2003 Nice job. I would think at moderate volume it should sound pretty good. leok Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny dB Posted February 23, 2003 Author Share Posted February 23, 2003 Leok, it does sound pretty good. The volume on the cd player was cranked up. It seems to have mellowed some. Can't wait to compare it to the 299. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOSValves Posted February 23, 2003 Share Posted February 23, 2003 John, Nice job !! But I sure hope the 299 walks away with the prize or I'm closing my business LOL !! I hate to ruin your party but Fed Ex ground doesn't ship on mondays so you will be waiting till tuesday for your new pride and joy It will be worth the wait. Craig Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyKubicki Posted February 23, 2003 Share Posted February 23, 2003 That does look nice. I will try a DIY something soon. Right now I will have to be happy with unsoldering and resoldering new parts to my Scotty...it's tougher to get nice solder joints after pulling off the old parts....must be more fun to put a kit together and have everything look new! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny dB Posted February 23, 2003 Author Share Posted February 23, 2003 Damn Craig, we should've went with brown on this one... Oh well live and learn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOSValves Posted February 24, 2003 Share Posted February 24, 2003 Yea Friday is a bad day to ship fed Ex ground !! They have the advantage of Saturday free delivery but also the disadvantage of no monday ! I Should of just paid a little more for Expres the thing is that its way more ! They also have a new policy for Fed Ex Ground they want all packages over $100 value left open for inspection which is a real pain !! Craig Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mobile homeless Posted February 24, 2003 Share Posted February 24, 2003 FedEx Ground is an amazingly poor service that FedEx bought the rights to. It has caused more problems and I have lost three packages. In talking to the regular FedEx man, he said it has been a major problem ever since they went this approach. It is actually a separate arm from the regular FedEx many are accumstomed to. kh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parrot Posted February 24, 2003 Share Posted February 24, 2003 FedEx Ground has worked out great for me, although I've used it maybe only a dozen times. The carriers are independent from the real FedEx, so it may be a matter of geographical area--some areas of the country might use better carriers. One thing that's really nice about FedEx ground is that depending on the distance, it can be only half the cost of UPS or USPS. The most important thing is to use very strong boxes, and double box your stuff. A lot of people send heavy stuff in fairly thin boxes, and that's just asking for problems. You can't safely send a 30 lb amp in a box that was made to ship something that weighed 10 pounds. And a lot of people use the same shipping box over and over and over, until after it's lost most of its structural integrity. All carriers have problems sometime or another, I don't care if it's UPS, USPS, FedEx, Airborne, or independent guys. All you can do is pack it securely as practical and then hope. But 3 bad transactions with FedEx Ground; I don't know mobile, this might be bad karma. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randy Bey Posted February 24, 2003 Share Posted February 24, 2003 I've had nothing but good luck with FedEx ground. Plus they are half or a third the price of the competition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOSValves Posted February 24, 2003 Share Posted February 24, 2003 Fed Ex all the way and its up to the customer what Fed Ex service I use or they can pay the extra to have UPS pick them up here I will not go to there customer counter it takes to long. I have shipped at least 50 amps with Fed Ex and had one amp damaged and one lost and recovered 2 days later unharmed. UPS sucks and never pays on there insurance unless you use a third party packaging service or original packaging almost across the board. Fed Ex is implementing this new open item policy for ground only because of fraud (people sending damaged items and claiming Fed Ex did it) only on there ground service. They actually pay for damage unlike UPS from what I understand !! I may try to switch every one to Fed Ex Express Saver but this will be at least double the cost to ship. Craig Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOSValves Posted February 24, 2003 Share Posted February 24, 2003 Fed Ex all the way and its up to the customer what Fed Ex service I use or they can pay the extra to have UPS pick them up here I will not go to there customer counter it takes to long. I have shipped at least 50 amps with Fed Ex and had one amp damaged and one lost and recovered 2 days later unharmed. UPS sucks and never pays on there insurance unless you use a third party packaging service or original packaging almost across the board. Fed Ex is implementing this new open item policy for ground only because of fraud (people sending damaged items and claiming Fed Ex did it) only on there ground service. They actually pay for damage unlike UPS from what I understand !! I may try to switch every one to Fed Ex Express Saver but this will be at least double the cost to ship. Craig Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik Mandaville Posted February 24, 2003 Share Posted February 24, 2003 Johnny: Let us know how your Foreplay project goes. I'm sure you know that the Bottlehead forum is a great place for help and troubleshooting, and there are guys there who are extremely competent with tube audio electronics. Have fun -- I think it's great you're taking on these projects! A stereo tube and an excellent little preamp for just around $300 is pretty good! Erik Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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