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Factory Moondogs (for Mike D.)


Erik Mandaville

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Hey, Mike!

Thanks for your reply. Sorry about the email thing, but I've done that more than once.

It was indeed a pleasure to meet and talk with you, as well. Thanks for the coffee at Starbucks, too! That gave me the jolt I needed to go back to school to meet with the parents of my students for open house. Getting up every morning at 3:45 or 4:00 makes days like that a dang long haul.

I'll be in touch regarding your amps, and have plenty of that nice coax I used on my Horus amps for the inputs on your Moondogs. Ron did an absolutely first rate job wiring your amplifiers, though. That one unsoldered joint might indeed have been the problem, but I won't know until I get into it a little more. I'll email you Saturday with an update.

Take care,

Erik

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Kevin:

Yah, another Moondog project. Fortunately these ultimate upgrade amps are owned by a Texas neighbor, so we were able to get things together without having to chance UPS. I tell you, a factory wiring job on those things is easy to spot. I have seen a number of Moondog construction jobs, and Ron's work is distinct.

How are you Craig? This coax is kind of hard to find. I'm sure it's available somewhere (I found it afterall!), but I got it at an Electronics parts store in Tucson when I was there. The silver-clad, Teflon insulate wire I used on the Horus was from the same place, and that stuff (though they only had it in 'white') cost me 1/4 what most others charge for it. I have been using Teflon hook up wire almost exclusively, now.

The Shielded cable mentioned above consists of a pure silver conductor within a Teflon dielectric. This in turn is shielded by a silver shield, with that once again being insulated with Teflon. I am almost certain it is the same stuff I have seen on some Cary and AES products; and speaking of which, you might have a look there.

LonestarBlue's Moondogs were wired beautifully by Welborne, but he used a twisted wire pair on the input from the RCA to the first 6SN7 grid. This is not uncommon, and the twisting will offer some immunity against RF, but it isn't as good as a high quality shielded cable, in my opinion. I had some leftover from the Horus project, and will intstall a length in each of Mikes Moondogs. It's fairly narrow AWG coax, and rather more delicate that something along the lines of RG 59, which is huge by comparison.

Let me get these amps done, and I would be happy to give you a piece to work with if you want to experiment with it.

Gotta go iron my pants!

Erik

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Craig:

Just really quick -- that stuff is not the cheapest coax, for sure. I honestly don't remember what I paid for it, but can find that out for you. But maybe you would just like to check it out first before buying 100' of cable?

They had it on a fairly large spool, and it wasn't as if people were lined up for it.

do this: Give me your address, and I'll send you enough to try on your own amps, ok? Give me an approximate length you would need.

Erik

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Erik,

Darn forum software the PM email feature won't work 15.gif

I would have to have about 3 1/2 foot I would guess. I'm in the process of proto typing some KT88 mono blocks that I plan to offer. They will need some descent shielded cables for inputs.

Craig Ostby

2097 E. Judd Rd.

Burton, MI. 48529

Craig

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Craig:

I would consider prototyping with something a little less expensive. There are many good choices, including some Teflon insulated stuff from Belden. 89259 is probably the most famous of which. I built the cross-connect stuff from Risch, but preferred plain narrow AWG pure copper to the Belden. That's just me, we all have preferences...

Since I don't have lots of this silver/teflon coax, if you don't mind, I would like to wait until you finalize your design. I will be using what I have left for LonestarBlues Moondogs, as well as part of the rewiring and building of my own. But I could send you several inches for free just to see what it's like to work with. Combing that braid out does take some care, since the individual strands are fragile.

Erik

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