Sub Sonic

Hi @BradW I didn’t actually spend much time listening before I sold it sorry. However the second one is almost complete, and the third one I have I intend to keep once it has been done 😄 Bypass caps are intended to help clarity of sound, i happened to have them lying around, so in they went. Film capacitors are better than electrolytics in general, but are physically much larger, which is where bypassing comes in. Cheers, SS Edit: the AU101 I’m working on currently has mismatched output devices, one side has been replaced at some stage. I have TIP41Cs to replace all four devices.

Highly recommended, they make desoldering sooo much easier, as well as heating the component for far less time. SS

As @pete_mac mentioned, check the pinouts of replacement transistors. I’ve done a couple of AU101s and the orientation of the transistors on the tone board needed to be reversed, but the ones on the power amplifier section were fine. Its an easy amp to work on 🙂 SS

Hi Decky, The amp is supposed to be pretty respectable with minor mods. I also already have it, so there is no outlay for the amp and power supply. If I don’t like it I can always modify or change it out, one of the beauties of DIY 🙂 SS

@Marc, I just read this, sorry to hear of your injuries! Hope the recovery progresses steadily, it can’t have been a good time for you. All the best. Regards, Matt.

Not sure about the tweeters but the mids look like Dynaudio 17W75 (EXT?). SS

Like these? 🙂

Howdy all... I have the insides of a Dick Smith Electronics DSEA2760 at home and they are fairly popular for modifying. Initially, the fairly ordinary preamp board is bypassed and then other mods done on the power amp section. I know Richard McDonald also likes and modifies these. Would anyone have any practical experience or recommendations regarding increasing the class A operation of this amp, and where its limits might be? I'm on a bit of a building bender at the moment and have started playing around with water cooling, so getting rid of waste heat won't be a problem. I know there are various ways of cooling amps, and that maximum class A is not necessarily best, but... a) I want to look at watercooling it and b) want as much class A as possible. Any tips appreciated :-) Cheers, SS

And for those with Sovereigns, the mighty 30W100

24W75:

The magnets are actually inside the voice coil. Dynaudio say the magnets have more effect there, I’ll dig up some of the manufacturer’s data sheets. I have played with several Dynaudio bass drivers in the past and without exception they have been easy to get sounding nice. Don’t underestimate them 🙂 The big metal washer over the vent is definitely from the factory. I have seen it before, but not sure exactly what it is for. SS.

Price drop to $180...

They are pretty good these days 🙂 I did the same a few months ago with a little eBay preamp kit (different valves though, I replaced the original Chinese ones, along with decent capacitors). And another 🙂

I actually don’t mind the industrial look, to me it is more about how they sound. Looks are a bonus 🙂 Recently I purchased a little 6BM8 single ended beam tetrode (6v4 rectifier) from a retired gentleman who originally came from Russia - his life’s work was amplifiers, he has built around 2,000 valve amps and around 1,000 solid state amps. He mentioned when he moved from Russia that he left 3,000 kg of transformers/transformer steel behind (!) as it was not feasible to bring across. He definitely prefers valves over solid state. The amp has been built inside a repurposed chassis, and only has about 1.8-2 watts per channel. The sound though is absolutely glorious, soundstage is spacious, and voice, strings, woodwind, piano etc sound brilliant. “Delicate” and “beautiful” are words I would use to describe the sound, but it doesn’t sound “warm”, just natural. It is definitely more of a “classical” amp, but as that is what I enjoy, it suits me down to the ground. It can also go surprisingly loud for such a small output. It uses small vintage Rola OPTs from the 1960’s. Loving it 🙂 SS