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DIY audio: what are you building?


Paul Spencer

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How do you find the sound of the 4P1L tube.

Also any microphonics from the tubes.

I'm sure you are being careful but Please mount the PCB on a piece of plywood for testing.

Steve.

 

 

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On 02/05/2020 at 2:39 PM, mwhouston said:

Hope the member doesn’t mind me putting this up but here is a newly completed F5 turbo with some high end parts. Pretty well every tweak you could include has been. A way over specked double PS makes this a dual mono build.
 

5U heavy extra thick enclosures with steel sub-chassis. Two 300VA shelled trannies.. 16 X 15A supper fasting diode pairs and 192,000uf of caps snubbed a number of times. .  Don’t want to say to much before the member has a chance to hear but very impressed so far. 

77D97D15-7CDF-4F81-B61B-DEC823C2C173.jpeg

This my amp that I asked Mark to build for me. I decided that I wanted the F5 Turbo V1 which is a standard F5 with higher PSU rails to achieve a few more watts. I think this one would be approx 38w output. And also the large dual mono PSU

- PRP resistors amp boards

- Charcroft Z Foil input resistors

- PSU resistors Panasonic/Riedon

- PSU caps Epcos 

- 2x 400va Toroidy shielded TX's

- NOS Toshiba J Fets

 

I've had a few listens to it so far just to put a few hrs on it. In short this is the best amp I've heard with my Zu Druid speakers. Some say the F5 is bright/harsh but I don't hear a hint of either. I'm certainly pleased that I spent all the $$ as it has resulted in a cracker of an amp, I'm truly impressed.

 

 

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18 minutes ago, Gryffles said:

This my amp that I asked Mark to build for me. I decided that I wanted the F5 Turbo V1 which is a standard F5 with higher PSU rails to achieve a few more watts. I think this one would be approx 38w output. And also the large dual mono PSU

- PRP resistors amp boards

- Charcroft Z Foil input resistors

- PSU resistors Panasonic/Riedon

- PSU caps Epcos 

- 2x 400va Toroidy shielded TX's

- NOS Toshiba J Fets

 

I've had a few listens to it so far just to put a few hrs on it. In short this is the best amp I've heard with my Zu Druid speakers. Some say the F5 is bright/harsh but I don't hear a hint of either. I'm certainly pleased that I spent all the $$ as it has resulted in a cracker of an amp, I'm truly impressed.

 

 

For the four to six hours I got to hear this BIG build in my main rig I was throughly impressed. It may lean a little to the bright side but only just and this is through my Altec/Faital horns. Also it is a very pleasant lean and just releases more detail in the music.

 

If this was the only amp I could keep I’d die a very happy man. Fabulous bass that goes way deep and and full. Mids are really excellent treble extension unlimited. Detail comes right though. 
 

Based on what I have heard I’ve ordered a pair of boards myself. Not sure I’m going to the extremes and expense of this build but if I did it would be money well spent. So glad it has found a happy home and I’m hoping one day to hear it with the Zus. Sounds like a killer combo. 

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I'm toying with putting a Tube-i-zator valve output stage in my other BIII DAC and I need a transformer with 150V & 9V secondaries for this built. I sent an email to Harbuch Transformers who have made custom transformers for me in the past, I haven’t heard back so I thought I'd have a go at making one myself. In the end I thought it would be much easier to buy a transformer of the right size and put on the 150v secondary myself. Of course, this could all end up in the bin :)

I bought a 120VA, 9-9v transformer from Element 14 for less than $40 and have removed one of the 9v secondaries. I tested the 9v outputs before I dismantled it, and as usual I have more volts out than the rated voltage, 10v in this case, with 230v coming in. There is another benefit in doing this, I can remove some of the turns on the other secondary and reduce the output voltage to 9V. It turns out that about 98 turns gets you 10 volts out, which means I’m going to need about 1400 turns to get what I want, hmmm thats a lot of turns, better not loose count ?

The wire for the 150v will cost between $15-$25 dollars so all up it should cost about $60. The last couple I had made cost close to $200 plus postage and their output voltages were higher than I ordered. I need to choose the wire size and then get about 200lm of it. I may save $150ish but I’ll earn my money doing the winding. All a bit of fun.

Tran 3.jpg

Tran 4.jpg

Tran 2.jpg

Tran 1.jpg

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How critical is the 150V ?  A quick google shows 120 to 150 V for that circuit board.   I was thinking, what about using back to back transformers and take the voltage from half the second transformer's primary?  If you want to boost it a bit, you could remove or add turns to the 9V connection between the transformers.  Just thinking out loud...

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The original Tube-i-Zator (which I made some years back) talked about 120v-150v but the latest board only notes 150V so I thought I'd stick with that. Always happy to hear a thought  :)

 

I need 0.1amp out so I thought I'd go for the 30awg which has a maximum of 0.142amp. I will probably wind the wire on a stick doubled over first so I only have to go around 700 times, yay.

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10 hours ago, DQ828 said:

 I sent an email to Harbuch Transformers who have made custom transformers for me in the past, I haven’t heard back

 

I know the feeling here...

 

6 weeks ago I sent an enquiry to Peter at Harbuchs, nothing.  Then two weeks later I rang him and we spoke, I then emailed details again.  ...Over a month has passed and I am still waiting.

 

Also 6 weeks ago, I rang RF Waves in Perth enquiring prices on a pair of 600va Noratel trannies.

 

I was soon informed by the gentleman on the other end of the phone that I was conversing with an experienced electrical engineer and that I was wasting my money and only needed 300va trannies, they would be plenty.

 

I was expecting to pay $350ea or whatever for the size I asked for.  All that was required was to a quote a price   No - not too hard. surely?  ...Well, apparently it was.

 

So what is wrong with these people?  They don't want to sell product?  Is my $700 or so, so small that they don't need it?  I was after all asking for a standard product in their range with no time limit specified to supply as I understand I would be a lesser sale in their business.

 

So now I guess I must head overseas to source what I want.  A great shame.  Toroidy in Poland have a great reputation amongst audio buddies for being totally professional and supplying a great product.  Plitron in Canada also come to mind.  Any other suggestions?

Edited by Red MacKay
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1 minute ago, Red MacKay said:

 

So now I guess I must head overseas to source what I want.  A great shame.  Toroidy in Poland have a great reputation amongst audio buddies for being totally professional and supplying a great product.  Plitron in Canada also come to mind.  Any other suggestions?

 

 

For a couple of decades I used Harbuch for power toroids.  However, for my current build, when I approached Peter, I got the same kind of runaround.

 

So I ordered from Tortech.  No stuffing around - and they shipped them quickly.  So that's who I'll be buying toroids from, from now on.

 

But if it's EI-type traffos you want - I recommend:

  1. Voller Transformers, in Moorabbin, 9553-3222, or
  2. Southern Electronic Services, in Dandenong, 9706-4202.

 

Regards,

Andy

 

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10 hours ago, DQ828 said:

I'm toying with putting a Tube-i-zator valve output stage in my other BIII DAC and I need a transformer with 150V & 9V secondaries for this built. I sent an email to Harbuch Transformers who have made custom transformers for me in the past, I haven’t heard back so I thought I'd have a go at making one myself. In the end I thought it would be much easier to buy a transformer of the right size and put on the 150v secondary myself. Of course, this could all end up in the bin :)

 

I bought a 120VA, 9-9v transformer from Element 14 for less than $40 and have removed one of the 9v secondaries. I tested the 9v outputs before I dismantled it, and as usual I have more volts out than the rated voltage, 10v in this case, with 230v coming in. There is another benefit in doing this, I can remove some of the turns on the other secondary and reduce the output voltage to 9V. It turns out that about 98 turns gets you 10 volts out, which means I’m going to need about 1400 turns to get what I want, hmmm thats a lot of turns, better not loose count ?

 

The wire for the 150v will cost between $15-$25 dollars so all up it should cost about $60. The last couple I had made cost close to $200 plus postage and their output voltages were higher than I ordered. I need to choose the wire size and then get about 200lm of it. I may save $150ish but I’ll earn my money doing the winding. All a bit of fun.

 

Tran 3.jpg

Tran 4.jpg

Tran 2.jpg

Tran 1.jpg

A brave man. 

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Red,  I have used both Piltron and Toroidy, both are excellent.

Another is Amplimo (Toridal transformer.com) but in the current climate shipping is going to be a killer.

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Free shipping?  Well there is over half the cost saved there!

 

1kV.  Awesome.  It's all about current capability...  What are you using for a soft start?

 

Thanks to everyone with suggestions.

Keep them coming in so everyone can share our options.

 

 

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1 minute ago, Red MacKay said:

Does he make that available as a seperate item?

 

Yep. Bit pricey but has a heck of a lot of features that will come in handy with my new amp build.

 

https://holtonprecisionaudio.com/products/ac-mains-power-controller-holton-audio-power-one-r4

 

Pairing up with these as well as im done with traditional relays....

 

https://holtonprecisionaudio.com/collections/diy-audio-products/products/audio-solid-state-relay-hpa-ss-relay-one

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21 minutes ago, Tubularbells said:

Hi @Red MacKay another Canadian option would be Hammond transformers. Ordered these 1kv jobbies from my mates at DigiKey and arrived in less than 1 week with free shipping making it a no brainer for me.

 

 

20200516_093537.jpg

20200516_093619.jpg

I also ordered a 1KW 55-0-55 from RS and arrived in a week or so. This went in my Holton build for Jakey77. 

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In the F5 turbo build I used (on the owners suggestion) thermistors on the active and neutral of the mains. These start with a slight higher resistance at turn on and then settle to very low resistance. They act as surge protection. Simple and cheap. 
 

I had not seen these used in this way before. Work well though and very cheap. 

 

STM-CL60A(s). 
 

https://au.element14.com/amphenol-advanced-sensors/cl-60a/icl-ntc-thermistor-10r-disc-19/dp/2915278?st=CL60

 

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36 minutes ago, mwhouston said:

In the F5 turbo build I used (on the owners suggestion) thermistors on the active and neutral of the mains. These start with a slight higher resistance at turn on and then settle to very low resistance. They act as surge protection. Simple and cheap. 
 

I had not seen these used in this way before. Work well though and very cheap. 

 

STM-CL60A(s). 
 

https://au.element14.com/amphenol-advanced-sensors/cl-60a/icl-ntc-thermistor-10r-disc-19/dp/2915278?st=CL60

 

 

Ashly used to do this trick on there pro audio amps

20200516_104831.jpg

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Hard to believe I’m listening to a 100 year old tube which has probably entertained dozens of families over the years by powering the speaker in their AM wireless. If it could tell some stories. The musical stories it tells now are very engaging. Cohen sounds quite different through the preamp. Not bad or better just different. The preamp - “MWH” - is a real attention grabber. 
 

ive now regulated the heater PS. 

C4DE7259-6CAE-406D-8003-2ECD7E08B40C.jpeg

Edited by mwhouston
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Yes Mark just goes to show how far we have progressed in so called Hi Fi when something made 100 years ago still gives most modern tech a run for it's money.

Here is another example although not quite as old.

2 - 1 (55).jpeg

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Guest iant
5 hours ago, mwhouston said:

In the F5 turbo build I used (on the owners suggestion) thermistors on the active and neutral of the mains. These start with a slight higher resistance at turn on and then settle to very low resistance. They act as surge protection. Simple and cheap. 
 

I had not seen these used in this way before. Work well though and very cheap. 

 

STM-CL60A(s). 
 

https://au.element14.com/amphenol-advanced-sensors/cl-60a/icl-ntc-thermistor-10r-disc-19/dp/2915278?st=CL60

 

See Rod Elliotts full discussion.https://sound-au.com/articles/inrush.htm#s61

Edited by iant
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49 minutes ago, kranky said:

Yes Mark just goes to show how far we have progressed in so called Hi Fi when something made 100 years ago still gives most modern tech a run for it's money.

Here is another example although not quite as old.

2 - 1 (55).jpeg

I’ve asked Bruce of  American oddwatt fame to design me a preamp based on a 45. After getting so much audio pleasure from the 71A I thought why not try the legendary DHT 45? Also a amp building buddy nearby is bound to have a few very rare ones (hopefully even NOS) and may like to sell a few.

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