Paradise Builders

Joachim, the offset is fluctuating within a range of more than a 100mV every second - it is not steady and is too fast for the servo to correct. Finally took a listen using a DL103: there is a very prominent hiss, completely against expectations. Bad batch of electrolytics at the input stage? Oscillations?
 
I had a short discussion with MiiB. He is in Hong-Kong at the moment preparing to sleep.
That is what we came up :
Preforming the Elcaps, especially the ones in the input. Load them up to the rated voltage with a battery or a lab PSU. Let them soke up the voltage for some hours so that they form. Then put them in the circuit.
Thermo couple the input transistors with a piece of metal. The circuit has a lot of gain in the lower frequency region so thermal drift can challenge the servo.
Decouple the mirrors locally with ceramic caps, that can take away oscillation.
 
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Joined 2006
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Fixed the issue with the insufficient voltage across the output 2SK170. Indeed Joachim was correct - top FET needed replacement.

As for the randomly moving dc levels i still have no idea. And it is very consistent between channels.

I had similar issues...How did you choose the new top fet ? Different idss ?

I had initially an offset of around 25 to 40mV. That went down after a while. I assume that is forming of the electrolytics in the input stage ( 2 x 6800uF ). They have some leakage current that goes down with time in use.
If after several days in use the DC offset at the output does not go down there are instructions in the building manual how to raise the "authority" of the servo.
Yes, i ment searching for J310 that leave enough Vds ( Uds ) over the 2SK170.

In my build the output offset was inittially around 100mV but after some hours it came down to around 10mV, so I agree it might have something to do with the input emitter caps.
 
We will attack that DC offset problem and we will find a solution. I mean, it can not be,
My Paradise R3 worked right away after eroding two stuffing mistakes.
Ether you have made a stuffing mistake, or a part is faulty. When it is something else we have to find out. There must be a reason.
Hesener mentioned some time ago that the hunt for ultra high Hfe COULD create some of the oscialltion problem we had on the Paradise 1.
I repeat is now again : an Hfe of 400 is more then abundant, in ALL positions, also the input.
 
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Joined 2005
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How hot should the headsink become? Mine is getting boiling hot. Can't leave my fingers on it for more then a second. Output voltages are ok. Input voltage 30V@206mA positive and 30V/152mA negative rail.

The supply current should be 110mA ...130mA, not more. This is irrespective of whether the amplifier is connected or not (the big power jumpers in the middle), because the shunt will reduce its current accordingly. But I read the problem is solved already..... :D