The Zenitron

[Circlomanen]

Here is a circlotron version of the Zen amp.
The choke on the sources is a centertapped bifilare wound 2 x 200 mH choke with the two diffrent windings on the two halves of the amp, in order to avoid magnetic saturation of the laminationstack.

[Circlomanen]

One big advantage is that you only has to use n (or p) channel-fets. Not both of them.
Another one is the cancelation of even order harmonics.

[thorstenlarsen]

Hi Circlomanen !

I believe that have You placed the outputs, and floating supplies, at the wrong ends of the chokes ?
Or is it to get more voltage-gain ?

Thorsten

[Circlomanen]

I believe that have You placed the outputs, and floating supplies, at the wrong ends of the chokes ?
Or is it to get more voltage-gain ?

The chokes are there to break the feedback loop so i can get any voltage gain.
Without them you get two sourcefollowers - 100 % local feedback.
You could use resistors (with lots of heat for no reason) or activ currentsources (once again, lots of heat for no reason. slightly better) The source-pins on the fets has to be shielded from the signal coming of the drain, going through the powersupplies.

[Circlomanen]

I like these kind of very simple balanced amlifiers with only one or two gainstages.
This version uses only two n-channel devices and they are very simple to match closely.
You will get more power and gain out of this circuit than a stock Zenamp. See Mr Nelson Pass excellent article about very simple pushpull amps " The Zen Variations -part 5".
I think the Zenitron holds a couple of advantages over Zen-pushpull.
First you will not get any current flowing through Ground from the speakers and connections. The ground can be quiet and calm and only serve as a stable midpoint for the small signals.
The amp will be dead quiet when at idle due to the cancelations in a balanced circuit.
The Fets are cheaper and easier to match.
The Chokes are a problem though.It is easy to wind a bifilare centertapped choke on a cheap trtansformer stack, it doesnt have to be airgapped or anything, but a bit expensive and heavy.

Is there anybody who has built anything similar?
Any thoughts or comments??

[thorstenlarsen]

Hi Circlomanen !

Similar amplifiers:
Circlotrons "Tetrahedron"amp and Susan Parkers "Zeus"amp.
You can find threads about both here at diyaudio.


Thorsten

[Circlomanen]

Hi Circlomanen !

Similar amplifiers:
Circlotrons "Tetrahedron"amp and Susan Parkers "Zeus"amp.
You can find threads about both here at diyaudio.

Thanks! L have been following these threads since they started.
I just posted this little amp to see if anybody was intrested in another permutation of the Zen amp.
Based on the numbers of replyes I dont think people are very intrested or they dont understand the circuit. I know the circlotron circuit confuses a lot of people, so im not very surprised.
I think this circuite had generated a lot more fuzz if THE MASTER had published aa article about it on his own website.Or maybe everybody is to much into the X things nowdays

Mr Pass!???!

[mastertech]

Your circuit is still in the experimentation stage, show us
a version without batteries

[kilowattski]

Where does it say he is using batteries?

[Circlomanen]

Your circuit is still in the experimentation stage, show us a version without batteries

Allrighty then!