I finished yesterday the board for my dual DoZh. It passes the smoke test after firing it up, but i can't get any measurable bias current into Q3 ( http://sound.westhost.com/project70.htm ). I've triple checked the wiring, values, and transistors; they all seem fine. I haven't set the trimpot past 1/2 of turn, as i fear it might suddenly kick in and fry the output transistors. Has anyone built this amp? Rod, are you there? 
Do i really need to get all the way there, or perhaps the 100k value for the pot is a misprint.... or maybe i'm just missing something very, very stupid (which wouldn't be the first time).
Do i really need to get all the way there, or perhaps the 100k value for the pot is a misprint.... or maybe i'm just missing something very, very stupid (which wouldn't be the first time).Well, there appear to be two 100k trimpots, one to adjust the operating voltage to half of the rail voltage, and one to adjust the bias. I assume you are wondering about the bias pot? Don't worry, you won't hurt anything if there is no bias. Just turn it slowly, at some point you will start seeing a little current, it won't be a big jump. In adjusting a different (Vbe multiplier) bias circuit using a BD139 that was driving a Mosfet outputstage, the pot needed to be at about 3/4 to get any bias at all. That's not unusual, I think it's just to allow a wide range of adjustment and extra safety margin.
No, no dice. I held my breath and drive the bias pot almost to the max, with no bias current at all. This is driving me insane, you wouldn't imagine how many times i've checked and rechecked this circuit, piece by piece. The only current draw i'm getting is from the zenners regulating.
I don't know how, but i WILL make this one work
I don't know how, but i WILL make this one work
Update: I got the amps to bias The caveat is that i had to set VR1 (which sets the DC voltage at the output cap) as low as 8v instead of the suggested 1/2 of the +v rail. My psu is exactly the same shown on the site, and gives 30/31vdc with the load of two amps drawing 330ma each. I used a 27v zenner to regulate the quiescent voltage.
Now, with 8/9v on VR1 i can set the bias correctly arround 330mA and up to 500mA, but this is on the very end of the VR2 pots' limits (on both cases). As soon as i cross the 10 or 11vdc boundary on VR1, i can't get the bias current to be above 40mA, even if i get VR2 to the end of its travel.
As i said, i'm pretty confident i didn't screw up in the wiring nor parts values... any idea what might be wrong here?
The caveat is that i had to set VR1 (which sets the DC voltage at the output cap) as low as 8v instead of the suggested 1/2 of the +v rail. My psu is exactly the same shown on the site, and gives 30/31vdc with the load of two amps drawing 330ma each. I used a 27v zenner to regulate the quiescent voltage.Now, with 8/9v on VR1 i can set the bias correctly arround 330mA and up to 500mA, but this is on the very end of the VR2 pots' limits (on both cases). As soon as i cross the 10 or 11vdc boundary on VR1, i can't get the bias current to be above 40mA, even if i get VR2 to the end of its travel.
As i said, i'm pretty confident i didn't screw up in the wiring nor parts values... any idea what might be wrong here?
Update II: I made it work! Turned out i was measuring the voltage for VR1 on the wrong spot (i know... i know 
I'm a moron ). Still, it's VERY hard to set the quiescent current correctly as it's on the very end of the travel of the VR2 pot, and any small adjustement in VR1 turns in a huge variation of the quiescent current. The good news is that once the amp is warm, it stays stable.
OTOH, i made a quick test listen with a signal generator... some things to notice. The amp is *dead* quiet with no input signal, and this was with a wire mess sitting right next to the transformer! I couldn't hear volume variations, distortion, or other nastinesses while doing a frequency sweep. I can't wait to try it with a proper audio source! (gotta fit it in the enclosure first, atleast partially).
Ah, and the one thing that's annoying: the power supply has so much juice that it keeps feeding the amp for almost a minute after turning it off!
Of course, it starts crackling very soon as it runs out of power, but it's still loud enough for quite a while...
I'm a moron ). Still, it's VERY hard to set the quiescent current correctly as it's on the very end of the travel of the VR2 pot, and any small adjustement in VR1 turns in a huge variation of the quiescent current. The good news is that once the amp is warm, it stays stable.OTOH, i made a quick test listen with a signal generator... some things to notice. The amp is *dead* quiet with no input signal, and this was with a wire mess sitting right next to the transformer! I couldn't hear volume variations, distortion, or other nastinesses while doing a frequency sweep. I can't wait to try it with a proper audio source! (gotta fit it in the enclosure first, atleast partially).
Ah, and the one thing that's annoying: the power supply has so much juice that it keeps feeding the amp for almost a minute after turning it off!
Of course, it starts crackling very soon as it runs out of power, but it's still loud enough for quite a while...
Hi Lisandro_P,
DoZ amp for headphones seems to be a bit out of date for this purpose (was good in 1970 - sorry, Rod . Go through Forums and you will find very nice headphone amp with AD8610 and BUF634 by peranders. Or you can visit my www and have a look at Audio Buffer, it can be simply modified as a headphone amp - see text. These 2 amps will easily give you much better parameters than the DoZ amp.
Pavel
DoZ amp for headphones seems to be a bit out of date for this purpose (was good in 1970 - sorry, Rod
. Go through Forums and you will find very nice headphone amp with AD8610 and BUF634 by peranders. Or you can visit my www and have a look at Audio Buffer, it can be simply modified as a headphone amp - see text. These 2 amps will easily give you much better parameters than the DoZ amp.Pavel
Some will disagree. I have the boards and was thinking of building a nice headphone amp with them. I also have the tangent/morsel boards from headwize (opamp/buffer). It will be interesting to compare them.PMA said:Hi Lisandro_P,
DoZ amp for headphones seems to be a bit out of date for this purpose (was good in 1970 - sorry, Rod
Pavel
I'm sure the measurements favor the later design.
Lisandro_P, are you using resistors in series with your headphones? If so, what value?
150 ohms, 5w. For some reason my usual supplier wouldn't carry 120 ones, and i thought the amp would have plenty power with these (it does). The amp is pretty much the same as the one in the site; i've only changed the input cap to 1uF poly and bypassed every single electrolytic with 100nF. Ah, and the psu board uses the same remote switching i used in my JLH amp.
As for the design... it appealed to me. It's similar to the JLH, and i wanted that sound for my headphones; lately i spend more time with them than listening music through speakers. I didn't expect it to be that hard to set up, even when i used non-wirewound pots.
Anyway, so far so good. I'll give a proper review when i play a CD through it!
As for the design... it appealed to me. It's similar to the JLH, and i wanted that sound for my headphones; lately i spend more time with them than listening music through speakers. I didn't expect it to be that hard to set up, even when i used non-wirewound pots.
Anyway, so far so good. I'll give a proper review when i play a CD through it!
Lissandro, I see that the problem is solved (at least in part). Since you have had so much difficulty with the bias current, it may be an advantage to reduce VR2 to perhaps 22k.
You may be able to use less - check the resistance that you have set, and that will give you a good idea of what you will need. For example, if both channels have a resistance setting for VR2 of between 2-7k, then a 10k pot can be used.
Pavel, I know that the design is considered "old hat", but it has great appeal to a lot of constructors, as it is simple to build, and works very well.
There are a great many variations of many circuits (for example I have used P3A as a headphone amp from +/-15V), but I don't think that claiming the circuit is "out of date" is appropriate - many circuits are based on old principles, but work much better now than ever before because of the newer transistor fabrication techniques that are far more linear than 20-30 years ago.
After all, the idea of DIY is to experiment, and that means providing options so people can try out new ideas and old, then make up their own minds.
You may be able to use less - check the resistance that you have set, and that will give you a good idea of what you will need. For example, if both channels have a resistance setting for VR2 of between 2-7k, then a 10k pot can be used.
Pavel, I know that the design is considered "old hat", but it has great appeal to a lot of constructors, as it is simple to build, and works very well.
There are a great many variations of many circuits (for example I have used P3A as a headphone amp from +/-15V), but I don't think that claiming the circuit is "out of date" is appropriate - many circuits are based on old principles, but work much better now than ever before because of the newer transistor fabrication techniques that are far more linear than 20-30 years ago.
After all, the idea of DIY is to experiment, and that means providing options so people can try out new ideas and old, then make up their own minds.
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