Building a Tube PreAmp for Teddy

[Ivey]

I am designing and building a vacuum tube phono preamp for a gentlemen name Teddy Ray.

I decided to use simple circuits to tweak it if needed, then I decided to just use best values and match all the components to each other and use low impedance wiring to keep it as clean as possible..

I even thought about using vacuum tube regulators, but the power supply would drive up the cost. So I look around for a savor circuit and discovered one in all my drawing and circuits. So I dropped the tube regular, to keep the cost down and noise transfer down to <1%.

I am using the standard 12AX7's and one 12AU7. It has a mixture of Counterpoint, Conrad Johnson and PAS-2 circuits and ideas with very simple matching, to keep it as clean as possible.

You must remember that all tubes has distortion, this is caused by the flow of electrons hitting the plate at light speed. It sounds like "white noise" yet smoother. This is what we call "natural" sound. Because sound in its self, is distortion, in the form of sound waves. These sound waves make more distortion when they slow down and come into contact with much slower moving waves. But because we are in tune with this action (our ear drum) it sounds normal to us.

Anyway, I am posting some photos of the circuit boards. They are simple, just the values exact for a clean sound and tight bass. I have found this to be a good combo with A7 speakers. "Voice of the Theater ". Love those speakers.

Take Care

Ivey

[Soonerorlater]

Hi Ivey,


My tinnitus sounds like "white noise" only not so smooth, not to worry though as it might have sounded like, " hail stones on my window pain " or other "natural" sounds.

Any chance of a schemo

Brgds Bill

[Ivey]

Hello Bill:

Yes, I will post the drawing, right after the unit is done and I have a chance to speak with Teddy.

That illness you are suffering from, sounds bad. A doctor perhaps.

White noise can be dangerous.

It is a very simple drawing, with circuits and bits of circuits that I mixed and matched from other circuits. It is not special. The important part is the power supply. I am still laying out and building the capacitor filter bank for the high voltage. I want joules, at least 55-60.

It will be silent when it is done.

I will post photos of the case this coming week. Wood, beautiful wood.

Take Care

Ivey

[Soonerorlater]

Hi Ivey,
Good luck with your project, looking forward to more photos.

No cure for old age yet I'm afraid, fond memories of nights out listening to local bands helps.


Brgds Bill

[Ivey]

Old Age is not bad.

The slower we go, the more we see.

Here in America, we (the people) no longer have the balls to do what's right. Because of people like me. The Engineer. The persons that will change the world for the better.

I help to design and build computers for the masses. Thinking that I was doing the right thing for mankind. And for all the good I done. Others were looking at the devilish side of using our creations.

Even thou we use the computer for good and pleasure. There are those who use it to control the masses and dictate the lives of innocent people.

Our government controls our money and lives through the inventions that I helped to create or improve. We, the elders, can not say what we feel because they will lose our government checks in cyber space. And we can not pay our bills or get medical care.

So we merely talk around the problems and hope they (the government) will someday do the correct thing. Ha..., never happen.

I like my old life. I have seen a lot, and can now understand all the little things that I did not understand during my youth. All of the whys and why nots seem to make sense.

Or is it that at my old age, I have the time to think about the issues; where before, I was always running off trying to be one of the first in the know. The question is..., the know of what?

Take Care

Ivey

[chrish]

Originally Posted by Ivey

You must remember that all tubes has distortion, this is caused by the flow of electrons hitting the plate at light speed. It sounds like "white noise" yet smoother. This is what we call "natural" sound. Because sound in its self, is distortion, in the form of sound waves. These sound waves make more distortion when they slow down and come into contact with much slower moving waves. But because we are in tune with this action (our ear drum) it sounds normal to us.

Ivey

Hello Ivey,

Sounds like an interesting project, I hope It works well and your friend appreciates the effort!

Just to clarify some of your assumptions though, the flow of electrons in a vacuum tube is not the speed of light, it is about 1/100th I think. The speed of a sound wave will be the same for all sounds through a given medium, so I think you are a little confused with your idea of sound waves slowing down or some sound waves catching up with slower waves. See here Speed of sound - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cheers,

Chris

[Ivey]

Science is one of my high areas.

Electrons travel at the speed of light. It strikes the plate extremely hard. As they race towards the plate, they bump into each other, this is called "compound scattering". Like playing pool. It produces lots of noise.

We can not hear this noise, so we reduce it to a freq. level that we can hear. Using transformers in the case of tubes. You need to understand, that vacuum tubes, make noise because of their function, all by themselves.

Speaker that reproduce this sound, create the sound waves. In order for the sound waves to be heard, large volumes of air must be moved. This cause distortion as well. It is call "cushion air movement distortion". You can reproduce the same effect, by blowing air against a sheet of paper. The paper will move the surrounding air and a sound wave will be produced. This is caused by the various volumes of air, crashing into stationary or slower moving air.

Believe me, sound is a property of distortion. There is no way around it.

We have live with it all our lives, so to us, is it normal. Our freq range starts at around 40 hertz for humans, and some animals hear it even lower. While others merely sense the movement of sound waves.

I studied this subject long and hard. Trust me.

Take Care

Ivey

[SY]

Electrons travel at the speed of light. It strikes the plate extremely hard. As they race towards the plate, they bump into each other, this is called "compound scattering". Like playing pool. It produces lots of noise.

We can not hear this noise, so we reduce it to a freq. level that we can hear. Using transformers in the case of tubes.

Not a good start.

Electron velocity in a tube depends on the potential change between electrodes. It's a small fraction of the speed of light.

Electron scattering in the interelectrode regions is NOT a significant noise source.

Transformers don't transform frequency.

There's some seriously wrong basic physics.

[Ivey]

Transformers are freq determining devices.
We use them in audio, radio, and microwaves, to obtain the desire freq's that we want. Rather that is for sound or voltage.

If you go back to your basic physics, you will remember that in order for an electron to be displaced, it must reach a speed close to light speed.

The problem is, that even my friends at the U of Chicago, have no idea, as to what is the true speed of light is. We only know that it is as fast as hell. They are still trying to catch it. Others believe we may have passed it. So I will use the statement the "speed of light", because I know is it fast as hell.

Compound Scattering is the complete action of an electron tube. Electrons are bumping all over the place. When the heat separates an electron and send it flying into space. It does not have GPS to keep it in a straight line.
The positive and negative charges, are not sign posts that keep them on track. They are only charges. The charges on the plate of a tube only ensures that you obtain a sizable amount the desire electron signal. Even if your charges are low, there is still compound scattering to highest degree, due to the charges and filament. Even if you reverse the charges, thousands if not millions of electrons will get through.

Take Care

Ivey

[SY]

If you go back to your basic physics, you will remember that in order for an electron to be displaced, it must reach a speed close to light speed.

The problem is, that even my friends at the U of Chicago, have no idea, as to what is the true speed of light is. We only know that it is as fast as hell. They are still trying to catch it. Others believe we may have passed it. So I will use the statement the "speed of light", because I know is it fast as hell.

No, no, no, no.

Transformers are freq determining devices.
We use them in audio, radio, and microwaves, to obtain the desire freq's that we want. Rather that is for sound or voltage.

No, no, no.

Compound Scattering is the complete action of an electron tube.

No.

Even if your charges are low, there is still compound scattering to highest degree, due to the charges and filament. Even if you reverse the charges, thousands if not millions of electrons will get through.

No, no.