Zen SE84cs transfomer upgrade? Plitron Toroidal?
Dear friends,
Can someone tell me what the (general) specs are for the Power and output transformers on the Zen SE84cs would be? That is if they are publicly available someplace or someone has a good guess.
If you wanted to replace them with some others (for kicks), what would I look for? What would the result be of larger smaller ones etc.
I have set of old telfunken power and output transformers - I'd love to play with them but afraid I'd blow the house up.
I am not very skilled in electronics but I am curious about tinkering and seeing and learning from the results.
What about Plitron Toroidal transformers? Whould they improve the bandwidth of the amp?
http://www.plitron.com/
Which of those would you use for the Power and output transformers if you could?
Thank you very much for your input.
I wish you all the very best.
With esteem,
Ark
Dear friends,
Can someone tell me what the (general) specs are for the Power and output transformers on the Zen SE84cs would be? That is if they are publicly available someplace or someone has a good guess.
If you wanted to replace them with some others (for kicks), what would I look for? What would the result be of larger smaller ones etc.
I have set of old telfunken power and output transformers - I'd love to play with them but afraid I'd blow the house up.
I am not very skilled in electronics but I am curious about tinkering and seeing and learning from the results.
What about Plitron Toroidal transformers? Whould they improve the bandwidth of the amp?
http://www.plitron.com/
Which of those would you use for the Power and output transformers if you could?
Thank you very much for your input.
I wish you all the very best.
With esteem,
Ark
fdegrove said:Hi,
What do you think is wrong with your current system?
Cheers,
Well there is no system anymore. I threw it all out determined not to listen to anything untill I had something to work with and learn from. So I am saving and planning varous trial experiments. I am buying my fathers decware amp and plan on playing with it as it would teach me something and not be too far over my head since its such a simple design. Starting to read some books on schematics and electronics and stuff (art degree background) but I wont learn much till i take something apart and toy. Or build a variation by copy and paste. Then compare the changes side by side. It's the only way I'll learn.Anyhow. Any ideas?
Thanks for reading my post.
Guesstimate :
Output transformers : 5k primary - 6 ohm secondary (50mA)
Better transformers might give you bigger bandwith...but bandwith is ofcourse not the be all and end all..good bass extention and non-grainy highs might be a better fringe benefit of getting an "upmarket" boat anchor.
Power transformer 270-0-270 - 80-150mA
6,3v - 3A
5V- 3A
Something like that..
You could if you want get a higher voltage transformer 350-0-350 and try for choke input...(choke input gives you around 0,9 * the voltage of b+ while cap input around 1.4-1.6???? ie..buy a choke as well...many swear by choke input others don't... but this would be a nice experiment to see for yourself.
Regards.
Bas
Output transformers : 5k primary - 6 ohm secondary (50mA)
Better transformers might give you bigger bandwith...but bandwith is ofcourse not the be all and end all..good bass extention and non-grainy highs might be a better fringe benefit of getting an "upmarket" boat anchor.
Power transformer 270-0-270 - 80-150mA
6,3v - 3A
5V- 3A
Something like that..
You could if you want get a higher voltage transformer 350-0-350 and try for choke input...(choke input gives you around 0,9 * the voltage of b+ while cap input around 1.4-1.6???? ie..buy a choke as well...many swear by choke input others don't... but this would be a nice experiment to see for yourself.
Regards.
Bas
I wouldn't bother replacing the Decware stuff; use it as a tool for understanding some basics and build something better from scratch. If you leave the Decware stock, you can use it as a reference (ie, if your new amp isn't at least as good....) and you'll have something to be playing tunes through whilst experimenting. The last point is important; unless this is purely an engineering exercise, you need to keep te music flowing to keep the insipration going. Better to be listening to music through a crap amp, than nothing at all.
What you really need to do is read and understand this article. It's an excellent well written primer on the most basic type of tube amp topology by someone who really knows his stuff. I'd also advise spending the $US80 or so on his Tubecad and SEamp cad software from AES. This lets you analyse and simulate some designs far more quickly than you can do it longhand. I've been using it for a couple of years and it's great.
There is also a free power supply design simulator here that's invaluable for trying out PS design with the components you have, or are looking to buy.
For the OPT's, do you know what they came out of, and what sort of output tube that amp used? And whether it was push-pull or single ended? That'll help us tell you what sort of specs it's likely to have and what other tubes you could use with it.
Alternatively, there are easy ways to test to find out. Ditto for the power transformers.
Read the Tubecad article (several times; theres also a .pdf you can download) and come back with some questions on a specific circuit you'd like to try.
What you really need to do is read and understand this article. It's an excellent well written primer on the most basic type of tube amp topology by someone who really knows his stuff. I'd also advise spending the $US80 or so on his Tubecad and SEamp cad software from AES. This lets you analyse and simulate some designs far more quickly than you can do it longhand. I've been using it for a couple of years and it's great.
There is also a free power supply design simulator here that's invaluable for trying out PS design with the components you have, or are looking to buy.
For the OPT's, do you know what they came out of, and what sort of output tube that amp used? And whether it was push-pull or single ended? That'll help us tell you what sort of specs it's likely to have and what other tubes you could use with it.
Alternatively, there are easy ways to test to find out. Ditto for the power transformers.
Read the Tubecad article (several times; theres also a .pdf you can download) and come back with some questions on a specific circuit you'd like to try.
Thank you Both
Thank you both very much.
<br><br>
I will leave the zen alone and try and refashion one by copy and past side by side - keeping the zen as a benchmark.
<br><br>
When I have it all layed out I'll post some pictures and an update on what I learned and note how many things I burnt up.
<br><br>
Great reading - I'll pour over them a while while I wait from my box of tricks to arrive.
<br><br>
Happy Holidays.
Ark
Thank you both very much.
<br><br>
I will leave the zen alone and try and refashion one by copy and past side by side - keeping the zen as a benchmark.
<br><br>
When I have it all layed out I'll post some pictures and an update on what I learned and note how many things I burnt up.
<br><br>
Great reading - I'll pour over them a while while I wait from my box of tricks to arrive.
<br><br>
Happy Holidays.
Ark
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