2wo said:After reading your post and having heard the b200. I could not recommend the dynacos It will just not deliver to the level that I think you are looking for. I have an ST70. If lower power will do the Bottlehead or the Welborne are both excellent. I have a Welborne myself and get to listen to the Bottlehead amp on a regular basis.
If you are looking for more power . I highly recommend you take a long look at the Elle from DIY hifi supply, (a fellow Canadian).
http://www.diyhifisupply.com/diyhs_ella.htm
It is a hell of a lot of amp for the money You even get a remote
I have no connection, yada, yada, just like to put in a word for the good guys…John
Please excuse my ignorance, but why would dynaco not be recommended? Are the other amps in a much higher class?
Having heard all manner of amps with the B200 alone, and with the DarkStar, to me, the best sound by far is with the driver high passed at least @100Hz, using single ended triode, no feedback.
The driver has a fairly benign Z, and with both driver and SET amp relieved of bass duty, the rewards are rich indeed. I have heard it with SEX amp, Korneff 45SE, Music Reference 13EM7, several T amps, Hafler, PP 6V6, and the triodes are where it's at, no surprise. The Music Reference 13EM7 is outstanding, comes purpose-built for wideband drivers, with a 100Hz high passed shunt cap input, is a jewel-piece, and sells for under a grand. With it you get Roger Modjeski's support. 3 watts about as good as it gets. www.ramlabs-musicreference.com/6EM7-13EM7.html
If you are looking to get started with a tube kit, my vote goes with the Bottlehead SEX amp. It is a very well evolved circuit, and you get the entire Bottlehead community to answer your questions, and applaud you when she starts singing in your livingroom.
The driver has a fairly benign Z, and with both driver and SET amp relieved of bass duty, the rewards are rich indeed. I have heard it with SEX amp, Korneff 45SE, Music Reference 13EM7, several T amps, Hafler, PP 6V6, and the triodes are where it's at, no surprise. The Music Reference 13EM7 is outstanding, comes purpose-built for wideband drivers, with a 100Hz high passed shunt cap input, is a jewel-piece, and sells for under a grand. With it you get Roger Modjeski's support. 3 watts about as good as it gets. www.ramlabs-musicreference.com/6EM7-13EM7.html
If you are looking to get started with a tube kit, my vote goes with the Bottlehead SEX amp. It is a very well evolved circuit, and you get the entire Bottlehead community to answer your questions, and applaud you when she starts singing in your livingroom.
The SEX amp's available output is pretty juicy. Many, many owners have commented on their surprise as to the gutsy little parafeed 6DN7. When you relieve the output transformers of bass duty, ~<100Hz, it frees up about 40% more power for the higher frequencies. 2 watts >100Hz into the B200's would surprise you, methinks. Been there, done it.
I added Mundorf capacitors and a DACT volume attenuator to mine, and the improvement was enormous. Far greater than the Magnequest upgrade Tx, in my opinion. Both Blumenco, and I removed the upgrade transformers, and found that with good coupling capacitors, we both preferred the sound with the stock Speco autoformers. ...I wish I had a digicam, my SEX amp was a gift from the late Terry Cain, a little Maple number, with brass feet, which I shall treasure always. I use it as a headamp sometimes, where it also shines.
I added Mundorf capacitors and a DACT volume attenuator to mine, and the improvement was enormous. Far greater than the Magnequest upgrade Tx, in my opinion. Both Blumenco, and I removed the upgrade transformers, and found that with good coupling capacitors, we both preferred the sound with the stock Speco autoformers. ...I wish I had a digicam, my SEX amp was a gift from the late Terry Cain, a little Maple number, with brass feet, which I shall treasure always. I use it as a headamp sometimes, where it also shines.
Its not a kit.... but this schematic from Gabe looks like something I could build too, maybe I really should
http://members.tripod.com/~gabevee/2a3diy.html
http://members.tripod.com/~gabevee/2a3diy.html
I can vouch for the SEX amp. It has excellent sound that trumps my gainclone easily.
What you get for the money is pretty astounding if you ask me. If an individual were to try and chase down all those parts it would take quite a while. I know as I've chased down parts to build my gainclone and it sent me all over Los Angeles and the internet to get what I needed.
Also the SEX amp build instructions are impeccable. I had no doubts about what I was doing during any step of the build process.
One drawback in ordering the SEX amp is that you have to wait for Bottlehead to acquire all the pieces before they send it to you. I was lucky enough that I got in on the tail-end of the orders so I only waited about a week and a half. Some have waited much, much longer.
That being said, the SEX amp is the best piece of audio kit that I've ever purchased. I listen to it everyday.
What you get for the money is pretty astounding if you ask me. If an individual were to try and chase down all those parts it would take quite a while. I know as I've chased down parts to build my gainclone and it sent me all over Los Angeles and the internet to get what I needed.
Also the SEX amp build instructions are impeccable. I had no doubts about what I was doing during any step of the build process.
One drawback in ordering the SEX amp is that you have to wait for Bottlehead to acquire all the pieces before they send it to you. I was lucky enough that I got in on the tail-end of the orders so I only waited about a week and a half. Some have waited much, much longer.
That being said, the SEX amp is the best piece of audio kit that I've ever purchased. I listen to it everyday.
well a new trafo wont cost that much ... but taxes, custom ... pittyDon’t get me wrong. The Dynaco’s are true classics The originals had very good output transformers. There input/spliter stage left a bit to be desired Just look the sheer number of replacement driver boards that are available for it and the power supply was just adequate at best. If you already had one it might be worth the mods and upgrading
It has been a while since I looked at the latest offerings If you post a link I will look again. But my take they are for those who have decided that they already want a Dynaco.
I recommended the Ella because I have heard one and it sounds better than a stock Dynaco, all of the amps I have seen listed on this thread will sound better. I have not heard Gabe’s though…John
It has been a while since I looked at the latest offerings If you post a link I will look again. But my take they are for those who have decided that they already want a Dynaco.
I recommended the Ella because I have heard one and it sounds better than a stock Dynaco, all of the amps I have seen listed on this thread will sound better. I have not heard Gabe’s though…John
No, put the filter at the input. You don't eat power till you make it. Grab a handful of small caps, say start with a .1uf Just tack in inline with your input.
I personally think you will get good results just letting the b200 roll off on its own and find a matching Sub. I bet posting "what sub with my b200’s " will do it or have a look at some of the OB forums ...John
Sorry for double reply
ZEUS is not a tubeamp but supposed to work like one and might work fantastic with a tubepre - anyhow this rare lady deserves some attention
http://www.susan-parker.co.uk/
ZEUS is not a tubeamp but supposed to work like one and might work fantastic with a tubepre - anyhow this rare lady deserves some attention
http://www.susan-parker.co.uk/
New URL for Decware forum El Cheapo amp thread
Steve got new software for the Decware forums. Scott M. had earlier posted a link to the El Cheapo thread there. This is the new link:
http://www.decware.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1126228937
I have built this amp and like it a lot, even though it's still in breadboard form. Can't wait for warmer weather so I can case it up!
--Jeff
Steve got new software for the Decware forums. Scott M. had earlier posted a link to the El Cheapo thread there. This is the new link:
http://www.decware.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1126228937
I have built this amp and like it a lot, even though it's still in breadboard form. Can't wait for warmer weather so I can case it up!
--Jeff
Yes, the El Cheapo was a group effort, initiated by Eli Duttman, Dave from Planet10 and Jim McShane. There is no set homepage for the El Cheapo, just the thread, but a couple of people plan to journal their building experiences and post them. You just need to read through the first half of the thread to get what's going on. No major changes have happened since the middle -- the schematics on page 18 of the thread are up to date.
It helps to press the "print" button at the top of the thread page to get the whole thread in one chunk to print or to save as html for later browsing. I've learned a ton doing the reading. Here's a quick link for that:
http://www.decware.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?action=print;num=1126228937
You can get parts (except transformers) from Jim McShane here:
http://pages.prodigy.net/jimmcshane/elcheapo.htm
Eli set up an email account for questions specific to the project: elcheapodiy ( at ) gmail ( dot ) com
I upgraded to the DynaClone output transformers from Triode Electronics and they sound good. Any P-P transformers available where you live that are the right primary impedance and rated for 15 - 20 Watts or so would work fine, too.
--Jeff
It helps to press the "print" button at the top of the thread page to get the whole thread in one chunk to print or to save as html for later browsing. I've learned a ton doing the reading. Here's a quick link for that:
http://www.decware.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?action=print;num=1126228937
You can get parts (except transformers) from Jim McShane here:
http://pages.prodigy.net/jimmcshane/elcheapo.htm
Eli set up an email account for questions specific to the project: elcheapodiy ( at ) gmail ( dot ) com
I upgraded to the DynaClone output transformers from Triode Electronics and they sound good. Any P-P transformers available where you live that are the right primary impedance and rated for 15 - 20 Watts or so would work fine, too.
--Jeff
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