• WARNING: Tube/Valve amplifiers use potentially LETHAL HIGH VOLTAGES.
    Building, troubleshooting and testing of these amplifiers should only be
    performed by someone who is thoroughly familiar with
    the safety precautions around high voltages.

EL84 SE with 7000 OT

If the transformer is from a standard tube radio, the usable power is only 2-3W, and less than 1W at 100 Hz. But: You said there is distortion regardless of the signal strenght. This could be a issue of the 6AU6 stage. Have you tried to use it in pentode mode with the datasheet values? It might not sound the best, but it's a good place to start. I attach the GE datasheet table. Check the values Ebb=180V.

they are two good vintage Audax OT taken from two old amplifiers ... the size I think can hold 4-5w, certainly with a frequency response not particularly extended ... the old amps still sounded more than decently.
 
PCL200

Correct, the actual voltage gain will be less than 36.

My point is that ~200mv is required to drive the EL84 into clipping. If he was driving this with a CD player than 1/4 turn on the volume pot is sufficient drive for max power out.

Until the OP measures the power output or looks at an oscilloscope trace when the sound goes bad we don't know where to look to solve the "problem". Or if there even is a problem.

Steve
 
that is what i really built... the only difference is that I only used 2x220ohm resistence in parallel instead of 3 on CRC filter because I assumed there was 242v after the bridge, but that's not the case. Steve, I don't have an oscilloscope.
 

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Maybe it's what you have built, but still your measurements can't be right.

The EL84's now take 40 mA each (the cathode current is 40 mA, which contains both the anode and the screengrid current). So 80 mA total, so 16 mA of the now 96 mA would have to flow through the two 6AU6's, so 8 mA per 6AU6.

But in your updated schematic, the 6AU6's are taking 3 mA each.

So 10 mA is still 'missing'. What is going on here?
 
Is there any chance to get another power transformer and/or replace the three paralleled resistors by a suitable choke, both in order to raise the plate supply voltage to about 270 Vdc? If so, increase the cathode resistor to 210 ohms and you'll get about 4.5 watts of output power.
It is also wise to apply the other suggestions given yet, especially to apply some GNFB.
Best regards!
 
I have a very peaceful Armstrong Stereo 55 receiver that works with 210v anode and 208v s.grid without filter choke, 7000 OT ... the differences are that it uses an EZ81 for rectification and obviously a preamp circuit with much higher gain. It also has an NFB. By apply the other suggestions, do you mean inserting an NFB or re-drawing the second circuit?