• 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.

Merlin New Book

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#22
My book is Morgan Jones' "Valve amplifiers" ISBN 0 7506 2337 3 Of particular interest is the section of tube powered voltage regulation & its vicious, pointless circle just trying to engineer voltages that don't "wander"... an impossible task.



------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Rick...
 
#24
My book is Morgan Jones' "Valve amplifiers
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a decent book indeed, but the thing I like about Merlins articles is that they are well written, well presented and very easy to understand. I have Morgan Jones Valve Amps book but he leaves so much detail out, skipping to point D from point A. So for me, Merlins your man; I built my first valve amp by reading his articles, 6 or seven valve amps built later his site is still my main go to reference to clarify something I need to gen up on.
 
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#25
Yes, not to turn this into an anti-VA thread but I have two editions of Valve Amplifiers and not only are they expensive for a softcover that is easily damaged in shipping but the jumping around in the text is frustrating for me as well. May as well open the book at random.

Merlin’s books are much more to my taste.
 
#26
My knowledge of tube amplifiers comes from reading Morgan Jones books. I have the greatest respect for him technically.
I got my BSEE degree back in 1978. I will be 71 in July. At my old age I am finding out that the more I read , I realize that how little I know.

Art
 
#28
Here is a classic popular style tube amp book by Rodenhuis ( "Hi-Fi Amplifier Circuits" Philips' Technical Library 1965 2nd ed. ) that can be downloaded for free. Was mentioned in the Easy DIY Tube Amp thread recently.
http://www.introni.it/pdf/Rodenhuis - HiFi Circuits.pdf

I find reading thru several books helps round out the understanding and makes ideas familiar. Eventually you may want more technical or reference type books to check out ideas. Like "Radio Designer's Handbook" by F Langford-Smith (3rd ed. 352 pgs and 4th edition 1500 pgs )

Any of the books and magazine articles by Norman Crowhurst are worth their weight in gold. Well explained, with depth in understanding what usually doesn't get delved into.

Lately I have been accumulating used or damaged editions of Igor S. Popovich "Audiophile Vacuum Tube Amplifiers" Vols. 1,2,3 ... Pretty expensive new.
$100 for the thin edition on OT transformer winding. Haven't found that one used yet, maybe a long while to find it.

There was also an unpublished Philips' Technical Library "Electronic Valves" "Application of the Electronic Valve in Radio Receivers and Amplifiers" Book VI (vol. 3 ) on Neg. Feedback. The manuscript could be in some dusty drawer or lost. Would be nice if a pdf could happen.
There IS a Philips' book "Low Frequency Amplification" published by N. A. J. Voorhoeve.
 
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#29
smoking-amp said:
Rodenhuis ("Hi-Fi Amplifier Circuits" Philips' Technical Library 1965 2nd ed.)
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With intense respect to the Philips authors: they tend to say "our staff has found that this way is best".

Langford-Smith tends to show most of the possible ways, but for audio he rarely hints one or another as best.

Merlin is good at explaining some of the decision factors. (It would be impossible to even list all the decision points in any audio amplifier.)

So they are all complementary. However Rodenhuis and Langford-Smith will not be releasing any more books (well, maybe the lost Book VI). Buying works of authors who are still working helps bring-out knowledge before it is lost (like that Book VI).
 
#30
One thing that I find missing in all the tube books published so far is a set of "butterfly" curves for class AB crossover ( summed gm for P-P tubes across the input signal range, versus bias level ). The SS books are full of them. Why don't we have any for tubes? And I haven't seen them included in FFT type software packages, although it would be trivial to include them. It would be revealing to see these for P-P class AB for grid 1 drive, grid 2 drive, Crazy Drive, etc. For P-P class A too. About the only thing mentioned on this is the P-P asymptotic extended overlap bias approximation, but no graphs of how well it actually works.

Then there is the magnetizing current issue for OTs. Since Merlin mentioned the patent for fixing this with Neg. resistance, hopefully he will cover the extent of the problem and the fix(s) in any forthcoming power amplifier book.
 
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#31
Along this line, Bob Cordell's book is really essential. My older edition has nothing at all about vacuum valves, and it doesn't even matter - still essential to an overall view of amplifiers. We can't interact with reality directly, only through internal modelling, so understanding both classic models and their limitations is the only path forward. Cordell cuts deep. But not a cookbook, so not for the newest beginning explorations - more like second year; for then, it's great.

All good fortune,
Chris
 
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#32
Thanks for mentioning this book. I ordered my copy from lulu.com. I buy books to keep a trace of the knowledge of our favorite winter-time activity. I was in 1981-1985 the last class who benefited from vacuum tubes schooling. One year later the professor retired and the following classes got zero knowledge in tubes. So our generation are the holders of a dying know-how, we must keep it alive. Thanks Merlin for your work !
 
#33
jan.didden said:
That doesn't make sense. I'm sure many tradespeople would love their inventory to have 'no value'. That way it doesn't count on your balance sheet making you 'poorer' for the taxman - a very nice position to be in.

Jan
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You take an "expense" for the diminished value of inventory. Next year when you sell a book it has "zero basis". You have low taxes in the year the inventory is written down, and higher taxes when a sale is made the following year.
 
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#34
Brinkman said:
Yes, not to turn this into an anti-VA thread but I have two editions of Valve Amplifiers and not only are they expensive for a softcover that is easily damaged in shipping but the jumping around in the text is frustrating for me as well. May as well open the book at random.

Merlin’s books are much more to my taste.
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Damaged?, I can still read it!!




--------------------------------------------------------------------------Rick...
 

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#35
That's not damaged. That's Nuked and run over by a Semi. Booksellers have a classification for that.
I've received 2 of the used/damaged tube books I ordered so far. Just a crease in the back cover for each. Look like new otherwise. We'll see what the other 2 books look like in a few days. So far $25 off each from the $70 price, for almost like new.
 
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#37
#38
kodabmx said:
you can read it online!
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"Library card number (14 digits)
Password/PIN or last 4 digits of phone number"

Guest access?

Non-Residents​

If you do not live, work, go to school or own property in Toronto, you can get a non-resident card. ... register in person at any branch with the required identification. The fee for non-residents is $30.00 for 3 months or $120.00 for 12 months.
When the 3 or 12 months is over and you would like to renew your card, you must do so in person at any branch.
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