Around 4-5 months ago I got the PH-16 kit from Tubes4HiFi – and started putting things together. Attached are the results.
It was a challenge, especially getting parts to the bottom of the planet (Auckland - New Zealand), but I got there in the end. The amp sounds amazing – wide soundstage, open separation, punch at the bottom end and clarity at the top end. I’m running it from my Rega Planar with Ortofon cartridge into a Cayin A88T power amp - heavily modified with Mundorf caps, and Gold Lion KT-88’s among other things. As an aside, I’ve found the Cayin amp to be awesome. Extremely high build quality, much better than some amps I’ve seen at 3 times the price and the circuit design is simple and robust.
The PH-16 is a great design, and I added Mundorf caps and Gold Lion tubes. There is very little hum as I placed the transformer above the aluminium mounting plate well away from the signal board. One of the challenges I had was to fit the volume control at the output of the circuit. I managed this with a Ladder Stepping Attenuator (Dale resistors) and this seems to work OK, although I haven’t quite got the linearity required, but I’ll experiment.
My family will now be subject to large amounts on Pink Floyd, Mozart, and the occasional Iron Maiden experience.
It was a challenge, especially getting parts to the bottom of the planet (Auckland - New Zealand), but I got there in the end. The amp sounds amazing – wide soundstage, open separation, punch at the bottom end and clarity at the top end. I’m running it from my Rega Planar with Ortofon cartridge into a Cayin A88T power amp - heavily modified with Mundorf caps, and Gold Lion KT-88’s among other things. As an aside, I’ve found the Cayin amp to be awesome. Extremely high build quality, much better than some amps I’ve seen at 3 times the price and the circuit design is simple and robust.
The PH-16 is a great design, and I added Mundorf caps and Gold Lion tubes. There is very little hum as I placed the transformer above the aluminium mounting plate well away from the signal board. One of the challenges I had was to fit the volume control at the output of the circuit. I managed this with a Ladder Stepping Attenuator (Dale resistors) and this seems to work OK, although I haven’t quite got the linearity required, but I’ll experiment.
My family will now be subject to large amounts on Pink Floyd, Mozart, and the occasional Iron Maiden experience.
