25W Single Ended Hammond 193V Choke Loaded 2SK180 L'Amp

Can I just confirm that the Tokin TH-51S is a straight drop in for the 2SK180 in this schematic from post #109? Would just like to understand my options.
I appreciate I may need to tweak the operating points.

I have just simmed it. Same. Bias -3.5 for 182, -6,2V for 180. No difference in harmonics, slight in 'amplification'.
Note, I have a transformer coupling with Jensen JT-123 FLPCH from Gate->Source though. So sort of bootstrapped. That way I do not need a high amplification driver stage. Now the whole single stage amplification is just short of 10x.

2SK180 + 2SK182 source follower.png
 
I've been collecting bits and pieces ready to start building, hopefully next week.

My initial objective is to build the follower and bias circuits but power them from a basic 36V SMPS - I want to check the frequency response of the circuit and heat management aspects of my heatsink/chassis and if that checks out I'll move on to adding a better power supply and improving the aesthetics.

Just to remind, my build will be bandwidth limited, rolling off below around 150-180Hz as it will be driving the 'full-range' section of a Pass Open Baffle (I have a chip amp to provide the bass). Below is the circuit I'm working on (note the film cap on the output, made possible by the bottom end rolloff, which, with the speaker load, creates a LP filter with a -3dB point at about 114Hz). This is the cap I'm looking to use on the output:

https://www.mouser.co.uk/ProductDetail/KEMET/C4AQLEW6180M3AK?qs=81r%2BiQLm7BQN1XzD5EnFuw==
 

Attachments

  • 2SK180 Follower.png
    2SK180 Follower.png
    27.3 KB · Views: 428
Last edited:
. . not very trustworthy maybe, but it does allow a design decision here and there.
I saw analog_sa's comment on dissipation, yes on paper mine got pretty hot too, even with the .35 K/W I will use, still upwards from 50 degrees.
So I'll have to see what the minimum is.
The 25V Mah-version is easy. Two amps is not too much.
At 70V Vds & >1,1 Amp I will have a problem. :hot:
And then, in practice, my devices are not flat at all. So they will get hotter and hotter.
 
I wish something like this was easy to prototype. Or even more extreme like 200:8ohm @200v.
In parafeed or PP, toroid power transformer works well enough for prototyping. We just need to remember that max applicable voltage at 50 Hz is 2.5x that for 20Hz. However max current is dependent on wire diameter alone. In short a >62.5W power transformer should be good for 25W audio. Since impedance ratio is square of turns ratio, 110V pri with 22V sec power transformer should work well enough as 200:8 ohm (5:1 ratio) impedance transformer within it's 2.5x derated power limit.

Regular toroid cores will go into saturation with a few ma of DC current, so forget SE application with DC current such as the Mofo.
 
Official Court Jester
Joined 2003
Paid Member
. . not very trustworthy maybe, but it does allow a design decision here and there.
I saw analog_sa's comment on dissipation, yes on paper mine got pretty hot too, even with the .35 K/W I will use, still upwards from 50 degrees.
So I'll have to see what the minimum is.
The 25V Mah-version is easy. Two amps is not too much.
At 70V Vds & >1,1 Amp I will have a problem. :hot:
And then, in practice, my devices are not flat at all. So they will get hotter and hotter.

I underlined "levels"

I'm also using LTS extensively, as much I know and developed own level of skill, enough to know in what I can trust and what is better to ignore and make final decisions in physical world

so, not disputing you, at all
 
What is very interesting on paper, is that the 2SK180 and 2SK182 models are so different that in a choked lamp, the K180 has many more harmonics , say 2-7, nicely degraded; while the K182 shows only 2-3 or maybe a tad of 4th.
The degradation is interesting, the level not, indeed, like you say. The level changes at a whim on paper. Just change the parameters a bit.

The K182 is more lineair. Maybe, compare like the 211 being more lineair than the 300B.
In practice. This is very interesting, as Jean Hiraga has shown that amplifiers that have the slow degradation of the K180 sometimes have sounded better . .

For me, the most important issue is to get the second the way you like. With a slight projection forward (like I have right now, great on some music, the players are in the room, (specifically the Klara radio is great in this) or backward (which I had for many years). There are so many puzzling elements here.