I will never publish any complete schemos about ANY amplifier that I designed. Because its my own intelectual property, which shouldn't be recovered by professionals (which surely are to be found on such forums).
What I do is giving advise and hints where to look for and how to engineer things.
My experience with internet forums in the whole time they existed is, that no schemo fits all needs and wants. Always.
The gear I build is higly subjective only to fulfill my tasts and needs, build to my standards, with the parts I did choose with reason. I don't make the claim to be the best audio designer on this world, because from my studies of the best of all time tube audio gear, I met so many designers that I learned from. It took me decades to be where I am standing now, but as this is my hobby, I don't have to use it commercial in any sense, nor do I have to prove to be the best audio designer on the internet, like many others do for their ego (and maybe some commercial thoughts in the backward).
I can do, whatever I want to design, think about it for ages before building anything (which I've done already), no one will starve me out of this.
No client, no necessary income, no magazine, no one at all. I have choosen to purchase stuff that is so rare and so expensive (relative), that for any company it would meant to go bancrupt. Not for me. Because I have nothing to sell, no need for internet fame and no fanbase that would like to be satisfied. I'm free to design whatever I want, just for me, without any calculation.
That makes every business graduate becoming foam at the mouth, but I don't care. Thats real DIY. Far better than anything in the world money can buy.
And thats why I choose DIY, after a long career of purchasing new and old, some classics that became unobtanium today. For any money in the world.
I'm long enough with this subject to had the great opportunities to audition something of the best of all time classics in pro- tube audio gear.
And I'm glad for having the chance to do so. It did cost some effort and time, but it was worth it. Because I can judge from those experiences, what gear is worth in terms of audio qualities. And to understand the necessity of a greater concept instead of swapping single parts like transformers, tubes or others and still dreaming this or that special tube would may be the only gate for audio heaven. Most often, its not.
What I do is giving advise and hints where to look for and how to engineer things.
My experience with internet forums in the whole time they existed is, that no schemo fits all needs and wants. Always.
The gear I build is higly subjective only to fulfill my tasts and needs, build to my standards, with the parts I did choose with reason. I don't make the claim to be the best audio designer on this world, because from my studies of the best of all time tube audio gear, I met so many designers that I learned from. It took me decades to be where I am standing now, but as this is my hobby, I don't have to use it commercial in any sense, nor do I have to prove to be the best audio designer on the internet, like many others do for their ego (and maybe some commercial thoughts in the backward).
I can do, whatever I want to design, think about it for ages before building anything (which I've done already), no one will starve me out of this.
No client, no necessary income, no magazine, no one at all. I have choosen to purchase stuff that is so rare and so expensive (relative), that for any company it would meant to go bancrupt. Not for me. Because I have nothing to sell, no need for internet fame and no fanbase that would like to be satisfied. I'm free to design whatever I want, just for me, without any calculation.
That makes every business graduate becoming foam at the mouth, but I don't care. Thats real DIY. Far better than anything in the world money can buy.
And thats why I choose DIY, after a long career of purchasing new and old, some classics that became unobtanium today. For any money in the world.
I'm long enough with this subject to had the great opportunities to audition something of the best of all time classics in pro- tube audio gear.
And I'm glad for having the chance to do so. It did cost some effort and time, but it was worth it. Because I can judge from those experiences, what gear is worth in terms of audio qualities. And to understand the necessity of a greater concept instead of swapping single parts like transformers, tubes or others and still dreaming this or that special tube would may be the only gate for audio heaven. Most often, its not.
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Instead of messing with simulators, Andy employs the extinct subjective evaluation method which is the only viable method for designing good sounding amplifiers. I admire his perseverance. People seek low distortion in the technical sense for the sake of low distortion while unable to hear any difference between two adjacent notes.
Bla bla bla...
"
"It makes sense that swapping one part for another without having an overall concept is only ever going to work by accidentI will never publish any complete schemos about ANY amplifier that I designed. Because its my own intelectual property, which shouldn't be recovered by professionals (which surely are to be found on such forums).
"Evidently you forget this is a DIY forum."
What I do is giving advise and hints where to look for and how to engineer things.
"Precious little of either in this thread."
My experience with internet forums in the whole time they existed is, that no schemo fits all needs and wants. Always.
"Wow, no kidding..."
The gear I build is higly subjective only to fulfill my tasts and needs, build to my standards, with the parts I did choose with reason. I don't make the claim to be the best audio designer on this world, because from my studies of the best of all time tube audio gear, I met so many designers that I learned from. It took me decades to be where I am standing now, but as this is my hobby, I don't have to use it commercial in any sense, nor do I have to prove to be the best audio designer on the internet, like many others do for their ego (and maybe some commercial thoughts in the backward).
"Again, if you are afraid of intellectual theft one wonders what you are doing here..."
I can do, whatever I want to design, think about it for ages before building anything (which I've done already), no one will starve me out of this.
"At the end of the day as long as it is legal and safe you do what you want to do."
No client, no necessary income, no magazine, no one at all. I have choosen to purchase stuff that is so rare and so expensive (relative), that for any company it would meant to go bancrupt. Not for me. Because I have nothing to sell, no need for internet fame and no fanbase that would like to be satisfied. I'm free to design whatever I want, just for me, without any calculation.
"If I needed to do this DIY thing for fame and fortune I would probably starve
That makes every business graduate becoming foam at the mouth, but I don't care. Thats real DIY. Far better than anything in the world money can buy.
And thats why I choose DIY, after a long career of purchasing new and old, some classics that became unobtanium today. For any money in the world.
I'm long enough with this subject to had the great opportunities to audition something of the best of all time classics in pro- tube audio gear.
"Give us a few examples
And I'm glad for having the chance to do so. It did cost some effort and time, but it was worth it. Because I can judge from those experiences, what gear is worth in terms of audio qualities. And to understand the necessity of a greater concept instead of swapping single parts like transformers, tubes or others and still dreaming this or that special tube would may be the only gate for audio heaven. Most often, its not.
"I've done it myself. Everyone should swap to learn what each and every part has an impact on the overall sound experience.
I only use parts which sound character is well known to me.
But it's a relative simple thing and not as complex as to study concepts. To understand those and their impact on sound it needs this basic knowledge. Its like going to high school after having done elementary school.
I've done those studies some 30 years ago. Some of those who write here are actual employed with doing those studies. Thats the difference.
I only use parts which sound character is well known to me.
But it's a relative simple thing and not as complex as to study concepts. To understand those and their impact on sound it needs this basic knowledge. Its like going to high school after having done elementary school.
I've done those studies some 30 years ago. Some of those who write here are actual employed with doing those studies. Thats the difference.
I have a Loesch Legacy 300B project as next on the docket. Unless I get distracted again, which is likely. I have all the parts for the Legacy amp, including a pair of Onetics Level 1 OPTs that I'm very excited to use in this circuit.
When I researched, a few years back, which 300B amp to build, I was looking at doing it as a project where I used a proven schematic, designed by a very competent designer, that was 2 stage and didn't use any magnetics other than the OPTs and power transformer. I know that generally speaking input and interstage transformers aren't considered a stage, but does that really make sense with respect to the outcome? If you can hear differences between one input transformer and another, the influence of that component might as well be an additional tube stage.
The C3M run as a pentode, or alternately an EL84 or SV83 in pentode, have enough drive to properly drive a 300B without additional magnetic component stages. The Loesch design checks all the boxes for me. There are other choices of course, but not many that satisfy my original criteria for a two stage amp. I feel like the best option for me is to build the Legacy amp up as per the schematic, with the exception of Rod Coleman's excellent filament regulators on the 300Bs and adding an extra socket so that I can also play around with EL84/SV83 tubes as per his earlier version. An option to switch between Triode and Pentode mode on the C3M could also be a possibility The C3M in triode may not have what it takes to properly drive the 300B, but I feel like the best place to add more DHT goodness might be in a separate preamp up front that could work well with C3M in triode mode. My two cents...
Sounds like a great idea. I also have a pair of O-Netics Level 1 OPTs. They're very good sounding - mine are 3.5K. You could use a 150v voltage reg/glow tube on the G2 of C3m. This is an amp I also hope to build. I use plate chokes - if you're in Canada you could even try something like Hammond 157G. Hagerman use it in headphone amps.
I haven't seen Thorsten in years. I used to see him regularly in London. He was, and I'm sure still is, a wonderful character with a great sense of humour and fun. One of East Germany's better exports!
I actually have a couple of 157G in my inventory. I’m going to build it as per schematic for now though. It’s interesting that you mention the G2 on the C3M, as G2 regulation is just about the only thing I thought might be worth adding to the schematic. No guarantee it would make it sound better though. Thorsten seems the type that would have considered it already. Isn’t Thorsten working with iFi Audio? I remember reading something about him being involved in the design of their Zen line of products.
I'm sure that will sound better/bigger than your nice 6v6 !
Perhaps.... I am sure a 300b amp would be like building a Mercedes, or a Cadillac. Surface was not. . . . Surface was intended to be more like a Chevy. More like the every day driver car. Simple and affordable. Yet, now that Surface is now a para-feed drive, works more than good enough for me, .... But I only see one layout of a 300B, as a para-feed drive..... I would be sure that would sound pretty good.
6v6 amp - YouTube
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Yes. But for Surface 1 and Surface 2, is no preamp gain stages. Just the 2 power tubes, and no solid state amp(s) like a hybrid or something like that....
6v6 amp - YouTube
Also, a Surface amp could drive it ; if the 300B were configured as a super scaler....Now that would be worth it for me to look into......
Never liked his designs.
His Shindo Claret copy looked very low quality, build style was low quality compared to the originals, and exactly that looked all his gear to me. No taste, no build quality, wrong parts choosen, but always on the hyper- technical side, a typical german newcommer in the DIY scene of the 1990s. Once I saw his audio gear at his home, small place, nothing seemed to fit together, bad taste in design, he must had suffered from the London symptom- too low income for renting or purchasing property with enough space for an audio hobby.
Glad he is retired and didn't make new designs, which he often spam- like distributed on various scene places. Even his Claret copy schemo did contain massive faults or things that he, because he was sooo clever, changed for the worse.
Read he had family, seemed to have not enough energy or focus to still improve and continue with his designs. Thats how life changes, only very few people can or do continue with this hobby over decades.
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