• 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.

Finally put the Aikido in a proper chassis

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Well, its been a long time coming and with my adventures in the Pass forum I have decided to put the Aikido in a proper enclosure.

Specs:
Aikido 5687
Output tubes: Either 6CG7 or 6DJ8
Xformer: Edcor XPWR106
PSU: Tubecad PS-3
Chassis: Hifi2000
Alps 100K Pot
NKK switches
Neutrik gold plated RCA's

B+ is running 320V which I may look to lower a bit but plate voltage is within reason although a little high for the 6DJ8's. I may introduce a choke in the PSU to help.

Biggest gripe is that the volume knob should be bigger!!!
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Hello,
Nice looking and roomy.
You were speaking of a choke to help knock down B+ voltage. My Thoughts, you may need a resistor too. I have used chokes for the Aikido, even more quite.
How is installing the transformer in the same chassis working out for induced hum?
DT
All just for fun!
 
It used to be all mounted on an aluminum plate with a wood surround - ended up being over 7" tall!

This is a 3U chassis about 4" tall. I mounted the xformer on a stack of neoprene washers about 0.25" thick. It is very hum free.

I still need to clean up some of the wiring for the inputs and outputs but so far so good! This is a terrific preamp - as many have said before.

Sounds great with the F5!
 
Well, I cleaned things up a little and hooked up the power on LED. Other tweaks were adjusting the cathode resistors for the 6DJ8's I'm running. The amp is now VERY VERY quiet and gain is appropriate. Sounds AWESOME with my simpleSE...
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I know...I'm biding my time until I can take over the basement from the girls(3 daughters) and make it my man cave...

Got the idea from someone at diytube. I have a 50' spool of copper hanging around so I figured what the heck! Seems to work good. This thing is totally silent both with a tube power amp and a SSamp. I do get a little more umph from the F5...

I am also building a P-P EL84 amp just for haha's. That is the last type I really do not have for comparison.

I really like the Aikido in a "modern" enclosure. Its got all the show and plenty of go...
 
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