The aikido is working a treat.
The power transformer was buzzing a little which was causing a bit of a vibration in the top plate. But a little bit of judiciously applied blutack sorted that out. Other than that its AOK, not a bit of hum or anything. Seems to be very stable in operation.
in fact I was going to build another one as a headphone amp, same 24V job, but with a buf634 on the output. Even though I had nearly all the passive components and a PS and case, I ended up buying one cheaper. Do you remember the little single ended chinese headphone amp I had the day you were here - well I bought its new improved version. Uses EF92 tubes as driver and 6N6P as power. You can even sub in the 6H30 tubes with a mod to the anode load R. Cost: €165 incl shipping. So it was going to cost more than that just to buy the missing bits (BUf634 seems to be pretty dear) - so I said what the hell and spent the dough.
As regards the output caps. I have them wired: C1 - BG nonpolar 4.7uF C2 your PIO and 3rd option is both together.
Heres the thing, I can't really hear much difference between the BG or the PIO caps! Thought I should, but I just don't. So much so, its probably a waste having them in there - especially seeing as they are rated for 400 or 500V and only ever see the 24V.
In short - your advice to go active was spot on.
I'm trying to clear some of the backlog of jobs here and intend starting at the RLD EL84 soon.
Fran
The power transformer was buzzing a little which was causing a bit of a vibration in the top plate. But a little bit of judiciously applied blutack sorted that out. Other than that its AOK, not a bit of hum or anything. Seems to be very stable in operation.
in fact I was going to build another one as a headphone amp, same 24V job, but with a buf634 on the output. Even though I had nearly all the passive components and a PS and case, I ended up buying one cheaper. Do you remember the little single ended chinese headphone amp I had the day you were here - well I bought its new improved version. Uses EF92 tubes as driver and 6N6P as power. You can even sub in the 6H30 tubes with a mod to the anode load R. Cost: €165 incl shipping. So it was going to cost more than that just to buy the missing bits (BUf634 seems to be pretty dear) - so I said what the hell and spent the dough.
As regards the output caps. I have them wired: C1 - BG nonpolar 4.7uF C2 your PIO and 3rd option is both together.
Heres the thing, I can't really hear much difference between the BG or the PIO caps! Thought I should, but I just don't. So much so, its probably a waste having them in there - especially seeing as they are rated for 400 or 500V and only ever see the 24V.
In short - your advice to go active was spot on.
I'm trying to clear some of the backlog of jobs here and intend starting at the RLD EL84 soon.
Fran
Good to hear from you again Fran,
I'll be very interested to hear your new headphone amp up against my new one when we next meet up. I want to get my Tabor clone done before then, and hopefully you will have your RLD up and running by then. I will be very interested in comparing my FVP5 clone to your Aikido. I might even try to knock up a refined version of the FVP5 as well - though this is a low priority.
My friend Chris has a pair of little back loaded horn speakers which we are planning to put in new drivers, and we might have them available to compare.
I just made a small refinement to my DC7 amp which has improved the top end quite noticably and as a result the bottom end is considerably tighter. All I did was add a 1u5 film cap to bypass the last big electro in the supply chain - I was surprised at the improvement.
I think your right about the big PIO caps, pull them and hold them in reserve for your next project. If you have space they might go well in the RLD power supply.
Talk to you again soon.
Shoog
I'll be very interested to hear your new headphone amp up against my new one when we next meet up. I want to get my Tabor clone done before then, and hopefully you will have your RLD up and running by then. I will be very interested in comparing my FVP5 clone to your Aikido. I might even try to knock up a refined version of the FVP5 as well - though this is a low priority.
My friend Chris has a pair of little back loaded horn speakers which we are planning to put in new drivers, and we might have them available to compare.
I just made a small refinement to my DC7 amp which has improved the top end quite noticably and as a result the bottom end is considerably tighter. All I did was add a 1u5 film cap to bypass the last big electro in the supply chain - I was surprised at the improvement.
I think your right about the big PIO caps, pull them and hold them in reserve for your next project. If you have space they might go well in the RLD power supply.
Talk to you again soon.
Shoog
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