Me and my Tan Theta Meter (Capacitor tester)

[Mooly]

Hi Pheonix and Lumba,
Lumba -- 1000 bucks, cheap at half the price 😀
Why did I build it ? Because it was such an unusual and original bit of thinking. I was interested 🙂 I used to work a lot on repairing SMPS and electroylitic caps are the number one cause of trouble.
As to audio I prefer if possible not to use electroylitics, in fact my current amp has only two in the audio path. Rail decoupling is a different matter. Low ESR ( low tan theta ? ) and long life are everything.
I will be honest Lumba, I can't say I have ever sat down and done listening tests on individual components (capacitors/resistors) in specific locations in an audio component.
That subtleties exist in audio I am in no doubt and, it was dissatisfaction with amplifier designs I had encountered that led me to design and develop my Mosfet integrated amp. Quite why it is so good sonically I still can not fully explain. As you say, it is something that can not be measured.

 

[TheGimp]

Just ran across this thread, and as geocities is gone, all the links are dead.

I did find a series of 6 articles here:

DIYCore.com - Home

I'm still looking for the original, and possibly PWB masks.

 

[danmcb]

hello all

I guess I am bringing this thread back from the dead I guess. I hope Mooly is still around.

reason I am posting is I have a set of pcbs for the Bateman tan theta meter that I bought from him back then. This was about 1999, i think. Then family and other stuff came along, and I never built it. I also lost the original information that came with it - parts lists, etc.

I did just find some scans online of EWW articles called "capacitor sound". But they seem to be a bit late (2002) and the boards are not the same.

I would like to see if I can get the right info for this thing and maybe build it - I am curious.

thanks if you can help me, anyone.

 

[danmcb]

and here are pics of the boards (I hope I figured out this upload thing) :

 

[danmcb]

hmmm. It seems that what I have is a tan-delta meter, not tan-theta.

I am curious as to what that is, and looking for info still ...

Daniel

 

[EssB]

I have his CDROM from back then. It has pdf's of the cap meter articles and I think some more info. Send me a PM with your real email address and I'll send them to you.

 

[EssB]

I just checked and I do have the Tan-delta article pdf's but no parts list or assembly info.
The text says he would have sent out a 24 page user manual and a 22 page assembly manual with the boards. Think you'd better search your loft again.
Still the article pdf's are a lot better than nothing, there's a lot of detail with part values and types given so it looks like you could work it all out.

 

[danmcb]

I just checked and I do have the Tan-delta article pdf's but no parts list or assembly info.
The text says he would have sent out a 24 page user manual and a 22 page assembly manual with the boards. Think you'd better search your loft again.
Still the article pdf's are a lot better than nothing, there's a lot of detail with part values and types given so it looks like you could work it all out.

Hi EssB, thank you!

Yes, there was a printed book with it, unfortunately long gone. I moved country twice in the meantime, amongst other things!

I'll send you a PM, thanks for your offer. Maybe I can figure it out.

Daniel

 

[Shalimar]

Hi EssB, thank you!

Yes, there was a printed book with it, unfortunately long gone. I moved country twice in the meantime, amongst other things!

I'll send you a PM, thanks for your offer. Maybe I can figure it out.

Daniel

i've been trying to dig for this material via online archives etc so far i got the attatched pdf's only but more links ill be trying soon (archive.org is very handy at times)