• 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.

Newbie Aikido power supply question

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Jack,

the psu kit you linked is a regulated one that you probably won't need since the Aikido not necessarily requires a regulated psu.
Also Ron Welborne doesn't seem to be much fun to deal with lately...(see thread about that here).

I'd go with a simple CLC as described in Broskie's papers...get PSUD2 (freeware), plug in your values, et voila!
Also a great learning experience!

Hope this helps...
 
I've been wondering the same thing. I know that the answer to this question is left up to the user, since the Aikido setup allows so many different tube configurations.. but I haven't seen a really complete explanation of how to figure out which B+ values are suitable for whichever tubes you end up using.

For instance, one of the complete kits (tubes and all) on the GlassWare Yahoo store comes with four 6CG7s - the PS is left up to you, but newbs like me with more transformers than knowledge don't know how to come up with that.

I've got power iron, I've got caps, I've got resistors and rectifiers, but I'm fresh out of clues.

Any hints?
 
i'm in the same boat, I'm building a dual mono octal aikido.

I actually purchased the Bas PSU boards that was on sale by someone on the marketplace. He might actually have a few more available. It is a CLC or CRC config and there is actually component values laid out for it.

But still contemplating on which route to take, as you folks have said there is a lot of talk of the aikido but nothing definite as far as which route is best. I do understand that it is purely subjective to builder wants, needs and budget.

And one thing I've read is that the aikido's topology isn't too picky and it will still perform whether you use the best parts or not
 
That's my hope. I've got a transformer around that can be pressed into service (275-0-275? I think? Heaters and rectifier windings, too), and some other interesting bits; I might have to buy an appropriate choke, though.

I should be OK with the PS topology, but figuring out which value is most appropriate for B+ is still sort of a big hazy area for me.
 
koolatron (and Jack and Cambe),

I also was a beginner with absolutely no prior education in electronics when I decided to tackle my first amplifier project. Designing a psu then was almost like a black art to me...
Now I still consider myself a noob but have finished two working (and good sounding headphone amplifiers) and am about to finish an Aikido headphone amp using the 6CG7 and 6H30.

When you don't feel safe and skilled enough to build a psu yourself I would have it built...when you proceed with care and even more care and you have done your share of reading and gathering information it can be done. There is lots of info on the internet and the best thing for starters is the existence of PSUD2...it allows you to play and simulate dozens of different psu's in day.
Also using the search function here on diyaudio will turn up a few threads with plenty of information.
Studying Broskie's manual (Aikido_9-pin_Mono_Rev-A_PCB.pdf or the octal equivalent) should guide you what voltages to choose...10% higher or lower will be no big problem and won't kill anything.
The 275-0-275 can probably be used for the versions requiring 250 or 300V B+.

Good luck!
 
Well, I received my Aikido kit yesterday, and I'm going through figuring out what it is that I need to in total.

I've been playing around with PSUD 2 to figure out what bits I need to put where to create a workable 300V B+, but I'm stimeyed. I don't know what kind of load the 6CG7 realistically represents. If given the appropriate hints, I could probably figure it out myself, but a ballpark figure would be just absolutely magical.
 
You rock, Gingertube. This makes things easier on me. I have no idea how I missed that table in the back of the Aikido guide.

I'll assume that 70mA is more than enough headroom for this 🙂 Given what I have, the power supply is going to be slightly overengineered, but I'll be the last to sneeze at that.
 
Hi Guys,
I finally have my Aikido running. It sounds very nice and exceeds my expectation. There is a slight hum/static noise that can be heard when I am close to the speaker so I can live with it.
I used cheap parts for the power supply: one isolation transformer for the B+ and one 4 amp 6.3V transformer CT for the heater. Then a few caps and resistors, and diodes. The volume control is a 100k dual pot from RadioShack.
I kept everything simple and CHEAP, but I still have nice results.
Thanks for all your suggestions and the info on this forum.javascript:smilie('🙂')javascript:smilie(':up:')
 
Hi,

Can anybody help, i have put together a dual mono Aikido Line amp, and a Lite LS57 & R80-53 transformer (from diyclub), it works fine apart from the hum in the transformer, is it the main voltage causing it to hum its 240V in UK, the trans primary voltage is 115-0-115, secondary is
320-0-320, but the secondary voltage gone up to 350-0-350 will it cause problem too?

if i connect a power resistor series to the main before the transformer to lower the ac voltage to 230V, which value of the resistor i need...

Thankyou

Keith
 
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