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OPT resistance for EL84 PP Class A

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Need some help on the above, could not manage to decipher from the datasheets and class A PP information, or am I missing something? How should I be going about figuring this out?

Basically wish to have flexibility on selecting triode, UL, Pentode in class A PP, would the Hammond 1650F @ 7.6k a good choice? How about a Lundahl?

thanks in advance for any help! 🙂
 
Take a look at a loudspeaker impedance curve. Remember that the transformer reflects this impedance back to the plates. It's not usually worth sweating the details, pick one that looks good for your preferred operation and it will work at least acceptably with other topologies. Reputable manufacturers (and Lundahl is way better than reputable!) will be an excellent source of advice as to which of their transformers will be the best for you.

I would, though, look for something with 43% ultralinear taps.
 
PP EL84 OPT impedance

I just finished a PP EL84 project using IT coupling/invertering. I used the Lundahl LL1682 OPT. This OPT has a 5k primary inpedance. I have had very good sonic results. The LL1663 will also work.

Stuben
 
pengboon said:
My preferred would by triode class A, however, I can only find the data for triode single end, which is Ra=3.5k, so is PP 7k? I don't see any Lundahl with that impedance from their website, any advice...? Hammond?

BTW, my speaker's impedance curve look like this:
http://www.stereophile.com/budgetcomponents/605infinity/index3.html

Bingo! The impedance of your speakers varies 2 to 1 just in the midrange and more than 3 to 1 if we include the bass.

My advice still stands: contact Lundahl, tell them what you want to do, and ask them for a recommendation.
 
SY said:

Bingo! The impedance of your speakers varies 2 to 1 just in the midrange and more than 3 to 1 if we include the bass.

My advice still stands: contact Lundahl, tell them what you want to do, and ask them for a recommendation.

OK, just did that. Can you share how to relate the speaker impedance curve with OPT? what do I look out for?

thx!
 
A transformer is a dumb thing. All it can do is transform one impedance into another in a fixed ratio. If the impedance transformation is, say, 100:1 (same as a 10:1 turns ratio), then an 8 ohm impedance transforms to 800 ohms. A 16 ohm impedance transforms to 1600 ohms. And so forth.

So if your speaker's impedance fluctuates by a factor of two, the impedance reflected by the transformer also fluctuates by a factor of two. A transformer with a rating of 8000 ohms primary with an 8 ohm load will have an impedance varying between 6000 and 12000 ohms if your speaker's impedance varies from 6 to 12 ohms (the idea of an "8 ohm" speaker is marketing nonsense).

The moral is that sweating the difference between a 7000 ohm primary and an 8000 ohm primary is just not worthwhile unless you're planning on running your amp exclusively into test resistors. I assume you want to hook it to real speakers and listen to music...

Go with Lundahl's recommendation.
 
Can you provide more info about your EL84 circuit....
Typically to get the best bang for your buck you run the EL84 valves at 300V plate and 290V screen...
WIth roughly a 7.6K to 8K plate-load....
This will make 12 Watts Class A before breaking into AB1 and going up to about 18Watts.... depending on bias..ect..ect...
You really cant go much below 7K at this operating point because you will start getting the plates glowing red durring AC operation..
As for the plate load jumping all over the place due to speaker impedance ....that is a bit more involved....
First off 99% of speaker measurements out there are done incorrectly and do not reflect the actual impedance when the amp is connected.... WHen you have a reactive load...the load line moves eliptical since this is in the imaginary j-axis...you simply can not treat it like DC load-line movement....

Chris
 
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