• 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.

transformers, read me!!!!

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Does anyone know anything about James Transformers, theyre made in tawain which makes me a bit hesitant. Also I cant find a price on them does anyone know where I could buy them, or how much they cost. And one more thing, I did find 2 distributors for James, and they both publish different specs for their trannys, which also makes me a bit afraid of them.
Any feedback would be great.
 
Disabled Account
Joined 2004
Hello all

Just wanna let everyone know that James now have a factory authorized reseller in the USA.

http://www.EuphoniaAudio.com

Thanks
Keith

billr said:
hi there, this is my first post on this group, yipee.

re handwound, i am a moderately active member of RAT, and handwound get panned regularly, some people wait months on nothing happening, others get stuff when they want. fwiw, i would not deal with them

tell you who i am going to deal with, www.thlaudio.com, they are in Taiwan, and they distribute James transformers, reputed to be made by people who left Tamura.

worth a sniff, and very reasonably priced.

kind regards

bill
 
Can anyone tell me where in Pennsylvania Lucas Elecetronics AKA Handwound Transformers is located? I sent him $259.00 almost 6 mos. ago and have received nothing but empty promises, lies and excuses for my money. I'd like to see if I can file a small claims suit and get my money back. Any info will be greatly appreciated, Al
 
handwound transformers AKA dave lucas

Anyone that is even vaguely considering dealing with Handwound transformers(AKA Lucas Electronics) BE WARNED!! He is without doubt one of the biggest, and most practiced rip-offs on the "Net". He lets you know that it will take 4 - 6 weeks to get your product. This eliminates the possibility of getting your money back from Paypal(30 day limit). Then he has a comprehesive repertoire of excuses, lies and promises when he doesn't deliver at all!! He WILL keep you in limbo while your credit card dispute possibilities expire as well(usually 90 days). His local Better Business Bureau has a file on him and doesn't even reply to complaints regarding him any longer. My order was placed in March of this year, and still nothing(it's now November)!! You've been warned!
 
I often use transformers by Elettronica Novarria(Milan - Italy). The quality is very very high, and transformers are incredibly cheap(because they make a great number of audio transformer in a day).

The web site is in italian language(but I think they make international shippings). If you want to give a look, you have to click "PRODOTTI"(products).

"CONDENSATORI" = CAPS
"RESISTORI" = RESISTANCES
"VALVOLE" = TUBES
"TRASFORMATORI" = TRANSFORMERS

"ALIMENTAZIONE" = SUPPLY TRANSFORMERS
"IMPEDENZE DI FILTRO" = CHOKES
"USCITA" = OUTPUT TRANSFORMERS

The rest is simply to understand.

http://www.elettronicanovarria.it/
 
Fuling said:
Liberty:

Good to hear that the Novarria transformers are high quality, I ordered a 700V unit from a seller in Norway for an 813 SE project.


Yes, they have very good quality and low prices.

I tried many transformers: Lundhal, Sowter, Gruppo Euterpe, Novarria, GBT, Satel and so on.

Lundhal output transformers are very fine, with Special Audio C-core, 10 sections
http://www.lundahl.se/index.html

Sowter transformers are also very fine, based on classic grain oriented core (M6), 14 sections(7 for smaller type)
http://www.sowter.co.uk/

Gruppo Euterpe(megahertz) are state of art transformers with double C core or Custom core, (M0-0,1mm.) and up to 22 sections.
http://www.megahertzaudio.it/EN-listino.htm

Novarria make both. Grain oriented core 0,35mm or C-core 0.23mm
http://www.elettronicanovarria.it/

GBT makes only supply transformers, but I tried for fun a 230V/12V 50VA in a single ended with 6080 tube. It sound great! It is the only normal “supply” transformer that I found sounding really great in single ended output position.
http://www.gbte.com/

Satel is very little company. They make good audio transformers.


Now the problem maybe the prices.

A Lundhal for S.E. 3000ohm/8 ohm 25W cost 178,00 Euro

A Sowter for S.E. 3000ohm/8 ohm 10W cost 118 £

A Megahertz/Euterpe 3000ohm/6ohm 7W cost 64 Euro, the top model 3000ohm/6ohm 15W cost 329 Euro.

A Novarria 3000ohm/4-8ohm 25W cost 67 Euro for C core and 57 Euro for grain oriented core.

Naturally these transformers have different sound, but big differences are udible only using the top of Megahertz/Euterpe. So, when I make a new ampli, if I have about 300 + 300 Euro for output transformers, I buy the Megahertz/Euterpe. Othewise I buy Novarria, which is very very similar(in sound) to the others.

Finally I know that there are many other companies to test, and I am very curious, for example, to hear if Bartolucci transformers( http://www.audiomarketing.net/bartolucci ) or Tamura( http://www10.big.or.jp/~dh/tamura/ ) or Audio Note Trasformers( http://www.audionote.co.uk/kits/transformers.htm are better than Euterpe… ;)
 
Just to clarify...
Grain oriented M6 and C-cores are not seperate things...
The C-cores are usually made from spun sheet M6- grain oriented ....Just as the EI laminations are M6 as well....Yes, there are other core materials available but not usually used in Hi-End OPT's.....
I have design OPT's using Supermendur ...but the advantage is small...
There are pros and cons to using C-cores vs. EI laminations....
It's just a matter a preference in certain features...

Chris
 
cerrem said:
Just to clarify...
Grain oriented M6 and C-cores are not seperate things...
The C-cores are usually made from spun sheet M6- grain oriented ....Just as the EI laminations are M6 as well....Yes, there are other core materials available but not usually used in Hi-End OPT's.....
I have design OPT's using Supermendur ...but the advantage is small...
There are pros and cons to using C-cores vs. EI laminations....
It's just a matter a preference in certain features...

Chris


ok,
but I said "classical" M6 for Sowter and "special" C core for Lundhal, because lundhal declare to use special audio C core. I don't know the "special" specification of lundhal.

Also I know, for example, that Sowter use MuMetal core for MC step-up transformers, and Lundhal use "esotic" amorphous strip core. I don't want to say that lundhal is better than Sowter...but Sowter seems to be more "classic".

From 2001 I desired to try a step-up transformer for my MC(supex sd-900). Actually I use some MC-preamps(Mark Levinson JC-1AC and A&R HA10), but everytime I decide to buy a MC transformer I am in trouble because I am not able to decide if it is better to buy Sowter or Lundhal. :confused:
 
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