http://www.lampizator.eu/LAMPIZATOR/photogallery/STEPS/Lampizator.doc
Would someone have a look at this circuitry and tell me if it would be suitable as a preamp for the aksa 55?
thanks
Would someone have a look at this circuitry and tell me if it would be suitable as a preamp for the aksa 55?
thanks
Hello Kenji
There his the Aikido line preamp, very good sound and well documented on the web and with many threads in the diyaudio forum.
The main page from tubecad;
http://www.tubecad.com/2004/blog0011.htm
Some threads in the diyaudio forum;
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=103175&highlight=aikido
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=60586
Bye
Gaetan
There his the Aikido line preamp, very good sound and well documented on the web and with many threads in the diyaudio forum.
The main page from tubecad;
http://www.tubecad.com/2004/blog0011.htm
Some threads in the diyaudio forum;
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=103175&highlight=aikido
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=60586
Bye
Gaetan
well can you tell me which circuit you are talking about exactly so that I dont build the wrong one?
and the other thing is, if I wanted to put a volume control on there, where should the pot go?
Kenji,
Any of them are fine, but I won't be giving you further advice.
It is merely a simple triode, plate loaded in both instances. Choose one or other.
The last time I gave you advice, it cost me about thirty hours, not to mention the reputation of the AKSA, and I just haven't the time. One thing I really have issue with is a hand drawn schematic, when there are so many good packages around to do a very nice looking job.
You perhaps forget that I have a preamp especially designed for the AKSA and the Lifeforce, so it might just be that you are asking the wrong fellow!
Ask on the tube forum, there are lots of guys there who know as well as I do.
Cheers,
Hugh
Any of them are fine, but I won't be giving you further advice.
It is merely a simple triode, plate loaded in both instances. Choose one or other.
The last time I gave you advice, it cost me about thirty hours, not to mention the reputation of the AKSA, and I just haven't the time. One thing I really have issue with is a hand drawn schematic, when there are so many good packages around to do a very nice looking job.
You perhaps forget that I have a preamp especially designed for the AKSA and the Lifeforce, so it might just be that you are asking the wrong fellow!
Ask on the tube forum, there are lots of guys there who know as well as I do.
Cheers,
Hugh
Hi Prof,
1. I have designed a preamp for the AKSAs, the GK1. It is a commercial product. Why would I now offer a DIY version at no profit to me?
2. Designing anything in electronics relentlessly consumes time and money. We are in a recession, this hobby is discretionary income for most DIYers, so who pays?
3. I have offered something gratis already, a headphone amp. That is a worthy contribution for the moment. But it doesn't suit you, clearly.
4. Why not use the headphone amp as a preamp? It would work pretty well, lots of gain, plenty of drive, simple, and free! Slap a volume control on the input and you're done!
5. The clear implication is that I do not wish to do all over again something I have done once, and for no profit. I shamelessly pursue profit because I am a registered business, this is entirely predictable.
Try to put yourself in others shoes, Kenji, you will be surprised how their view differs.
Hugh
1. I have designed a preamp for the AKSAs, the GK1. It is a commercial product. Why would I now offer a DIY version at no profit to me?
2. Designing anything in electronics relentlessly consumes time and money. We are in a recession, this hobby is discretionary income for most DIYers, so who pays?
3. I have offered something gratis already, a headphone amp. That is a worthy contribution for the moment. But it doesn't suit you, clearly.
4. Why not use the headphone amp as a preamp? It would work pretty well, lots of gain, plenty of drive, simple, and free! Slap a volume control on the input and you're done!
5. The clear implication is that I do not wish to do all over again something I have done once, and for no profit. I shamelessly pursue profit because I am a registered business, this is entirely predictable.
Try to put yourself in others shoes, Kenji, you will be surprised how their view differs.
Hugh
Hi Sandy,
I have designed single ended amps, yes, but not offered them commercially. My design, which I did with another guy with lots of good ideas, used the KT90, offered about 9 watts, and used fluro ballasts for choke loading with parafeed using a 100V output transformer from WES. It was pretty cheap to make and sounded VERY good. I've not done any push pull tube amps, but I have worked briefly with Ian Miller on Yves ? amp, the Baby Huey, where I added a mosfet drive circuit to it in grounded grid configuation, one of my faves.
I've also done a Zen like SE mosfet amp called the Glass Harmony, which uses some of NP's ideas (with some added complexity). It sounded damn good, but was expensive to build - chokes, big trafos, huge heatsinks, etc. The voltage gain was done by a t barred 6SL7.
For every design I field, there are about four designs in the background, never commercialised. I guess this is about the right ratio. Only the very best ideas get to be sold.
I've said it before, but this stuff is not rocket science, and I've managed on little formal electronics education. It's about trying things out, blowing up countless transistors, recognising the tombstones in the silicon graveyard, and slowly learning what does and what does not work. The rest is patient tweaking, and having the bazoomas to have a go. But I guess you know all this, Sandy!
Cheers,
Hugh
I have designed single ended amps, yes, but not offered them commercially. My design, which I did with another guy with lots of good ideas, used the KT90, offered about 9 watts, and used fluro ballasts for choke loading with parafeed using a 100V output transformer from WES. It was pretty cheap to make and sounded VERY good. I've not done any push pull tube amps, but I have worked briefly with Ian Miller on Yves ? amp, the Baby Huey, where I added a mosfet drive circuit to it in grounded grid configuation, one of my faves.
I've also done a Zen like SE mosfet amp called the Glass Harmony, which uses some of NP's ideas (with some added complexity). It sounded damn good, but was expensive to build - chokes, big trafos, huge heatsinks, etc. The voltage gain was done by a t barred 6SL7.
For every design I field, there are about four designs in the background, never commercialised. I guess this is about the right ratio. Only the very best ideas get to be sold.
I've said it before, but this stuff is not rocket science, and I've managed on little formal electronics education. It's about trying things out, blowing up countless transistors, recognising the tombstones in the silicon graveyard, and slowly learning what does and what does not work. The rest is patient tweaking, and having the bazoomas to have a go. But I guess you know all this, Sandy!
Cheers,
Hugh
Prof,
I have never heard the B1, so I would be doubly reluctant to condemn it.
My general feeling is that the AKSA, like most SS amps, really shines if the preamp is tube based.
Since the AKSA has a gain of 32dB, you can afford to drop a little gain, so a tube cathode follower is most effective, and the basis of my TLP, and then later, the GK1.
BUT, this is a tube circuit, the voltages are high and dangerous, and a special transformer is supplied. I do have some kits available for the TLP.
Cheers,
Hugh
I have never heard the B1, so I would be doubly reluctant to condemn it.
My general feeling is that the AKSA, like most SS amps, really shines if the preamp is tube based.
Since the AKSA has a gain of 32dB, you can afford to drop a little gain, so a tube cathode follower is most effective, and the basis of my TLP, and then later, the GK1.
BUT, this is a tube circuit, the voltages are high and dangerous, and a special transformer is supplied. I do have some kits available for the TLP.
Cheers,
Hugh
Preamp for AKSA 55
"My general feeling is that the AKSA, like most SS amps, really shines if the preamp is tube based."
Hi Hugh
Go wash your mouth out with hot soapy water !
Them's fighting words !
Most of us know of your soft spot for valve designs, and that AKSA 55 was designed to have a similar warmth to a good valve design.
Very many members would strongly disagree with your generalisation that most SS amps really shine if the preamp is tube based.
I heard the >AU$100,000 Ongaku valve amplifier at a Melbourne HI-FI show some years back , and it sounded very nice, with a very good soundstage when fed with a simple clasical diet. Then some wag in the audience slipped a Madonna CD recorded in Q sound into the CD player. It spat the dummy big time ! IMHO, The vast majority of valve designs do not like a lot happening at once, whether preamplifier or amplifier. I revisited a valve preamplifier a few years ago , in an effort to be more impartial with my strong views in another forum. It sounded great with DTV audio, but once again, did not perform nearly as well with complex music from CD.
Not all of us oldies need warm music to go with our hot milk and cookies just before bed time.
All in good fun, my friend !
Kind Regards
Alex
"My general feeling is that the AKSA, like most SS amps, really shines if the preamp is tube based."
Hi Hugh
Go wash your mouth out with hot soapy water !
Them's fighting words !
Most of us know of your soft spot for valve designs, and that AKSA 55 was designed to have a similar warmth to a good valve design.
Very many members would strongly disagree with your generalisation that most SS amps really shine if the preamp is tube based.
I heard the >AU$100,000 Ongaku valve amplifier at a Melbourne HI-FI show some years back , and it sounded very nice, with a very good soundstage when fed with a simple clasical diet. Then some wag in the audience slipped a Madonna CD recorded in Q sound into the CD player. It spat the dummy big time ! IMHO, The vast majority of valve designs do not like a lot happening at once, whether preamplifier or amplifier. I revisited a valve preamplifier a few years ago , in an effort to be more impartial with my strong views in another forum. It sounded great with DTV audio, but once again, did not perform nearly as well with complex music from CD.
Not all of us oldies need warm music to go with our hot milk and cookies just before bed time.
All in good fun, my friend !
Kind Regards
Alex
Ah, Alex, aren't opinions fun? Sure, some are smelly, but they are all different......
Incidentally, valves only intermodulate badly when they are big ones, plate loaded with transformer output stages....... small tubes in CF mode are incredibly high fidelity!
Strangely, my first love is DOHC aero engines from between the wars, particularly the Napier Lion.... my second love is SS.
Hugh
Incidentally, valves only intermodulate badly when they are big ones, plate loaded with transformer output stages....... small tubes in CF mode are incredibly high fidelity!
Strangely, my first love is DOHC aero engines from between the wars, particularly the Napier Lion.... my second love is SS.
Hugh
Hugh,
I remember you telling me that the Aksa would begin to sound muddled on more complex music, which is pretty much what Alex has just said about valve amps. It concerns me because most of the music I listen to is not solo stuff.
On modern cd pop recordings, how well would you say the aksa performs compared with simple vocal or solo recordings?
I remember you telling me that the Aksa would begin to sound muddled on more complex music, which is pretty much what Alex has just said about valve amps. It concerns me because most of the music I listen to is not solo stuff.
On modern cd pop recordings, how well would you say the aksa performs compared with simple vocal or solo recordings?
Professor smith
I have heard the AKSA55 in comparison with a Class A SS, and a fairly similar sounding 100W Class AB SS, in combination with an expensive Krell preamp, as well as a Class A preamp from 'vhfman".
It certainly didn't sound muddled on more complex music. On the day I felt that it didn't have as good a soundstage as the other highly "blueprinted" DIY amps, but it was certainly a good performer. It has to be remembered that Hugh has long since surpassed the SQ of the AKSA 55, which was in it's day, and still is, a very good amplifier. Certainly MUCH better than other DIY designs based around Hugh's implementation.
SandyK
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