Hi Victor,
I have installed the opts in the TU-8800 and listened to them couple days. Assemble is quite straight forward and I put a thin layer of sorbothane between their bottom and the rack.
It's a huge improvement from the stock opts, like day and night. The stocks ones sound good but kind of muddy & a bit slow; the new ones really improve the clarity, smoothness and response. Overall, they are a must upgrade for this amp. I attached some photos for you.
I have tried a few different tube combinations, so far I like the combination of 5932 and ECC801S the most.
Btw, how is Vancouver, Toronto is essentially stopped and nearly everyone stay home. Hope you and family healthy and safe.
Eryn
I have installed the opts in the TU-8800 and listened to them couple days. Assemble is quite straight forward and I put a thin layer of sorbothane between their bottom and the rack.
It's a huge improvement from the stock opts, like day and night. The stocks ones sound good but kind of muddy & a bit slow; the new ones really improve the clarity, smoothness and response. Overall, they are a must upgrade for this amp. I attached some photos for you.
I have tried a few different tube combinations, so far I like the combination of 5932 and ECC801S the most.
Btw, how is Vancouver, Toronto is essentially stopped and nearly everyone stay home. Hope you and family healthy and safe.
Eryn
Feed back from Stephen
Just had some critical listening over Saturday and a quick report. Definitely improvement in every aspect. Most important is much better microdetails, leading to improved sound stage. Tone is good. Initially I worried about being to "Hifi", which turns out not the case. Many DIYer would not think the upgrade is cheap but transformers are expensive to manufacter. If people are willing to pay 100 for a cap, then the transformer is not expensive.
Just had some critical listening over Saturday and a quick report. Definitely improvement in every aspect. Most important is much better microdetails, leading to improved sound stage. Tone is good. Initially I worried about being to "Hifi", which turns out not the case. Many DIYer would not think the upgrade is cheap but transformers are expensive to manufacter. If people are willing to pay 100 for a cap, then the transformer is not expensive.
Tu-8600 build
The last kit that I built was at age 13, and it was a low power Heathkit mono amplifier. Ever since I had wanted to repeat the experience, and at age 43, I decided to do it.
In the last two years, I had become interested in "Hi-fi." It started when my 11 year old son said to me, "Dad, why don't you like music?"
"But I like music!" I remarked. And then, to myself, lamented "who have I become..."
To rectify the problem went out and purchased an Outlaw Audio solid state amp, a pair of KEF LS50 speakers, and later a turntable and pre-amp. This of course started a new hobby, a new interest.
For a year I considered the Tu-8600... and then pulled the trigger, thus linking my long time interest in a repeated electronic build and renewed interest in music.
What a great choice of a kit. The build quality is unassailable. I took my time, moved my way through the exceptionally clear instructions, double checking along the way. It was a great diversion, fantastically fun to build.
My son and I excitedly moved through final assembly. We lugged the completed amp from the basement to my office upstairs, connected it to the LS50s, and then plugged it into the wall. The three central tubes sparked to life ... and then... NOTHING! Rather than a disappointment, this was just another step in the journey... I really had not expected it to work the first time out. The drama of the whole thing was really fantastic!
I sent a note to Victor from VK Audio, who had guided me though the purchase, including the upgraded capacitors, transformers, etc. He called me immediately, and guided me through the troubleshooting process. For the next 14 hours I assembled, reassembled, adjusted, and checked voltages. Finally, with Victor's guidance, I discovered that I had mistakenly interchanged the same pair of resistors on both channels.
My son and I re-assembled for the unit for third time and took it again to my study. Drama again! We looked at each other and flipped the power switch. The three central tubes sparked to life again, and then after seconds that seem like hours, the big 300Bs came to life. My son adjusted the volume, and his eyes light up (as do mine) as music flows through the room. What a great experience!
Now, I'm new to audio, so I can't say whether the amp is better than this or that, has better imaging than this or that, is more dynamic than this or that. I can say however, that within seconds, I knew the Tu-8600 was truly and remarkably fabulous! The reproduction of vocals is nothing short or miraculous. What an experience, what a product.
Thanks much Victor!
The last kit that I built was at age 13, and it was a low power Heathkit mono amplifier. Ever since I had wanted to repeat the experience, and at age 43, I decided to do it.
In the last two years, I had become interested in "Hi-fi." It started when my 11 year old son said to me, "Dad, why don't you like music?"
"But I like music!" I remarked. And then, to myself, lamented "who have I become..."
To rectify the problem went out and purchased an Outlaw Audio solid state amp, a pair of KEF LS50 speakers, and later a turntable and pre-amp. This of course started a new hobby, a new interest.
For a year I considered the Tu-8600... and then pulled the trigger, thus linking my long time interest in a repeated electronic build and renewed interest in music.
What a great choice of a kit. The build quality is unassailable. I took my time, moved my way through the exceptionally clear instructions, double checking along the way. It was a great diversion, fantastically fun to build.
My son and I excitedly moved through final assembly. We lugged the completed amp from the basement to my office upstairs, connected it to the LS50s, and then plugged it into the wall. The three central tubes sparked to life ... and then... NOTHING! Rather than a disappointment, this was just another step in the journey... I really had not expected it to work the first time out. The drama of the whole thing was really fantastic!
I sent a note to Victor from VK Audio, who had guided me though the purchase, including the upgraded capacitors, transformers, etc. He called me immediately, and guided me through the troubleshooting process. For the next 14 hours I assembled, reassembled, adjusted, and checked voltages. Finally, with Victor's guidance, I discovered that I had mistakenly interchanged the same pair of resistors on both channels.
My son and I re-assembled for the unit for third time and took it again to my study. Drama again! We looked at each other and flipped the power switch. The three central tubes sparked to life again, and then after seconds that seem like hours, the big 300Bs came to life. My son adjusted the volume, and his eyes light up (as do mine) as music flows through the room. What a great experience!
Now, I'm new to audio, so I can't say whether the amp is better than this or that, has better imaging than this or that, is more dynamic than this or that. I can say however, that within seconds, I knew the Tu-8600 was truly and remarkably fabulous! The reproduction of vocals is nothing short or miraculous. What an experience, what a product.
Thanks much Victor!
I just put they together, I can immediately notice the improvements from the new OPTs. Everything is much much better now. If I rate the original tu-8800 as 1, I would rate tu-8800+Lundahl as 100. The transparency, dynamic, and details hugely increased. The highs are also smooth and crisp. The sound is very neutral now, unlike original—kind of warm and a bit muddy, and the highs were unstable and clean. Now I am using it with my Focal Utopia (headphones) to compete against my BHSE+009s, I think it wins a lot of aspects and won’t lose anything else. I am also looking for the incoming TU-8600S + newly developed OPTs now, lol.
Thank you very much for your help and service! The products are just amazing, they are not that hard to build, just need to be patient. I have no knowledge of electronics, but the guide just states everything clear. And of course, your help is much appreciated too!
Sincerely,
ZY
Thank you very much for your help and service! The products are just amazing, they are not that hard to build, just need to be patient. I have no knowledge of electronics, but the guide just states everything clear. And of course, your help is much appreciated too!
Sincerely,
ZY
You've come to the right place. Just PM vkung, who posted immediately after you, about what you want parts-wise. Victor is the importer/distributor of Elekit and has several options available and can help you out.
I am in the middle of assembling a TU-8800 equipped with Lundahl transformers, TKD volume pot and Takman resistors. Does anyone know if there would be any issues substituting .33uf PIO capacitors in locations C106 & C206 instead of the .1uf value specified? I'm aware if a coupling cap value is too low there could be low frequency roll off, and using too large a value might cause oscillations depending on the circuit impedance.
Not sure how many 'design' folks hang out on these Elekit threads, but if you go to the Tube Audio section Tube Audio | Audiokarma Home Audio Stereo Discussion Forums of the AK forums and ask your question there are a dozen tube design folks hanging out that can answer your question. Likely the same here at DIY, but I do not know where to send outside of the Elekit section.
Thanks for the direction. Would posting a schematic of this amp on the forum to assist getting this question answered be considered copyright infringement?
No worries vkung, and thanks for letting me know. I found there was not enough real estate to mount that cap anyway, so the Mundorf will suffice.
Well, after about five minutes of glorious sounding music through my Spendor LS3/5A, all went silent except for very low level with heavy distortion. Almost all test points are within spec except output tube plates which measure 64 volts (TP25 & 26), and input tube plates that are also down in voltage to the same percentage. Pulled all tubes out and the output tube plates then went to 445 volts. I removed the board and tested all diode and semiconductor junctions throughout the B ripple filter section and found nothing. I am using Brimar 6060 on the input and NOS Tungsol 6550 tubes, which all test good.
I wasn't running the amp into clipping, but with the inefficient Spendor, it might have been getting close.
I will put it back together tomorrow with another set of tubes to see if anything improves. Any insight as to what could have gone wrong?