Hi my friends, I am 15 year old student from Czech republic interested in tube amplifiers and open baffle speakers. I want to show my actual setup, fully built by myself. DAC: actually I dont have any, this is biggest problem for me now, I play music from PC (I know, bad source of signal) Preamp: 6N6P russian tube, carbon resistors, russian paper in oil coupling cap, power supply with EZ81tube, PIO cap, choke, electrolyte. Power amplifier: triode strapped pentode 4654 tesla, with gold grid, PIO coupling cap, carbon resistors, output transformers from REMA radio. Power supply with AZ1 tube-PIO cap-6H choke-PIO cap-electrolyte caps. I will probably write some schematics soon.
Speakers: open baffle, "box without one side". Midbass (if I can call this midbass) SABA oval greencone, tweeter also greencone. Crossover only 6uF PIO cap.
It sounds really good, especially while playing acoustic guitar, piano, jazz, clear voice and violin... I also did some experiments with DHT triode strapped 4P1L, this tube needs little bigger driving signal - but, there is NO distortion! This tube is even better than 4654s, but is only in sate of experiments... Coming soon...
What do you think about this? It is very important to me, I must know opinions of other people interested in this, because in Czech Republic I know just three people doing SET DHT amplifiers... Thank you very much for attention, I will add some photos.
regards
Michal
Speakers: open baffle, "box without one side". Midbass (if I can call this midbass) SABA oval greencone, tweeter also greencone. Crossover only 6uF PIO cap.
It sounds really good, especially while playing acoustic guitar, piano, jazz, clear voice and violin... I also did some experiments with DHT triode strapped 4P1L, this tube needs little bigger driving signal - but, there is NO distortion! This tube is even better than 4654s, but is only in sate of experiments... Coming soon...
What do you think about this? It is very important to me, I must know opinions of other people interested in this, because in Czech Republic I know just three people doing SET DHT amplifiers... Thank you very much for attention, I will add some photos. An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
regards
Michal
I like it, but the metal top caps scare me a bit. Are they insulated?
Maybe paint the chassis with some hammertone black or hammertone dark gray, it'll go with those caps well for the military equipment sort of look
Those Saba Greencones sure are nice, and they have a very rabid fanbase. I should try a set sometime.
I just realised that I've never heard of the 4654 tube! I had to look it up. Looks like a decent tube for sure though. Uncommon socket, however.
If you like the 4P1L and can deal with the lower output power it is a fine tube. If you need more gain than a 6N6P to drive it try a 6N1P or maybe a 12AT7 type.
Maybe paint the chassis with some hammertone black or hammertone dark gray, it'll go with those caps well for the military equipment sort of look
Those Saba Greencones sure are nice, and they have a very rabid fanbase. I should try a set sometime.
I just realised that I've never heard of the 4654 tube! I had to look it up. Looks like a decent tube for sure though. Uncommon socket, however.
If you like the 4P1L and can deal with the lower output power it is a fine tube. If you need more gain than a 6N6P to drive it try a 6N1P or maybe a 12AT7 type.
These metal caps are insulated, there is small pertinax board insulating the shielding and the caps itself. It was used in old radios, because some tubes have first grid on cap. I think some ceramic caps will be better, because they will dissipate heat much better, but I dont have it.
Yeah, I like hammertone paintings, but I want clear colornof aluminium. If it will be steel, I will paint it. I will have hammertone paint on power tranny case. If you have sockets, I recommend trying 4654 tube! Pmax 18 watts, gold control grid, really good sound. Triode strapped 4654 sounds almost like triode strapped 4p1l... Try it, you worth it. Probably best indirectly heated tube I heard... But on ebay they could be expensive, yeah. In my country they are probably cheap.
Yeah, I like hammertone paintings, but I want clear colornof aluminium. If it will be steel, I will paint it. I will have hammertone paint on power tranny case. If you have sockets, I recommend trying 4654 tube! Pmax 18 watts, gold control grid, really good sound. Triode strapped 4654 sounds almost like triode strapped 4p1l... Try it, you worth it. Probably best indirectly heated tube I heard... But on ebay they could be expensive, yeah. In my country they are probably cheap.
Chapeau! For a 15 year old, this means something.
Please post a schematic of your amp, otherwise no one could say where any faults or potential is located to improve.
In my opinion, PC based music is only third class. I tried to record some youtube music on tape and it was all compressed shitty sounding without real dynamics. My Revox B215 disliked it much. No comparison with my LP records, analog it the clear winner.
The most important equipment in ANY tube adio signal chain is a first rate full function tube preamp. So if you want to get the most out of your signal sources you NEED an excellent preamp with an imput and output transformer. Thats how you should proceed. Try to buy a good, but used LP player from a reputed company like Thorens, Telefunken etc. and then build a good front end full function preamp (with tubes, of course). The result could be pure magic, believe me.
So I have to admit, excellent start on the right lane and road. This will lead you way further as you improve your equipment and skills for building real quality equipment not available on the market today.
Please post a schematic of your amp, otherwise no one could say where any faults or potential is located to improve.
In my opinion, PC based music is only third class. I tried to record some youtube music on tape and it was all compressed shitty sounding without real dynamics. My Revox B215 disliked it much. No comparison with my LP records, analog it the clear winner.
The most important equipment in ANY tube adio signal chain is a first rate full function tube preamp. So if you want to get the most out of your signal sources you NEED an excellent preamp with an imput and output transformer. Thats how you should proceed. Try to buy a good, but used LP player from a reputed company like Thorens, Telefunken etc. and then build a good front end full function preamp (with tubes, of course). The result could be pure magic, believe me.
So I have to admit, excellent start on the right lane and road. This will lead you way further as you improve your equipment and skills for building real quality equipment not available on the market today.
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SABA greencones
Greencones
Obviously someone has advised you or you have duly informed you, my congratulations.
Greencones
Spanish teenagers are stunned with video games, smartphones and have much less initiative than past generations. I guess it is a widespread evil in the first world.
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Nice!!! Congrats kid, keep on it!! vintage fullranges with tubes is a wise choice, it makes magic to happen. 6n6p is a nice tube, here i use it to amplifiy dac chip signal from cd player.
For pc usb dac, a starter cheap one is "ele-01", it has no opamps (so no low-fi culprits), has a chip that gives directly line level signal, just replace the 2 output electrolitic caps for some pios or film caps. flac format music + aimp player and you´re ready
For pc usb dac, a starter cheap one is "ele-01", it has no opamps (so no low-fi culprits), has a chip that gives directly line level signal, just replace the 2 output electrolitic caps for some pios or film caps. flac format music + aimp player and you´re ready
Michal, it looks like you are having fun! I have also built a triode strapped 4654 SET. I used EL3N as driver and interstage transformer. It gave a really clear and detailed sound with a lot of slam. But, I wouldn't like to leave the top caps accessible, so that some kid can poke their finger into it. Therefore, I built a cage:
I also built amplifiers when I was 15, albeit solid state ones. The toughest bit was financing my builds. If you do get some funds, I think that investing in better output transformers would probably be worth while.
Keep on building!
I have also built a triode strapped 4654 SET. I used EL3N as driver and interstage transformer. It gave a really clear and detailed sound with a lot of slam. But, I wouldn't like to leave the top caps accessible, so that some kid can poke their finger into it. Therefore, I built a cage:
I also built amplifiers when I was 15, albeit solid state ones. The toughest bit was financing my builds. If you do get some funds, I think that investing in better output transformers would probably be worth while.
Keep on building!
I remember making some cassette tape recordings from radio live broadcast as a teenager. Later, one of those recordings were released on CD. But my cassette tape totally blew away the CD. The dynamic range was FAR greater, attested to by many friends at the time. So maybe the misleading wasn't with with tape as a source? Just a thought... Maybe many of us were misled by marketing at some time or another.
Big congrats on your setup Michal. As a teenager I wasn't building valve/tube amplifiers, but mostly stripping them out of discarded 1950's console units and hooking them up with open baffle speakers (also salvaged) in my parent's garage. Jamming with my friends sometimes there too. Fond memories...
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Hello, here is complete schematic of my amplifier and crossover. I replaced Saba greencone oval with Telefunken alnico. And I also replaced 16k resistor in power supply with another choke.
LED bias was big improvement... It sounds far better than with resistor and capacitor....
Things I want to try:
1. Hazen grid mod
2. increase silver mica capacitor bypassing main 0.25uF PIO coupling cap
3. Fixed bias on 4654
Schematic:
LED bias was big improvement... It sounds far better than with resistor and capacitor....
Things I want to try:
1. Hazen grid mod
2. increase silver mica capacitor bypassing main 0.25uF PIO coupling cap
3. Fixed bias on 4654
Schematic:
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