+1 on the Anteks.
When I started in this hobby I only knew of Hammond, so that's what I used for a few amps. They all put out way higher voltage than specification. I therefore quit using Hammonds and went for Edcor. Edcor also offer better price/(Volt-Ampere) than Hammond, at least that was true at the time.
Since switching to Edcor I have been burned severely. In two out of maybe a dozed purchases from Edcor, I have received PTs that did not put out the specified voltage. In one instance it was 1/2, in the other it was maybe 15% low. It appears that they do not test the PTs before shipping. Who does that? To their defense, when pointed out to them, they respond very quickly and will have a replacement to you within days (assuming US address). In one instance more than a year had past since purchase so I didn't even contact them. They may have helped even though the transformer was out of warranty. I'll never know.
For the last couple of years I've switched to Antek with 100% success rate so far. Even better price/VA than Edcor. I'll stick with Antek for PTs for the foreseeable future. There are covers you can buy from ebay to hide the ugly toroidals.
As always YMMV.
When I started in this hobby I only knew of Hammond, so that's what I used for a few amps. They all put out way higher voltage than specification. I therefore quit using Hammonds and went for Edcor. Edcor also offer better price/(Volt-Ampere) than Hammond, at least that was true at the time.
Since switching to Edcor I have been burned severely. In two out of maybe a dozed purchases from Edcor, I have received PTs that did not put out the specified voltage. In one instance it was 1/2, in the other it was maybe 15% low. It appears that they do not test the PTs before shipping. Who does that? To their defense, when pointed out to them, they respond very quickly and will have a replacement to you within days (assuming US address). In one instance more than a year had past since purchase so I didn't even contact them. They may have helped even though the transformer was out of warranty. I'll never know.
For the last couple of years I've switched to Antek with 100% success rate so far. Even better price/VA than Edcor. I'll stick with Antek for PTs for the foreseeable future. There are covers you can buy from ebay to hide the ugly toroidals.
As always YMMV.
I found an old product list from Hammond - the 300 series power transformers are more conservatively rated in that list, e.g. a transformer now rated at 230mA were then rated at 200mA.
@pblix Thanks for the information on the Edcor's, recently had an email exchange with someone who stopped winding transformers and he was not impressed and warned me on their quality / reliability.
Hmmmm... since these transformers may be sitting on a shelf for some time to come I do not want to discover in 6 ~ 9 months that the transformer is not up to specification. (We are moving house in the near future and getting the new house in order takes priority.)
Time has come to bite the bullet and ask Gery (Transcendar) for the cost of one to my liking. Previous one he made is a real nice one. (tube behind the transformer is an Amperite delay tube shorting out the NTC resistors after the unit has warmed up). I went for a 1950's look.
@pblix Thanks for the information on the Edcor's, recently had an email exchange with someone who stopped winding transformers and he was not impressed and warned me on their quality / reliability.
Hmmmm... since these transformers may be sitting on a shelf for some time to come I do not want to discover in 6 ~ 9 months that the transformer is not up to specification. (We are moving house in the near future and getting the new house in order takes priority.)
Time has come to bite the bullet and ask Gery (Transcendar) for the cost of one to my liking. Previous one he made is a real nice one. (tube behind the transformer is an Amperite delay tube shorting out the NTC resistors after the unit has warmed up). I went for a 1950's look.
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Last year I was able to visit the Hammond factory in Waterloo, Ontario. I left with a very positive impression of their desire to design and produce a quality product.
I suspect some people are unaware that some of the lower end / lower priced units hail from a history in guitar amps where demands are different whereas their higher end stuff is for hi-fi and is made to a different set of compromises (e.g. weight).
I suspect some people are unaware that some of the lower end / lower priced units hail from a history in guitar amps where demands are different whereas their higher end stuff is for hi-fi and is made to a different set of compromises (e.g. weight).
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I can detect a bit of sarcasms there!?
I have an account with mouser and orders over $60.- ship for free.......and that includes heavy transformers.
All Hammond on these monos!
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Based on my almost 20 years of experience of using Hammond for power generation in DIY audio, I could not say there is a better alternative. They buzz when everything else buzzes and the do not when the design is done right For temperature, please check the power ratings standards Hammond employs - it is well aligned. Hammond selection of power transformers is comprehensive and is actually useful for DIY. Customer support is above all expectations - I always had superb technical advise given to me on my requests (Electra-Print is on the opposite end of the range on this subject matter).
Signal transformers story in my experience has more nuances. Small signal transformers are of very good performance and are priced nicely. Output transformers is the only area where I would opt for an alternative option if that exists and I could afford it. There should be actually no difference in the audio quality of OT as they still use the same equipment for making them but maybe the process control drifted - just a speculation if that is indeed a fact that old ones were better.
But EDCOR OT is clearly not one of those alternative options. Maybe it is something which created too strong of a bias but my listening test of first EDCOR SE OT produced such a bad impression that I have not tried anything from them for ten years or so.
Re: China, my only observation is the Chinese made power devices from Hammond are much better looking ones Performance and reliability-wise, I experienced zero difference.
My experience with Hammond is maybe 60-70 power devices - chokes and transformers, three types of input transformers, two OT from 16xx series and one PP transformer.
What Hammond does not have, unfortunately, is phase splitter for PP and line driver output transformers.
For temperature, please check the power ratings standards Hammond employs - it is well aligned. Hammond selection of power transformers is comprehensive and is actually useful for DIY. Customer support is above all expectations - I always had superb technical advise given to me on my requests (Electra-Print is on the opposite end of the range on this subject matter).Signal transformers story in my experience has more nuances. Small signal transformers are of very good performance and are priced nicely. Output transformers is the only area where I would opt for an alternative option if that exists and I could afford it. There should be actually no difference in the audio quality of OT as they still use the same equipment for making them
but maybe the process control drifted - just a speculation if that is indeed a fact that old ones were better. But EDCOR OT is clearly not one of those alternative options. Maybe it is something which created too strong of a bias but my listening test of first EDCOR SE OT produced such a bad impression that I have not tried anything from them for ten years or so.
Re: China, my only observation is the Chinese made power devices from Hammond are much better looking ones
Performance and reliability-wise, I experienced zero difference. My experience with Hammond is maybe 60-70 power devices - chokes and transformers, three types of input transformers, two OT from 16xx series and one PP transformer.
What Hammond does not have, unfortunately, is phase splitter for PP and line driver output transformers.
Most recently a Hammond 167P36, 180 VA, 36 C.T., 5 amp buzzing audibly across the room powering a Peter Daniels chipamp at idle. Milliamp load? An old Plitron pull is dead quiet in the same service. The swap entailed replacing the chassis. Also forgot about the >100VA PT filling a living room with smoke servicing a tube rectified Mullard 3-3 flea powered EL84 SE. And of course the 1628 issues, hardly low end, that tanked another project.
That's three projects binned due to 'issues'. No desire to spin that wheel again. A low end James OPT is doing brilliant service on a 6LU8 SE on the bench. Your mileage may vary.
That's three projects binned due to 'issues'. No desire to spin that wheel again. A low end James OPT is doing brilliant service on a 6LU8 SE on the bench. Your mileage may vary.
There 56 ethnic groups in China, I don't think anybody here could say for sure which one makes up the majority in the Hammond factory. I don't think any of us here know any of these workers personally. Your comment doesn't really make any sense, but I bet it would make your old chief human resources officer really happy.
We are relating real experiences that there has been a dip in quality between the parts made in Canada and the parts made in China. That could certainly change as the bugs get worked out in the Chinese factory. I have held one Canadian Hammond choke in one hand and one Chinese Hammond choke in the other with the same part number and related the real differences I found here on this thread. I would hate to think that a supervisor of 400 people would be able to ignore visible differences in parts because they find it morally convenient to do so.
It is interesting to note that nobody every cried racism when folks were critical of Hammond parts in the past when they were made in Canada.
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I believe the best Hammond OPT you had was on your SV811-10 and it had a winding flaw, replaced with new by Hammond who were keen to take the bad ones out of circulation. Perhaps that new one will prove better.
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I’ve only had the chance to compare two low cost OPT’s on a 6p15p and they were certainly similar sounding - but the Hammond had the edge, SUBJECTIVELY at both ends of the freq. range but the Edcor was quite good enough and I used it over the Hammond because it came all painted blue with end covers whereas the Hammond was an ugly barsteward due to no end covers.
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Excellent post! I truly wish the policor, cancel culture and oversensitivity on specific human details (very often by persons that do NOT belong to the group in question) would be killed with fire. It really makes the world a less fun place and only leads to more problems between groups.
Problem is that by now this way of thinking is already being taught at schools and universities as absolute truth ......
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I believe the best Hammond OPT you had was on your SV811-10 and it had a winding flaw, replaced with new by Hammond who were keen to take the bad ones out of circulation. Perhaps that new one will prove better.
That is an excellent example of how well they stand behind their products. There was also a free as well replacement of 714A plate transformer which started humming after, what was that, 12 years?
Objectively speaking, the best SE one would be the 1626SEA, I guess. It is still alive after the next gen amplifier came to life which never happened before
But do you recall they said they 'measure' their products, not 'listen' to them? That is maybe the reason the power products go so well with me - all things that one need for making power iron could be measured. Not the case for signal iron as we all painfully know...
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Here's an interesting comparison between Edcor and Hammond. Also of interest is the difference between 6L6GC and EL34 tubes although without knowing which, if any, were NOS or new issue, and if new issue which brands, the comparison isn't valid.
50 watt monoblock amplifier.
50 watt monoblock amplifier.
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