• 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.

Point to point wiring

So your saying you want to build your new unit with "classic" point to point wiring, be careful what you wish for....
Harmon Kardon TA-7000A receiver...









-----------------------------------------------------------------------------Rick....
 

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You have to use silver solder, or it will destroy them.

Suposedly the old Tektronik gear shipped with a small reel of solder, just for that reason. Some quite interesting history here:

Tektronix ceramic-strips

Special silver-bearing solder is used to solder wires and components directly to the notches in ceramic strips and has a composition of 60% tin, 37% lead, 3% silver. This silver-bearing solder should be used when soldering or repairing ceramic strips which prevents the silver bonded to the ceramic from dissolving in the molten solder. Failure to use the correct silver-bearing solder on Tektronix ceramic strips can result in failure of the silver to ceramic bond.

Many of the modern lead-free solders contain around 3-4% silver, so presumably the leeching of the solder from the ceramic should no longer be a problem?
 
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Well, there's point to point wiring and point to point wiring...It has nothing to do with the method itself, but with the execution.
Btw, forget those TEK ceramic strips. They weren't made for twist and solder joints. And thats the problem, soundwise.
But it could be kind of an art, though.
 

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We share the same Bonanza style, Xenofonn. I call it art (if it is performing well and no changes are needed). When you are dealing with small signals the components optimally need to be mounted stiff and with the least capacitive coupling. I always wonder what happens when wires are tied together in a bunch.
 
Art arises in a collaboration with a precise construction and a sense for aesthetics.
"Bonanza style" just means a modest understanding of art to me. That style will never give good measurements, because so many wires have to be established before one has thought about where and why to do it. Its all a chaotic process of learning by doing without further planing is finished.
 
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I feel the opposite. Much more stray capacitance in the turret version and much longer wire runs all bunched together making for capacitive coupling in certain cases.. But it looks neat though. We all have our interpretations.

For the record, I like street art better than "fine" art, too :D

Xenofonn's build reminds me of some of my earlier work. Practice makes perfect. Your next build will look neater.
 
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Yes, art is highly subjective. And taste, too.
There is a special taste, for everyone. And everyone should love what he feels for is "art".
I love the german way of doing things, altough one could spot here, in a measurement unit, cabletrees as well. Doesn't seem relevant neither then important. Just being done for the sake of having a cleaned unit.
 

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Good afternoon from Greece. Thank you very much for the comments you made about my construction. Here in Greece it is very difficult to find the right materials to make an amplifier with tubes. I live in a border area on an island that is very close to Turkey. The shops in Athens mainly do not send materials, and I buy them all from abroad, mainly from ebay. I saw this way of construction on old radios with tubes, mainly in the high and medium frequency section. The amplifier works very well, for four years without problems, it has no buzz at all, and it sounds very good. Drives low sensitivity speakers, no problem at all. From the first moment it worked properly, I used the 6550 first, but it plays very well with the KT88, but also the KT120 tubes
 
Yes, art is highly subjective. And taste, too.
There is a special taste, for everyone. And everyone should love what he feels for is "art".
I love the german way of doing things, altough one could spot here, in a measurement unit, cabletrees as well. Doesn't seem relevant neither then important. Just being done for the sake of having a cleaned unit.

Yes, that's a nicely laid out and build piece of kit.

I tend to prefer German, too. I've owned 10 German cars... 7 older VW's and 3 BMW's... Very well built cars for the most part. I don't see myself driving anything else really, and now with my E90, it's the last inline 6 non turbo with a 6 speed gearbox that I'll ever have, so I plan to keep it going for a while.