• 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.

300B SET Amp recommendation

I've been building 300B circuits for the last few years. My favorite are the Western Electric 91A (Sound Practices version) and Fi Primer 300B.


Currently on the breadboard is a WE91A that's closer to the original, using only the second 310A (or 6C6) stage and not incorporating the feedback, except for the 1uF bootstrap filter on the output stage. I like it best so far, I think.


One nice thing about the Fi Primer circuit is that it has enough gain (about 0.25V input sensitivity) that you don't need a line preamp. Just put a volume pot after the input jacks and plug in a source.
 

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Speakers are single unit Alpair 10M, gen. 1. Listed as 7.2 ohms. The LL1682 is 5K into 5 ohms, so a bit more into 7.2 ohms even. With these units the LL1682/50mA certainly sounded better than the LL1664/70mA. No contest. The 50mA rating would mean higher induction as well, so this would be a factor.

Markaudio Alpair-10 Gold 6" Full Range Gen 2


andyjevans,

These speakers have been serving you well it seems - if you're interested, specs and a review for Alpair 10 gen 1 drivers can be found on this thread:

https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/ful...alpair-10-german-test-review.html#post1806982
 
I think you have to add 210 ohm static primary resistance to that.
Anyway, what I said is true, even if the differences in the low frequency response are not big.
And the high cut frequency also depends on the load.

I did not consider the static resistance at low frequency because if you want consider it then it is part of the load. So it's impact is really small.

The cut at high frequency depends on the leakage inductance and the resonant behaviour.
The resonance behaviour itself depends on source impedance + series resistance + capacitance + leakage inductance with a resistive load. Unless the resonance of the transformer is in the audio band I cannot see where is the problem. In that case one might want to change the transformer. which would be the weak link...the LL1682 has better high frequency response than the bigger brothers. Sad to say but that is.

With an inductive load it changes but again little consequence because if such inductive load is high it also means that the FR of the speaker is a rising one compensating for the decreasing power....unless you have a capacitive load which I have never seen with a fullrange or a normal tweeter it will be fine in 99% of cases, so to speak.
 
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Thanks for all the great ideas. The TubeLab TSE II looks particularly interesting since it looks fairly easy to build as a first tube amp project.

Attached is the impedance curve for the speakers I plan to use this with.
 

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I'm planning to use a balanced connection, so will either need a balanced input or can add a coupling transformer.

I'm willing to consider a kit if the parts quality is high, but I'm comfortable building from scratch.

I spent some time searching this subject but the threads I found with recommendations were pretty old with mostly broken links. So I'm looking for recommendations on where to start.

Thanks,
Jay

Ideas...DG300B – Neurochrome

And there is a diyaudio thread as well...DeathTrap400™ : : A Pretty Damn Good 300B Amp

Best,
Anand.
 
Hello forum,

this is my first post and I´ve got the same question, like the starter.

I don`t want to highjack this thread and if necessary I´ll open a new one.

In past two decades I´ve been building a few amps and preamps. First one was the Hagtech Cornet, last one was an Aleph J.
The Aleph is actually running into W8-1772 Tang Band FR speakers with 95db.
The music I´m listenting to is mainly Jazz, 6ts, Indie and Pop.

I´m looking for a 300b SE schematic that will produce results that are on par with the Aleph J or perferably better with good bass response.

The Aleph should not be replaced but supplemented. Budget is around 2k max. Less would be better.

What would you recommend? Done some research and looked at some D3A schematics like the ones of Triode Dick. Would that be an an option?

And where would you buy the tranny set? Am located in Europe and would like to source from here.

Many thanks and all the best

Rene
 
I built a parafeed version of the WE 91 300B amp that Joe Roberts published in Sound Practices back in 1992. This version was created by Paul Joppa, who works at Bottlehead. The total cost fits what you asked for in your first post. You'll need a bit of leg work to track down the transformers (original iron was all MagneQuest stuff from Mike), but that's half of the fun!

Schematics for the design are about half way down this thread.
 

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The low frequency impedance curve looks too good to be true; is this a complete measurement??

My new speakers are a two-way line source design that uses planar drivers. The midrange driver rolls off at around 180Hz, so a single pole filter is used in front of the amp at approximately the same frequency. The lower few octaves are handled by a separate powered servo subwoofer (one per channel).

Tom's Neurochrome DG300B amp likes great, but I didn't think these PCBs were available any longer. I've used a few of Tom's other designs.
 
I built a parafeed version of the WE 91 300B amp that Joe Roberts published in Sound Practices back in 1992. This version was created by Paul Joppa, who works at Bottlehead. The total cost fits what you asked for in your first post. You'll need a bit of leg work to track down the transformers (original iron was all MagneQuest stuff from Mike), but that's half of the fun!

Schematics for the design are about half way down this thread.

Eric,

Excellent work! How are you liking them?