Show me your ****(embly), and let me get in your guts baby!

1282931333442

Comments

  • Gaara
    Gaara Posts: 2,415
    edited August 2011
    Inside my BPT BP-2 Signature:

    6055157053_c4304dd9f4_z.jpg
  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 33,786
    edited September 2011
    Two weeks ago from my favorite vintage audio emporium; Kenwood TK-88. Finally got around to testing (and cleaning the controls); works well (and, yeah, those 40-plus year old electrolytics should all be changed...). Good tuner performance, as one would expect from the Kenwood folks; Kenwood/Trio was and (AFAIK) is first and foremost a radio company.

    DSC_1660.jpg
    DSC_1654.jpg
    DSC_1655.jpg
    DSC_1650.jpg
  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 33,786
    edited September 2011
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 7,658
    edited September 2011
    A project I've been working on recently.
  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 33,786
    edited September 2011
    umm... umm... looks like there should be enough clues for me to know what this is... but I am failing. :-(
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 7,658
    edited September 2011
    I'll give you a hint. It would be extremely ironic to find one of these guys at your favorite equipment fishing hole.
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 7,658
    edited September 2011
    The first board checked out fine, even into a reactive load, so I built a second one. Now to see if it works like the first.
  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 33,786
    edited September 2011
    not a Quad Current Dumping Amplifier, is it?
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 7,658
    edited September 2011
    Give that man a ceegar...!
  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 33,786
    edited September 2011
    I finally reacted to the ironic comment in Post 933
    I was thinking real iron, you know, as in Fe and transformers and chokes; but you meant genuine O. Henry-style irony...

    :-)

    EDIT: Those are beautiful boards.
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 7,658
    edited September 2011
    Thanks! I'm more the tortoise than the hare when it comes to building something, I clean and check each component before it gets installed. I hope this will be a good sounding amp, I've blended three different modification philosophies along with a touch or two of mine. Very interesting design, opamp input stage, class A driver and class C current dump, eliminating all the current protection and lowering crossover notch distortion.
  • dorokusai
    dorokusai Posts: 25,577
    edited September 2011
    Hey those parts look familiar...hmmm. Ken is rebuilding and hotrodding my vintage Quad amp Mark and doing quite a fine job I must say.
    CTC BBQ Amplifier, Sonic Frontiers Line3 Pre-Amplifier and Wadia 581 SACD player. Speakers? Always changing but for now, Mission Argonauts I picked up for $50 bucks, mint.
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 7,658
    edited September 2011
    Mark I and Mark II,
    I lucked into a swell find on CL, an HP3400A true RMS meter, HP334A distortion meter and B&K4017 sweep generator. Now once I get familiar with using these I can see how this amp measures. I left one of the channels stock until I was sure the modified one worked. That one only showed a small, level of ringing powering 8 ohms in parallel with 1uF cap. I then removed the last of the current limiting protective circuitry and started on the second channel. I finished it this morning and need to connect both channels to the power supply with the two 22,000uF caps.
    Audiophile disclaimer: I, the undersigned, fully realize that how an audio component measures bears little on how the component sounds. Meters don't have ears, rabbits don't smoke in Indianapolis and numbers should be crunched not heard.
  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 33,786
    edited September 2011
    Yeah, but if one can measure it, one might as well.
    I actually happen to have an HP RMS voltmeter; dunno the model number, but you can guess from whence it came :-)
  • TNHNDYMAN
    TNHNDYMAN Posts: 2,145
    edited September 2011
    Here's a couple from inside the 1964 Fisher Philharmonic console I picked up. Having trouble removing the 6AQ8 tube from position V1 (has the open metal shield around it)- any suggestions? The metal cover around V6 came off without too much trouble and was able to access tube underneath, but this one is spot welded? to the chassis (the round shield) and I'm afraid to break the tube by rocking very hard on the pointed tip. TIA
    Travis
    2-ch System: Parasound P/LD 2000 pre, Parasound HCA-1000 amp, Parasound T/DQ Tuner, Phase Technology PC-100 Tower speakers, Technics SL-1600 Turntable, Denon 2910 SACD/CD player, Peachtree DAC iT and X1asynchorus USB converter, HSU VTF-3 subwoofer.

  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 33,786
    edited September 2011
    Fingertips and gentle wiggling (vis-a-vis removing the 6AQ8).
    The pins may bend; if you don't have a pin straightner - well - tell your loved ones that they make great stocking stuffers!

    EDIT: Looks like the shield is riveted in place; it is essential for the tube to be shielded; it's the heart of the RF "front end" of the tuner - probably the RF amplifier, and oscillator and mixer, all in one.
  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 33,786
    edited September 2011
    holy schnizzle, this thread is over six and a half years old!

    This is my daily driver; a stereo SE 2A3 power amp based on the JE Labs/Angela "Simple 2A3" amp, ever so slightly modified to allow more flexibility in choice of driver (voltage amplifier) tubes. Right now it is using 6SN7s (although the first photo below shows 6EM7s). The outputs are rather show-off-y looking Sophia mesh plate "2A3" - actually more like 300B with 2.5V filaments as I understand it. They sound pretty good, and they look cool in an outrageous, "more is more" kind of way :-)

    The amp was not built by me but rather by an AKer of some repute. It is a fine sounding amplifier.

    newamp.jpg
    DSC_0317-1.jpg
    newampdark.jpg
    mrhrack061111.jpg

    There really is some slight differential in the brightness of the filaments of the two tubes. I don't know why is that :-P The effect is enhanced by the long exposure.

    meshplate2A3.jpg
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 7,658
    edited September 2011
    Very nice, indeed!
  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 33,786
    edited September 2011
    Thank you sir. Truth be told... I should've built my own... I am fearless when it comes to the wiring, nuts and bolts, but it's just not pretty when I do wood or metal work :-( This one became available for a good price, with decent James output iron and very good quality passives and other hardware - I couldn't resist. I could never build one as nice looking left to my own devices...
  • engtaz
    engtaz Posts: 7,663
    edited September 2011
    I love the reel to reel rack.
    engtaz

    I love how music can brighten up a bad day.
  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 33,786
    edited September 2011
    I am a sucker for R2Rs; I should use them more than I do, though.
    They're just enough work to spool up and run that I am usually too lazy to do it.
  • TNHNDYMAN
    TNHNDYMAN Posts: 2,145
    edited September 2011
    Thank you for the info Mr. H-

    Picked up another old tube console today. Not even sure what brand it is, but does have a clean Garrard turntable slide out job in it.
    2-ch System: Parasound P/LD 2000 pre, Parasound HCA-1000 amp, Parasound T/DQ Tuner, Phase Technology PC-100 Tower speakers, Technics SL-1600 Turntable, Denon 2910 SACD/CD player, Peachtree DAC iT and X1asynchorus USB converter, HSU VTF-3 subwoofer.

  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 7,658
    edited September 2011
    We should start a thread where the topic is, "today is 'fire up your reel-to-reel/cassette' day!" Or, "today is listen to some George Harrison day!"
  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 33,786
    edited September 2011
    or just 'let's look at the innards of some old tape decks' day :-)

    Here's one - harman kardon cd391 (not the three-head cd491, unfortunately). From my favorite emporium; given away a while back. Took some candid photos before shipping it out...

    DSC_0176.jpg
    DSC_0182.jpg
    DSC_0180.jpg
    DSC_0177.jpg
    DSC_0172.jpg
  • headrott
    headrott Posts: 5,496
    edited September 2011
    We should start a thread where the topic is, "today is 'fire up your reel-to-reel/cassette' day!" Or, "today is listen to some George Harrison day!"

    I like both those ideas Ken!:biggrin: I'll fire up my X-2000R and play some YES-Tales From Topographic Oceans, and the play All Things Must Pass on R2R.:biggrin: What about other people?

    Greg
    Relayer-Big-O-Poster.jpg
    Taken from a recent Audioholics reply regarding "Club Polk" and Polk speakers:
    "I'm yet to hear a Polk speaker that merits more than a sentence and 60 seconds discussion." :\
    My response is: If you need 60 seconds to respond in one sentence, you probably should't be evaluating Polk speakers.....


    "Green leaves reveal the heart spoken Khatru"- Jon Anderson

    "Have A Little Faith! And Everything You'll Face, Will Jump From Out Right On Into Place! Yeah! Take A Little Time! And Everything You'll Find, Will Move From Gloom Right On Into Shine!"- Arthur Lee
  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 33,786
    edited October 2011
    Rainy day in Bahsten today; good day for hifi. I don't think I've listened to any R2R tapes upstairs in the living room since the Altec Duplexes went on line (just about a year ago); today's a good day for it. Have to see what I have in the way of software. No George Harrison fo' sho'; maybe some Beatles, though.
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 7,658
    edited October 2011
    Hello,
    This isn't, strictly speaking, an audio component, but it can be used to test them. Cleaning up a new (to me) HP 334A distortion analyzer. Beautiful construction, everything neat and in individual sub-compartments.
    Enjoy, Ken
  • leftwinger57
    leftwinger57 Posts: 2,917
    edited October 2011
    that is one beautifully clean machines I've seen here . Both inards and out are vey nice.
    2chl- Adcom GFA- 555-Onkyo P-3150v pre/amp- JVC-QL-A200 tt- Denon 1940 ci cdp- Adcom GFS-6 -Modded '87 SDA 2Bs - Dynamat Ext.- BH-5- X-Overs VR-3, RDO-194 tweeters, Larry's Rings, Speakon/Neutrik I/C- Cherry stain tops Advent Maestros,Ohm model E

    H/T- Toshiba au40" flat- Yamaha RX- V665 avr- YSD-11 Dock- I-Pod- Klipsch #400HD Speaker set-

    Bdrm- Nikko 6065 receiver- JBL -G-200s--Pioneer 305 headphones--Sony CE375-5 disc
  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 33,786
    edited October 2011
    The vintage HP and Tektronix test and calibration equipment was beautifully made. I don't, unfortunately, have a photo of the guts of this old girl handy... but you can find 'em on the web and it's worth a peek.

    545A.jpg
  • Joe08867
    Joe08867 Posts: 3,919
    edited October 2011
    I have not opened mine but here is what the inside of my Exposure 3010S2 looks like.

    Exposure-3010S2-inside.jpg