livewire

Nope. I would not build the BH if I had to deal with that. I have some CCS that Nattonrice made. See posts #9 and #11.

Before anyone asks - those are pain killers on the left, vitamins on the right. Below is a pic of the rough layout. The boards will have a gap between them, the left amp pcb shifted back so the overall tube footprint forms a rectangle. The psu pcb will be stood off higher than the amp boards with about a half inch of overlap above the amp boards. Still waiting on the heatsink delivery. The new soldering station showed up on the doorstep yesterday along with a lighted gooseneck magnifying glass. Started stuffing boards with resistors last night. Now it's time to find the ideal soldering temp, then go to town with Mr Kester.

I agree, not a pretty sight. The chassis made it across the pond ok though. Good thing they double boxed it with an inch of hard foam around the inner box.

Just received this innocuous lump from Hong Kong. Wonder what's inside?

The seller quoted 2.5 inches top to bottom on the outside. Inside? - dont know, have not received the enclosure yet. My toroids should fit, barely. Thanks for the tips Birgir. The trafos are way over-spec. For standoffs, I plan on using nylon tubes. Will be using alumina oxide ceramic pads on all heatsinks. Learned that lesson well on the KGSSHV, it was blowing through them Thermasil pansy-assed pads like a torch through paper.

Hi Frank! Thanks, originally I was thinking about doing something similar to the outline of the Sennheiser Orpheus amp. I dont have any decent woodworking tools or access to a machine shop, although I am competent at doing both, including bending pipe. Just have my handy Milwaukee battery drill, it should suffice for this build. I have admired your various masterpieces posted here and elsewhere. You have quite a talent for the "Art Decco Look". Gotta love them blue mercury toobz. Maybe try some Steampunk next? As far as the EL156 variant goes, you got me there. Me thinks the homework is more than I could handle.

I'll be mounting them like you did on your BH.

Sorry to hear of his passing. Godspeed Matt.

Luck? Thanks, I'll need it. Wanting this one to go seamlessly..... must keep my klutzy tendencies at bay. The amp & psu boards are 2004 JW design with the comp caps added. I believe these have worked well in recent builds. Since you have been down this road a lot longer than I have, I'm all ears to any wisdom you can impart!

PM sent.

Since I discovered electrostatic headphones two years ago, I have been wanting to build a Blue Hawaii. Thanks to the generosity of Head-Casers Nattonrice and Wink, I've got my chance. They supplied the board sets FOR FREE! I am so stoked, I cant thank you guys enough. For whatever reason, I enjoy doing quirky builds. Aesthetics have never been my thing. (prolly because I'm a cheap bastard) I like to instill some sentimental value in my creations along the way. This KGBH isnt going to win any "best of show" awards. It will fulfill three of my objectives: 1) Be totally encased / covered. My listening space, the living room is also shared by two rowdy teenagers who have come close to decimating my other exposed tube amps in the past. 2) Show off the inner workings - pcbs, components and tubes in all their glory. No front panel "on" indicator is needed. 3) Pay homage to audio electronics of years gone by. The case resembles a 1959 Dynaco ST-70 amplifier that also employed four EL-34 output tubes. Most of the parts have been received, I will be posting pics and commentary as things progress. Still waiting for a new soldering station to get here. My three Radio Shack el-cheapo soldering irons are worn out. Below are a few ebay pics for starters. FWIW - the transformers will be encased inside of the lower chassis "drawer" section. The amp and psu boards will be mounted on top of the white deck plate. (I may paint it blue tho) Heatsinks will flank the sides of the amp boards, all will be enclosed in the upper "cage".

Thanks Todd for all you do! Damn, I pushed the needle in and nothing came out. Feelz great to have my HC buzz on again!

Thanks! I've heard some of his music, knew nothing about the man. Checked his wiki, wow classic rockstar stuff. Sorry to hear of his passing. Best five clams i've ever dropped on 345mb of FLAC.

Most excellent! Two thumbs - way up! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

Breaking Bad. The plot thickens....

It had it's moments, gotta get betta!

@arnaud - That would be divine! @ rd - Thanks for the updated pic, I missed out over there. Audio nirvana!

Let's Cook!

Way to go Dusty!

Thanks Inu and KG for the input. To be honest, I was going to build it as outlined in the headWize KGBH article. (one big donut without relay delays) A quad of JJ tubes are cheap enough, lower life due to hard startup doesnt concern me much. (as long as it doesnt blow up all of the time.) In this case, I would prolly also take the precaution of having the phones unplugged to avoid popping surges on startup. I do have a delay board on the way, but havent seen it yet, so dont know it's absolute function. If I understand this correctly, upon start-up, a slow start circuit for the heaters is best, followed by a ~40 second delay before HV is gradually applied to the plates. During this interval, it is best if the input is attenuated as well. I know this has been asked before, but would there be a problem using DC for the heater voltage? I've heard that AC can induce hum.

AN-4T450 http://www.antekinc.com/details.php?p=90

Hi Andy, No I didnt. Frank Cooter chimed in a while later and recommended that I look into an off the shelf Antec toroid. They cost about 1/3 the price of the Hammond, about $54 IIRC. He also mentioned that it was a good idea to multiply the required current spec by a factor of three or thereabouts to help with the inrush and keeping it running cool. Yay Team Overkill ! I went with a 400ma monster toroid. Dual 450VAC windings, I was just barely able to shoehorn it into the chassis. It does run cool. I will be using one of these for my upcoming KGBH build, they are available with dual 6.3V heater windings on the same core.

Ha! - The BH thread would then explode with all the fanboyz asking Justin why their amps go up in smoke.

I would love to get my hands on some of those sexy heatsinks! A set of BH pcbs would be nice too (or access to the gerbers - so i could fab a set). I asked nattonrice about this, but he ignored me. You are welcome to ignore me too.

Happy Birthday!