spritzer

The fireworks are mostly a thing of the past as we've improved the circuit boards over the years. This is still a very high voltage amplifier so if the soldering isn't perfect and the circuit boards clean of any flux, it can blow up. I'll send the larger offboard PCB files to Kevin and if he's happy with them, he'll add them to the library.

Well that plus the soldering technique has to be perfect due to the compact size of the board. All leads neatly trimmed and the board properly cleaned of all flux residue. Also the top center hole, if that is used for mounting (which I do) it has to be properly insulated. The mafia board is 2SA1968 only and any attempts to try and make it work for the IXYS parts would probably end badly. There is another slightly larger HV board design which can take both parts. It's never been tried but it should be problem free.

Funny thing about his SR-Omega repairs. A few weeks before his ad appeared he asked me the most basic and stupid questions about this stuff so yeah, not a fountain of wisdom that one. Certainly not the first person to offer a service he hasn't got a clue about.

I've built a few dozen HV's like that so yeah, no a problem. Just be very careful with the mafia boards, they aren't the most forgiving PCB's we've ever designed.

I looked at the original files and yup, found the issue. We updated the layout software around that time and they changed one small detail, the relief for the pins followed when doing copy/paste which is what happened here: See the yellow rings, they are attached to the plane but really shouldn't be. I'd just remove the caps and drill into the top, then insulate.

It's not recommended to run the Megatron with a KGSSHV psu and if you want to do it, even the correct 2.5" sinks just don't cut it. Way too much current.

I'm sure they knew. Could be why the SR-2 doesn't officially exist as mine have what is clearly a PWB baffle and earpads. Still came in a Stax SR-2 box....

The secondary voltage on the SRA-3S is 220V which was then fed into a voltage doubler. PWB was utterly bonkers but he was the Stax importer back in the day.

I got 93.76Mb/s in downtown Reykjavik on the 6+ last night. 43.17Mb/s up... That's not too shabby...

There was a dynamic version which used similar housing back in the day. Parts might be interchangeable... A250 or something like that.

The 4070 is ported or rather slotted, so a bass reflex design. They diffuse the backwave and it will hit the ports or rather most of it. Pretty clever way of doing it...

I'm not even sure the TKD's are made in this value. That could explain why Stax changed as the 6CG7's need 66k for the plate load so two 33K units per plate. These certainly would work: http://www2.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Panasonic/ERG-3SJ303V/?qs=sGAEpiMZZMsPqMdJzcrNwqYZdPaOFPtq6fsGDkePh9w%3d

They are 30K/2W. Eight units in total.

If they short then they could do serious damage. I think they just go up in resistance or just stop working. If so then the damage should be minimal.

It is on the low side so a 10K pot has to be used. TKD makes some nice ones... Ask Justin if he has any J74's he can't match to n-channels.

"Hi I'm Birgir and I shrink boards." Seriously, here is a line from an email Kevin sent me today:

Anything marked B is for the BJT's and anything M is for the mosfets. The mosfets should never be used really (outside the CCS), the performance is pretty much terrible.

I would order different boards so my order will always have to be separate. Mine are even smaller...

I need to stock up soon on KGST boards so I could order some extra ones plus the standard PSU board. Mine will always be more expensive than the group order though thanks to my crazy standards and Icelandic customs BS.

Yup, N-channel is N-channel whether it is a fet or a bjt. I would just just the That340 though. Even Kevin likes it a lot which has caused us to look into bipolar inputs for some other amps.

Yup, it's very good.

In that same vein, one of my bakers told me about a large vinyl swap meet here over the weekend today. "Biggie, you should go and explain to them why vinyl sounds so bad..."

The prices are getting out of hand but they will come crashing down again. This has happened before...

No, this one won't be released to the public.

I changed my mind... I normally prefer silver but the white on black like this is quite fetching.