spritzer

The entire SRA-3S draws about 30W so nothing in there goes past 1A.

The SumR unit in my first KGSSHV blew up so Richard sent me two replacements to see what the hell is going on. I'm working on getting them through customs now without it costing an arm and a leg. That is too low for a Megatron. I'd go with 420V/200ma as you are driving 8 EL34's. How hot is the transformer at full load? I'll probably use a 2*335V/200mA Edcor transformer as I have a few sitting here and running it at +/-400V is a good idea in my book. Less heat and all that...

I'd start with disconnecting the trafo and testing it.

Mine ran for two years before it crapped out...

What transformer do you have?

PJ buy from retailers just like everybody else so their fault is the same as of Rinkya, KuboTen or the dozens and dozens of other companies who sell directly from Japan. They clearly have some source for the 009 that values sale volume over unit markup. The lowest markup a store should take is 30% (probably higher) so if somebody decided to charge half of their markup and sell 5 times as many units with nothing ever sitting in stock, then this makes perfect sense. Hell, I'd do the same thing. If you have the KGSS boards then just build those. There is a thread somewhere in the DIY section with instructions on how to build a KGSS and how to pick the parts. Feel free to bump that thread if you need any help or just PM me.

I wouldn't blame PJ for this, that price has stayed the same well before any refurb units existed. Hell with Stax there are normally no refurb anything... As for the production, based on the interview on HF? Very little of that piece is actually true.

The KGSS and KGSSHV are very similar so you might need to use those values. I don't think anybody has tried the HV at these voltages though. Don't mess with the input resistors. You can leave the - one out as the fet is grounded on that side but the + side needs to be 500K to protect the fet should the pot ever float.

Now here is thought... maybe this is a refurb? All those units sent in for repair from the US get replaced so they have to go somewhere. I opened up mine and it's pretty much the nightmare of the SR-Omega but made worse with screws. The SR-007 pads are a joy compared to the 009...

Both amps are excellent when modified. Pretty much transformed over the stock versions...

How hot is that thing running with 1K cathode resistors?

The EML tubes in an octal base for DHT's but there are some very good triode strapped pentodes out there. I do have a fondness for odd tubes nobody uses though...

Get them out of the closet!!!!

The first trouble with a 300B amp is running it single ended through a transformer. So we can improve performance by using a simpler transformer. Also better drivers help but I'd still use a large number of tube besides the 300B...

That would certainly account for the offset. Bypassing the current limiter might work but it could also end badly...

I'm also building one specifically for Tyll, a special reviewer model. Also made by a guy with a fake company...

The 1968's would be my guess as well.

Indeed there will be, when I get off my ass finish an amp for you. To my defense it is rather complicated that one and I've been busy...

That was brilliant Milos. I think part of the problem was the general suck of the group. We should have sent you a KGSS as a baseline.

I did just check some of my 6S4A's and none have a connection at pin one. Still some versions might use that so better safe than sorry. If the wrong part of the tube is connected there then the amp might go boom... That resistors is so small in value but since I will be removing the plate resistors in this one it was a good idea to do a direct connection.

There are at least three of these already built...

The 5K resistor has no penalty or drawback. Too fucking cool!!!

Tyll is most certainly not part of the hype train. Electrostatics are not his usual thing though so that might be a factor.

The thing about the bass is that it's at the same time way over the top and anemic. There is no sub bass at all and it has a huge peak higher up making it sound like a bloody dynamic. This slow, muddy, thundering bass that over powers everything. As coloration's often do they stand out more on some tracks than others. On some you have the bass drowning out everything and the coloration in the top end wanting to claw your ears out. It's that bad with flat headphones, I don't even want to think how bad the 009 is... Edit. I didn't want to work on the LL today so I instead swapped in a normal bias socket on the 007tA I have here. That means stripping the amp down so it's fun to compare to something like the LL. Stax have thought this through so the sockets are mounted on a special plate so it is easy to get to them. Socket on the back that connects both of them that makes wiring neater and now all the switching stuff for the inputs is hidden behind the front panel. There is so much labor that goes into making these that it isn't even funny

I'm way too lazy to do another DIY chassis at this point but I think some DHT action is in my future. I'll at least order up the remaining parts for this 300B amp. Good to use some of these filmcaps too...