spritzer

Just watched Californication as well, good stuff.

Just ban the fucker, it would do you a lot of good.

Yeah EMP's (electro magnetic pulses) are a problme for headphone listening. "Oh no, I can't listen to my headphones with these damn nuclear bombs going off all the time... "

YGPM

This was indeed a DIYAudio transaction. There should even be some record of it here since somebody saw the listing and posted it if I remeber correctly. There are already two 550's and a single 450 in place so I just wanted to use what was already there. Let's see if Mouser offers me free Fedex International Priority like they did last time...

I hope they ban this idiot. I just removed the RCA sockets and it was a nice touch to not clean up the inside edges of the holes and thus damage the the plastic insulation washers. I did manage to mostly straighten out the the bottom panel and the LED's are fitted on the front panel. One question though, does anybody have a single ZTX450 sitting in a drawer somewhere? Looks like I'll be able to get the output devices here and then I only need the single ZTX450 to get it up and running.

I'm pretty sure there is no difference in the tubes. It certainly wouldn't be the first time importers add a label and some special version status to justify the extra markup. Being the Stax thread, many dealers are telling their customers that the II units is a Mk2 version and superior to the A...

Well it will stick around then until I've completed all the work on Stax transformers then we will find some use for it. Perhaps build a small pre to match it... Most excellent...

That takes skill...

Over on DIYAudio they've recommended the 4U version of this as the bare minimum but 5U being better. I'll probably decrease the bias a bit but adding some mass might help matters...

You are brilliant.

I can't find the voltage spec now but I seem to remember them being rated at 700v. I'll do some digging...

Nice!!! It will be nice to finally wake up the old Tannoy R2's. I'm pretty sure that this is a 330VA transformer and it is easy enough to see which are the primary and secondary windings but I really need the phase as well... \ Looks like Doug will get IRF's in this amp then.

It's been a while since I heard the reissue Mullards but the difference is subtle yet not that subtle. XF2's are well worth it for 200$+ since they will last a long time but I certainly wouldn't follow Michael down the rabbit hole. People with good taste or no sense of value... Now we just need a version with all Riken resistors to match the crazy Japanese esoterica (Sony, Denon).

So much utter fucking trash on that list but there is some good stuff in between. Journey FTW!!

That sucks... Well it's not like they are rare though. One question for the group, does anybody have any data on this transformer: Avel Lindberg 2002 LTD. (aka the Uk branch) model: AT CA6776/1 Google gives me nothing... \

Small update: I've redone every solder joint, fixed the majority of the large resistors and removed the messed up ZTX450. I've also cleaned up the front panel (had a lot of tape residue on it) so it's ready for drilling in the morning. Moar leds!!! There is a small mark next to the thermistor so it's the perfect location for one of the leds, the other a mirror image. I have high hopes for this one. I'm thinking about building a Dynalo preamp (S22 psu) with a RK50 volume control and a dual mono F5. At least tighten it with some washers to distribute the load. The bottom panel is only fixed with 4 screws and there is nothing fixing it in place to the front panel or even supporting it... Thanks. The bridges are going on the heatsinks or a thick aluminum platform that I'll mount underneath the transformer. Hell I'll perhaps just replace the bottom with a 5-6mm sheet of aluminum. I just checked and I can get the IRF's locally but not cheap at roughly 10$. This shop had a nice stash of SJ109's a lot things may lurk there so are there any other obscure parts that may work? I do need the thermistors and a single ZTX450 since the builder had mounted it the wrong way and ehhh cut the leads and then soldered it flat to the board at a 90

This is the story of a very sick little Firstwatt F5 that needs some TLC. This is hopefully the last chapter in a rather sad story involving our Scottish Lord of Drink. Dough bought it from some scammer on DIYAudio which not only botched every facotr of building the amp but couldn't even be bothered to ship it properly. To fast forward a bit I had expressed my intention to build an F5 here and Doug offered to send me this amp to do with as I pleased. I took this a good chance to tinker with an F5 and help a friend out since this amp will be returned to Scotland in fully working condition later on. Now onto what awaited me in that 13kg box from Scotland. Parts of this build have quite a lot in common with the SinglePower craftsmanship so some deja vu as I started to dissemble it. The amp is built into a Hi-fi2000 3U chassis which is really too small for this amp (Class A baby!!!). Here is the bottom panel of the amp which housed the transformer, rectifiers and the PSU board. As you can see the bottom panel is badly damaged since it was way too thin to hold that massive transformer in place. To make matters even worse the builder neglected to put any washers on the bolt even fully tighten it. I rotated one of the rectifiers for the picture and you can see that there was no thermal paste applied, straight out of the SP rule book. The guy was obviously using a drill for the first time in his life since he didn't clean off the debris which gathers around the holes or even hold it tightly. Now there were no hookup wires in the box at all (apart from the transformer leads) and I'm fairly sure that there is something missing from the amp boards. It's the magical F5 with no output devices!!! Also, who needs to bond those input fets together for better thermal stability... It's clear that this guy has never heard of masking tape or that spacing output terminals a couple of inches apart is a good idea without an extensive protection circuit in place. It's quite clear that this guy wasn't suffering from OCD given how these PSB's were stuffed. Look at the soldering in the bottom pic... wow... just wow... Now the first job is to make sure this idiot managed to put the right parts where they are supposed to go and then redo every solder joint. Then I have to see what parts I need to get it up and running and figure out how to salvage that bottom panel and make it strong enough to support the transformer. I'm thinking about a thick aluminum plate on top of the steel and placing a support toot directly underneath it. That should carry the weight but it will need some more bracing to be sure.

They simply need a lot more current then the BH can give... time for the version of the KGSS that Kevin designed for the TakeT. Well that or a Krell MRA or something similar...

Happy Birthday little guy....

I've been plugging the plug like crazy too...

We tend to try and sneak ham into everything, croissant with ham and cheese (which is mixed with ham) being the most obvious one...

Woot!!!

Yeah, I'm not a fan of fish either.