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I finished my first tube console amp

Donny

Donny

Big Damn Hero
This was in sad shape when I started in fact when I first got it I posted here asking if I should just raid it for tubes and burn it! Now here is the finished product :) The copper plating was to rusted to polish so I painted the amp with a satin black,the copper on the pre was good so I polished it up,since I might need to work on it in the future I made the top removable,I also raided a broken pioneer amp for speaker hook ups and the power switch. Everything I used was scrap or free (the console was free) so no money spent! Oops almost forgot I have red lights underneth and it looks cool in a dark room but the pics didn't turn out:(
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Cool setup. Nice touch housing it. So, how does it sound? What speakers you pushing?
 
Donny,

Congrats on your new creation-there is no tube amp more beautiful in its' own way than a free one! Bet it looks great with those tube aglow!

What brought this madness on? :banana:

Best,
mojo
 
I haven't listened to it much,all I have for speakers now are hpm 100's that stay hooked up to my sx-1010 and I have some old speakers off of rack systems (3way 12's) This amp has left,right speakers stereo and a center bass so I am running 3 12's with a cd player as source
 
It's all good Donny! I think I even see a hint of the red light in one of the pics. You have to get a tripod and turn the lights out. Oughta be nice!!
 
That came out very nice Donny! :thmbsp: You should be proud of that!

Now find yourself some efficient speakers that like tubes! :yes:

(My wharfedales work well with mine, but the Utah wd-66's are a real close second!) :D
 
Great job. You should get an Altec 421 for the bass and a couple of nice Fostex full range drivers for stereo. You have a good start to a great system there.
 
There is NOTHING better than a free amp!
Two questions:
How do you like the sound? It ought to make your generic 12"/3 ways sound as good as they're capable of.

What was the source of your wooden 'cabinet'???
 
Thanks guys :) I worked a good bit on getting it set up,I'm not much of a carpenter. I will keep an eye open for me some better speakers (I sold some klipch right before I got this amp :( So far I like the sound on acoustic music but the bass sounds weak on stuff like NIN. What music is tube gear best at playing?
 
mhardy6647 said:
There is NOTHING better than a free amp!
Two questions:
How do you like the sound? It ought to make your generic 12"/3 ways sound as good as they're capable of.

What was the source of your wooden 'cabinet'???
Click to expand...

The outside is 1/4 redoak plywood finished natural with lacquer I glued it all and on the joints used colored putty (my joints aren't as tight as a pro's) The structural cabinet is left over 3/4 plywood.btw I love red oak it is a good looking wood but some pieces will be darker then others,the piece I used was a bit light in color while others will be almost red. I had the wood left over from remodeling my house.
 
Donny said:
Thanks guys :) I worked a good bit on getting it set up,I'm not much of a carpenter. I will keep an eye open for me some better speakers (I sold some klipch right before I got this amp :( So far I like the sound on acoustic music but the bass sounds weak on stuff like NIN. What music is tube gear best at playing?
Click to expand...


Donny, don't be afraid to use the tone controls. I found mine needed to be up near 7 for best results in my room.

I don't think tubes should be too music sensitive unless the speakers or room setup is weak.

Speakers seen to me to make a lot more difference on tubes than on SS. Bottom line, be looking for highly efficient speakers, which would probably leave out your HPM's. KLH are highly touted, but I found my Utah's blew past the KLH 23's I have. I have a set of KLH 6's that I have yet to try.

I have recently been listening to a pair of Klipsh 2.2's with fair results. the bass is good, but the mini horn tweeters seem a little overpowering to me, but I haven't done any direct A-B testing. I should probably give the B&W's in the MBR a try on tubes, but they sound so good in the morning that I am reluctant to take them out.
 
The efficiency of the KLH acoustic suspension speakers is notoriously LOW, not high. The HPM-100's, being ported, are probably reasonably efficient.

This IS a low powered amplifier, though, so outlawmws's advice is good: you should make sure you're using very efficient speakers: better than 95 dB/watt/meter for an 8-ohm speaker (1 watt at 8 ohms corresponds to 2.83 volts for efficiency comparisons, BTW).

I am not sure of the output impedance of the secondaries in your console's transformers... in the absence of other information, 8 ohms is a reasonable assumption, but some of the old consoles used 4 ohm speakers, while most "high-end hi-fi" in the glory days of tubes were often hitched to 16-ohm speakers.
 
mhardy6647 said:
The efficiency of the KLH acoustic suspension speakers is notoriously LOW, not high. The HPM-100's, being ported, are probably reasonably efficient.
SNIP
I am not sure of the output impedance of the secondaries in your console's transformers... in the absence of other information, 8 ohms is a reasonable assumption, but some of the old consoles used 4 ohm speakers, while most "high-end hi-fi" in the glory days of tubes were often hitched to 16-ohm speakers.
Click to expand...

Your right about the KLH not bein ported. I have seen no efficincy specs on the KLH, but everyone seems to rate the as "good with tubes". Perhaps with higher power amps/recievers? :dunno:

The output impedance has been 8 ohms on every one of these 3 channel Mots I have seen.
 
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