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Done: Decware ZKIT1 SET tube amps

13stoploss

13stoploss

Active Member
Steve Deckert sells these Decware ZKIT1 DIY PCBs for $45. I bought two. Then I bought the parts list. Then I designed a chassis around the PCB. I didn't build the chassis, I'm not a woodworker. Anyway, this is my first DIY project, my first time building an amp, building a tube amp, first time really soldering. Some of the mistakes I made along the way (shielded wire) were very beginner like, but the amps are done, they're quiet, and they sound incredible.

Currently hooked up as monoblocks with my Emotiva XSP-1g2 pre-amp and ESS AMT-1a pyramid speakers, which are 6 ohm and 93db, so the little 2.3w SET amp moves them just fine.

If I were to do it all over, I'd create a 4" height chassis instead of 5". Unseen on bottom is a vented black plate. Still need spikes/feet, and a knob for the volume pot.

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Nice. Where did you get the top and back plates done? I'm finishing up a DIY Tavish Design phono pre and finding that the chassis can be almost as involving as the soldering. If Deckert is still offering PCB boards and a parts list, I might try that one next.
 
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13stoploss said:
...Currently hooked up as monoblocks with my Emotiva XSP-1g2 pre-amp and ESS AMT-1a pyramid speakers, which are 6 ohm....
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Hmm. How are you dealing with the monoblock speaker impedance issue? It looks to me as if the Zen wants a 6 ohm load. But if you're driving it differentially, presumably to get more power, it'd want a 12 ohm load.

on edit: nevermind - looks Like Zen says it's stable down to 1 ohm. You're OK..
 
gguillot said:
You do beautiful work! Did you cut the top plate yourself?
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I merely designed the chassis and handed over my specs to J+K Audio Design. They built the chassis and cut the plates to my design. Of course, this made this project not the ultra affordable it was billed as, but in total, I have two PCB amps (used in mono) for the price of one Decware P2P amp.

bjlefebvre said:
Nice. Where did you get the top and back plates done? I'm finishing up a DIY Tavish Design phono pre and finding that the chassis can be almost as involving as the soldering. If Deckert is still offering PCB boards and a parts list, I might try that one next.
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See above comment and link. They are also on Facebook, here. And yes, I bought these boards about 13 months ago, and I believe the link is still active, bottom of the page, here.

Fitero said:
Gorgeous work!

Have you thought of chroming or painting the Edcor transformer end caps?
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Oh, hell no.

Brickbat said:
Hmm. How are you dealing with the monoblock speaker impedance issue? It looks to me as if the Zen wants a 6 ohm load. But if you're driving it differentially, presumably to get more power, it'd want a 12 ohm load.

on edit: nevermind - looks Like Zen says it's stable down to 1 ohm. You're OK..
Click to expand...

Your edit says it all. As a hobbyist, the number and kinds of equipment I've heard in my own room with my speakers is very limited. The newest and "nicest" amp I own is the Emotiva XPA-2 gen 2. This is a SS class A/B delivering lots of watts (300 @8 or 500@4) to my 6ohm ESS AMT. It has more impact than these monoblocks, but with 93db efficient speakers, they're not suffering at all in low frequency with the Decware ZKITs. Sure, it has less impact, but I'm blown away by the word I mean to use as "imaging." I no longer hear bass as depth, as extra sound behind and attached to guitar music. I can now hear a distinct bass guitar as separate from the rest of guitar music. And to some extent, I can hear depth and placement, as if a band were performing on a stage.

I'm very impressed.

Thanks, all, for the kind words. It has been a fulfilling project. Next up--using these in an active-crossover, bi-amped setup to power the high frequencies, and the SS amp to power the lows!

I'll be posting videos (ss amp vs. one tube amp stereo vs. two tube amps mono vs. three amps in bi-amp) to my Instagram and Youtube pages.
 
bjlefebvre said:
Nice. Where did you get the top and back plates done? I'm finishing up a DIY Tavish Design phono pre and finding that the chassis can be almost as involving as the soldering. If Deckert is still offering PCB boards and a parts list, I might try that one next.
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What part of DC'ish? I'm in Kensington, MD...
 
I've been thinking about picking up one of these boards and building one of these for my electronics club I help run at school. I've read good things, and I have really efficient speakers I'd love to try it with.

To run as monoblocks, what modifications if any did you make to the amps versus running one in stereo?
 
bberkom said:
I've been thinking about picking up one of these boards and building one of these for my electronics club I help run at school. I've read good things, and I have really efficient speakers I'd love to try it with.

To run as monoblocks, what modifications if any did you make to the amps versus running one in stereo?
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Glad you asked! Couldn't have been simpler: I read the directions because otherwise I wouldn't have known what to do. You just have to run a wire from one channel's negative speaker terminal to the other channel's positive speaker terminal, then plug in one speaker cable to the negative and the other to the positive; then, lastly, get TWO RCA y-cables (one for each amp: male [pre-amp] to double male [amp outputs]) or adapter (male [pre-amp] to double female [for your male stereo RCA cables to the outputs]). That's it. Elsewhere in this thread I linked to the Decware DIY page. The manual and parts list are viewable for free. The directions for mono are second to last page.
 
I built one of these on a Hammond chassis a few years ago. I had the circuit board from Decware, but wound up just wiring the amp up point-to-point instead of using the board. I didn't like the way the tubes laid out on the board. Also used a Hammond chassis.

These are great little amps as an introduction to amp building. As 13stoploss mentioned, you can get the schematic and parts list from Decware here .

Here is also the link to the thread where Opa1 and I both built our own little versions of this amp.
EL84-SV83 SET AMP Build

index.php

index.php
 
gguillot said:
I built one of these on a Hammond chassis a few years ago. I had the circuit board from Decware, but wound up just wiring the amp up point-to-point instead of using the board. I didn't like the way the tubes laid out on the board. Also used a Hammond chassis.

These are great little amps as an introduction to amp building. As 13stoploss mentioned, you can get the schematic and parts list from Decware here .

Here is also the link to the thread where Opa1 and I both built our own little versions of this amp.
EL84-SV83 SET AMP Build

index.php

index.php
Click to expand...

Sweet. I keep hearing about Hammond chassis - where does one find them?
 
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