Audio Valve Amplifier.
Picture of Audio Valve Amplifier!
This is a fully transfromer coupled push pull design from dac to output stage.
It consists of 2 ECC99 stages before a 2A3 mesh output stage.
It produces the most realistic sound you could imagine!
This is my current system.
This amp was inspired by Lynn Olsen's long search for the best design solutions.
It is based on his Amity, but with 2 of the input stages to bring up the gain to support my Guido Tent DAC that gives out about 140mV.
The Amity and Karna designs are in my opinion the best designs from an electrical theory standpoint and from much experimentation of my own,
also the best I've heard.
The Aurora has a single ended preamp stage that I don't like.
Having two ECC99 push pull stages is a much better solution.
The ECC99 stage is the best driver stage and for the same positive attributes it is also the best “pre-amp” stage.
So how does it sound!:
The sound is very pure and transparent. It also has just enough character to keep you interested on the lower quality recordings. I measure the quality of my amp by the vast variety of music that can be played on it and also by the hours that I can listen to it without turning it off. It is indeed a beautiful thing.
Experience:
I have tried the single ended scene in all its varieties. I even experimented with the pentode scene just to
hear how good I could make them sound, even with their inferior specs.
I have spent many hours doing research into the field of amplifier technology.
I have also spent many hours behind the soldering iron. Oh yeah and I've spent a lot on parts..... A lot....:) I have even experimented with the evil transistors... I'm sorry! Not good! Seriously not good!...
Some top tips I have picked up:
- Black Gate Super E's are the best. Use them when you can. Cross-over, filters, power supply etc... Shame Black Gate department closed down.
- Wave files on your PC tunneled through your USB port makes for the best source. I don't use the CD player in the picture anymore.
- Guido Tent DAC is great.
- Ariel's are truly great speakers.
- 8 guage north creek inductors are the best.
- 18mm MDF with 18mm ply glued together makes the best speaker front plate.
- Round out behind your driver cut outs.
- Wool blankets make for a good dampening material in your speakers. Not in subs though.
- Line the walls of your sub with Deflex Sheet.
- Bi-wire your speakers with the best you can afford.
- Parallel compensation in the cross-over is a must.
- Wiring your output transformer for low distortion is better than wiring it for high power.
- Gary Pimms all mosfet battery biased Constant Current Source is an essential. Don't use the tube version.
- Voltage stabilizers “OD3 etc...” are essential for a black sound stage.
- OCJ3 is my favorite power supply rectifier.
My First valve amp attempt:
This is a single ended 1 watt amp that uses a 12AY7 driver stage with a 1626 parrafeed output stage.
It produces a very clean first watt! It was a pretty good starting point for my audio hobby.
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