new amp kit

Thanks Brad, I appreciate it. At 65 my attention span is not like it used to be and sometimes my hands shake a bit. I was a bit worried I wouldn't be able to finish this project and actually have it work. I found that as I went my mind got into a groove and my hands got a bit steadier. A bit of a victory for this old fart. So, who is going to build something? Step up to the pump.....
 
Well, I have to admit my new amps are not going to work for me. They are very clean and open but the bass never came around in my system. I fiddled with speaker positioning and put all Cardas and Vansevers cables in and it ain't happening. I tried everything I could think of so I put the F6 back in and things are wonderful again. It was a fun build and it was very rewarding. These amps will probably be great in most systems, especially if subwoofers are present. I guess I will build the Audio Note EL34 stereo kit with the upgraded transformers next.
 
Sorry to hear that!

The ANK amps are very good. You won’t get solid state hit you in the chest bass, but you will get solid, balanced bass.

Dave
 
My first amp build, years ago, was the ANK EL34 stereo, with double C transformers, and the older power supply. Was pretty good with an ANK L4 DAC, which does have the triple C output transformers. Speakers at that time were Monitor Audio of some sort.

Once I tried more sensitive speakers, the EL34 had some hum I could not fix. On to Amp Camp amp, and I was hooked. Aleph J came next, I currently have the M2x monoblocks as my standard amps.

Class A is pretty magical, to me. I did finally source some of my hum to an interconnect cable, I should give the EL34 another shot. It, and the ANK DAC will probably be sold this year otherwise.
 
I don’t remember hum back when I used the amp regularly. I suspect replacing tubes, and cleaning contacts would help. Thanks.
 
Alright, did some experimenting with tubes etc on my old EL34 PP ANK DIY amp.

Changed to the stock (Provided tubes, which are essentially new) - same hum.

I then tried shorting one RCA input - silence on that channel.

I am thinking now, that I have an issue with my current set-up, which involved ~18 foot RCA interconnects (bluejeans cable - coax I think) and very short speaker cables (I use 6 feet, but they could be shorter)

1) the long RCA run is inherently noisy (another brand of RCA cables was even worse)
2) the cables themselves are at fault - I doubt this, as at least one of the 4 would be ok.

I plan to test shorter RCA cables, with longer speaker cables. If that works, I could try to move my amp(s) back closer to the source stack.

I also need to get my DIY Aleph J out, and test RCA vs XLR cables (I have a bluejeans XLR cable set that is same length). The aleph has XLR and RCA inputs. I remember now, that the last time I tried that amp, it hummed, but I think its now due to the RCA interconnects vs. the XLR that I used to use.

My back should be hurting nicely by the end of testing this weekend. If I have to redo the source stack, it will get worse. And I will be pissed as I had the 20 amp circuit put in for the amps at that end of the room.

I may also prove to myself that I need to have an amp that utilizes balanced input, or that better RCA cables would help.
 
You might want to consider reflowing each and every solder joint from input to output in the humming channel. Some bad solder joints appear to be OK but aren’t. This is commonly recommended on the Bottlehead forum as a cure. YMMV!
 
stereogeek said:
Well, I have to admit my new amps are not going to work for me. They are very clean and open but the bass never came around in my system. I fiddled with speaker positioning and put all Cardas and Vansevers cables in and it ain't happening. I tried everything I could think of so I put the F6 back in and things are wonderful again. It was a fun build and it was very rewarding. These amps will probably be great in most systems, especially if subwoofers are present. I guess I will build the Audio Note EL34 stereo kit with the upgraded transformers next.
Click to expand...

If mentioned before my apology, i didnt go thru all posts, but is this Amp an OTL ..? If so you need a highish impedance in the bass vs mid/top for balance ..
 
Thanks for the input. I have put a bunch of hours on these amps and they have pretty much come around. The bass is a lot stronger and the mids and highs have smoothed out to where it is very listenable. My new Volti's will be in this week and they are tunable as far as balancing the highs, mids and bass with resistors. My research indicates you are correct as far as the impedance goes for getting the balance right. Thanks again.
 
I did, finally, figure out that all my hum was coming from the long RCA interconnects (18 foot Bluejeans Cable, a good brand)

My DIY Aleph J had hum from the RCA IC, but was silent using XLR cables (again BJC x 18 feet)

So, I got a Jensen Balanced to Unbalanced converter (transformer based) and installed it today.

All my amps are now hum free, DIY M2x, DIY Aleph J, ANK EL34 stereo amp. 😎

Does point out that I need balanced input amps in the future, the Jensen unit does drop off a few db, but the pre amp still has room.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top