# Vacuum Tube Audio Equipment



## breakfastchef (Jan 14, 2008)

*Update: Vacuum Tube Audio Equipment - Project Completed with Photo*

I am kit-building four vacuum tube audio components. Also on the 'to-do' list is to build a pair of high-efficiency speakers to complete the project. Below is my first build; a phono pre-amplifier. The remaining components will have the same style base.

The base is alder with Wenge inlay and several coats of semi-gloss polyurethane. The sub-base is a simple frame of MDF, painted black with a coat of poly. The top plate has a copper hammered finish courtesy of Rustoleum.


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## GeorgeC (Jul 30, 2008)

Very nice. Just a few days ago I ran across a jar full of old tubes that had come out of audio equipment that I owned years ago. As far as I know they are still good. I sold the last of my good stuff (McIntosh) several years ago for a very nice price. I understand much of he tube type equipment is going to Japan for big dollars.

G


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## boondocker (May 31, 2008)

Very nice combination of modern style and 40's material. Reminds me of "Falling Waters" house by F.L. Wright.


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## smitty1967 (Feb 24, 2008)

Chef that's nice looking cabinetry you have there. 

On the vacuum tube, I'm wondering....what's the purpose of the throw-back project? Just a hobby? A project for something?

My first amateur radio was a tube-type, seperate transmitter and reciever. The receiver was a no-brainer, turn it on and let it warm up. But the transmitter had to be warmed up then tuned before every session. This rig was a third- or fourth-hand unit I got when entering that hobby. Once I got some good instruction and got on to it, it was a joy to make the old girl hum, you know? 

I worked voice and CW all around the world with that old bucket....they don't make 'em like that any more. Good work on the tubes, and the carpentry.

smitty


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## dbhost (Jan 28, 2008)

I would LOVE some tips on building tube electronics. A friend of mine have been trying to build a replica Ampeg SVT 300 Watt Bass Amp Head for about 4 years now. It works sort of, gets hot, shuts down... Not sure what we did wrong. Once the actual bass head is working right, I want to build a proper cabinet for it instead of the POS MDF box it is in now...

Maybe once that is done, build a bass cab for a single 2 12" loudspeakers. Found some nice porting designs. A compucarve / carvewright would be a fun toy to make some interesting carvings for a faceplate...


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## knotscott (Nov 8, 2007)

Beautiful job and a commendable project of preservation! I love tubes.


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## Howard Ferstler (Sep 27, 2007)

Very elegant finishing work. I am a solid-state, "I need lots of power" guy, myself, but there is no denying that the item you built certainly looks terrific.

Howard Ferstler


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## breakfastchef (Jan 14, 2008)

Thanks for all of your positive comments. Regarding vacuum tubes...I chose this route for three reasons. First, I prefer the sound of tubes to solid state. While they offer plenty of power for many demanding tasks, they also impart a laid back and smooth sound signature that I enjoy. Second, building your own audio equipment and having it work fantastically well is very gratifying. Last, tubes are sculptural and cool. They look great in the dark.

The amps I will be building are SET (single ended triode) amps. They are low power like 3-8 watts. Most of us have been buying 50-500 watt per channel solid state devices or years. The SET tube amps have a very low output so need very, very high efficiency speakers to reproduce sound at resonable listening levels and above. I am told the music from a well done SET amp and speakers is magical; much more moving than your basic Best Buy stereo system. While high efficeincy speakers and horns can cost thousands of dollars a pair, there are many DIY speakers that can be built for under $500/pair.

For those interested in 'testing the waters', visit www.bottlehead.com. Dob B., Eileen, the crew, and everyone participating on the Bottlehead forum will provide the finest support and encouragement so you too become a 'Bottlehead'.


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## knotscott (Nov 8, 2007)

I went the route of a 55 watt per channel receiver, to a 70 wpc integrated amp, to a 255 wpc Hafler kit, to a 150 wpc NYAL Moscode tube/transistor hybrid, to a 100 wpc Distech solid state amp, to a pair of modified 17 wpc Dynaco tube amps in triode. The Dynas are by far the best sounding of all those amps I've owned, and I've kept them for 15 years or more. :thumbsup:


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## Howard Ferstler (Sep 27, 2007)

breakfastchef said:


> Thanks for all of your positive comments. Regarding vacuum tubes...I chose this route for three reasons. First, I prefer the sound of tubes to solid state. While they offer plenty of power for many demanding tasks, they also impart a laid back and smooth sound signature that I enjoy. Second, building your own audio equipment and having it work fantastically well is very gratifying. Last, tubes are sculptural and cool. They look great in the dark.
> 
> The amps I will be building are SET (single ended triode) amps. They are low power like 3-8 watts. Most of us have been buying 50-500 watt per channel solid state devices or years. The SET tube amps have a very low output so need very, very high efficiency speakers to reproduce sound at resonable listening levels and above. I am told the music from a well done SET amp and speakers is magical; much more moving than your basic Best Buy stereo system. While high efficeincy speakers and horns can cost thousands of dollars a pair, there are many DIY speakers that can be built for under $500/pair.
> 
> For those interested in 'testing the waters', visit www.bottlehead.com. Dob B., Eileen, the crew, and everyone participating on the Bottlehead forum will provide the finest support and encouragement so you too become a 'Bottlehead'.


It is probably not fair to compare any quality "mix and match" gear to what Best Buy offers in the way of packaged "systems." While mainstream receivers are essentially transparent in terms of distortion up to output clipping levels with their on-board amplifiers (this has been demonstrated in countless double-blind, level-matched A/B comparison faceoffs), typical box-store speakers are not all that well engineered. Consequently, they, being the weak link, undermine the exactness of the receiver performance.

On the other hand, if you get top-tier speakers by outfits like NHT, Atlantic Technology, Triad, or even a budget outfit like Ascend Acoustics (or even old "classic" speakers by outfits like AR, Allison, KLH, Cambridge Soundworks, Dunlavy, Waveform, and Advent), and couple them with powerful amplification, no tube-centered arrangement will touch them, no matter what kind of speakers are being driven by those tubes. In addition, SET amps have one salient characteristic: plenty of distortion, and that distortion will be audible, if admittedly pleasant for some people.

However, the goal of audio is not pleasant sound. It is accurate sound. Once you have that, you can obtain recordings that take advantage of that kind of system performance. While some amp distortion may make certain sub-par recordings sound better for one reason or another, that same distortion will compromise the results with truly good recordings. Incidentally, the best way to tune up sub-par recordings is to simply use the tone controls on whatever conventional amp or receiver you happen to own.

Note that I do not think that all distortion is bad. For one thing, a good surround-sound synthesizing device like what Lexicon or Yamaha or some other outfits offer with their upscale gear is going to be generating distortion of a sort when they fabricate additional channels from two-channel source materials. However, that "surround" distortion, which involves additional amplifiers and speakers, is working to offset the inherent psychoacoustic limitations with two-channel audio.

Howard Ferstler


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## Howard Ferstler (Sep 27, 2007)

knotscott said:


> I went the route of a 55 watt per channel receiver, to a 70 wpc integrated amp, to a 255 wpc Hafler kit, to a 150 wpc NYAL Moscode tube/transistor hybrid, to a 100 wpc Distech solid state amp, to a pair of modified 17 wpc Dynaco tube amps in triode. The Dynas are by far the best sounding of all those amps I've owned, and I've kept them for 15 years or more. :thumbsup:


I am an old Dynaco fan myself, but I will have to note that tube amps of that era (and this era, too) have a tendency to not generate flat output. The result may be pleasant, but it will not be as accurate as what you get from a good contemporary solid-state unit. If your speakers tend to be a bit on the bright side of accurate, a tube amp of that kind might tame the treble a bit, but in this case you are cancelling out one deficiency by employing a corrective device that installs a complementary deficiency. Kind of like countering the tendency of a near-flat tire to pull your car in one direction by having the passengers sit on the opposite side of the interior to get weight off of that tire.

Howard Ferstler


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## pianoman (Jan 16, 2008)

Just thought I`d try, looking for 7189s...close or matched...need four. I have a 222C HH Scott with 6bq5s...I also need to build a case for this amp. Rick


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## user4178 (Apr 18, 2008)

I use to have a Echo stereo tube amp that could be switched to mono. One particular song that I thought the amp really shined on was from Heart : Magic man.


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## GeorgeC (Jul 30, 2008)

I still think that the old McIntosh and Marantz tube equipment produced the best overall sound ever. A Mc 75 running a pair of 88's could keep those tubes cool while the same tubes got hot in a Dynakit. Guess Mc just drove them less.

I sold my McIntosh equipment a number of years ago and went with modern solid state. The reason was for simplicity. It cut out separate components and took less space.

Several years ago I understood that the good old tube type equipment was being renovated and sold for big dollars in Japan.

G


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## breakfastchef (Jan 14, 2008)

*Update: The Quartet Of Compnents Is Now Complete*

Just a photo of the completed quartet of vacuum tube audio equipment. On top are two monobolck amplifiers (one for the L channel and one for the R channel) running 300B tubes. In the foreground on the left is the phono pre-amp and to the front right is a line stage. In essence, I built all the components that you would find in a modern integrated amplifier, but with vacuum tubes.


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## frankp (Oct 29, 2007)

DBHost, heat was always the problem of the tube systems... and 300 watts is pretty significant power despite what we think of as "powerful" for modern equipment. I don't know about that specific piece of that your friend is replicating, but I'd bet the quality of the tubes and a couple of minor tweaks are all it will take to keep it cool, if it's possible to keep it cool.


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## knotscott (Nov 8, 2007)

GeorgeC said:


> I still think that the old McIntosh and Marantz tube equipment produced the best overall sound ever. A Mc 75 running a pair of 88's could keep those tubes cool while the same tubes got hot in a Dynakit. Guess Mc just drove them less.
> 
> I sold my McIntosh equipment a number of years ago and went with modern solid state. The reason was for simplicity. It cut out separate components and took less space.
> 
> ...


Sorry George, no chance of agreeing with that....while what we like the sound of is very subjective, there's been no rest for modern tube designers. Some of the modern state-of-the-art tube equipment is unbelievable, and defies many of the common negative tags typically associated with tube amps in general. Guys like Kenny Stevens from Convergent is an absolute fanatic...he rolls his own caps, is a master of power supplies, and chases the equipment his favorite tubes are manufactured on from country to country if it happens to get sold....Russia, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia....wherever that gear goes, Kenny finds it. He's had Mac, Marantz, CJ, and Audio Research lovers dropping their jaws for years. The stuffs just a tad expensive too!


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## breakfastchef (Jan 14, 2008)

knotscott said:


> Sorry George, no chance of agreeing with that....while what we like the sound of is very subjective, there's been no rest for modern tube designers. Some of the modern state-of-the-art tube equipment is unbelievable, and defies many of the common negative tags typically associated with tube amps in general. Guys like Kenny Stevens from Convergent is an absolute fanatic...he rolls his own caps, is a master of power supplies, and chases the equipment his favorite tubes are manufactured on from country to country if it happens to get sold....Russia, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia....wherever that gear goes, Kenny finds it. He's had Mac, Marantz, CJ, and Audio Research lovers dropping their jaws for years. The stuffs just a tad expensive too!


I must totally agree with your comments. Modern day vacuum tube design, though rooted firmly in amplifier designs dating back to the 1960's, is significantly more refined. We have better capacitors, resistors, inductors, tubes, etc. that can reach levels of audio bliss not possible thirty years ago.

There is, though, always a cut off between outstanding design at a value price and ridiculous price for a pedestrian design. My Bottleheads are priced ver, very well and easily modified/upgradeable depending upon my taste and ability.


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## GeorgeC (Jul 30, 2008)

I was not even aware that there was any modern day tube equipment. All I have seen is solid state.

G


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## knotscott (Nov 8, 2007)

GeorgeC said:


> I was not even aware that there was any modern day tube equipment. All I have seen is solid state.
> 
> G


George, it's been at least 10 years since I've seen a modern highend tube amp, but even 15 years ago some of the stuff was just amazing....Melos, the Grant Mono blocks, some off the wall amps I can't remember the name of! ... super stuff. I can't imagine what the best stuff is capable of now. Just upgrading capacitors on an existing older circuit can make quite an improvement. 

Getting the itch to get your tubes back yet? :laughing:


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