Posted on Saturday, 6th March 2010 by Jimmy Auw

Never seen this one before. But this 12B4 seems like to have a clear top. Anyway, will keep it for my private collection.

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Posted on Saturday, 6th March 2010 by Jimmy Auw

Another 6CG7/6FQ7 Clear Top, but this time without RCA markings. Made in USA, though? Very similar with RCA writings. Tested very good also on my Knight 600.

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Posted on Saturday, 6th March 2010 by Jimmy Auw

Must be another lucky day… RCA 6CG7 Clear Top. One of most wanted item. Tested very good on my Knight 600. Will check more detail after my Hickok 539B completely refurbished.

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Posted on Saturday, 6th March 2010 by Jimmy Auw

Must be my lucky day… Could get 4 pcs of LM1875 with same batch number

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Posted on Wednesday, 24th February 2010 by Jimmy Auw

Last week, we held a DIY gathering. Located at Bintaro, Indonesia. The host was Mr. Didik F. Wiryawan and family. Around 30+ people were there, was one of the crowded gathering ever. Below is the picture of the stage. We held some Blind Test also. You will also see some fancy DIY creation here.

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Tags: Blind Test, DIY Audio, Indonesia
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Posted on Monday, 8th February 2010 by Jimmy Auw

Due to high workload on my primary job, I prefer to leave my serious listening session for a while. So if you are waiting for my Gainclone Project initial impression, perhaps you must wait a little bit longer. Sorry to say. Also my Duelund CAST Silver delayed to mid of March. It makes me also miss the Duelund sound so much. That’s also another reason to stay away from serious listening session, for a while.

I prefer to do simple pending task, like disassembly my Hickok 539B Tube Tester. This heavy tube tester really consumes my energy more than I expect.

Below is the general appearance inside the tester. Two rectifier, one is the “deadly” #83 Mercury Vapor Rectifier and the other is 5Y3GT Rectifier.

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Tags: 539B, hickok, tube tester
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Posted on Sunday, 31st January 2010 by Jimmy Auw

I have some collections of vintage meters. One of them have problem like shown below. The needle can’t be fixed on the zero position. It seems like the internal magnetic stabilizer parts have loosen its function or misplaced inside the meter. Let’s open it

The good from a vintage meter is its accuracy, stability, and build quality. Many modern meters are available in cheap price but the quality is very poor. The meter moves in a very unstable manner. Far from what I say a smooth movement of the vintage meter. That’s why, even many modern meters are available in many store in affordable price, I still prefer to hunt vintage meter, usually from eBay.

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Tags: vintage meter
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Posted on Saturday, 23rd January 2010 by Jimmy Auw

The first thing that I need to do to refurbish my Hickok 539B Tube Tester is to clean up its appearance. I bought CRC QD Electronic Cleaner. This quick drying and no residue formula should be OK for my purpose. I remove all the buttons to wipe out all the dust and dirty things from the front plate.

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Tags: hickok, tube tester
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Posted on Friday, 8th January 2010 by Jimmy Auw

I manage to secure one vintage tube tester, a Hickok 539B. This is an ultimate tester, Lab grade, and one of the most wanted tester on eBay. Don’t ask how much did I pay for this. This is also a very heavy tester. I believe it’s over 10 Kgs. So please also don’t ask the shipping cost to deliver this item from other continent.

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Tags: 539B, hickok, tube tester
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Posted on Sunday, 3rd January 2010 by Jimmy Auw

A nice “300B Western Electric-like” tube from China and 300BS from Shuguang/Valve Art with Mesh design. Must be interesting to see how they both perform in the real world. Both are also very cheap for 300B tube.

Tags: 300B, Shuaguang, Valve Art, Western Electric
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Posted on Sunday, 3rd January 2010 by Jimmy Auw

On this lazy new year, I do a comparison between some of my old cheap meter (for Capacitance and Multimeter) and my new well know brand, Sanwa.

I finish some measurement for Capacitor and Resistor. It seems even the old cheap meter (cost <US$10) could measure very well compared with my expensive Sanwa (rated at 0.08% accuracy, cost >US$100). But for some special purpose, especially very small value measurement, the more expensive meter would do it better and more accurate. If you don’t mind with the “very standard” (more polite word for “cheap”) build quality, rarely measure small value item, and don’t need extra digit accuracy, then you can go with cheaper meter.

I compare 3 meters here. One is multipurpose meter, Sanwa PC510. High tech meter from Japan brand, Sanwa. Claims 0.08% accuracy, AC True RMS, and capable of testing Capacitance and Temperature (beside a standard AVO function of a Multimeter). This meter cost around US$ 150. The others are two my old meter. One is Heles UX35 (a standard AVO meter, cost around US$ 5) and the other is China brand Capacitance Meter CM8601A+ (up to 20.000uF, Capacitance meter only, cost less than US$ 8).

As the subject, I pick Audio Note Copper Foil Mylar-In-Oil Capacitor (default value at 0.47uF) and three value of 12W Mills Resistor (3R9, 22R, and 22K).

The photo below will speak by themselves.

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Tags: capacitance meter, heles, Sanwa
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Posted on Saturday, 2nd January 2010 by Jimmy Auw

A pair of Duelund CAST is enough to rob your wallet. How about two pairs? Well, sometime money is not an object - when you are pursuing the ultimate sound. No sky is high enough

I welcome, two pairs of Duelund CAST Capacitor installed on 6J5-RE604-RS241 Amplifier. The installation process was done just before end of last year (31th December 2009, night!). And well, I saw many fireworks when driving home (around 00:15). Happy New Year first!

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Tags: Amplifier, CAST, Duelund, RS241, tube
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