Posted on Sunday, 18th April 2010 by Auw Jimmy

The sign of a wear out tube? Time to grab some more… >.<

Tags: 26 tube, tube
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Posted on Friday, 2nd April 2010 by Auw Jimmy

My Sanwa PC510 multimeter has the capability to measure the temperature via small probe. So, I’m curious to measure my tube glass/surface temperature. I test the 6N1P, 6N6P, and 5U4G tubes.

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Tags: measurement, Sanwa, temperature, tube
Posted in Collectible Stuff, DIY Audio | Comments (0)

Posted on Tuesday, 23rd March 2010 by Auw Jimmy

After some crazy on the middle of the night decision, finally I decided to purchase the Duelund CAST Silver (CAST Ag) Capacitor. My friend bought my CAST Copper (CAST Cu), so this leaded me into a final crazy decision, to buy the CAST Silver.

The 1 uF and 630 VDC version of Duelund CAST Silver will cost you around US$ 900 each or around US$ 1800 pair. The 0.47 uF and 630 VDC version will cost about 5-7.5% difference, maybe different between retailers.

And don’t forget you have to wait around 2 months, not included shipping time, to get this at home – even if you have the money.

I was surprised to see that the outside appearance of this damned expensive CAST Silver was completely the same with my old CAST Copper. C’mon I spent over 2 times for this caps but with same appearance? Did you buy AMG with standard appearance? At least I expected extra muffler, some body kits, new xenon head lamps, and some shinny grille.

The only different was, on the backside. You could side the sticker wrote 99.999% SILVER

I must wait several days or weeks, before I can judge this capacitor. But I do really anxious to hear how does it sound!!!

Tags: Capacitor, Duelund
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Posted on Tuesday, 23rd March 2010 by Auw Jimmy

I acquired another varian of Jensen Film Caps, the Copper Tube. Basically, Jensen has 4 enclosure models, the cheap Aluminum Tube, then the Paper Tube, Copper Tube, and Ceramic Tube. So far, I have no interest (or budget) to try the Ceramic Tube, so I take the Copper Tube  (hope I made a good decision).

Inside, all of them should be the same. Just the enclosure is different. But I note a significant different in weight between the Aluminum Tube and the Paper or Copper Tube.

After several hours of break-in session, soon I will held a session between my favorite Paper Tube vs Copper Tube. This should be interesting, since Copper Tube is more expensive, and should provide an advantage – less interference, thanks to the Copper natural behavior.

But we must wait several days, or week, until they pass the break-in period.

Tags: Capacitor, copper tube, jensen, paper tube
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Posted on Tuesday, 23rd March 2010 by Auw Jimmy

At the end or journey where good electrolytic caps is getting more difficult to be acquired, I think I have to consider some alternatives. I love Black Gate and Elna (Cerafine and Silmic), but those are getting rare and expensive. So far, I can live with Jensen 4-pole electrolytic at my Tube HV power supply, but I’m thinking cheaper solution for general purpose usage.

For now, I think this Axial Electrolytic Capacitor from Jensen could fulfill my needs. It’s quite small. The 10.000uF and 16 VDC size is about the size of average thumb. I thought it would be big

I think this gonna be cool for filament supply application.

Tags: Capacitor, jensen
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Posted on Saturday, 6th March 2010 by Auw Jimmy

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 Auw Jimmy

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 Auw Jimmy

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 Auw Jimmy

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

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Posted on Monday, 8th February 2010 by Auw Jimmy

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 Auw Jimmy

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 Auw Jimmy

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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