Posted on Sunday, 12th February 2012 by Auw Jimmy

I break one of my tube (in purpose) to take this shoot. It’s an EF184 made by Philips. I don’t have any use for this tube anyway. So just enjoy the weekend shoot meanwhile I’m soldering my DAC

EF184 is a high gain pentode with frame grid. Mostly was used as IF Amplifier with high operation bandwidth up to 40 MHz in old television receiver.

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Tags: EF184, Photogenic, tube
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Posted on Monday, 17th October 2011 by Auw Jimmy

I always enjoy the beauty of vacuum tube, especially when the heater is glowing bright on thoriated tungsten tube and in a dimmed room. The photo below only taken for fun. I power up the EIMAC 8165/4-65A tube with 4x AA battery. The 6V filament glows, but I think due to limited current from the AA batteries, it can’t be as bright as normal. But even with the limited current, we still can enjoy the beauty of it…

More EIMAC tubes to follow…

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Tags: EIMAC, tube
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Posted on Tuesday, 30th August 2011 by Auw Jimmy

One of must have software when simulating power supply is PSU Designer II or PSUD II. This amazing freeware could simulate your power supply behavior, before you start to assembly your circuit. Off course, not all looked good means good for ears, but at least we can try

Below is my current Aikido PreAmp power supply circuit. The rectifier actually should be RGN, but I can’t find it on the list. So let’s roll with similar one, the common 5U4-GB.

The chokes are various from Sowter, Electra-Print, and Lundahl. Plan to take another amorphous one from Tamura, but we’ll see. Capacitor also varies, with V-Cap, Jensen, ASC, and the last minute acquisition, Black Gate WKz.

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Tags: power supply, PSUD, tube
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Posted on Friday, 29th July 2011 by Auw Jimmy

Last upgrade, the switches. Basically, in most tube application, we will use two switches. The first is the main switch which will control the main AC voltage to supply the main transformer. The second one is the one which commonly called as stand-by switch. This will control the High Voltage (either cut in AC – before rectification or DC – after rectification) supply to power up the tube.

The first switch is quite easy to get, as this is common voltage (either 110 VAC or 220 VAC). But the second one is not too easy, since we will deal with voltage more than 220 VAC (usually 300-500 VAC/VDC). Most people will use standard 220 VAC rated switch, which is actually quite safe, since this second switch only run <200 mA current (most 220 VAC switch is rated 5 A or more).

But as this is the ultimate project, of course we will not use such shortcut approach. After some searching around, my choice hits to the Leviton 30A – 600 VAC rated switch. This double poles switch has silver-alloy contacts and designed for fast-make/slow-break. This is really what I’m looking for from a High Voltage switch. With 600 VAC rating, I think I can sleep very well when use this one on 350 VAC secondary.

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Tags: High Voltage, Hubbell, Leviton, Stand-by switch, tube
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Posted on Thursday, 12th May 2011 by Auw Jimmy

Manage to secure some… Probably needed on  my “someday” 2A3 project…

Tags: 5842, Triode, tube
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Posted on Thursday, 3rd February 2011 by Auw Jimmy

When I clean up some of my collections today, I accidentally find some tubes which I rarely (or probably never) use. Actually I have some bad habits, collecting “junks”. Not really “junks” in terms of “garbage”, but “junks” for “thing I probably don’t need or use”. Well, there is a point in my life when I should change, the time shall come… I hope

For this case, they are P-Socket tubes. I got some of them, mostly AZ1 rectifier with either solid or mesh plate.

Below is the photo of the Valvo AZ1 Big Mesh on the P-Socket, then converted to Octal base. How to make it? Let’s continue.

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Tags: AZ1, octal, P-Socket, tube
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Posted on Sunday, 16th May 2010 by Auw Jimmy

I plan to compare some capacitors from Jensen and one from Audio Note. The two from Jensen are Jensen Copper Foil Paper-in-Oil (Paper Tube) and Jensen Copper Foil Paper-in-Oil (Copper Tube). From Audio Note, I have Copper Foil Mylar-in-Oil (I believe this is Copper Tube also). We gonna have a serious battle later since those 3 caps are using different “recipe”. Both Jensen are Paper in Oil type, but with different enclosure. While the Audio Note has similarity with one of the Jensen with Copper Tube, but with Mylar instead of Paper. Audio Note claims the Mylar will provide better combination between sonic reproduction and the reliability.

Shall we prove the result? Later… We must wait after the burn-in session, probably in 100+ hours.

For the burn-in session, I sealed the Copper Tube caps with plastic. This is to prevent the oxidation of the copper tube (both Audio Note and Jensen Copper Tube oxides very fast in my environment due to high humidity, thanks to the purity of the material used also). I should prepare a transparent heatshrink for a good looking appearance, but no time to find one now. Perhaps you will ask why there are 2 pair of Jensen Paper Tube? One is my friend’s, to join the burn-in session before used on his system.

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Tags: Aikido, audio note, Capacitor, Duelund, jensen, preamp, tube
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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
Posted in Collectible Stuff | Comments (2)

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 Saturday, 2nd January 2010 by Auw Jimmy

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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Posted on Tuesday, 18th August 2009 by Auw Jimmy

After you read this, perhaps you would expect a better system to test the capacitors. So today, I visit a friend, and test the capacitors on his system. We can call him, Mr. X. Here is some brief of Mr. X audio system.

Below is the power amplifier. Powered with RS241, RE604,and 6J5. Rectifier is RGN 2504 (later we try Klangfilm RGN 4004). OT is Tango. Currently powered with Jensen Copper Foil Capacitor and old NOS Western Electric capacitors. FYI, RS241 is claimed by most audiophiles as best sounding tube amplifier (forget 300B or 2A3) – and it’s really proven, if you have chance to hear it. This is an ultimate Single Ended tube amplifier (if you really know what do RS241, RE604, and 6J5 really mean to an audiophile).

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Tags: Capacitor, Duelund, jensen, mundorf, tube
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Posted on Sunday, 19th April 2009 by Auw Jimmy

I dig my tube boxes and found this old tube. Not a really expensive or most wanted tube, yeah… just an old Western Electric 393A tube. It’s a Argon and Mercury Vapor filled Thyratron tube. According to the datasheet, the addition of Argon gas on the Mercury Vapor atmosphere allows the tube to start conducting at low temperature. Ok, forget those technical literature, just watch the tube in action.

I heat up the tube for a while. According to the manual, to maintain the life span, it’s recommended to heat it up first. I give around 3-4 minutes. You can see the filament is glowing inside the metal bracket on the center of the tube.

Time for action, activate the High Voltage… Voila, the sky of blue on the top of the tube. Very beautiful!!! You still can see the red filament glowing inside the blue Mercury atmosphere.

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Tags: glowing, Mercury, tube, tube tester
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