Posted on Monday, 23rd June 2008 by Auw Jimmy

Well, this is a surprise news for me (at first). A “Made in America” PCB? Seriously?

Few months ago, my friend introduced me to TubeCAD (and finally led me to John Broskie). Actually, I knew his TubeCAD Journal and even his famous TubeCAD software 1-2 years ago (or more). But at that time, I didn’t have any interest on such technical things (like Broskie’s journals). Until finally, I heard his Aikido pre-amplifier and quite stunned how come a simple pre-amplifier (with cheap components) could lead into magical sound! Then I changed my mind and started to read some of Mr. Broskie’s journal.

My interest in some of his articles led me into a personal communications via e-mail (well, I do enjoy the modern technology, I wonder if I should send him an ordinary air mail to ask about his article – it will take years before I can get myself answered! With e-mail, within a night – due to different time zone, almost all of my questions could get the answers).

Finally, I decided to order his Aikido 9pin Mono PCB. John sent the package via express mail. It arrived around 2 days but due to custom issue, I accepted in around 5-6 days. Still quite a fast delivery

Here is the PCB. Dual sides, plated-through 2 oz copper traces. Don’t forget that both sides are silk-screened.

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Tags: 9pin, Aikido, DIY-Audio, PCB, Pre Amplifier, tube
Posted in Collectible Stuff, Personal | Comments (9)

Posted on Sunday, 8th June 2008 by Auw Jimmy

European Triode Festival (ETF) has been a yearly event for several years (since 2000, I think). It’s an event where (most likely) all vacuum tube lover will gather from around the world. And off course, all are DIY product, from amplifier to speaker (even turntable also).

Beside listening music, they also held some seminars. You can see, hear, and meet famous name like Jean Hiraga, Morgan Jones, Lynn Olson, Per Lundahl (Lundahl Transformers), Brian Sowther (Sowther Transformers), Steve Bench, Guido Tent (Tentlabs), Allen Wright (VSE), Peter van Willenswaard (Stereophile), Pieter Treurniet (Tribute Transformers), Tim de Paravicini (EAR/YOSHINO) and John Boskie (TubeCAD).

DHTRob has a very nice shoot. I Googled around and I picked some photos from ETF 2007 and published here. Please visit his site to see more or Google around to find more.

1 KiloWatt (1000 Watt) Push Pull Amplifier by Andre Klein (4 x 100TH as driver, 4 x 380Tube as power), special Output Transformer made by STS Millerioux (France). B+ is set at 5000 Volt (as shown on the photo below)!!! Totally crazy!

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Tags: DIY-Audio, Festival, tube
Posted in DIY Audio | Comments (2)