Not yet but I believe it uses top of the range transformers from about 25 years ago ... I dont know what valves are in use ..... is it a EL 34 / KT 88 set up.
The builder was an electrical engineer who built this as his own retirement present ... sounds promising
I dont know if there is a pre with it - what was normal?
I will meet him when I pick up - I am googling but have yet to find non tekkie info on these items.
Its the triode thats reportedly blown ....... the ECC83 (red number) a generic item on both sides as far as I can see - funny noise and then spiff to quote the builder
The Pentode on one is a Golden Dragon and a CVC on the other blok
The main valves are Sovteks
Can I sensibly swop the triode from one to t'other or do I have to take a squint inside first?
He has kept the matching pre-amp he also built -sensible - but I might put an offer in for the next time
Looks promising Ian given that the transformers look very substantial - some of these clones used weedy little things that saturated early.
If the amp is a true Mullard 5-20 clone and built using good quality components with sensible wiring layout it should perform very well.
The valves are plentiful and you can pick up new ECC83s for a about £8.
Do check the insides for signs of scorched components or anything that might have come adrift before powering up.
If you haven't already done so, join the World Designs forum as that place is full of useful info and is very friendly.
Thanks Robert. Its definitely the HiFi World kit of parts but I dont know if these are sowters transformers .....
I found my way to WAD about 2am this morning! However they are clearly not arts graduates on that site! To date Im out of my depth there but will check in again.
If I can find some lash up to power either a NAC12 or 42 then for now I can use them as a pre and have the right DIN-rca cable for that
Whilst I realise it only tecnically needs volume control I will require a set of real inputs on a pre-amp.to use here
Its funny because I only monoblokked my 110's a month back and now I have some more to tune into. I miss my Radford and esl's so fingers crossed.
SO re te triode check underneath and if all OK I can swop the good un over to see if its OK
OK - its the fuse that's blown.
Its a 2 amp mini fuse ...... might have one somewhere. The non working blok is the first pic with the suntanned choke transformer but it looks like old heating not current.
Both the ECC83's check out in the blok thats running fine so I'll just replace it and stand back ...
I have had the base off and all seems fine solder wise
Well it seems to work but as I havent linked up speakers yet or line in yet its only a visual sense that the faulty blok whilst all valves work maybe the big ESL 34's seemed to be warming up quicker than the other channel.
So I'll rig up a line in and some expendable speakers tomorrow.
I saw Mike Holmes of Maplins 4-20 renown over in world designs be unimpressed with sovteks and cvc's saying they do the job but have no pizz zazz
Get them working properly before you start paying big bucks for valves. The advice about browning components is a good one. The most usual things to go are underspec anode resistors and drying coupling capacitors. Being 25 years old I would change these without thinking about it. A photo of the underside would be useful.
Your's look very similar to mine and can sound very reasonable into sympathetic speakers.
Oh and don't play music through them unless you have some load/speakers on them. Try to get some speakers you don't care about just in case of problems.
I have plugged b team 50watt max/6ohm speakers into them and attenuators on the rca inputs. I fed a pre line out signal into them with volume at zero
Music comes forth OK but the volume needs to be controlled as it was getting very very loud. I dont have a variac so switched off the power as the vol rose
Volume control in the speaker leads !! I assumed the middle speaker out was the 8ohms one.
I do not have the assembly or spec sheets so dont rightly know what it expects into its rca's
I'll try a Nak tape deck next which has a variable output ..... although its presumably a standard line out too.
I'll do a photo of underneath when I take the base plate off again
OK with the variable output facility on the Nakamichi 670 all is FAB, even so the output rotary on the nak is hardly a quarter of its travel ......
Will the naim pre's behave in the right manner with the inputs. post 11 was a line out from a Denon CD tuner amp with loads of spare ins and out. As i write I sense the naims will provide the right gain control and that I may have misunderstood line out parameters compared with a dedicated pre.
They havent been on a full 30 mins yet so are presumably warming/stabilising up
I have to say my long patient but music lovong wife was VERY keen to get the valves up and running today and we both knew instantly this was not like the Naim monobloks I have going into Briks down in my cave.
The sound is instantly lovable - so fingers crossed
Will a portable cd player headphone socket also provide the needed control?
Now got the pre sorted out and have heard cd and tuner through it - playing the Nak straight in was very interesting though - I could do that again -
Playing music all night long -especially live recordings of Indian music done on a Nak -
A night of pure musical heaven for which I am most grateful. A lashed up system using a the denon as a pre using old QED 79 strand from 1981 £2 rca interconnects into Denon Mission music system speakers with the nak as source was utterly riveting.
18 months ago I got the family 401, last month I mono'd the 110's and still didnt get what I wanted from cd (rega Planet a la Martin Clark). Tonite I think I found it
Enjoy them for a while and then look at new tubes, especially if the ones fitted are different brands and ages.
Svetlana have a good reliability rep for power tubes and I use and like their KT88s.
For the small signal tubes you should find Sovtek are fine are very reasonably priced, plus there are lots of NOS tubes around if you get the itch.
If --- and it is early days --- but it may well go this way ---- that valves become my main system again then are the much desired Mullard ESL 34's worth getting?
I have yet to find any reference to these that doesnt say they are so far out in front in terms of musical quality/
I assume this might mean a few hundred pounds - but the amp was free to me so ...?
I think only the triodes/pentodes are mixed or new .... all the others are the same age
The sound is utterly amazing I havent had this much pleasure out of the system for many years. Being lent a full pack OL R250 with Denon 110 and fitting it to my experimental 401 plinth came close after 25 years of LP12
My sense is the Naims will be un mono'd, sold off or finally given to those long envious friends of mine! I'll try the valves with the briks soon and we'll see about them too.
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