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Toob Amplified PC Speakers
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Toob Amplified PC Speakers
On Mon, 2 Dec 2013, Tim Wescott wrote:
It's winter, and the amplifier in my PC speakers just died. I think it'd be kinda cool to have a toob speaker amp, but I'm too lazy (and time-challenged) to build one up from scratch. Are there, by any chance, kits out there? I'm not looking for nickel- cored transformers with solid silver windings, genuine paper caps rolled on the thighs of virgins, toobs dipped in LN2, and all that crap: I'm just looking for something that'll give the audio quality of a mid-range amplified speaker set, in a cabinet that shows off the fact that it all uses ancient technology to get the job done. Suggestions welcome. How I hate the cross-posting. PAIA used to sell a tube preamp, or you could have built it from the article in Radio Electronics. I don't know if PAIA still sells it, but the idea was to "give that tube sound", and apparently just a double triode was good enough. You're not going to find a tube amplifier cheap, the only ones interested are the high end people. Even used tube amplifiers from days gone by likely carry a premium. Build a starved circuit amplifier. Or, Popular Electronics once had a tube amplifier that was a cathode output, though I think they used a transformer. Find something old, and feed the signal into it. People are adding audio input jacks to AA5 radios. I think that TMC GPR-90 I got last year for $20 at a garage sale has audio input connections, it certainly has an IF jack for an SSB converter and I think even audio output jacks, so surely it has audio input jacks. Michael VE2BVW |
Toob Amplified PC Speakers
On Mon, 02 Dec 2013 15:13:52 -0600, John S wrote:
On 12/2/2013 3:02 PM, John S wrote: On 12/2/2013 12:58 PM, Tim Wescott wrote: It's winter, and the amplifier in my PC speakers just died. I think it'd be kinda cool to have a toob speaker amp, but I'm too lazy (and time-challenged) to build one up from scratch. Are there, by any chance, kits out there? I'm not looking for nickel- cored transformers with solid silver windings, genuine paper caps rolled on the thighs of virgins, toobs dipped in LN2, and all that crap: I'm just looking for something that'll give the audio quality of a mid-range amplified speaker set, in a cabinet that shows off the fact that it all uses ancient technology to get the job done. Suggestions welcome. TIA Good for you! Nostalgia has its place in our hearts. Can 12AX7s and such still be ordered? I have an old 1964 GE Essential Characteristics of tubes data book. If you promise to actually build your amplifier(s) and it will assist you, I will send it to you free of charge. John Well, somehow my brain elided the fact that you don't want to scratch build. So, my offer is probably worth nothing. Sorry. 'sokay, I appreciate the thought. I have tons of tubes and data, what I lack is decent output transformers and the will to do yet another design project. I may go that route, particularly now that someone's suggested a kit and I've taken a look at the price (!!!). -- Tim Wescott Wescott Design Services http://www.wescottdesign.com |
Toob Amplified PC Speakers
On Mon, 02 Dec 2013 15:54:52 -0500, bitrex wrote:
On 12/2/2013 1:58 PM, Tim Wescott wrote: It's winter, and the amplifier in my PC speakers just died. I think it'd be kinda cool to have a toob speaker amp, but I'm too lazy (and time-challenged) to build one up from scratch. Are there, by any chance, kits out there? I'm not looking for nickel- cored transformers with solid silver windings, genuine paper caps rolled on the thighs of virgins, toobs dipped in LN2, and all that crap: I'm just looking for something that'll give the audio quality of a mid-range amplified speaker set, in a cabinet that shows off the fact that it all uses ancient technology to get the job done. Suggestions welcome. TIA This kit has been around forever and seems to get good reviews: http://store.tubedepot.com/diy-k12g.html? vfsku=diy.k12g.2&gpla=pla&gclid=CJL-56C1krsCFWLNOgoduWkAIA There's also this little kit from a Chinese seller on Ebay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hifi-stereo-...one-amplifier- diy-kit-/230910167825?_trksid=p2054897.l4275 which has the output transformers on board - you'd need to supply a power transformer. You'd have to put them in a chassis if you wanted it, but since they're both mounted on PCBs it shouldn't be too hard: buy an aluminum chassis and punch holes for the tubes, mount the board underneath so the tubes poke through and then mount the transformers underneath or on top as your preference. Thanks. That's exactly what I was looking for, except that now that I know what a fair price is, I may just buy new speakers :(. -- Tim Wescott Wescott Design Services http://www.wescottdesign.com |
Toob Amplified PC Speakers
On Mon, 02 Dec 2013 12:58:56 -0600, Tim Wescott
wrote: It's winter, and the amplifier in my PC speakers just died. I think it'd be kinda cool to have a toob speaker amp, but I'm too lazy (and time-challenged) to build one up from scratch. Are there, by any chance, kits out there? I'm not looking for nickel- cored transformers with solid silver windings, genuine paper caps rolled on the thighs of virgins, toobs dipped in LN2, and all that crap: I'm just looking for something that'll give the audio quality of a mid-range amplified speaker set, in a cabinet that shows off the fact that it all uses ancient technology to get the job done. Suggestions welcome. TIA Search for 'Zen Amp' there are some DIY pages out there. Both Tube and Mosfet designs. Cheers |
Toob Amplified PC Speakers
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Toob Amplified PC Speakers
If you want a respectable, easy to build, low power tube amp kit, look
at the Velleman kits. They are well-designed and have good output transformers. For the most part, when you buy a tube amp, you are buying transformers and engineering. Everything else is of comparatively minimal cost and effect. --scott -- "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis." |
Toob Amplified PC Speakers
Maynard A. Philbrook Jr. wrote:
In , says... Jim Thompson wrote: On Mon, 02 Dec 2013 12:58:56 -0600, Tim Wescott wrote: It's winter, and the amplifier in my PC speakers just died. I think it'd be kinda cool to have a toob speaker amp, but I'm too lazy (and time-challenged) to build one up from scratch. Are there, by any chance, kits out there? I'm not looking for nickel- cored transformers with solid silver windings, genuine paper caps rolled on the thighs of virgins, toobs dipped in LN2, and all that crap: I'm just looking for something that'll give the audio quality of a mid-range amplified speaker set, in a cabinet that shows off the fact that it all uses ancient technology to get the job done. Suggestions welcome. TIA Just for fun, you might do a single stage class-A stage using a 2A3. I did one when I was a kid, but with 5 in parallel ;-) ...Jim Thompson Better yet, a push-pull transformerless design! I remember a quasie tube output, that was bad car ma. It required a safety circuit on the output, not for users but for equipment. The outfit could care less about the user safety! :) This was a magnetic server that required a broad range of bw. the tube outputs were a pair of 4-400Z. Had dual HV supply because you needed the - rail for the bottom side. each heater had their own transformer with CT to tie off to the common for pinch off biasing. The top side had some strange method of driving the tube, but it worked Jamie I may still have circuits and/or designs of transformerless tube speaker drivers that were purported to be perfectly safe to touch active lines (do not ask which lines, do not remember). And yes, the circuitry is weird on the push-pull drivers; there was even a full bridge version. |
Toob Amplified PC Speakers
On 02/12/2013 22:57, Michael Black wrote:
On Mon, 2 Dec 2013, Tim Wescott wrote: It's winter, and the amplifier in my PC speakers just died. I think it'd be kinda cool to have a toob speaker amp, but I'm too lazy (and time-challenged) to build one up from scratch. Are there, by any chance, kits out there? I'm not looking for nickel- cored transformers with solid silver windings, genuine paper caps rolled on the thighs of virgins, toobs dipped in LN2, and all that crap: I'm just looking for something that'll give the audio quality of a mid-range amplified speaker set, in a cabinet that shows off the fact that it all uses ancient technology to get the job done. Suggestions welcome. How about using a modern semiconductor IC hidden inside the box and just having a couple of ornamental toobs stuck out the top and glowing. A USB port should just about power two filaments. How I hate the cross-posting. BTW is "boat anchor" the US term for tube based or old dead kit? -- Regards, Martin Brown |
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