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

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

"Martin Brown" wrote in message
...
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.

Heresy!!

....On a related note, large crates of 6AL5s have been known to turn up on
eBay, advertised for Xmas lights and other assorted uses.

BTW is "boat anchor" the US term for tube based or old dead kit?

Big heavy kit anyway. It's not really dead if it still works..?

Toob stuff is generally iron-rich, so it fits well, although some early
solid state Tek/HP/radio equipment also fits the bill nicely.

Tim

--
Seven Transistor Labs
Electrical Engineering Consultation
Website: http://seventransistorlabs.com

On 12/3/2013 3:10 AM, Martin Brown wrote:
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?

"Boat anchor" includes good stuff too, e.g. most of the instruments in
my lab. Just about anything over 20 pounds and 15 years old
qualifies, especially if it fits in a 19-inch rack.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

--
Dr Philip C D Hobbs
Principal Consultant
ElectroOptical Innovations LLC
Optics, Electro-optics, Photonics, Analog Electronics

160 North State Road #203
Briarcliff Manor NY 10510

hobbs at electrooptical dot net
http://electrooptical.net

On Tue, 03 Dec 2013 12:10:22 -0500, Phil Hobbs
wrote:

On 12/3/2013 3:10 AM, Martin Brown wrote:
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?

"Boat anchor" includes good stuff too, e.g. most of the instruments in
my lab. Just about anything over 20 pounds and 15 years old
qualifies, especially if it fits in a 19-inch rack.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

Old 8" hard-drives make good door stops ;-)

...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson | mens |
| Analog Innovations | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus |
| San Tan Valley, AZ 85142 Skype: Contacts Only | |
| Voice480)460-2350 Fax: Available upon request | Brass Rat |
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |

I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.

Jim Thompson wrote:

Old 8" hard-drives make good door stops ;-)


So do Liberal trolls. They can hold a 500 Lb door in place.


--
Anyone wanting to run for any political office in the US should have to
have a DD214, and a honorable discharge.

On Tue, 03 Dec 2013 08:10:26 +0000, Martin Brown wrote:

BTW is "boat anchor" the US term for tube based or old dead kit?

It's the term for old radios that glow in the dark and that you shouldn't
pick up by yourself for fear of rupturing something.

I dunno if it's US or English-speaking amateur radio parlance, though.

--

Tim Wescott
Wescott Design Services
http://www.wescottdesign.com

Tim Wescott Inscribed thus:

On Tue, 03 Dec 2013 08:10:26 +0000, Martin Brown wrote:

BTW is "boat anchor" the US term for tube based or old dead kit?

It's the term for old radios that glow in the dark and that you
shouldn't pick up by yourself for fear of rupturing something.

I dunno if it's US or English-speaking amateur radio parlance, though.


I belive its US in origin. In the UK we refer to "Doorstops" !

--
Best Regards:
Baron.

On Tue, 3 Dec 2013, Baron wrote:

Tim Wescott Inscribed thus:

On Tue, 03 Dec 2013 08:10:26 +0000, Martin Brown wrote:

BTW is "boat anchor" the US term for tube based or old dead kit?

It's the term for old radios that glow in the dark and that you
shouldn't pick up by yourself for fear of rupturing something.

I dunno if it's US or English-speaking amateur radio parlance, though.


I belive its US in origin. In the UK we refer to "Doorstops" !

One could think of it as "ballast".

One time someone I knew bought a big Sola transformer at a hamfest, and it
was still in his trunk months later. He claimed it gave his car better
traction, and it was winter, but I suspect getting it out of the trunk and
up to his apartment was another factor.

Michael

Tim Wescott wrote:
On Tue, 03 Dec 2013 08:10:26 +0000, Martin Brown wrote:

BTW is "boat anchor" the US term for tube based or old dead kit?

It's the term for old radios that glow in the dark and that you shouldn't
pick up by yourself for fear of rupturing something.

The rule is, to operate a radio on the 80M boatanchor net, it has to weigh
more in pounds than it produces out in watts. (Although there are occasional
arguments about whether plate input power should be used instead.) This
seems a fair line to draw between boatanchor and non-boatanchor sets.

I dunno if it's US or English-speaking amateur radio parlance, though.

That's the thing about amateur radio, everybody talks to one another so
the slang is mostly universal.
--scott


--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."