kevin gilmore

what to do? http://gilmore.chem.northwestern.edu/sockets.jpg If i make the octal sockets flush with the top of the amplifier then the 9 pin sockets are .23 inches below the top of the amplifier? If i make the 9 pin sockets flush with the top of the amp, then i have to make the holes for the octals bigger and they stick up .23 inches? Or push them both thru the top and make different sized tube rings? any suggestions... would rather not machine up some tube rings..

they say that it IS for counterfeit prevention. Evidently very hard to print those things.

The 4 input tubes are actually 2 x 6sn7's and are twin triodes. However the original circuit was 2 x 12ax7's which have more gain. Fact is that as shown the amp just barely has enough gain to work. In fact its a good idea to change out the 1500 ohm resistor to 1k ohm to bump up the gain a bit. If you do replace the front end with 12ax7's then you need to lower the B+ to that section because 400 or 450 is too much. There is another power supply in the T2 that would be great for 300 volts...

Feel free to lay out the board as you see fit. If yours is better, i'll make that one instead. hot off the presses... http://gilmore.chem.northwestern.edu/singlehoures1fix2.pdf

let me be slightly more specific. something like the old vampire right angle single rca jacks, circuit board mount. justin's are not right angle.. The connex one is the only one currently available, and it is way to long, i.e. i have to mount it 1 inch back from the circuit board edge to get it to fit the backpanel. The cardas is even longer as a dual.

I just hate it when good quality parts are no longer available. I'm looking for (a regularly stocked item) pcb mount rca jacks. (not those 99 cent pieces of shit) tiffany style like on the older krell stuff. or cardas gfca style. vampire rca connectors no longer in stock anywhere... neither are the gold neutriks. otherwise its going to stay XLR only, and you can buy the neutrik rca to XLR converters. The stock T2 supply is not RCRC. In fact its just diode bridge into capacitors...(balancing resistors and discharge resistors don't count) An ES1 amplifier section is 8 tubes, 36 resistors, 4 GOOD capacitors, 8 pots, 4 cathode capacitors... (yep thats it)

DIY ES1/2 coming Same chassis(s) Same power supply as the T2 except 2 of the supplies are unpopulated. Rigged as +400, -400 and -450. Quad filaments. And REAL bias supply. Amp board would be trivial for anyone to build as there are virtually no parts other than the 8 tubes. Still going to be the connex sockets however... So you guys want autographed... How about micro engraving? http://gilmore.chem.northwestern.edu/num.jpg thats a .002 diameter carbide bit plowing .003 into polished stainless. (thats about 50x) (i love my new eyes...)

solid titanium knobs will be about $100.

Not a joke. But i don't expect anyone to buy one either. I have enough gold in stock for 3 knobs, and enough platinum in stock for one. But i do like the idea of making knobs out of titanium. Looks like you made it out of sterling, except that it does not tarnish.

At this rate there may be more of these than the originals... I'm starting to adjust the position of parts to make sure it is easy to build. The dynafet is much harder to stuff...

Board sets will be available seperately.

Whats funny is that in the late 1970's B&O produced speakers that needed at least 100 watts to drive properly, and those were the connectors on the end of a 16 gauge cable.

The MLB is giving away these cards at the local jewel (grocery store) this is at 20x http://gilmore.chem.northwestern.edu/bob1.jpg notice the thing in the star... this is at 250x http://gilmore.chem.northwestern.edu/bob6.jpg printed holograms... The second hologram is .007mm in diameter

The biggest thing is to make sure you don't over voltage any of the resistors. There are parts of the circuit that have 4 resistors in series to make sure you can handle killovolt swings. The original used a lot of surface mount resistors that could handle only 250 volts each. If you use the standard rn60's they are good for more than 450 volts each.

This is why i'm doing just the pieces for which there will be no argument. Although the jury is still out on powder coating vs hard anodizing. or having my friend that owns an audi approved (aluminum) body shop put a few layers of paint on it. That is how wilson audio gets those kind of finishes... Spies Hecker black is one of my all times favorites.

That is how it is wired. Just checked the real circuit board pictures to make sure. Figure on about $4k in parts total including an RK50. If you are creative, you might be able to save a couple hundred in parts.

yup. That was back when those 2sc3381's were about 50 cents each. unless you know the right place to buy them from, go and check the bdent pricing. Way stupid.

I was joking. We have seen some of the magic cables produced by some of the whacked out cable manufacturers. One of which fills their cable with conductive crap. With 800 volts inside the cable, stuff like this is probably not a good idea. Neither is accidentally wiring the cable wrong and getting one of the high voltage lines switched with a low voltage line. Instant and very serious kaboom. You think these people are actually going to test their cables ?? Are they going to get a real cable to copy from... The filament lines are different sized wires from the high voltage lines. Will they know. Would they even care?

icarium x 2 sets of heatsinks.

Actually not. You can switch to the military amphenol connectors. You can order them with a proprietary rotary angle offset. (i think you have to buy only 25 sets). Then no one will be able to buy the connectors, and then they can't make stupid ass cables. In any case, use an aftermarket cable and void the warranty.

current board layouts http://gilmore.chem.northwestern.edu/staxt2connexonlyrev0-4-1.jpg http://gilmore.chem.northwestern.edu/staxt2rev0power-6-1.jpg I almost forgot.... 4 ounce solid .9999 fine platinum knobs will be available special order. Figure about $11K for the knob. Solid gold knobs (24k) will also be available. Figure about $5k. Solid silver knobs (.925) , not coated, and guaranteed to look really cool in a year or two will be about $400

OK so here is the deal so far. I've ordered all the components including the heatsinks. I'm going to wait till everything is in stock, and a couple more people have checked the design against the schematic. If you think you are up to that, give me a PM and i'll point you to all the pieces. The 4 heatsinks are going to cost roughly $250 total (plus shipping) which includes the bare heatsink material, drilling and tapping, and powder coating black. I've purchased enough material for 20 amplifiers. 5 are spoken for already (2 x gilmore, 2 x spritzer, 1 x icarium) if you are interested, let me know. I'm upfronting the money, so i don't want any payments now. The 4 angle aluminum pieces (completely machined) drilled will likely be $20 each. (you will need 4) Its mostly labor. For stuff like this, i will pay to use the milling machine. Working on the prices for the back, front and tops and bottoms now. The circuit boards are going to be $267 for the board set (one of each) if i buy 10 sets. Less if i buy 20 or 25 sets. So i need a show of hands as to how many want board sets. The board is layed out for either an RK50 (me of course) or the DACT. If a khozmo ever shows up, i'll see if i can add that too. There will be an additional small mounting bracket to secure the pot to the amp board. (this will be a few bucks max) All prices approximate plus shipping. I'm not going to make any money on this, but i don't want to loose any money either. So likely about $1100 total for all the chassis pieces plus a circuit board set. The 3 transformers from SumR are a total of $250. The rest of the parts including real amphenol military connectors about $1500. The RK50 you can price for yourself. Expect to pay $1k, maybe more. Not sure of the price on the DACT. amp board schematic http://gilmore.chem.northwestern.edu/t2schem.pdf amp power supply schematic http://gilmore.chem.northwestern.edu/t2schempower.pdf current board layout in a few minutes.

What you really want is solid marble pillars (the real stuff not synthetic)

Actually if you set the pots pretty close before you solder them in, and you don't have any shorts and everything is in the right place, it powers up just fine the first time.

Yep once you turn 40 you are toast. They used to make tv alignment tools which had a recessed blade inside a plastic tube. Put it over the pot and it stays in place. various politically incorrect name for those tools.