Just like CVN-78, this SSE was plagued with countless delays and came in far over budget. The problems with getting proper voltage as discussed in the "After a 14 year run, the TSE must DIE!" thread turned out to be the fault of the Hammond 6K7VG I had left over from my first SSE build 15 years ago and since used in several other projects.
Tube complement: Gold Lion 5AR4 and Kt66s, EH 12AT7. Besides the PT the choke is a Hammond 193H and the OPTs Edcor GXSE-10-8.
This is definitely a Winter Amp as the 374BX runs so hot even the top plate becomes too hot to touch after a short while. Sounds great, though, and vewy, vewy, quiet.
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That’s nice to hear. Congrats.
You never replied to my question here: https://www.diyaudio.com/community/...-the-tse-must-die.331038/page-67#post-7268029
I was curious if this was the case or was I mistaken: “In looking at you photo in post #1311 and the datasheet for it I believe you have installed both the 1655-S4D05120A-ND in reverse.”
You never replied to my question here: https://www.diyaudio.com/community/...-the-tse-must-die.331038/page-67#post-7268029
I was curious if this was the case or was I mistaken: “In looking at you photo in post #1311 and the datasheet for it I believe you have installed both the 1655-S4D05120A-ND in reverse.”
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I have some rectifier info in case anyone may be interested. The first I tried was a Gold Lion 5AR4, 5 years old but new out of the box. It came up and played fine for 5 hours the first day with a plate voltage of 435.
The next day it arced and sparked as it came up and so I shut it down. Got a hold of a new, really new JJ GZ34. It sparked as it cam up. All this is with both diodes D3 and 4, thermistor CL-140.
To the bench we went and measured a whopping 476 on the plates with the JJ as though it wasn't dropping any voltage at all. Quite a bit from a 375-0-375 even for Hammond. So fairly recent new production from qualtiy manufacturers arced and sparked even with the SS Prophylaxis.
I had a couple of new in the box (you should see the gorgeous boxes like they came right from the drug store's tester 70 years ago) RCA 5U4. In that went with no arcing or grumbles even though it's directly heated. The 3 Amp draw should be OK with the 374BX. Especially as now the Plate Voltage was down to 426 .
I'm really, finally, enjoying this little amp and glad I stuck with it. It might be the most expensive stock SSE ever though!
The next day it arced and sparked as it came up and so I shut it down. Got a hold of a new, really new JJ GZ34. It sparked as it cam up. All this is with both diodes D3 and 4, thermistor CL-140.
To the bench we went and measured a whopping 476 on the plates with the JJ as though it wasn't dropping any voltage at all. Quite a bit from a 375-0-375 even for Hammond. So fairly recent new production from qualtiy manufacturers arced and sparked even with the SS Prophylaxis.
I had a couple of new in the box (you should see the gorgeous boxes like they came right from the drug store's tester 70 years ago) RCA 5U4. In that went with no arcing or grumbles even though it's directly heated. The 3 Amp draw should be OK with the 374BX. Especially as now the Plate Voltage was down to 426 .
I'm really, finally, enjoying this little amp and glad I stuck with it. It might be the most expensive stock SSE ever though!
Back when the SSE was in its infancy a builder sent me pictures of his work of art. He spent over $2000 on his chassis! It was machined out of solid marble or granite, don't remember which. I believe it was done with water jet, but again, not sure. I have seen a few other pieces of audio art, but I think that one takes the prize. This happened before the great computer disaster I had in about 2006 where just about all of my digital life was lost, including those pictures. Hurricane Wilma ate my main computer and the backup. I noticed a funny stain inside the clear Lexan case on the original TSE amp I had but it worked fine for almost a year until the power transformer fried. I opened up the transformer to find it full of rust and corrosion. Then the stain made sense, the amp had been full of water, as was a lot of my stuff.
Well that $2,000 custom makes me feel like a poor relation. I used a 15 year old piecce of cherry from the back of my stash for the chassis that I paid maybe $20 for.
I did buy 2 boards, new PT and choke, 2 complete sets of parts, and whiled away about 1000 hours trying to go from minus 700 volts to a successful build. I won't reveal my hourly rate before I retired
Oh, and being well into my senility I went through 2 - $50 aluminum plates before I drilled a third one right.
You know the difference between senility and dimentia? A senile guy walks into his listening room and can't remember why. Someone with dimentia walks in and doesn't recognize the room.
I will tell anyone interested that an outfit called Hawk Electronics discounts Hammond about 12% and the Allied by Hammond 6K7VG is just a little over $100. So there's that.
I did buy 2 boards, new PT and choke, 2 complete sets of parts, and whiled away about 1000 hours trying to go from minus 700 volts to a successful build. I won't reveal my hourly rate before I retired
Oh, and being well into my senility I went through 2 - $50 aluminum plates before I drilled a third one right.You know the difference between senility and dimentia? A senile guy walks into his listening room and can't remember why. Someone with dimentia walks in and doesn't recognize the room.
I will tell anyone interested that an outfit called Hawk Electronics discounts Hammond about 12% and the Allied by Hammond 6K7VG is just a little over $100. So there's that.
"You know the difference between senility and dimentia? A senile guy walks into his listening room and can't remember why. Someone with dimentia walks in and doesn't recognize the room."
My grandmother had Alzheimer's Disease and my uncle had Parkinson's Disease.
I asked my uncle if he would rather have had Alzheimer's and he said he would rather spill an ounce of whiskey than forget where he put the bottle.
My grandmother had Alzheimer's Disease and my uncle had Parkinson's Disease.
I asked my uncle if he would rather have had Alzheimer's and he said he would rather spill an ounce of whiskey than forget where he put the bottle.
Bill, glad you are in business now with your SSE and hope you enjoy the music. But sorry to hear about the misfortunes with those precious 5AR4s.
I’m still puzzled by your unhappy experience with the 5AR4s, AFTER resolving the transformer/wiring issues. It would be nice to figure it out. The JJ has less than stellar reputation, but Gold Lions have been robust in most applications. Could it be that your power transformer has lower than expected internal winding resistance in the secondary coil for a 5AR4? The spec sheets are clear about a “minimum plate supply resistance per plate” (Rs in GE parlance). The “yellow sheet” diode mod which is trying to prevent arching in 5AR4s, I suspect, is primarily addressing a problem caused by non-compliance with this Rs spec by modern users.
https://frank.pocnet.net/sheets/093/5/5AR4.pdf
If you check on page three of the GE sheet you will see the graph at the bottom of the page. With you Hammond 374BX your are getting 375Vac, so the required resistance should be at least ~115 Ohms per plate from the center tap. Unfortunately I could not find a spec for the resistance your 274BX, but I bet it is a lot lower than that, which could explain why your 5AR4 spark. Would you mind checking the resistance sometime and let us know (measure each leg when turned of before the you grt to the diode). That would give our enquiring minds some peace.
(I’m glad that your pristine old 5u4 is up to the task, probably due to higher internal resistance, but they may also just be over-engineered and built)
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