Bottlehead Forum
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: RayP on September 14, 2010, 03:15:28 AM
-
Fritz has kindly volunteered to host at his house in Newark, DE on Saturday, October 23. We generally kick off at about 10am and go to a bit before 5pm.
As usual, all are welcome and please bring any items you wish to play ( and CDs of course ).
Steve, David and I have been having a discussion about a possible competition for next year and we can talk about it at the meet and decide what we will do. All the ideas have a limit of $100 and include
- a linestage using russian tubes
- a speaker that uses an unusual box ( PVC pipe, hollow fenceposts, vases, spheres )
- a modded cheap CD player
- a power supply that would be tested with a common amp such as one of our 6V6 entrants (300vdc, 6.3v)
Think about it over the next month.
For past meets, look at here. http://829b.com/bottleheads.aspx (http://829b.com/bottleheads.aspx)
My red lantern 6V6 is back in operation so I will bring that along with a 12B4A line stage and a somewhat modded Lampucera DAC. If I have room in my car, I will bring the SV811-10 amp.
Incidently, the reason why the 6V6 amp didn't work at the competition was because the nut on the bolt that fastened one of the 2SK3564's to the heatsink had loosened on the long bumpy drive down. I've since discovered that a dab of nail polish is supposed to keep the nut from loosening so I will try that.
ray
-
On my calendar. I have a AD1865 DAC to bring - hopefully will have tube output in place by then. I may also have some other goodies to bring.
-
Sounds like fun. Sorry but i can`t make this one as my wife is having surgery right before this date. I`ll try to make the next one.
-
I think I can make it. I have converted the SR-45 to a 6201-12AT7 front end. I have a cheep DAC to throw into the mix. My latest project is a deathtrap breadboard, too fragile to move...John
-
Just a reminder that it is two weeks to the meet, so it is time to get your latest stuff working to bring along.
Remember that we will be discussing what the next competition is. When we were organizing the last competition, I received some requests from various B'Heads around the country to submit entries by mail (or UPS). We decided that would complicate things too much which is why competitors had to carry their creation in the door. This time, I am pondering the idea of having a team entry for whatever I do. The idea is that I have a team of three B'heads who can't get to our area and they come up with the design as a joint effort. I do my best to build it and then take it to the competition. Let me know what you think of the idea.
ray
-
I'm going to need an address or directions to Fritz's place.
I have a DAC to bring, but haven't gotten to the tube output yet.
I also picked up some Electrovoice SP15B speakers in open baffles. To be honest, they are not that great, but the price was right. I can bring them if people are interested. I have Jim Griffin Jordan/Aurum Cantus but these need some power. I have Metronome speakers with Fostex FE127E as well. I'm not going to move the ART arrays unless someone wants to help me.
With regards to Bottlehead equipment, I also have Paramour I's with iron upgrade, Foreplay I, Foreplay III, and S.E.X. with upgraded iron.
I also have a chipamp.com LM3886, a MyRefC chip amp and Lightspeed attenuator.
Let me know if you want me to bring anything in particular.
-
Tanglewood Lane, Newark, DE. I don't know the number but it is close to 100 where the lane does a bit of a bend.
Coordinates are 39
-
i would like to attend. did not see any address however. if you could provide, i would appreciate it.
if you are interested i can bring a pair of western electric 6v6 amps, and a pair of altec 755a's in jensen "ultraflex" enclosures.
-
105 tanglewood ln is the street address.
I will bring EV's, Jordans, Lightspeed and DAC. Metronomes if I can fit them.
-
You and your 6V6's and Altecs will be very welcome. Remember to bring music. I always find it interesting to listen to music I've never heard of.
ray
-
Some pictures and comments from today's meet can be found here
http://829b.com/October2010.aspx (http://829b.com/October2010.aspx)
We had some discussion about the next competition and we are probably going to go with the line stage for under $100 using Russian tubes, caps etc. Over the next week or so, I will develop a web page with the rules etc.
Thanks to Fritz for hosting yet again.
ray
-
ARRRG! I messed up the date. I have the car packed up for tomorrow. This is what happens when you work too much
-
Good thing you checked the board... Fritz would have had a surprise if you showed up this morning.
The biggest thing that was confirmed to me at this meet was how important synergy is to a system. Some combinations were just ok, but some really sounded great. I don't think I have heard the Jordans through tubes before. They are not very efficient so my paramours don't stand a chance. I think we have used them with Steve's single-ended KT88 before, but if I recall it didn't have enough power (neither did Don's 6V6 amp). But, I was really surprised how good the Jordans sounded with Ray's 811 amp.
One correction, the DAC I brought was the AD1865 (http://www.lampizator.eu/LAMPIZATOR/REFERENCES/NOS-DAC_AD1865/ad1865.html) not the maxi lampucera.
Thanks for hosting Fritz!
-
OK I have changed the page to read the AD1865 with the appropriate link.
By the way, John, do you still have your winning entry? We were thinking of some sort of competition where we each design a power supply to deliver the 300 vdc that your amp needs and then see if one sounds better than the others on your amp or if they all sound much the same. I suspect most of us have sufficient parts kicking around that we wouldn't have to buy anything.
What do you think?
ray
-
The Amp is currently with Ed Schilling, at the Horneshoppe factory and public mortar range. If we want to do this I'm sure we can drag it away from him.
I have been wanting to try it with my new "big everything" supply
-
Um... 2wo,
those are large synchronous motors not generators.
And you thought no one would know the difference! ! !
Bwa, ha, ha, ha! I laugh my evil laugh.
I used to work with the likes of these at Alcoa. The plant I worked in was built in 1942 for the war. Made a lot of aircraft aluminum. Now they make can stock.
Now if you put an alternator on the other side of a synchronous motor you have the ultimate isolated power system. I have worked on those too. Lots of industrial stuff not enough consumer electronics.
-
Now I am intrigued. I presumed the photo showed some sort of hydroelectric generator in a dam but looking closer I see I was probably mistaken.
So what is going on here? From the left I see a long shaft. Halfway along the shaft there appears to be some sort of small belt driven device. Any idea what this is?
Moving to the right we reach the big whirlygig thingie which I presume is the motor. Am I correct?
Finally on the right at the end of the shaft is a smaller whirlygig thingie. What's this?
And what would have been the purpose of all of this?
ray
-
No, they are generators, early Allis Chalmers. Here is the link.
http://beta.wisconsinhistory.org/Content/Articles/FEAT-PrairieDuSacDam.aspx
And here is a similar one
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Allis-Chalmers_electric_generator_DCAPC_August_2008_show.jpg
The belt driven thing is probably an oil pump to supply lube to the bearing through the wall, or might be a governor. Next is the generator itself. At the far end is the brushes or commutator, not sure what the correct term is...John
-
I had seen the A-C on the base. So they are alternators.
The mills I worked on had synchronous motors running generator lines with variable fields, thus variable DC outputs. The generators were much deeper and had larger, deeper from front to back, field coils than these.
The speed has to be tightly controlled. If the alternators are not synchronized they will destroy each other. The speed control could be what is probably belted to the shaft. The speed control system might also be tied into the device on the right end of the shaft.
Original equipment used babit bearings and a wet sump with a slinger ring. We had some that were updated in the 50s using a pump and sump to circulate the oil.
-
There are a bunch more photos at the following URL.
http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/whi/results.asp?subject_narrow=Electric+apparatus+and+appliances (http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/whi/results.asp?subject_narrow=Electric+apparatus+and+appliances)
It looks like the turbines were housed in the wall at one end of the axle. The turbines appear to be the correct size to fit the hole in the wall and were mounted vertically.
Earlier this year, I visited Cragside in England, where hydro-electricity was first used.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cragside (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cragside)
The original incandescent lamps are still there in use. At the time, when the lamps were to be switched off, the current was diverted to the equivalent resistor because it was too difficult to turn off and on the generator.
(http://)
-
Thanks for the link Ray, I had found it the other day but it would not open for me.
I love this old stuff, I like to think of myself as a very amateur industrial archeologist, might, in part, explain my interest in tubes.
Granger, They could get away without precise speed control because they did not link the alternators. There was no power grid back then and each alternator supplied power to a given town(s)