Bottlehead Forum
Bottlehead Kits => Eros Phono => Topic started by: JamieMcC on September 29, 2016, 08:42:03 AM
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Hey guys I’m really enjoying the Eros build so far and as soon as my little ones are safely out of the way upstairs enjoying their bed time story with mum I get the chance to reclaim our dining room table get the soldering iron out and make a little bit more progress.
All has gone reasonably well so far and tonight fingers crossed the goal is to successfully completed the transformer tests and check it off the list.
Here are a few progress pics of how its coming together for you
You might notice the 5W 270 Ohm cement resistor which is sitting close to the pcb board the one from the kit was missing and I had one which I had pulled from a Crack when changing it for a choke there wasn’t much left of the leads so it went in but I ended up swapping out for a metal shielded one I had a couple of in the parts box so its stands off of the pcb a bit more. As I have a couple of chokes as well I suspect I will try one of those out at some point in the future.
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You might notice the 5W 270 Ohm cement resistor which is sitting close to the pcb board the one from the kit was missing
Lulz...
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Looking good so far! Have fun and take your time. I just finished mine and will be posting on it soon.
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Lulz...
LOL Doh where is the face palm icon no wonder I couldn't see a big white cement resistor I should have been looking for a big green one instead :-[
Edit At least that was a easy fix
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I envy the carbon!!!
Nice...very nice... 8)
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It is looking good. I like what you have done with the carbon wrap.
I have the power supply installed on mine and moving onto the shunt reg. Can't wait hear how it sounds.
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+1 re: the Carbon Wrap. How do you do that?
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I glue a thin real carbon fibre veneer to the Eros top plate (gorilla glue) then use a dremel with a drill bit fitted to cut out the holes by following the edges of the cut outs and using the spiral part of the drill bit to do the cutting from the non carbon side.
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Very cool. Sort of committed to the red spray job, but would love to try that on the next project.
Alan
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It is looking good. I like what you have done with the carbon wrap.
I have the power supply installed on mine and moving onto the shunt reg. Can't wait hear how it sounds.
Snap thats just about where I am up to now
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I still need to wire the heater, so you are ahead.
I did not work on the circuit last night, but plan to get a lot done this weekend if I can find the time.
I built the CCS boards with the servo, but I'm thinking of removing it. As I get closer to installing them I will decide.
I also, ordered more 6BR7s, so that I have a good stash of them.
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I've been up and running for a few hours now and the Eros is sounding very nice
The end was nearer than I had thought, after spending about ten minutes chasing down a couple of odd readings on the resistance checks I moved on to the voltage checks and all passed with flying colours.
I still have a few more mods in mind but going to enjoy the fruits of my labour for a while and celebrate with a wee dram.
Cheers Bottleheads
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Congrats on finishing the build!
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Looks great! The Eros is a great preamp. Since I built mine, I've found myself listening to vinyl much more than any other source.
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COOL!!! 8)
I'm with Rocketman248. I've not pulled so much vinyl as I have in the last week as I have over the last year. And now shopping for more...
'splain the guts...more pictures!
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I also finished my amp today.
Had some resistance readings that were a little higher than the manual, but they were consistent between channels so I moved forward with the checks. I powered it up and all the LEDs lit up and the readings were good. I was concerned because I could not see the heaters in the 6BR7s and was not sure they were getting power. I figured I would put it in the system and see what happened.
I connected everything and threw the power switch, nothing. No sound, no pops, nothing heard through the speakers. No tube hum coming from the speakers. I continued with testing the Eros, but was thinking there was a problem. I put Led Zeppelin's The Song Remains the Same on the turntable cleaned the stylus, and there it was, sound coming from the speakers. That was a very positive sign. I dropped the needle and music came forth and filled the room. My fears of a problem washed away.
I only listened for about an hour and a half. It sounds good so far and wish I had more time to listen. I'm going to enjoy breaking it in.
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Congrats Brad!
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When I first tested mine I used the tubes that came in the kit. It worked. Turned it off and put in "my" tubes. Turned it on...no sound. Now I was pretty worried at that point until...
I realized I hadn't put the needle down... :o
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I also finished my amp today.
Congratulations I was up late last night enjoying a few LP's and you know how it is once you start its hard to stop!
'splain the guts...more pictures!
Devialtions from stock are Cardas ground lug, Kiwame 75K 1/2W & 47K 2W resistors. The Ampohm paper in wax tin foil capacitors I have had for a while after using them in my Sex so it would have been rude not to try them as they are very nice sounding caps.
The plan was alway to go with the Teflon ouputs caps and I replaced the Ampohms with the Russian Teflons today (0.22uF 600V FT-3) you really got to love those Ruskies ;D the Teflons sounded superb from the get go and will only improve once they have a good burn in.
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Russian candy yum yum ;D
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Lol, I've got a bag of those Russian candies too. The sound of unwrapping them is great!
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Lol, I've got a bag of those Russian candies too. The sound of unwrapping them is great!
lol unwrapping didn't take long but was indeed savoured.
So out of the 10 all were 10nF or over.
3 roughly under 0.5% tolerance
3 roughly under 1%-1.5%
2 roughly around 2% - 2.5%
I kept the two with the tightest tolerance for the single 0.01uf spots and then tried to even out the next six next best to get as close to the same value as I could.
The two that were left over measured roughly 3.5% out which I guess is not to bad given they are rated as having a +/- tolerance of 5%
Now I just have to try and fit them in tomorrow...
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I think it is probably safe to say I’m done tinkering with my Eros for a while, it has been getting a bit of extra burn in around 100hrs now so far via my ipod to help with the Teflon caps. I also fitted four 47uf Valab capacitors (Taiwanese MKP in oils) which had been taking up space in the parts box for a while paralleling a pair up each side in place of the 100uf electrolytic on the cathode bypass.
After removing the stock RIAA caps I measured them to check against the meter readings I was getting for the Teflons and was pleased to find both gave similar results on my meter the Teflon substitutes measuring a little tighter was a bonus. I expect with a couple of dozen of the Teflons it would be possible to match and get under 1% tolerance hmm…
Taking the time to measure and fit them and the cathode bypass caps I feel was definitely worth it.
To say I am enjoying the Eros is a massive understatement I think it’s just a fabulous bit of kit the sound is super clean, detailed and just so immersive. I’m spinning loads of LP's, Sex & speakers during early evening and later when the rest of the house sleeps I switch over to the Mainline which is fitted with RTI 10uf teflons the resulting combination of Eros, Mainline, Jico SAS with the HD800s I think is a pretty special combo holy smoke does it dig deep into the groove. Its a great way to chill out after a busy day.
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Man you really could use a larger chassis!
Do you hear any sonic change with swapping the cathode bypass caps? I'm curious as I built mine with films from the beginning.
Your use of the tefleons in the RIAA reminded me that I've got a stash of them. At some point I'll try them and compare against the polystyrene and film caps in mine.
Thanks for the updates!
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8)
Nice!!!
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Just reached around about 150hr of burning in (feeding it tunes from a ipod) I came home today from work fired up the Sex had a shower then put a LP on, I noticed the change in presentation immediately the Teflons had starting to open up and do their thing :D
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The little ones are all asleep and I’ve got my feet up chilling out with a nice cup of tea admiring the Eros freshly transported into its newly finished Bubinga wood base spinning some Tull via the Mainline and the HD800 and it would be safe to say its simply Epic ;D
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Lovely work and the sound probably matches!!
Cheers,
Geary
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Beautiful, as usual!
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Superb!!!
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Treated my Eros to a pair of EF86 chrome plate Telefunkens which arrived today. I've had them running in most of the afternoon and have now switched over from speakers to the Mainline and HD800 its going to be a late night :D
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I just got in some of those as well. So far - very nice!
What's your feel on them?
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I like them on my initial listening particularly with the Mainline but unfortunately haven’t turned the Eros on for a week now due to feeling under the weather with some virus but on the mend now at last.