My Kaiju Has Arrived!

[ebag4]

I recieved my Kaiju Thursday but wasn't able to dive into it until today.  I built a Foreplay many years ago and more recently the first Stereomour which I still run and love. 

What struck me first is how much bigger the iron for the Kaiju is in comparison to the Steromour, this is a heavy metal build!  Everything was packed great and arrived in perfect condition.  I went through the parts of which there are many, my counts were perfect with the exception of one extra #6 lock washer, outstanding job Josh, thanks!

This is the first time I have seen the new finish on the plate in person, very cool, I was going to paint it but I have decided to go with a clear coat.  This plate is much heavier that the Steromour, once built this amp is going to be solid and heavy.

I won't be able to start the kit for at least a week, my son turns 21 today so this weekend is booked.

I can't wait to get into the build, looks like another great kit.

Best,
Ed

[drewh1]

That is great! Thanks for the report about the iron.  I am hoping to get mine in the next batch and will post a thread about the build.  I already built a cherry base for the Kaiju. You built an awesome base for your Stereomour, what are you planning for this one?

[ebag4]

Drew, I have decided on a design but I haven't started it yet.  I was going to build it while waiting on the kit but thought I might be better off waiting until I received the kit, my concern was I wouldn't make it deep enough.

I have started my build, hardware portion complete.  Man, this thing is heavy for an amp, BIG IRON!!
(https://forum.bottlehead.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs20.postimg.org%2F597x6bja1%2Fimage.jpg&hash=f5fdf36e994850843002492ca36f123840f3bd5f)

[drewh1]

couldn't get the photo, can you re-attach it?  I crossed my fingers and built the base first. thankfully the plate fit with a few minor modifications.   You'll be done before me because I am waiting for some caps and tube sockets. Can't wait to see how it goes.

drew.

[ebag4]

Making progress!!  Ready to start the C4S boards.
(https://forum.bottlehead.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs20.postimg.org%2Fk7uxehnq1%2Fimage.jpg&hash=b7fd83bb95d04b61c200ce139d6095c31007a858) (https://forum.bottlehead.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs20.postimg.org%2Fo2tq3bhi1%2Fimage.jpg&hash=d524a31d52deba63c40624c360cb3d750da649c3)

[ebag4]

C4S boards complete. I will hopefully be listening to this monster this weekend!
 (https://forum.bottlehead.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs20.postimg.org%2F413dtxv8d%2Fimage.jpg&hash=043a5ceabef3533e62a2ee9b906fe7305aa31595)

[drewh1]

You are moving right along with it.  Can't wait to hear the reviews! 

[mkane]

 

[Lee Hankins]

It is really nice to see a nice neat build, excellent workmanship. 

[ebag4]

Thanks lee, I try to keep it clean, if I dont I know I won't stand a chance at getting it running, my trouble shooting skills for this type of thing are not that great.

Best,
Ed

[ebag4]

On the driver test my IA voltages are within spec (5v) but my OA voltage are just out of spec, I am reading 295 and 296 with the tolerance requirement of 1% that gives me 3v.  I am guessing my cheap meter could be off but since the tolerance is listed so tight in the manual I thought I would ask.

Thanks,
Ed

[Paul Joppa]

Regulated voltage is set by two 1% resistances. If one of them is 1% high and the other is 1% low, it will be off 2%. This is pretty rare but can happen.

[ebag4]

We have Music!!
I have a 3 amp fuse running now, I kept blowing fuses with everything connected so I decided to remove the 300Bs and bring it up, that worked, so I put them back in and brought it up, still good, connected the speakers and tried to adjust the hum pots using the meter, my cheapo meter wouldn't read it so I did it by ear, slight hum out of both speakers with no inputs connected, of course not noticeable with music playing.  I connected the inputs and here we are, music!!

I will try a lower value fuse tomorrow, I'm going to let it play for a while.  Much too early to say anything about the sound except this is the first time I have heard 300Bs, I like what I am hearing, enough that I am going to go ahead and order a pair of Clarity MR 10uF and a pair of Jupiter Coppers, undecided if I am going to high pass with a .01 coupling cap or stick with the .1, I am not hearing much wrong with it now, albeit brand new.  Now to build the base!

Another great set of instructions by the Bottlehead team!  Other than a couple of typos that I reported in another thread and my issue with fuses, I had zero issues with the build, very happy camper.

Here are a few bad pics:

(https://forum.bottlehead.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs20.postimage.org%2Fn4r6tskt9%2F1457837284870_1088500377.jpg&hash=9c3ad00f9a9aee9f2d5331c8d93de8c110fb1c16) (https://forum.bottlehead.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs20.postimage.org%2Fgsc1jyhr1%2FIMG_20160312_205049777.jpg&hash=a5c847f1b32afcec4ccc1758ff5a3271780ea90c) (https://forum.bottlehead.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs20.postimage.org%2Fxu4vm1wm5%2FIMG_20160312_205041154.jpg&hash=8989066c4e3b2db71a90f4c99017f6f17b227558) (https://forum.bottlehead.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs20.postimage.org%2Feqbk5pjrx%2FIMG_20160312_204400088.jpg&hash=58dc95293baef5011a4065414706f6174b5f88ce) (https://forum.bottlehead.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs20.postimage.org%2Fkfrsq0py5%2FIMG_20160312_204356273.jpg&hash=4ecaecea7e36fbad63b726f8802a4c508d122ce2) (https://forum.bottlehead.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs20.postimage.org%2F58bt5ny3h%2FIMG_20160312_204349508_HDR.jpg&hash=36b7ada72cdf0a660b1d2a159808612b24ab88dd) (https://forum.bottlehead.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs20.postimage.org%2Fu2vazqixp%2FIMG_20160312_204333385_HDR.jpg&hash=c91426332c3900299729b9d4ad45fca710348c88)

[ebag4]

One last thing possibly worth noting although pretty basic, I didn't see anything in the instructions concerning the input level pots, although I had read about them here.  When I first sent an input signal there was no sound, I then thought to turn those up, and music was playing, just thought I would mention it for those yet to build their amps.


Edit: I found it interesting that my IA voltage readings were dead on 530 after I finished the amp but we're reading 525 and 526 during the original test.

Best,
Ed

[Rocketman248]

Looking good!  That's such a beautiful layout. 

What speakers are you running?