There are lots of practices in the DIY world that are more than a little out dated. I’m obviously not talking about using vacuum tubes but rather the methods used in building and testing the circuits we build with them. Many of these test methods came about for very good reasons; perfectly applicable at the time. But as technology has advanced the reasons for many of these practices are no longer valid. And there is really no better example of this than the practice of testing audio amplifiers with square wave (or various sawtooth or triangle wave) signals.
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Can We Talk?
I know it’s been a while since my last post. Things have been a little hectic for my family this summer. Hopefully I’ll be able to get back to more regular posting in a few of weeks.
But that’s not what I want to talk about. I want to talk about the major changes currently taking place in the US economy and our supply chains, and some things we as hobbyists can do to help protect ourselves from problems.
Continue readingMinor Work Stoppage
We’ve had a bit of a cold and rainy snap here which has prevented me from getting to the chassis work for the new 807 amp. But that doesn’t mean I’ve been totally idle.
Continue readingSlowly Expanding Test Equipment
It never ceases to amaze me how much test equipment I have seemed to have accumulated in the last 40 years or so. And some of it has been largely overshadowed by the continuing march of technology. It seems that everything now is so feature packed that lots of the old equipment is (nearly) totally obsolete.
Continue readingYup. More Testing
A comment by “Dave K” a few days ago got me thinking about how I intend to run my 807 power stage and the limitations listed on the data sheet. So it shouldn’t be a shock to anyone that I’ve decided that a little more testing is required. And that required an update of my 807 test jig.
Continue readingIt’s Truly Amazing
It really is amazing how much I can accomplish when suddenly I can’t work on all the projects which have been keeping me busy for the last month. The SSU assembly is complete and I’ve done some testing.
Continue readingAn Opportunity
As it turns out, there is a crew working on painting the exterior of my house today. Since I can’t work on many of my outdoor projects around the house, I thought I’d take the opportunity to get a little done on the source selector unit.
Continue readingNo More Delay on the Source Selector Unit
The resistors for which I’ve been waiting showed up this afternoon. Time to get back to work on the Source Selector Unit.
Continue readingMore on Tube Testing
The discussion on tube testers and their usefulness (or not) got me thinking about my own tube testing needs and how I go about it. I already have a solution for octal power tubes with the 7S base pinout which I’ve mentioned before. But what about those ubiquitous signal triodes I seem to use in almost every project? What should I do about them?
Continue readingA/B Testing
I was arranging some things today in preparation for an event this evening and happened to have a little Class-D amp in my office that I normally use in my wood shop. So I decided to try a little A/B testing.
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