Description

Stereo Single Ended Valve Amplifier. Vokshod Russian Military Valves. Mundorf and Nichicon Fine Gold capacitors. I bought this as a self build kit around a month ago. It is a single ended pure Class A 3.5 watt per channel valve amplifier. I initially built it with the supplied capacitors but replaced them with Nippon Chemi-con and very low ESR capacitors all measuring low esr on my Peak test equipment. In the signal path part of the circuit I have used Nichicon Fine Gold and Mundorf Mcap capacitors which are of high benefit sonically. All the capacitors were sourced from Mouser or Hi-fi Collective so have been through rigorous quality control The amplifier benefits from dual NOS 6Z4 rectifiers which is very unusual at this price point. The dual triode driver to the output valves is a single NOS Vokshod 6H2N. Which is built to exacting standards and balanced, this is hardly surprising as they were built in Russia during the 60's to military specifications, the little rocket on the 6H2N is a nod to the the space race technology being built in Russia in the 60's. The output tube are used matched Russian 6P14pEP which perform superbly, you can change them for Mullard EL84s if you wish but the 6p15ep sound superb. The amplifier is designed for 6p14 6p15 and el84s. ALL THE CHINESE AUDIO VALVES HAVE BEEN DISCARDED. I have also discarded the original cheap RCA sockets and fitted absolutely lovely pure solid copper 24 carat gold coated RCA sockets, they weigh 15 grams each as opposed to 4 grams in the cheaper version. The original cathode resistors have been replaced with 5 watt ceramics. The supplied carbon resistors have been replaced with quality metal film resistors and each one checked for accuracy. Obviously 3.5 watts is not a lot of power but driven into my 102db Klipsch Cornwall is it extremely loud. I recently bought Klipsch 600m for test purposes and this little amp drives them very well. You need efficient loudspeakers. The amplifier sounds astonishingly good with seriously low bass and a beautiful midrange. If you're a jazz lover then this is for you , sounds wonderful with jazz 😉 There is no buzz. No hum. No rattling transformers. It is silent without signal at full gain. Frequency response is flat from 20hz to 21khz. It has a single pair of pure copper RCA sockets for input. The output transformers drive into 8 ohms on the outer terminal and 4 ohms on the inner. There is a volume control too. Built to the best of my ability and I'm pretty meticulous and careful. I've replaced the 4 plastic feet with 5 quality rubber hemisphere feet which will add a degree of isolation. Effectively brand new and working flawlessly. I've put a lot of thought and care into this amplifier, all soldered together with silver and 6% antimony solder, it sounds lovely. Any questions please ask