A Tale of Two SET-ies....

[kray]

So what are considered, the nicer sought after EL84 type tubes?

 

[Punker X]

My time with a 205, think I settled on vintage Telefunken EL-84's and Tesla 12AX7's. Craig "NOSValves" gave me a box of tubes to roll. To my ears that was the best sounding.

 

[zim bida]

Just put in a nice 12AX7 and I bet most of the grain will fade. A nice Seimens E81CC may do nicely. 😁

E81cc is a 12at7..it may do nicely, but that depends on the amp, will have less gain

 

[zim bida]

So what are considered, the nicer sought after EL84 type tubes?

When i ran se el84s (been a bit) from roberts RtR's I settled on telefunkens. Though to be honest I'm not sure how much rolling I did (iirc i went straight from the original nec that were in the amps to telefunkens because I had some on hand) because i was very happy with the sound and didn't want to mess around anymore. They were my first single ended amps and couldn't have been moreimpressed

 

[gortnipper]

E81cc is a 12at7..it may do nicely, but that depends on the amp, will have less gain

DOH! Yes, I was talking to my friend about 12AT7s for his phono at the same time I was visualizing my Siemens E83CCs! I fixed.
</shame>

 

[Redboy]

Well, this is fun! Woody, I've got to think these little amps are going to sound amazing in that room -- I sure enjoyed those speakers when I heard them.

The Almarro is going to be fun to mod. It's crying for a coupling cap upgrade and I bet you could sneak some of those Panasonic film caps underneath if you wanted to clean up the power supply... Man, now I want to build more EL84 amps!

 

[ICTWoody]

What are the two boxes on the bottom shelf?

Those are the Z19 networks I built for the Altecs. Totally over-designed... but, that's me.

P.S. I can't wait to try these with a certain German hybrid integrated. We're getting super close... and we'll have the first MK3's in the world — FYI.

- Woody

 

[ICTWoody]

Man, now I want to build more EL84 amps!

One pair of monoblocks, please.

- Woody

 

[KrautNotRice]

Woody, I always enjoy your awesome photography and am soops jelly of that incredible loft space!

 

[analogadikt]

Amp #2 - The much loved Almarro A205A (MK1) - Been wanting one of these for a long time. I love my modded 318B, so I needed the little brother. Siblings and all that. This example is PERFECT. I got it from the original owner who I'm pretty sure never even rolled the stock tubes (JJ EL84's and a little Russian 12AX7). The original box, packing, everything... seems highly unmolested. I'm probably going to NOT keep it that way. Sue me.

Could you draw up a schematic of this and share? It is several years since these came out but still there doesn't seem to be an authentic schematic around for them, or may be I missed it in my searches.

Regards,

 

[THD+N]

This looks like the schematic:

 

[analogadikt]

This looks like the schematic:



View attachment 113188

Yeah . I had seen that but was wondering if it is authentic. Had no time to dig and confirm.
It would be easy now if whenever Woody would kindly cross-check with this when he works on his example of the amp.

Regards,

 

[THD+N]

Yes, should be able to trace the circuit to confirm. It's fairly basic.

 

[paul_b]

It's fairly basic.

What do you suppose the two coils of enameled wire are for?

 

[THD+N]

L1 in the schematic?

 

[J. Frum]

What do you suppose the two coils of enameled wire are for?

Deliberate voicing choice by the designer.

They were omitted in the Mk. II version. Not sure if that was because of the updated output transformers, or the designer figured out that everyone was already yanking them out.

 

[Thermionics]

I'm happy you found a simple and quick fix for your G*S*G! I think they're very underrated, maybe because they sport a PCB. Mine teamed with my 604-8Gs is a killer combination.

My OEM+ G*S*G is a fantastic pairing with my 604Es.

 

[asilker]

Hey boyos. It's been a while since I started a longer form thread. I figured with a couple of new recent acquisitions it would be fun to document my observations and have a place for discussion. So here we are. Two single ended amps, pretty different, but also... kinda not.

Amp #1 - A VERY nice 6B4G Get*SET*Go – I recently picked this up locally from an older gentlemen who built it in about 2018 or 2019. He really used great parts including James Audio transfo's, nicely build Zebrawood base, custom top plate etc... he said when he got it completed and hooked it up, he was getting a hum. Out of frustration he pulled it from the system and shelved it until I bought it from him. I got it cheap cause he said it needed to be sussed out. Included a BUNCH of NOS tubes for it.

Amp #2 - The much loved Almarro A205A (MK1) - Been wanting one of these for a long time. I love my modded 318B, so I needed the little brother. Siblings and all that. This example is PERFECT. I got it from the original owner who I'm pretty sure never even rolled the stock tubes (JJ EL84's and a little Russian 12AX7). The original box, packing, everything... seems highly unmolested. I'm probably going to NOT keep it that way. Sue me.

Pics or they didn't happen...

To be continued...

- Woody

View attachment 112728

View attachment 112726

Man those external crossovers look really cool. Smart to have the schematic printed. That's the way to do it 🤔

 

[ozu]

Has anyone used the 205 as a preamp? I’m not sure if I’m mis-remembering, but I recall seeing someone on some forum saying they’ve used it in such a way. Wondering if anyone has thoughts on this configuration? I know banana (speaker connection) to rca adaptors exist.

 

[Redboy]

Has anyone used the 205 as a preamp? I’m not sure if I’m mis-remembering, but I recall seeing someone on some forum saying they’ve used it in such a way. Wondering if anyone has thoughts on this configuration? I know banana (speaker connection) to rca adaptors exist.

I can't see what the benefit would be, unless your power amps needed massive drive... in some sort of theater amp configuration, maybe?

The little Almarro doesn't have any tone controls, and the volume control is a simple, cheap potentiometer. Hardly ideal as a preamp / driver amp.