Kaiju wiring - basic tuning recommendations? Polypropylene cap replacements?

[fritzthecat]

Just attached two pics - on one you see the mirror quality chrome nickel steel covers my friend lasered for my home made power strips (they are not yet finished but soon they will) - looking forward to use them in my main system (as I have a slight hum problem and maybe with the right cables, stargrounding, graphite shielded cables etc I might get rid of it completely in the end - but this is something diffferent.

I attached the picture because I am planning is to have Kaiju top plates lasered as they look amazing - maybe someone whants to join me? Bottlehead does not provide the cad files to have them lasered - I already asked Joshua, but this no problem, or not a big thing - it is easyly possible to transfer the measurements from a existing top plate to the laser to do some more.

The other pic shows my Kaiju build number 1 - the stock version. I'm happy - all tuning parts I ordered including VCaps, Mundorfs and solid core silver wiring with teflon sheeting just got dispatched today so soon I can start building my custom version. Expect everything to arrive by friday...

Another question: What do you think - is it okay to turn the amp on (actually I am using a big Variac to slowly raise the voltage) while it is standing upright like shown? I just thought like this I can see the assembled parts and if the magic smoke is about to leave the circuit I am able to react to avoid the worst!

I am so damn nervous right now again - just feel a bit childish at the moment but I am really scared to proceed an do the final checks! I just don't want to screw it up in the last moment just before crossing the finish line - maybe someone can come over to hold my hand while turning up the Variac...;o)

So, let's do this NOW!

Thanky you guys for helping and advising me - you are great!

 

[drewh1]

I think they are Takatsuki TA-300B  Damn fine sounding tubes. But I have only heard them in a series feed amplifier, not a parafeed.

Cheers,
Geary

thanks for correcting my dyslexic spelling! All reviews of these tubes are excellent.  I ended up with EML Mesh plate 300b's although still quite expensive, not nearly so as the Takatsuki's.

Don't know much about pre-amps, have never used one.

 

[Jay]

Chris,
Did you burn your house down? Or did your Kaiju work?       

Jay

 

[fritzthecat]

Hi Jay - I only burned the 1.5 A fuse so far - in the evening I gonna burn the resrt of the amp...

 

[fritzthecat]

Regarding the manuals - it is my opinion that if we condensed the instructions to a diagram like some have suggested to me we would lose 85-90% of our customers, including most electrical engineers. But my experience in this is limited by the fact that I have only been selling kits for 21 years.

I will defend one thing - traces will lift off of anyone's PC boards with too much heat, including ours. PC boards were never intended to be reworked. That has been their Achilles' heel since they were invented.

Hi Doc

I would never suggest to condense the manuals to just a diagram as the Manuals are really great and very well written - compliments to Joshua! I just thought it would be practical to have just an overview at the end of each chapter before test procedures to make it a bit easier to recheck all connections to be made before turning up variacs or pushing switches... Never ever condense these great manuals!

Only 21 years, actually I thought you got a bit more experience...;oD

Regarding traces coming of I have to say something as well: I had to resolder on yours as well as on many of the pcbs provided by DIYaudio - and never managed to overheat them in a way that traces lifted off from the board - but the ANK ones are really bad regarding this - they eben came off while just soldering components the first time - cannot tell why but maybe Imjust got boards from a faulty production batch - who knows and I don't care anymore as now I found my favourite tube kit suppliers.

Anyway, thanx for the great kits and the great forum and the chance to learn something here!

All the best,

Chris

 

[fritzthecat]

Hi Chris. I can tell you what I did to my kaiju fwiw.

Be prepared for a rocky ride with the caps. Break-in is annoying.

Hi Drew

yesterday I got some parts for Kaiju number 2 and I am about to order a Bee Pre - but first I want to be on the safe side that at least one Kaiju is running smoothly - not there yet - I did not have the time to do some final checks and just turn it on - only variaced it up so far... Anyway - the Mundorfs arrived and I wonder how you got them in there they are about 4 to 5 mm longer than the space between the solder lugs - I thought of building a wooden support that allows as well to remove them again (no glue and no cableties) for them and just raise them in height so I can easily solder them. May I ask how your solution looks like? Or did you buy the EVO types which are much shorter while the diameter is higher? Would be great if you had some pics?

Thank you and have a great day,

Chris

 

[fritzthecat]

Hi Chris. I can tell you what I did to my kaiju fwiw.

Used vcaps for input and mundorf silver oil for 10us

Hi Drew

I just made a picture quickly to show what I mean regarding caps size.

Another possibility to solve the space issue would be to have my own top plates lasered (already mentionned in another post) and move the solder lugs a little bit -  a friend of mine - it is actually my neighbour living in the next house down the street - used to work in the lasering departement of a coffee machine company where they work a lot with chrome nickel steel in mirror quality and he still has the connections there and is able to draw the files needed for the lasering process - but this would really be a RR solution - but it would look very nice - if I go for an option like this it would be great to have a group together cause for one or two pieces it is not worth to start that laser.

What is the next project you are planning? What speakers do you actually use / own - you mentionned "your speaker developper" - I am just very curious as I am thinking about some open baffle designs - but I'm not so sure if this would work in my rooms (I have two listening rooms at the moment - maybe soon three as there are still some unused rooms in the house I live in).

And I am just thinking back and forth about ordering a bee pre as mentionned - but decided now that first the Kaijus have to be up and running. It would be great if you could share a bit of your experience regarding mods though I know you do not use a preamp at all.

Anyway - please tell me how you got the mundorfs fixed inside the Kaiju...;o)

Thank you so much, cheers

Chris

 

[drewh1]

I merely removed the original cap and place the mundorf inline, hanging from it's connection wires. I didn't have a problem getting under it to solder the leads. I was careful to allow as much air space between the cap and the resistor as possible.  In another post, I measured the temperature of this cap while running.

I am sure you could attach a support of some sort if you wanted but I have never had a problem with mounting caps this way. I do not move my equipment and it certainly doesn't get a lot of vibration.

I use Green Mountain speakers with my set up. Have used them for years and find they are the closest to electrostats in terms of imaging etc. Roy has been great over the years in terms of upgrading his products and has another secret upgrade in the works. they are a fabulous match with the Kaiju.  I also just purchased a set of Blumenstein Orcas to use in a bedroom system with my Stereomour.

I do encourage you to check out Ron at Marigo. I use his wire for DIY interconnects and also for my speaker cables as it matches the wiring inside the speakers. He has a helix braided copper wire that is awesome for speaker cable although he has to tin the ends as the wire is so fine it will dissolve if overheated in the solder pot. 

Really just enjoying listening so much right now, I don't feel the need for any other changes.

 

[Paul Birkeland]

I just thought it would be practical to have just an overview at the end of each chapter before test procedures to make it a bit easier to recheck all connections to be made before turning up variacs or pushing switches... Never ever condense these great manuals!

See pages 31, 35, 36, 38, 45, and 63. 

If you have performed these checks, then you have turned your amplifier on before, several times.

-PB

 

[fritzthecat]

See pages 31, 35, 36, 38, 45, and 63. 

If you have performed these checks, then you have turned your amplifier on before, several times.

-PB

Hi Paul

sure - I did - but me, being overcautious as usual always used a variac to slowly raise the input voltage...;o) But anyway - up to now I just pushed the button until installing the DC Filament upgrade - to check if everything works I'll use the variac again.

 

[fritzthecat]

Talking about tuning options - would it be apropriate to replace the big white wirewound (?) resistors used inside the stock Kaiju by let's say Mundorf MResist wirewound types of same value or wouldn't that make any sense at all?

 

[fritzthecat]

I am sure you could attach a support of some sort if you wanted but I have never had a problem with mounting caps this way. I do not move my equipment and it certainly doesn't get a lot of vibration.

Really just enjoying listening so much right now, I don't feel the need for any other changes.

Hi Drew

thank you so much for the picture - great...;o) I'll try it with some sort of support - got something in mind I'll work on - I mean for a perfectionism freak like me there is no other option anyway. I installed the DC Filament upgrade last night - will check out tonite - it was actually quite difficult to rewire everything as I took the word "attach" very serious - so I had to use brute force to get it done - hope I did not damage resistors by overheating them etc. - I attached a picture for you. The VCaps and Mundorfs I'll use in my next Kaiju where I go for complete solid core silver wires with teflon sheating - let's see...;o)

Have a great start into the new week and all the best from Switzerland,

Chris

 

[drewh1]

Btw. Where are you in switzerland? I used to visit Geneva and laussane quite frequently.  Even sailed on lake Geneva 

 

[fritzthecat]

It's the other large lake - lake constance - I live opposite Friedrichshafen in Salmsach, just next village from Romanshorn, where the ferry (Romanshorn-Friedrichshafen) harbour is located - actually when you take that ferry you are paasing about 100 meters from my house...

 

[Paul Birkeland]

Talking about tuning options - would it be apropriate to replace the big white wirewound (?) resistors used inside the stock Kaiju by let's say Mundorf MResist wirewound types of same value or wouldn't that make any sense at all?

For the 120 Ohm resistors, the Parallel Feed output topology that we use will tend to reduce the impact of power supply modifications.  Having said that, they can still be slightly audible. 

There are also the big beefy 1K cathode bias resistors, but the 100uF cap across each one will be far more audible.

-PB

 

[drewh1]

Chris - I was planning on leaving well enough alone and now you bring this up . I don't see the mundorf m-resist in 120 ohm.  Do they make them?  I think if I am going to change out the 100uf caps (probably using mundorf Evo) I might as well do the resistors as well while I am in there.

 

[fritzthecat]

I'm sorry that I brought this up. You are right, the Mresists are not available @120R - I gonna ask Nick from HifiCollective for advice - keep you up to date what is going on @ the resistor front.

Just to be sure: You would replace the 220uF/250V Cap through a Mundorf EVO equivalant? Is it okay to use a foil type there? I thought it has to be a electrolytic type?

The 1KOhm 25Watt resistors should be replaced then as well, don't they?

I'll do some research regarding the 120R 10W and the 1KOhm 25 W types - I think Ohmite could be a decent replacement? What do you think?

Anyway, I'll let you know, what Nick comes up with - maybe Chris Johnson from Partsconnexion has an Idea as well.

Just to be on the safe side: They all have to be wirewounds - right? Or could one go for something like Path Audio as well (I know they offer special values made to customer specs - but I don't know if these are decent for the Kaiju).

BTW - I just ordered a Bee Pre yesterday and I want to really use the best parts available - gonna ask the two Botthead Pauls for advice which measurements have the biggest impact - my goal would be to create kind of a tuning/upgrade guide which steps have to be taken in which order to achieve the best results - let's see, what one can come up with.

BTW 2 - Where do you order your tubes?

 

[Doc B]

BTW - I just ordered a Bee Pre yesterday and I want to really use the best parts available

I would be interested in how you determine this.

 

[fritzthecat]

Uh, I'm sorry - I forgot a word - I wanted to write "the best looking parts available" so I am at least able to post pictures of tidy builds...

 

[drewh1]

Hi Chris,

I miss-typed - I would look at replacing the 1k ohm wirewound resistor and 100 uf capacitor on the output tube circuit (pg. 44 in manual). Ohmite has its AudioGold series, probably Mundorf for the capacitor.  No plans to mess with the power supply circuit at this time.  If you want EML tubes, I would go direct to EML. My advice is stay away from TubesUSA as I had a bad experience ordering through them. It wouldn't make sense for you to use them from Europe anyway.  So far, I am very pleased with the EML Meshplate - very transparent and musical tube.  At some point, I would like to try the EML 2a3 Mesh in my stereomour.

Doc - I really appreciate Bottlehead because your products give me a platform to modify so I learn more about electronics.  spending most of my life as a professional musician, I tend to trust my ears when making mods although mods do seem to have a cumulative effect.  I am also sure I have spent money on audio BS but better to do it buying parts than buying one expensive amplifier after the other.  It is a great hobby!  Thanks for creating these products.

drew.