My Kaiju Has Arrived!

ebag4

New member
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
 
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?
 
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!! ;D
 
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.
 
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
 
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
 
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.
 
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:

 
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
 
Thanks, the Kaiju is driving GR Research Wedgies.  It is an open baffle speaker that has support from 200hz and below by a pair of 12" servo subs in open baffle per channel.  The subs are driven by a 350 watt servo amp per channel.  I was originally planning on high passing the Kaiju but it is sounding good already running full range, i will probably go ahead and high pass them around 70 Hz just to take the low bass off my speakers.

Best,
Ed
 
Thanks Drew.  I was actually able to make good progress on it today.  Should be ready for finishing tomorrow but I won't be able to do much until next weekend.  The amp is smoothing out some today, I have had it playing most of the day while working on the base.

Best,
Ed
 
My Kaiju continues to burn in, stopping in for a listen tonight, it was dark so I saw a blue glow, but only from one of my 300b's, what is this indicative of?


Best,
Ed
 
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