Quikie satisfied costumer

[JONO]

I've finished my Quikie and now I understand why everybody says amazing sound. The idea was to improve Ipod sound, but I never imagine the difference. The sound is now clean, spacious and it seems..... I'm amazed! ( microfonics, yes )
I started with a photo frame some PVC foam sheets (Palight by Palram) 9999 silver and silk for wiring and this is the result ! Don't know how the original layout sound but mine sounds great.
Two questions !?
I have 87Kohms in one potentiometer channel and 105 in the other , is it normal?
In the schematic the Dcell negative is connected to tube pin 5 and Rk,Ck but in the instruction manual (page 21) is connected to pin 1 and 7!
There is a post by Paul Joppa (maybe dumb wiring question?) That says it must be connects to pin 5, I'm confused!

My sytem: iPod; Quikie; Chinese EL34 tube amplifier; Dali Lektor 2 loudspeakers

Jorge
Porto, Portugal

 

[machinehead]

Sweet layout, very nice!

Is that gold colored silk insulation?  Where did you get it?

 

[JONO]

It's the outer cover of an old electrical wire.

 

[Paul Joppa]

...
I have 87Kohms in one potentiometer channel and 105 in the other , is it normal?

In the schematic the Dcell negative is connected to tube pin 5 and Rk,Ck but in the instruction manual (page 21) is connected to pin 1 and 7!...

Great to hear from far-away Portugal (and Oporto, source of one of my favorite wines!  :^)

Potentiometer resistance variation is fairly common. The specification for the potentiometer is +/-20% resistance, and +/- 3dB tracking between channels. A good switched attenuator would improve both specs very much, but it would cost more than the kit itself!

The manual is incorrect on the filament power polarity. It will work either way, but the design operating point is chosen to work best with the negative at pin 5; this is also in the tube specification. I expect the high voltage battery life will be shorter if the filament voltage is reversed, and there may be some overload distortion with high input voltages. But I have not listened to it both ways to compare the subjective sound. I don't think it will do any harm to the tube.

 

[Grainger49]

Beautiful wood work.  I like the shallow base.  It is a new look.

You have taken some effort to produce a premium product.  I would suggest an upgrade on the brown metalized polypropylene capacitors next.  Of course, I also suggest breaking in the capacitors first.  The stock caps settle in pretty fast, polypropylene film take about 100 hours and Teflon takes about 200 hours.

Fast burn in link

 

[JONO]

Update

Rewired the Quikie with D-cell negative to pin 5: Don't notice any difference in sound output (but I'm not an expert listener).
Although the Voltages are quite different:

+B=37,1V     D-cell R=1,55 L=1,53

D negative to pin 5 (schematic diagram)

Terminal    2= 2,0   4= 2,1

Tube           R  1= 3,6   2= 28,3   3= 0     5= 2,0
                 L  1= 3,6   2= 28,7   3= 0     5= 2,1

D positive to pin 5  (instructions manual)

Terminal    2= 2,7     4= 2,6

Tube           R  1= 1,2   2= 25,7   3= 0    5= 2,7
                 L  1= 1,1   2= 26,2   3= 0    5= 2,6

NOW I'M REALLY CONFUSED

I searched the web for electron tube data sheets and I think I will keep the negative of D cell to pin 5 like Paul Joppa said

Any sugestions? Please

Jorge

 

[TheSparkle]

LOL!  Well I am confused, but my Quickie sounds great.

 

[JONO]

I know mine sounds great too!
I just wonder if anybody has wired the Quikie with D cell negative to pin 5 and what  the voltages readings are

 

[cpaul]

Jono,

Nice build and thanks for the referral from my post.  Your mounting plate looks like acrylic stock plate, but the layout is TOTALLY different.  What's the deal?  Anyway, I did rewire mine and will try to test voltages and report back - when I get around to working further on my soft-start/soft shutoff work and my work on damping the microphonics.

 

[machinehead]

Hey cpaul,

I am interested in the soft start/stop circuit, what do you have in mind?

Jono,

Nice build and thanks for the referral from my post.  Your mounting plate looks like acrylic stock plate, but the layout is TOTALLY different.  What's the deal?  Anyway, I did rewire mine and will try to test voltages and report back - when I get around to working further on my soft-start/soft shutoff work and my work on damping the microphonics.

 

[cpaul]

Machinehead,

Just noticed this post, as for some reason I'm not getting notified of replies and have been off the forum for a while.  I simply added the caps Paul J mentioned in another post.  Read my first post here for details: 

http://www.bottlehead.com/smf/index.php/topic,1257.0.html

I've pulled the Quickie for a little while hoping to re-do the layout to pull switches off the top plate and dampen the tube microphonics (still haven't done it yet, Grainger!), maybe test an LDR-based volume control, add outputs, revise the attenuation to lower total gain, roll some caps, maybe add a headphone output AND revise the soft-start/soft shutdown with larger value caps.  I'll report back on the above thread when I eventually get it done.

Cheers, and happy holidays all!

Carl

 

[Paul Joppa]

I added to that thread today - sorry I missed it the first time!

 

[Paul Joppa]

Update

Rewired the Quikie with D-cell negative to pin 5: Don't notice any difference in sound output (but I'm not an expert listener).
Although the Voltages are quite different:

+B=37,1V     D-cell R=1,55 L=1,53

D negative to pin 5 (schematic diagram)

Terminal    2= 2,0   4= 2,1

Tube           R  1= 3,6   2= 28,3   3= 0     5= 2,0
                 L  1= 3,6   2= 28,7   3= 0     5= 2,1

D positive to pin 5  (instructions manual)

Terminal    2= 2,7     4= 2,6

Tube           R  1= 1,2   2= 25,7   3= 0    5= 2,7
                 L  1= 1,1   2= 26,2   3= 0    5= 2,6

NOW I'M REALLY CONFUSED

I searched the web for electron tube data sheets and I think I will keep the negative of D cell to pin 5 like Paul Joppa said

Any sugestions? Please

Jorge

The voltages with "D negative to pin 5 (schematic diagram)" are almost exactly the theoretically expected voltages, as designed.