PEARL Archive of Vacuum Tube Technology
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Web: http://www.pearl-hifi.com 86008, 2106 33 Ave. SW, Calgary, AB; CAN T2T 1Z6 E-mail: [email protected] Ph: +.1.403.244.4434 Fx: +.1.403.245.4456 Inc. Perkins Electro-Acoustic Research Lab, Inc. ❦ Engineering and Intuition Serving the Soul of Music Please note that the links in the PEARL logotype above are “live” and can be used to direct your web browser to our site or to open an e-mail message window addressed to ourselves. To view our item listings on eBay, click here. To see the feedback we have left for our customers, click here. This document has been prepared as a public service . Any and all trademarks and logotypes used herein are the property of their owners. It is our intent to provide this document in accordance with the stipulations with respect to “fair use” as delineated in Copyrights - Chapter 1: Subject Matter and Scope of Copyright; Sec. 107. Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair Use. Public access to copy of this document is provided on the website of Cornell Law School at http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html and is here reproduced below: Sec. 107. - Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair Use Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, includ- ing such use by reproduction in copies or phono records or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for class- room use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include: 1 - the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes; 2 - the nature of the copyrighted work; 3 - the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copy- righted work as a whole; and 4 - the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copy- righted work. The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors ♦ PDF Cover Page ♦ ♦ Verso Filler Page ♦ Triode Operation of KT88s ROBERT M. VOSS AND ROBERT ELLIS';' In response to many requests, and after a great depl of effort, the authors present a higher-powered version of their ten-whtt all-triode amplifier. HE BRITISH KT88 power pentotle. hig brother of the much respected KT6t3, Tquickly became popular after its ill troduetion ill this country not too long ago. Audiofaus no longer had to couple four tubes in push-pull parallel in order to get enough powel' to t:lrin' a low effi ciency spl'ake�·. In addition to its tapped-screen IIdapt ability, the KT88 11<lS previously ullex plored possihilities in lower power alll plifiers when nsed as it triode. A card to British ludustries Corp. brought bllck complete dllta on the tube, including the followillg inforllllltiou 011 tr'iod(' opel'll tion: Eb 485 v 10 170 ma I"wz Big 180 11111 560 oh illS (pel' tube) Ein (g_g) 70 v R,(A-A.) 4000 ohm POlit 27 '" D 1-3% First to clttch our eye were the zero lind maximum sigll:!1 currents; the total • 697 West End Au., New YorK 25, N.Y, Fi9. 2. B::ttom view of the amplifier. Note 'twisted filament leads and ground buss. \'arilltion is less than 6 pel' cent, mean illg that Olll' power supply requirements w('I'e grelltly simplified. So fal' so good. The load impedance of 4000 ohms is, howeyer, a problem. \Ve know of 110 pre viously dcsigned tubes mellnt to work into sHch a load except in ultralincar operlltion, and transforlllers with screen taps lire expensi\'e. vVe settled for a Triad S-42A which is wound for 4500 Oh:IIS, :Iud, by jnggling the operating pal'llilleters a bit, ,vere still able to ob Fig. 1. Top view of tllin 25 watts.1 The S-42A is rated lit 50 completed ampli \\'atts, which mellns that power at fre fier. quency extrcmes will not drop off be cause of poor output transformer powel' hllndling capability. The amplifier deli\' ers the full 25 watts lit 18 cps, (the lower limit of our generator) and only slightly less at 20,000 cps. The Power Supply As we mentioned beforc, the low cur rent fluctuation of the output stage sinl- 1 Au ud"autage of triodes is that using too high a load impedance will not increase distortion although it will decrease power. 30 AUDIO • MARCH, 1961 plifies the power supply. A single GZ34 l'ectifier feeds what is essentially a ca 0.1 pacito r input filter. A fter an LC net ��"��"--����++�----������P-"�� +-��4---� work to the output stage supply, B+ goes I '.0 - through resistance-capacitance filters to - r ----1--+-l-+-H-+-H----+-++-++ -++t+--'·08••�a="·.J'>I- ''.>� ""�I'J',�t+f.++- ---4 the earlier stages. The preamp power 110.. ,-H4--�i ' take-ofI sockt't will supply sufficient ����I��--+--+-+-r�+++---r-r-r;��Hr-���- - -- -H--ilft+rr---I-++H-tt+t--+--'V-:>- · f--- J' power to most un powered control units. ! I. The 10-ohm resistor is a device recom GAIN, .8 f INPUT FOR 25 WATTS OUTPUT . -HUM & NQISE,(BELOW 25 WATTS OUTPUT)I--+-f-H+tt-ft---t mended hy t.he Dyna Co. to avoid _r- II INPUT OPEN-73 db ground loops. If you 're 110t powering a I-+++f-t-T-H--...L.-t-l-+-+m INPUT SHORTED-90 db preamp, make up a shorting plug with t--f- ju mpers fl'om pins 6 to / (to turn 011 the amplifier), and pins 4 to 8 (to place bias on the heaters). -'- I-+-+-+-ht-t++ The Audio Circuit '0 100 I • � 1000 I. "0000 IfXJOO!> To drive the output stage, we used the FREQUENCY IN CYCLES PER SECOND cathode-coupled phase splitter, with Fig. 4. '!Frequency response. which we and other d('sig lers have had l value capacitors, using them to e�tend men(ls s('pn rate cathode resistors for the excellent results. Driving the inverter, the low-frequency response below' that output tuhes, we used Il com1110n res is and determining its operating point, is of the output transformer. We cho e the tor, mainly hecause we are using a n conventional voltage amplifier. The J second alternative, because the firs� pre- matched pllir of tubes. TI�e control grid phase splitter, which is capable of de � arc th sents p ase-shift problems which nke nn<l screen dllmplllg resistors e livering almost o ts of audio, has h 200 v l recommended hy Gl'n('lex. it somewhat unpredictable you Iwllnt vnlues a balance con trol in its plate circuit, . If to reduce bass response, perhaps pro- ahout which \I'e shall speak later. t1 Construction tect a delicate spea er ut a ca o There nre two methods of achieving k , p P it r Use a very large chassis for the am low freque ncy stability within a feed before the input grid resistor. B no plifier; the coupling capacitors and elec fl back loop. One is to use small coupling means tamper with the values insidJ the trolytics take up a great delll of room cnpaeitors and hope for a sharp cutoff feedback loop, or the amplifier mElY go under the chllssis, and Genelex recoru without a siguificant hump at the knee. wild in the subsonic region. I mends a mini1l1um of four inches between The other \I'ay involves the use of high- Although Genelex quite clearly recoJU- the KTS8's. Standard construction practice (iso lated ground, twisted filament leads, (300v) etc.) will help in nchieving the potentinl of the circuit. There are however, [I cou ple of things worth remelllbel'ing. First, a word of caution in n,fel'ence to the filament win<lings. When we first turned on the aJllplit1er, it illlmediately blew the fuse. After a bit of head scratching, we tried reversing the leads of one of the windings. This clll'ed the trouble; they had been bucking. Color coding won't help you here; trial and errol' is the only way to insure COl'l'ect phasing. Secondly, several electrolytics are tu hnlnrs instead of the common chassis'lllounted cans. Therefore, if you're unfamili[ll' with this type of work, it pays to take a little extra time looking for hidden shorts under the chassis. Finally, before C011- necting the feedback loop permanently, check hy soldering only one side a 11(1, with a signal going through the ampli fier, touch the other side quickly. If the sound goes down in volume, well and good; if it makes a loud buzzing sound, reverse the lends from the output trans former to the KT88s. Then attach n load to the amplifier and use a signal gen erat.or to feed into the amplifier a 1000 cps signal which is loud enough to be heard. Then adjust the balllnce control for equal sigllllls at the plates of the KT88's.2 \Yith this taken care of, solder 2 Better yet; if you have the equipment, connect the feedback loop and adjust the balance control for lowest Dr at about 2 Fig. 3. Schematic diagram of 25-watt amplifier. watts. 32 AUDIO • MARCH, 1961 thc ft'edlJal'k l'('sistor and capacitor in position, shake the hits of wire and sol der out of thc chassis and you're through.