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Post by macca on Jun 20, 2021 12:07:07 GMT
I just looked and I can't even find that box!
There is a way to do it but I'm damned if I know how or where it is. Simon SQ might know.
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Post by antonio on Jun 21, 2021 0:05:53 GMT
My brother sent a link yesterday with a method which I will try today, let you know how I get on later
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Post by antonio on Jun 21, 2021 5:12:29 GMT
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Post by antonio on Jul 4, 2021 0:43:42 GMT
Two days ago made my first attempt to bias my amplifier, first mistake was setting the multi-meter to mV, but looked at articles on-line again and found out the answer, should just be V, well it was the first time I've ever used one. After that everything went well, tried to set the bias to 370 (hoping that is correct for KT88's) and got with 2 of that figure, the tinniest twists on the screw adjuster could change the reading by 30 - 50, when I've watched others doing it on You Tube they seem to be more accurate but with my amp the adjuster was too sensitive at times. The only fly in the ointment was tube no. 3, where I could only get a reading of 250, does that mean the tube is on the way out, do I need to buy a complete set of four more tubes and am I alright still using as is?
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Post by antonio on Jul 10, 2021 3:13:38 GMT
I think I did this wrongly so had another go yesterday, checked the voltage which was running at 422, then using an online calculator I've set the bias to 75, except no.3 valve which I was finding difficult to take a reading, seemed to be reading zero, but flashed up a figure of 120 at it's lowest setting. The amp is still sounding good.
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Bigman80
Grandmaster
AA Founding Member & Bigbottle Audio Creator
Posts: 16,078
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Post by Bigman80 on Jul 10, 2021 6:27:06 GMT
I think I did this wrongly so had another go yesterday, checked the voltage which was running at 422, then using an online calculator I've set the bias to 75, except no.3 valve which I was finding difficult to take a reading, seemed to be reading zero, but flashed up a figure of 120 at it's lowest setting. The amp is still sounding good. I've never had to bias a valve amp, thankfully. Well done for taking it on.
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Post by firebottle on Jul 10, 2021 6:29:15 GMT
Hi Dave. If the bias figures are representing the current flow in milliamps in each valve then a figure of 120 is overcooking the valve.
The max plate (anode) rating of the KT88 is 42W, so with a voltage of 422 the max current is 100mA.
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Post by karma67 on Jul 10, 2021 6:54:22 GMT
yep as an example i bias my kt88's at 30 or 35ma
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Post by antonio on Jul 10, 2021 10:44:08 GMT
Thanks for that, I was touching pin no. 8 with the positive probe and the negative attached the the case. At first I could not get a reading, just stayed on 0 and what looked like an upside down number 7. I did my best to move the probe but if a figure came up, the reading came back to zero again. There's possibly a good chance then that I've not done this correctly, Karma has kindly agreed to let me send him photos of the amp, and I will tell him what I've done, hopefully can get this sorted. It will probably be tomorrow when I can photo the amplifier James, but I send them as soon as I can.
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Post by antonio on Aug 19, 2021 0:06:57 GMT
At the moment my valve amp is sitting on the sidelines, so have my Topping PA3 in use, a different amplifier now driving the Cesti MBR's compared to the JBL Control 1's and it's quite listenable. Forgot to mention I purchased a 15.6" touchscreen monitor to replace the far too small 7" one I was using (gninman I blame you ) at least I can touch the right part of the screen. Also a few days ago I won a Auralic Aries on ebay, no one else made any bids, to replace the mini pc and tc monitor, unfortunately the Lightning app only works with Apple so a 2nd hand i-pad mini 2 has been purchased as the remote. These will be sent to my uk address, so I will not be able to give them a listen, although my brother will a try them out, I'll report back to to give you his thoughts. Hoping this Auralic will be better sounding than my mini pc, I can then use that combined with the tc monitor and a separate keyboard/mouse to replace my aging laptop.
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Post by antonio on Sept 3, 2021 2:00:43 GMT
Well, my brother has had a play with the Aries, after a couple of hiccups all is well and he says it sounds good playing into his dCS well it would wouldn't. More good news, I've finally got my valve amp biased, a message to China HiFi and photos of the internals and arrows pointing to where the probes go and I've been successful. Strangely, this is exactly how I did it last time, when I could only get readings on three of the four tubes, and just to keep on top I will check again in 3/4 weeks to make sure the bias is not drifting. I'd like to thank all the people who have helped me on here, Firebottle and Karma and some good folks over on pfm.
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Bigman80
Grandmaster
AA Founding Member & Bigbottle Audio Creator
Posts: 16,078
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Post by Bigman80 on Sept 3, 2021 6:50:01 GMT
Well, my brother has had a play with the Aries, after a couple of hiccups all is well and he says it sounds good playing into his dCS well it would wouldn't. More good news, I've finally got my valve amp biased, a message to China HiFi and photos of the internals and arrows pointing to where the probes go and I've been successful. Strangely, this is exactly how I did it last time, when I could only get readings on three of the four tubes, and just to keep on top I will check again in 3/4 weeks to make sure the bias is not drifting. I'd like to thank all the people who have helped me on here, Firebottle and Karma and some good folks over on pfm. Good news! Now, you need to get that Aries into you system !
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Post by antonio on Sept 13, 2021 4:33:54 GMT
Hopefully now I will be getting my speaker stands finally sorted, while they are away I've got one speaker on a cardboard box and the other on a plastic stool, with the front lifted up slightly and to be honest they sound great listening to Thorsten Quaeschning - The Capitol Sessions.
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Post by jandl100 on Sept 13, 2021 10:13:21 GMT
I had a pair of Quad 57 electrostatics on a very similar pair of low plastic stools - looked a bit naff but worked A1.
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Post by firebottle on Sept 13, 2021 11:42:52 GMT
Electrostats definitely need lifting to get best performance. Perhaps 1.9 metres is an extreme case
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Post by antonio on Sept 13, 2021 14:02:23 GMT
^^^^^^^^ I just assumed you were very tall Alan For some strange reason it has reminded me of that old joke, Paddy invites his friend round to see his handy work in knocking two rooms into one. On entering the room his friend says, "you've done a damn fine job there Paddy, but the bloody ceilings high now"
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Post by antonio on Sept 13, 2021 14:25:56 GMT
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Post by gninnam on Sept 13, 2021 14:44:58 GMT
The adjustable feet will work well IMHO
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Post by jandl100 on Sept 13, 2021 17:59:52 GMT
I'm not convinced you want to strengthen the top of the stool. I'm a fanboy of wobbly speaker supports - much experimentation has proved the point with my own speakers.
Max Townshend follows the same principle with his speaker support products, much to the benefit of his bank account!
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Post by antonio on Oct 10, 2021 3:30:50 GMT
Well I've seen a Dr this morning and it wasn't good news. Having looked in my ear he said they are very clean, and have I been near any load noises, I told him about using an electric drill, and he explained this could be the problem after asking how old I was. I am not up on medical stuff, but he told me there is something in the inner ear that could have been damaged, the loader noise would make it overwork and therefore causing irreversible damage. So all of you over 60 years had better be careful when doing any such diy, better to wear ear muffs. I may go see a uk general practitioner when I return but will have to wait and see how I get on.
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Post by karma67 on Oct 10, 2021 7:47:01 GMT
Well I've seen a Dr this morning and it wasn't good news. Having looked in my ear he said they are very clean, and have I been near any load noises, I told him about using an electric drill, and he explained this could be the problem after asking how old I was. I am not up on medical stuff, but he told me there is something in the inner ear that could have been damaged, the loader noise would make it overwork and therefore causing irreversible damage. So all of you over 60 years had better be careful when doing any such diy, better to wear ear muffs. I may go see a uk general practitioner when I return but will have to wait and see how I get on. sounds like cobblers to me,i work with drills,welders and very loud noises all day 5 days a week,im fine,so you use a drill once and your ears are fu**ed...... see a uk doctor.
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Post by macca on Oct 10, 2021 8:59:08 GMT
I doubt very much that the problem you have is due to your hearing. You really need to do more fault-finding and narrow it down.
The fact that you said Youtube sounds fine is a a clue. I'd look at the playback settings on your computer and check they are all correct. Can't claim to know anything about streaming from a PC but seen enough threads on the subject where the problem has turned out to be some setting or other is incorrect or sub-optimal to know this can happen.
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Post by brucew268 on Oct 10, 2021 9:01:53 GMT
Well I've seen a Dr this morning and it wasn't good news. Having looked in my ear he said they are very clean, and have I been near any load noises, I told him about using an electric drill, and he explained this could be the problem after asking how old I was. I am not up on medical stuff, but he told me there is something in the inner ear that could have been damaged, the loader noise would make it overwork and therefore causing irreversible damage. So all of you over 60 years had better be careful when doing any such diy, better to wear ear muffs. I may go see a uk general practitioner when I return but will have to wait and see how I get on. Sorry to hear of that possibility. It would have to be a pretty loud drill (like into concrete and held near your ear) to be at unsafe levels. My dad lost most of his hearing by using a wood chipper one day without ear protection, and I had problems for months after listening several times to too loud earphones. For future reference, NAC (N-acetyl cysteine) seems to protect the ears if used before a planned loud noise event and repairs them if used in the hours after being exposed to ear-damaging noise.
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Post by macca on Oct 10, 2021 9:20:06 GMT
avoiding using headphones altogether is a good idea, especially those in-ear ones. Guaranteed route to tinnitus.
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Post by antonio on Oct 10, 2021 11:41:34 GMT
I will certainly go see a uk doctor when I return if things have not improved, unfortunately the problem is not going away at the moment. I've purchased a bottle of olive oil, putting a little in your can not do any harm and it may even help. I'm not sure it's the system Macca, I sometimes notice this strange effect when hearing other sounds now. The doctor did ask how old I was Karma, and when I said 65 he did say it is an age related thing when listening to loud sounds. I shall keep you informed if things improve, obviously this is what I'm hoping for.
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Post by macca on Oct 10, 2021 12:01:14 GMT
well I wouldn't rule out the hearing thing but it is weird that Youtube sounded okay.
I had maybe a similar thing. I used to get in from work about 1800 and I'd always have a couple of cans and a few hours of music to 'decompress' as they say.
Noticed one fine summer's day that the sound was a bit dull and uninvolving, checked everything, couldn't work it out. But at weekends it would be fine.
then noticed that about 1930 every evening the sound quality would improve, you could practically set your watch by it. However when the summer waned the problem went away.
In the end I figured out what was going on. I used to get a lift back from work with a colleague, and although the car had aircon she wouldn't use it as it used more fuel. So on hot days driving back we'd have all the windows wide open. On a very busy 4 lane highway with loads of concrete revetments.
What was actually happening was the noise in the car with the windows down (you'd have to shout to each other to be heard) was causing my ears to close up, and it was taking about 90 minutes for them to return to normal.
When the weather cooled down we no longer had the windows open, and the hi-fi sounded good again from the moment I'd get in and switch it on.
Naturally a lot of people said it was the mains, thankfully I did not waste a load of money on a regenerator or something similar trying to fix the problem.
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Post by antonio on Oct 20, 2021 3:30:42 GMT
Quick update, I am listening to music this morning and it does not sound quite so bad, although I am playing very well recorded albums that I hope don't hit that frequency spot too much. My ears feel a little blocked up and I know I still have a problem, just waiting for some more recommendations regarding doctors over here. Is it possible my ears look clean, but have wax further inside the canal, I don't know, but would like them to be syringed just in case.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Oct 20, 2021 4:34:14 GMT
You need to get to the bottom of the problem before you fly back to the U.K., or you could be in for a very painful flight.
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Post by jandl100 on Oct 20, 2021 6:53:37 GMT
Ear wax bungedupness. I mentioned this before. Did you try the finger click test? Just click your finger by each ear. Do they sound fast and snappy? Are both ears hearing the same loudness and sharpness? I had a bad ear infection a few years ago and could quite easily follow its progress as it got worse then better with the finger click test. A friend of mine was getting a bit desperate with ear wax issues during the pandemic as he couldn't get to see a doctor about it. So he tried a kit off Amazon and said it worked a treat. There seem fairly obvious risks to me, but it worked fine for him. ..... Ear Wax Remover Kit Ear Syringe,18in1 Vaxuia Ear Wax Removal Tool for Ear Irrigation,Ear Washer Bottle System for Ear Cleaning,Earwax Cleaner for Kids www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07PQVZQDH/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glt_i_52A48M84T49Q459SDD36?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
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Post by antonio on Oct 21, 2021 2:49:01 GMT
Strangely enough I've just ordered something from Amazon, the first time in over a year. There are a couple of companies which do it, I go through someone who has a relation in the States, he orders stuff and sends to Cambodia, although it does cost more than the prices quoted on Amazon, it is cheaper than the shipping costs quoted by Amazon. Takes roughly 4 weeks to get here, so not exactly Prime. Do I fancy doing it myself, no, but I have ordered a syringe from Amazon, only to see afterwards I could get a plastic one from AliExpress cheaper
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