Dennis Had Inspire Amps

[booangler]

Originally Posted by Masterlu

Alan... Welcome to AA!

And, for your Support!

Thank you Masterlu, it is good to be here.

Looks like I need to work out a signature soon. Then I can truly be part of the party.

[AMammal]

Evening all! I hope this message finds everyone enjoying their weekend!

Anyone know where I can get a reliable adapter to plug a Sovtek 5AR4 into the 4 pin Type 80 socket on my 6V6 amp? And/Or how to verify that it is the right adapter? (I don't know which pins are supposed to go to which slot.)

The story leading up to this question:

I have gotten all the tube pins cleaned up after tightening the rectifier sockets and we are enjoying the amps greatly! Listened for 3 hours last night and thought it was 30 minutes. That's a good sign. We're really enjoying the 6V6 and the Prototype LP-3a.

These amps are doing an amazing job and we have only found one niggle. With the Klipsch Forte III in our gigantic living room/kitchen open floor plan with 18' ceiling, the amp will clip at concert level listening of classical music occasionally (when the whole symphony strikes simultaneously).

I wrote Mr. Had and he was super quick to reply recommending new stock Tung Sol KT-66 and a Sovtek 5AR4 as a quick fix (instead of waiting for a whole tube rolling chart,) Which I appreciate. He said it should raise the power level of the amp significantly. I sent him photos of the insides of the amps since I couldn't find an applicable rolling list after hours of scrounging the forum. (BTW I think I saw a pic of our 6V6 amp in the 12/3/2015 post with picture by Simonatsea).



I did find the tube rolling list from the original 6v6 post, but wasn't sure it was applicable. Maybe I should have sent a photo of that to Mr. Had to check.

The previously posted (old 6V6 I think) tube rolling chart from April 14, 2014 post in this forum:

Cheers!

[Formerly YB-2]

Originally Posted by AMammal

Anyone know where I can get a reliable adapter to plug a Sovtek 5AR4 into the 4 pin Type 80 socket on my 6V6 amp?
Cheers!

You might check with Woo Audio (of tube headphone amp fame). They make all sorts of tube adapters and may have what you are looking for. I have several different pairs (though not the one you ask about) and they are, like their amps, high quality.
You might also ask Dennis Had.

[Analog Addict]

Personally, I'd consider just changing out the 4 pin socket for an octal socket and plugging in your 5AR4 directly. You may consider this too much of a leap for your skills, but in all honesty, it's pretty straightforward.

This tube search site will help you understand the wiring....

http://tdsl.duncanamps.com/tubesearch.php

OTOH, there's a vendor on Epay selling pairs of these for $10.

Search for "Vintage Bakelite 8pin to 4pin Tube Socket Converter Adapter 274B 5U4 to 274A 5Z3"

[AMammal]

Originally Posted by Formerly YB-2

You might check with Woo Audio (of tube headphone amp fame). They make all sorts of tube adapters and may have what you are looking for. I have several different pairs (though not the one you ask about) and they are, like their amps, high quality.
You might also ask Dennis Had.

Thanks for the tip! Nice stuff there, but I couldn't verify they had what I needed.

Originally Posted by Analog Addict

Personally, I'd consider just changing out the 4 pin socket for an octal socket and plugging in your 5AR4 directly. You may consider this too much of a leap for your skills, but in all honesty, it's pretty straightforward.

This tube search site will help you understand the wiring....

http://tdsl.duncanamps.com/tubesearch.php

OTOH, there's a vendor on Epay selling pairs of these for $10.

Search for "Vintage Bakelite 8pin to 4pin Tube Socket Converter Adapter 274B 5U4 to 274A 5Z3"

Man, that tube site will help me a ton now and in the future to understand the wiring of these things. Thanks so much!

Switching the sockets is probably a reasonable approach, but I think I would prefer the adapter route in order to switch the rectifiers that I currently have fairly easily so I can continue to use the RCA 80's that I have for the 6V6 tubes and the 5AR4 for the KT66's. Plus I kind of like the idea of keeping the LP-3a and 6V6'er the way they came from the workbench. Though I suppose there is an argument for just using 5Y3 types...

Before I had a chance to see your recommendation for the new bakelite adapters, I actually had some success sleuthing and sniped this from an Ebay listing for some random JFD tube adapters (J.F.D. Sockettes Radio Tube Adapters sheet to help someone who may be searching for this):

I know it's a big photo, but thought someone may find it useful to download an easy to read and high resolution version for future use/distribution. Moderators, If I need to shrink this I will be happy to do so.



So then i bought these:




Probably need cleaned, but hey! Vintage socket adapters! Is that cool? Maybe, maybe not, (depending if they work.) But, it was an "easy out" for me to verify the adapter had the right wiring... and they ship from Brooklyn instead of China which may or may not be a bonus given the products' respective age and operating condition.

Thanks again for everyone's help! This thread is amazing. One day I'll make it all the way through.

I'll let you know how this next step turns out when everything arrives!

Cheers!

[straitwire]

[IMG][/IMG]

[FloridaBoy]

It begins...but what is it?

[bearcity]

Originally Posted by FloridaBoy

It begins...but what is it?

OH Oh! I know. (Hand up)

[straitwire]

Hey Floridaboy, I'm so glad you asked.
It's going to be a KT170 amp.
It can also run KT150 and KT120 tubes.
I will be documenting the build from start to finish.

[JDCheek]

I’ve enjoyed reading and getting to understand SET amps, particularly the Dennis Had inspire. I have a pair of beautiful Omega aperiodic 8 speakers that I have had awhile. I don’t think they have been connected to anything in at least 8 years. They have a sensitivity rating 95db at 6 ohms. My office is probably 15X15, and has a peak ceiling height of at least 20ft. I’m thinking this could be a fun little match for this smallish room.

Any thoughts or suggestions before I plunge?