[ARC5] Our 1626s Go Audio

[Roy Morgan]

On Nov 15, 2008, at 12:39 PM, J Forster wrote:

> Sad. A common power IC chip would do the same thing or even better,  
> w/o
> sacrificing scarce vintage tubes to the gods of audiophoolery.

John,

Oh, but there's little fun for many of us in lashing up an IC chip for  
an amplifier.  They don't glow, of course.

Are 1625's scarce?  I have enough here to last me, even if I ran an  
ARC-5 transmitter every evening for an hour.

I have to agree, there is a lot of audiophoolery.  I don't have enough  
experience with single ended audio ams (for listening to music and the  
like) to know yet if they sound nice or not.  Lots of my radios have  
single ended outputs in them, but a BC-348 is never going to give me  
sweet audio.

> A single
> ended audio power amp? Nuts.

I have a home brewed "Williamson" amplifier from the 1950's.  It uses  
807's in push pull, triode mode.    It's a bit of history, actually.   
I will be using it (after overhaul) as my main ham shack audio  
amplifier.  Maybe the DX on 40 meters will sound better, maybe not.   
But I will get a bit of satisfaction every time I see the 807's and  
6SN7's glowing happily, and I realize I don't have to buy a single  
thing to keep it running for many years to come.

(Now, let's see.. Do I run an RCA smooth plate from the 1954  
production, or try one of these low-quality Nationals reputed to have  
a bit of scratchiness in the upper midrange?  Then, later tonight, as  
I listen to the BBC news broadcast over my 1944 SX-28, I can put in an  
RCA Special Red if the security staff will let me get it out of the  
vault. Oh, wait.  BBC doesn't  broadcast anymore.  Oh well.)


Roy


Roy Morgan
k1lky at earthlink.net
529 Cobb St.
Groton NY, 13073