GoodSoundClub - Romy the Cat's Audio Site

In the Forum: Melquiades Amplifier
In the Thread: To Milq builders: corrections, simplification, modifications.

Post Subject: Melquiades' message.Posted by Romy the Cat on: 10/7/2014

Vincin, thank you for appreciation of my work. A few comments and thoughts about the direction you went.

I do think that to compare 300B with your version of Milq is not proper way to demonstrate or to learn anything about sound, particularly with low sensitively speakers. I am not a huge defender of 300B but if 300B is properly cooked then she has to be able to stand on her own, not that it has to be "better" or "worse" but the proper DHT has own interesting aspects that is very hard for Milq to compete, possible but hard. Most likely you have very bad 300B structurally that juts can't not drive your loudspeakers and Milq is just more powerful amp that can.

About your implementation. The CRCRC bias for the output is fine. The Lithium battery grid bias for the driver is not. I am not saying that Lithium battery grid bias is a bad idea all together. I personally do not like it wherever I heard it but I have no business to insist in any general topologies of amp building. What I AM very competent is the Milq topology/sound consequences. The amp that you built is not Melquiades but rather 6E5P-6C33C amp. There is nothing wrong with it and it is most likely a very good amp but it do not have the "Melquiades' message". The hard of the Milq design is the selection of the driver tub and bias of the driver tube. THAT make the Milq to sound in a way unique and with battery bias the amp sounds to my ears a bit mechanical, overly glossy, too linear dynamically and too unintelligent at dynamic margins. If you want you might try the gas tube version with time. Do not worry about anything that goes before gas tubes – you can use any PS you already have in the amp, juts drive 15-23 mA across the negative tubes and mimic what was done in Milq after gas tube. You do not need even positive tube voltage for experiments – you will have some DC on input – so do not switch cable while the amp is up.

If you use vintage Tannoy coaxial then neither your 300B not Milq are not good for you – go for 100W SS amp. You will see what I mean. The Low power tubes amp might be used with them (particularly with Gold) but only for getting what I call "boutique sound", or rather boutique sounds.

If you go with amorphous OPTs custom wound then you might test the idea somehow as amorphous give you slightly faster transients and in my experiences it always make me to load the amp slightly heavier with amorphous in comparing with any, even fast steel. I would say you might want to consider good 20-30% more heavy 6C33C loading if you got from M6 to amorphous.

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