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Making, baking, and (un-)breaking things in Southeast Michigan.

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Help with Millet Hybrid Maxed Troubleshooting

(I just posted the following here on the Head-Fi Forums. Hopefully someone there can help me.)

Hey there... This weekend I finished up my Millett Hybrid Max (with MOSFETs) and while it was working great at first (Saturday), I'm now having some problems. I'm hoping that someone here can give me some pointers on where to look.

First off, here are photos of the top and bottom of the PCB: Bottom Low Res, Bottom High Res, Top Low Res, Top High Res.

My soldering is generally pretty good, but please note that all the connections look dull because I'm now using lead-free solder for board work. As can be seen on this page (photo gallery retired) my enclosure is almost exactly the same as cetoole's, including the vent holes for the heatsinks. When it was working the chassis never rose above slightly warm (around 100°F) in a 75°F room, so it seems to be vented well enough.

The power supply is a Jameco-brand 24VAC 1A wall wart. I've used their supplies before and they've been quite good in the past. For fuses I've been using either 800mA or 1A fast-blow fuses. When the amp was working the 800mA was sufficient at levels as high as the maximum I could stand (about 10 o'clock).

Power, audio inputs, and headphone jack are all isolated from the chassis, and their isolation has been confirmed with a continuity meter.

Here's a rough timeline of how the build / testing went and problems I had along the way, which will hopefully help point the way:

- Finished assembling everything, and on powering it on I found only ~2.6VDC from the power supply, regardless of the position of RR3.
- Found that I was bit by the backwards silkscreen on the trimmers, so when I thought I had everything turned down all the way for initial setup it was actually all the way up.
- Properly turned all the trimmers down, powered things on, set the power supply to 27.00 VDC.
- Biased the tubes to 13.50 VDC.
- Biased the MOSFETs to 200mV, which is right in the middle of the range suggested on the MAX Setup and Bias Settings page.
- Hooked up a CD player (random Yamaha changer) and headphones (Sennheiser HD570) and confirmed that I could hear audio.
- Left the CD player playing Radiohead's Kid A on repeat for 4-5 hours with the volume at listening levels.
- Checked the power supply voltage, tube bias, and MOSFET bias and returned them to the settings previously mentioned, as they had drifted slightly.
- Checked the heatsinks with a thermocouple and found them to be around 125°F.
- Listened to a few different CDs and some DVD audio and was happy with the sound.
- The next day I went to hook up my iPod, but I wasn't getting any audio from the left channel. Turned everything off, removed the tubes, looked around, reinserted the tubes, and noted that everything seemed to work.
- Listened to a few more CDs, then found the left channel to be a bit lower than the right. I figured that the MOSFETs needed to be biased again, so I decided to set it aside and open the case the next morning.
- Listening more the left channel started dropping out completely, and during a test while listening to Squarepusher's Tetra-Sync (a 10 minute track) I could hear the left channel fade in and out, and occasionally get a bit static-y / fuzzy.
- The next morning I began thinking the problem might be with the 1/4" to 3.5mm headphone adapter I was using, so I plugged in a different one and turned on the amp. It wasn't working, nor was it warming up.
- Opening up the amp I found that the fuse (800mA) was blown. From this point on it blew every fuse I've inserted.

In testing, I tried the following with no success, with fuses continuing to blow each time:

- Replaced the left tube with a spare NOS 12AE6A.
- Removed the board from the enclosure.
- Replaced both tubes with spare NOS 12FM6 pieces.
- With the tubes in place, VCC to GND is at about 33.8Ω, which just about matches the two tube heaters (~12Ω each) plus R1 (~10Ω). No dead short there.

Any ideas? I'm pretty lost at this point...

Thanks very much...

-Steve

electronicsmaking thingsmoved from livejournal

Headphone Amp

Gur. The headphone amp whice I’ve been working on… isn’t. The damned things just blows fuses. It was working fine one morning, that evening there was crackling fading in/out in the left channel, and the following day it just blew fuses. I didn’t change anything between the days.

It’s not the tubes, as I’ve tried another pair for them.

<sigh>

electronicsmaking thingsmoved from livejournal

Sequentix P3

So, I’m thinking of selling my Sequentix P3.

The main site about it is here.

Strangely, my site talking about mine is the third Google hit when searching for sequentix p3.

I just think the $2k or so that it’ll fetch could do better earning compound interest, or put towards other projects. Maybe a kick-ass second headphone amp or something.

If anyone is interested, please let me know.

acquired thingselectronicsmoved from livejournal

It works…

2006 Honda CR-V Head Unit, Honda Music Link, and Battery Charger

Well, that works. I had no problem supplying the head unit there on ~500mA, and per the meter it only maxed at just about 1.1A on startup. So, I’ve got no idea why the Skynet supply used earlier didn’t work. I’m thinking it was not able to deal with the inrush, so the next thing I’m going to try is to put a switch on the 12V line for the keyed power, starting it up in stages, as is normally done in a car.

That battery charger was only $32 at Meijer, so if I really need to keep it I can, but still… If I do, I’ll probably add some banana jacks to the back or something. At least this stage is almost set and I can get on to building the logic analyzer. Well, only after I get the headphone amp working reliably…

automotiveelectronicsmaking thingsmoved from livejournal

Fuses!

Start of the Honda CD Changer Protocol Test Rig
(Click for bigger image…)

I also can’t seem to power up the car stereo that I have for testing the Honda Music Link stuff. It’s not working. I hear a faint click from the supply as it starts up, then a loud CLICK from the head unit (sounds like the tape deck doing something), then it starts over again. I think it’s not enough power…

That supply is rated for 3A, but I’ve got no idea what the stereo pulls. I figured 3A would be enough, but I’m not sure. I’ve got the keyed and always-on power lines connected at the same time, though, so maybe the inrush current of starting the entire stereo is too much. Maybe I’ll throw a switch on the keyed side of the line and see if that sorts it out. If not, I might just go buy or borrow a car battery charger. That should give a good 10A. If that’s not enough, something in the stereo is likely wrong.

My new amp also keeps blowing fuses, and I’m not sure why. Previously the only time I could make it do this when tubes were pulled, but now it seems to happen with them fitted. It’s frustrating. Either I’ve got misaligned tube holes (they look pretty good) or else something else is wrong. I’m almost tempted to try a different set of tubes.

Part of me is tempted to build a solid state headphone amp (β22 / σ22 combo) and use that instead, but that’d be a lot of work, and I’ve got other projects to do right now. Or maybe I’ll build one of these and use it as a speaker amp with some nice near field monitors in my office. That’d be excellent.

automotiveelectronicsmoved from livejournal

Testing… Testing…

First Tests on my Workbench

Well, it’s working. I’m having a problem with the left channel, but I think it’s actually related to the 1/4″ to 3.5mm adapter I’ve been using and not actually with the amp itself. Also, it sounds really good. Really, really good. I still have to make an iPod cable for it and such, but that’s all on its way.

Last night I was just blown away at how good the DVD Audio version of The Downward Spiral is. Even with some crap RCA cables connected between it and the amp I was hearing things I’d never heard before in all the years I listened to it.

I might have to pick up some more DualDisc titles to feed to the OPPO DV-970HD (photo gallery retired).

electronicsmoved from livejournalmusic

Moo-zick.

I think I was just listening to the DVD audio version of The Downward Spiral a bit too loud. However, the DAC in the OPPO DV-970HD (photo gallery retired) sounds really good, and the remastered, higher bitrate DVD audio version is shiny. I might also pick up a Playstation for music too.

acquired thingsmoved from livejournalmusic

Physically complete, but not working…

Millett Hybrid Max w/12FM6 Tubes

Well, I’ve finished assembling the Millett Hybrid Max (photo gallery retired) that I’ve been working on. All that’s left to do is make the top panel and figure out why it isn’t working. All I know as of right now is that it is only putting out ~2.6VDC from the power supply. As there is a trimmer connected to it, and the trimmer was on the board when I washed it, I suspect that the trimmer got wet and a short in it is causing the voltage regulator to put out too little power. Hopefully it’ll work after a day or so, otherwise I might replace all the trimmers. I would ask for some help from the forum about these amps, but the forum is set up so that the admin has to approve every single user. I signed up, but I can’t post/reply because my account hasn’t been approved. Hopefully that’ll happen tomorrow.

Today was an interesting day otherwise. I left work a little early and headed out to that Tec-Ed place in Ann Arbor and did their market research thing. In short, I spent 38 minutes perusing Trend Micro’s Website and talking about it. I had to complete tasks like “what would you do if you wanted to download a free tool to do X?”

For all of that I was handed small stack of $50 bills. It worked out ot US$3.95/minute. Not bad.

After that I headed over to the Apple Store at Briarwood Mall in an attempt to buy one of the new Apple keyboards. The store doesn’t stock them, and wasn’t working, so I left and headed over to Zingerman’s Deli.

While at Zingerman’s I picked up a bagel and some cold brewed coffee for breakfast tomorrow, some Black Magic Brownies for a coworker, and placed an order for some dinner. This ended up being a bottle of Blenheim Ginger Ale and Jen’s Pimento Party†† sandwich which I ate in the building next door to the deli while reading On The Edge. After finishing my food I also grabbed a 4 oz. cup of Zingerman’s dulce de leche gelato and ate it while sitting outside the deli at a picnic table.

After that I just headed home, went the wrong way at the M-14 / US-23 interchange, stopped to get gas at US-23 and North Territorial Road. After getting home things picked up with the amp.

Now, bed.

Very spicy, and very very good. While it is made with real sugar, the presence of sodium benzonate and citric acid concerned me. Unless stored very warm it should be fine, though.
†† Pimento cheese (Southern cheese spread with Vermont cheddar and pimentos), Arkansas peppered bacon, tomato on grilled sourdough.

electronicsfoodmaking thingsmoved from livejournal

Transistorize!

100 2N5087 transistors, sorted by hFE.

In order to ensure that the left and right channels of the Millett Hybrid MAX headphone amp sound the same I’m trying to ensure that all parts used in each are balanced. So, I ordered 100 pieces of each of the 2N5087 and 2N5088 transistors. I was able to get four parts which consistently metered identically, so those are used in order to ensure that the current to the tubes is kept consistent. For the other twelve transistors I was able to get matched pairs (at least) and ensure that the values are the same for each ear. That should work out well.

This evening I also figured out the template for the rear panel, drilled it, ensured that the parts fit, then put it together. I’m pretty happy with how all the parts fit, although I did have to shorten the heatshrink on the phono connectors so that the wire could bend better. When I test fit the PCB and the rear panel everything fits nicely, although the wires will be a little cramped.

Since I placed all the matched transistors, new 1/4″ jack, and replacement tube sockets I’m now ready to wash the board and finish it up. If things go as planned I’ll have it working either tomorrow or friday. Hopefully it’ll sound good, although I imagine that won’t happen until the tubes are burned in and biased, I’ve selected the tubes I wish to use, and it’s all done.

I also have to make the front panel (should be easy), potentially cut the shaft of the potentiometer shorter to fit the knob (risky, not really easy), possibly drill some arrays of vent holes on the top, front, and rear panels (easy, if I drill them right), cut the tube holes, and finish assembly. There’s also deciding on the set of tubes to use, so I’ll probably run it without a top at work for a while, but I’m not sure yet… That’s all up in the air.

Oh! I should also really make a photo to iPod dock connector cable… Or maybe I’ll just buy a new dock and use a phono to 3.5mm cable… Hmm….

electronicsmaking thingsmoved from livejournal