[miter53]

Ok, finished assembly around 11 last night, did the resistance and voltage tests, and everything looked good. I started listening around midnight, and it was already impressive. I started with JJ EL34Ls, but once it was clear everything was good, I plugged in the ZMF VCs and switched to a pair of Valve Art KT66s, which seemed to be an improvement. Other tubes are Matsushita 5AR4 and a couple of Sylvania JAN 6SL7WGT. I did notice some background noise, which could be one of the driver tubes, but these are the only 6SL7s I have. It kind of sounds like a funky tube (soft rustling and crackling), but it seems to be coming equally from both channels. I'll have to review my wiring routes and cabling. It's really only noticeable when there is nothing playing and the volume is cranked. I'm just letting it run all day today and will give it a better listen this evening.

The build went pretty smoothly, only had to go backwards a couple of times. Keenan's instructions are thorough and excellent. My biggest issue was with soldering the small pins on the mains transformer. I found that scraping the varnish off helped with the solder flow. The first small pin I soldered I thought I was not getting good flow, and perhaps heated it a little too much. The wire seemed to be loose from the pin, but on closer inspection, the pin itself was turning in the phenolic board. Some CA glue secured it, but it could have been a disaster if the incredibly fine winding wire had separated from the pin.

Thanks Keenan for all the amazing work that you've put into this.

 

[L0rdGwyn]

Ok, finished assembly around 11 last night, did the resistance and voltage tests, and everything looked good. I started listening around midnight, and it was already impressive. I started with JJ EL34Ls, but once it was clear everything was good, I plugged in the ZMF VCs and switched to a pair of Valve Art KT66s, which seemed to be an improvement. Other tubes are Matsushita 5AR4 and a couple of Sylvania JAN 6SL7WGT. I did notice some background noise, which could be one of the driver tubes, but these are the only 6SL7s I have. It kind of sounds like a funky tube (soft rustling and crackling), but it seems to be coming equally from both channels. I'll have to review my wiring routes and cabling. It's really only noticeable when there is nothing playing and the volume is cranked. I'm just letting it run all day today and will give it a better listen this evening.

The build went pretty smoothly, only had to go backwards a couple of times. Keenan's instructions are thorough and excellent. My biggest issue was with soldering the small pins on the mains transformer. I found that scraping the varnish off helped with the solder flow. The first small pin I soldered I thought I was not getting good flow, and perhaps heated it a little too much. The wire seemed to be loose from the pin, but on closer inspection, the pin itself was turning in the phenolic board. Some CA glue secured it, but it could have been a disaster if the incredibly fine winding wire had separated from the pin.

Thanks Keenan for all the amazing work that you've put into this.

Congrats! Looks great. Let us know what you think of the sound.

It can be hard to track down noise, trying different tubes would be the first step, but if coming from both channels, unlikely the tubes. Make sure it's not your source. Other causes would be bad quality solder joints, or forgetting to solder a connection entirely. Crackling / white noise is usually a noisy tube or a connection issue in my experience. Internal signal wiring usually picks up a hum if it's going to pick up noise.

 

[pravous]

Got back from vacation and the final parts had arrived. So far up to the heater voltage check.

It appears the light bulbs are working.

Hopefully tomorrow I can finish up and do some listening

 

[Toonartist]

Looking forward to hearing about how it sounds when you're done.... looking great so far

 

[Olaff]

Got back from vacation and the final parts had arrived. So far up to the heater voltage check.

It appears the light bulbs are working.



Hopefully tomorrow I can finish up and do some listening

It looks just wonderful! Congratulations! It would be interesting to hear impressions about the sound)

 

[pravous]

After figuring out a solution to three transformer covers and only one set of screws the rest of the build went smoothly. Finished late last night but waited till today to do a once over and resistance/voltage checks. No surprises, everything just kind of worked. First listen on my shop computer does not disappoint. Excited to see how this amp responds to rolling. Sounds pretty good with $30 of random tubes from a hamfest

 

[L0rdGwyn]

After figuring out a solution to three transformer covers and only one set of screws the rest of the build went smoothly. Finished late last night but waited till today to do a once over and resistance/voltage checks. No surprises, everything just kind of worked. First listen on my shop computer does not disappoint. Excited to see how this amp responds to rolling. Sounds pretty good with $30 of random tubes from a hamfest

Looks awesome I like the gray, same as your Airmid I think? Sorry about the screws seems hardware with the Lundahl transformers is hit or miss. I'm sure if you reached out to Holger he would send you the missing screws.

 

[pravous]

Looks awesome I like the gray, same as your Airmid I think? Sorry about the screws seems hardware with the Lundahl transformers is hit or miss. I'm sure if you reached out to Holger he would send you the missing screws.

Yup same gray as the Airmid. Also stole the original volume knobs and chassis feet from the Airmid till some parts come in. Quick question for anyone viewing this thread. How long would you burn in/test a new amp before you felt comfortable throwing in more expensive tubes?

 

[DenverW]

Yup same gray as the Airmid. Also stole the original volume knobs and chassis feet from the Airmid till some parts come in. Quick question for anyone viewing this thread. How long would you burn in/test a new amp before you felt comfortable throwing in more expensive tubes?

If you’ve gotten good voltage checks, and successfully run it with other tubes for enough time for any soldering to settle down I don’t really see any issue.

 

[L0rdGwyn]

Yup same gray as the Airmid. Also stole the original volume knobs and chassis feet from the Airmid till some parts come in. Quick question for anyone viewing this thread. How long would you burn in/test a new amp before you felt comfortable throwing in more expensive tubes?

For me, as soon as I test the amp and confirm it's working, the good tubes go in.

 

[pravous]

Resistance and voltage checks were spot on and 3 hour listening session last night was flawless. Moved the aegis up to my main system this morning. Connected to the Audial S5 the Aegis is dead silent, no noise at all even at full volume. First roll is Fivre CV509 (6v6) and Brimar 6SL7. Much warmer presentation than the GE/rca combo which shaded towards bright.

 

[L0rdGwyn]

Resistance and voltage checks were spot on and 3 hour listening session last night was flawless. Moved the aegis up to my main system this morning. Connected to the Audial S5 the Aegis is dead silent, no noise at all even at full volume. First roll is Fivre CV509 (6v6) and Brimar 6SL7. Much warmer presentation than the GE/rca combo which shaded towards bright.

Will be interesting to see what you think compared to Airmid.

 

[pravous]

Will be interesting to see what you think compared to Airmid.

That is going to take a while. First listen after the checks was the same as after I built my BHC, this sounds amazing! My problem is I have listened to the Airmid/Atrium exclusively for over a year. It will take me some time to get past “this sounds different” to be able to fully appreciate this amp. In no way am I saying the Aegis sounds bad, it’s just my brain burn in is expecting one thing and getting another.
The few conclusions I have been able to make so far is that like the Airmid, the Aegis is dead quiet. Once again the 6xx is sleeper, sounds absolutely amazing on the Aegis. Lastly this thing is heavy! A lot of iron/copper in this amp despite being a smaller footprint than the Airmid.
Got over my new amp jitters and threw in a roll I bought way back when the Aegis was announced.

 

[L0rdGwyn]

That is going to take a while. First listen after the checks was the same as after I built my BHC, this sounds amazing! My problem is I have listened to the Airmid/Atrium exclusively for over a year. It will take me some time to get past “this sounds different” to be able to fully appreciate this amp. In no way am I saying the Aegis sounds bad, it’s just my brain burn in is expecting one thing and getting another.
The few conclusions I have been able to make so far is that like the Airmid, the Aegis is dead quiet. Once again the 6xx is sleeper, sounds absolutely amazing on the Aegis. Lastly this thing is heavy! A lot of iron/copper in this amp despite being a smaller footprint than the Airmid.
Got over my new amp jitters and threw in a roll I bought way back when the Aegis was announced.

Oh yeah, Aegis is a tank with all that iron! I still love the HD650 with a good amplifier, scales really well, it's a classic.

 

[Toonartist]

Things are nearing a conclusion here. The transformers arrive today and the final piece, the chassis, is due to be dispatched today as well. Everything else is sorted so by the time the chassis arrives it should mainly be an assembly job.

Tube wise, the last of the ordered tubes will arrive today. A NOS yellow print 1966 Mullard GZ34. I received a pair of 1955 NOS Mullard EL37's the other day along with a pair of NOS Brimar 6SL7's from the 50's. I also received a few cheap tubes for initial testing!

I now feel like a 5 year old on the run in to Christmas... can't wait

Edit - Incidentally, for those in the UK. The initial $300 pending credit card charge from Elma for the switch was amended to $218. This included a $96 courier fee. Expensive postage but it was very fast.