I got a kit for a ckkiii from glassjar once. Just because its not on the website doesn't mean he doesn't have it.

Yeah it does play music now and sounds good. I will give it a more critical listen soon and report back.

Everything checks out. I hope any other newbie builders like me read this thread and set their heaters correctly.

So I am an idiot. I had the jumpers oriented the wrong way. The regulator was mounted the right way. Now it seems the led's light up. Now i will just try to get a new R3P. All the other power test points are correct. I just inserted tubes, the relay clicked and I will get the next measurements.

R3P turned bright red. This is where the smoke is from and I assume that it is ruined now. And I get no voltage from TH test point. So looking at the schematic, something is wrong with the heater section when strapped to 12v. I'm not sure why the amp seems to sort of work at 6.3 but not 12.6

When I turn it on at 12 v none of the LED's light up and then I smell smoke. I can't say for sure where its coming from but it is there.

So I got the transitors soldered in and here are my new test voltages. Also, the relay clicks on, then off then on a lot of the time when I turn it on. Also, I have kept it on the 6.3 v setting and am worried that setting it to 12.6 will smoke something as that is what happened before with the...

I had tubes in. Should I have taken them out?

Every other measurement was fine. I only couldn't get the TPR to TB+R to be 19v. (same on left channel) R4 is 18k. I will order the Q1-Q4 transistors. I can't wait to get the amp working again

I will need to order the parts to replace them. What else can I do/ what else should I order to ensure that I can fix the amp? I don't want to have to order 5 $3 orders and would rather order too many parts than too few.

I got the tubes I have tested and they tested ok. I measured the voltage drop across Q1P and Q2P and found it to be: Q1P about 1V Q2P also 1V I measured using both methods, using HV- and across Q1P and Q2P What is the next step? Thanks.

How would I measure the CE drop across Q1P and Q2P?

I have set the TB+L and TB+R to around 80V. I am on vacation now so I will have to do this on friday when I get back. I will get my hands on some new tubes also. Thanks for the help.

Its where you put the capacitor in such that the capacitor is standing up like a beer can. One lead is quite short and the other will have to be relatively long.

Here are my test voltages: TL+ 14.9V TL- -14.95V TH -12.56 TB+ 107.5 (with tubes in place) I have 216 mV through both R10 L and R TB+L 81.4V TB+R 81.4 V Both R6L and R6R are at 400 mV For the next part I will discuss measurements with specific tubes. Beckman 5963 TPL 76v...

After an extended period of not using my SOHA II, I decided to clean up my input wires and go through the initial setup again today. All was well until I had to measure TPR and TPL vs. TB+R and TB+L. I tried three sets of tubes and not one set was even close to the 19 volt difference. I believe...

What fun is buying a used amp if one has the diy bug? I have not heard the M3 or the CTH, but I have the Cavalli-Kan Kumissa III and a SOHA II. Both are good amps and I would recommend either. The CKKIII could be done for under 200 to keep the accountant happy too.

Senn 650's

You could also look at some of Twisted pair's other offerings such as the cod or the opus.

HD 650's.

I have a pair of 225's and recently got a pair of senn hd-650's. I have barely listened to the grado's since. The senn's have better bass, a more neutral presentation, are less peaky and more comfortable to boot. The also help mask noisy tubes better in my SOHA II. I don't feel any reason to...

I also would recommend the CKIII. It is easy to build and sounds great. You can get a full kit, as I did, from jeff r at glassjaraudio.com. Just send him an email, he doesn't have it on the page but he will get it to you.

I am skeptical of recables. If I could demo some and hear a difference then I would go for it.

Ended up picking the 650's. Listening now. I will post full impressions later, but so far I am quite happy.

Nice site. I just got some tubes: 12AT7WC JAN Philips NOS-12AT7WC 2.0 $9.95 0 6189 / 12AU7WA NOS-6189 2.0 $11.95 0 One of the 12at7's is defective and the 6189's have such a high noise floor I won't use them, at least not for my grado's. Anyone have some suggestions for a quiet tube?