[pravous]

My daughter and I built the coaster amp this weekend. I hand soldered all the smd and she handled all the through hole components.
Soldering in some sockets

First power on.

All cased up in a 3d printer case I found online.

Used a VU meter and test tone to match the tubes as per Paladins suggestion. All in all a fun project.

 

[Paladin79]

If I may ask, where did you find the 3D case?

 

[pravous]

I got the files from here.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4607793
I then used craftcloud to have the case printed.

 

[tincanear]

since the power switch couldn't be mounted on the back panel (coaster doesn't have an enclosure per se,) @Jason Stoddard did the next best thing, and placed it between the tallest components on the PCB

 

[KrazyDiamond]

I just finished my build, except need tubes to come in. Any pointers on how to best test this thing before I connect it to some headphones?

 

[KrazyDiamond]

Fired it up and works perfectly. Tubes are very microphonic, but already expected that. First time soldering SMDs so happy everything appears to be happy.

Now for tube matching. I picked up 10 tubes but have no idea on how to really match them other than the dirty method of using my ears. Is there an easy way to get a semi-accurate matching using a multimeter??

 

[Paladin79]

Fired it up and works perfectly. Tubes are very microphonic, but already expected that. First time soldering SMDs so happy everything appears to be happy.

Now for tube matching. I picked up 10 tubes but have no idea on how to really match them other than the dirty method of using my ears. Is there an easy way to get a semi-accurate matching using a multimeter??

Lay the tubes down on sorbothane pads.

I matched them using a dual trace ocilloscope, I cannot help with a meter.

I should mention that I built several Coaster amps and set one up as a tube test station. I then used a signal generator and monitored each channel on a scope. An easy way for me to match a large group of tubes.

 

[KrazyDiamond]

Lay the tubes down on sorbothane pads.

I matched them using a dual trace ocilloscope, I cannot help with a meter.

I should mention that I built several Coaster amps and set one up as a tube test station. I then used a signal generator and monitored each channel on a scope. An easy way for me to match a large group of tubes.

I don't have any experience with tubes, let alone matching them. Do you know anywhere in North America that does matching on tubes like these? I'd much rather ship them out to somewhere that can match a few sets for me.

 

[Paladin79]

I don't have any experience with tubes, let alone matching them. Do you know anywhere in North America that does matching on tubes like these? I'd much rather ship them out to somewhere that can match a few sets for me.

The tubes I purchased were amazingly close when I checked them since they are NOS. I would not concern myself too much about that. If you can hear an audible difference, then swap one.

 

[rev92]

https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/schiit-audio-coaster.26414/reviews#review-30498

 

[damaged ears]

The tubes I purchased were amazingly close when I checked them since they are NOS. I would not concern myself too much about that. If you can hear an audible difference, then swap one.

This was my experience as well. Bought a bunch of NOS and after the first ten matched each other I stopped testing.