AOS Exclusive Review of Eco-Fan Sound Pre-Amp and Power Amp

Those moments in life where one has a complete audio revelation are sadly rare but over the last year I have had such an experience from some kit that was left in for me to hear by one of my customers. Now one thing when working in the trade that most live in fear off, is the customer who says he has found or designed gear. The problem comes when you have to tell him/rarely her that their precious is not very good or even dangerous. This happened to me early this year when a customer, now a friend, told me about some amps he had found in New Zealand. The story goes that he was walking down the street and heard a fabulous sound coming out of a record shop. after a conversation with the shop keeper he had learned about a repair guy who makes his own valve kit.
My friend went to this guys workshop and a relationship both with him and his designs was born. He calls his designs Ecofan Sound and he is based in Auckland.
( www.ecofansound.com ) Murray Dick makes a small range of products, all valve and ranging from low power single ended to high power push pull and a Pre-amp with built in phono stage. Ecofan has also introduced a Tube buffer and a Boost it. I have heard the Tube Buffer, but as it is new and not run in, I will not comment on it at this stage.

The items I am reviewing are the active two input, 6SN7,6N7 pre-amp and the 5 Watt 6A3 valve power amp. The power amp is class A and does run quite hot. It is very compact ( 10 x 8 x 6 inch's tall (Transformers) and ways a ton for its size ( if you ever wondered what a crushed car might weigh, this is a good indicator). Fit and finish are good but very plain and there is a retro feel to things. If you want bling look elsewhere. The pre -amp is a two input, two output design with the valves mounted on the outside of the very compact case ( 4.5 w X 3.5 h X 8 d inch's) . switches are very retro flick types and the action in use is very solid. The volume control is very smooth and easy to set, with gain over the whole range not just the first quarter; everything is manual, no remotes here. All mains leads are fixed, so it would seem that Murray does not believe in after market power cords. I did not see the packaging or instructions and during the times I have used these products I have had no issues. All worked flawlessly every time used. Internal construction is hard wired, parts quality is good, and is neat but cramped due to the compact nature of the designs.

The 6A3 is a double plate triode with a 6.3 volt filament, pictures of these at (www.tubeworld.com/6a3.htm ). During the course of this review I also tried a number of 6A3 valves. These included Vt 52 by Western Electric. 6A3's by Rca, Tung-Sol, Cunningham and Raytheon. The best sound in my system was achieved with the Raytheon, with the Cunningham's next in quality. The others just sounded thin or overly warm and lacked the gain of the Raytheon 6A3's. These valves are similar to the 6b4G but are a 4 pin design to the 8 pins of the 6B4G and thus can't be substituted. It may be in your system/application that one of these other valve makes may sound better so feel free to try.

The System used was as follows. Marantz CD 7 ( on a Project wall shelf with a Clear light Audio Isolation board, Mains lead was a TCI Boa Constrictor.) Ref 3A Dulcete Speakers on Attacama R 724 stands with 4 inch granite slabs supported via Michell Tender Feet. The Amps sat on a Mana Reference frame and Base 02 isolation platform. Speaker cable was XLO Type 6 and interconnects Audience Au 24 rca-rca 1m. There were no mains filters or regenerators used, and the room is 7 foot deep x 8 and a half foot high x11 foot long.

Music used was Rickie Lee Jones - Magazine, track 4 It must be love. Nitin Sawhney - Beyond Skin, track 1 Broken skin,track 2 Letting go and track 5 Tides. I also used The Dali Demo disc, track 3 by Hugh Masekala The coal train.

Murray Dick is a no BS kind of guy and while I have never met him, he reminds me of Roger A Modjeski of Music Reference in the United States (www.ramlabs-musicreference.com/), he also is a no BS kind of guy. I have a Music Reference Rm 200 amp which is a 100 watt KT66 valve amp with a solid state input, fabulous sound. Having read Roger's site and communicated with him via e-mail I feel he and Murray are cut from very similar cloth, but have their own unique views as well. Roger is another rare thing in audio a no compromise designer who values the end user more than many others. Read about him on his site, its a good read. Murray believes in no positive or negative feedback and no caps in the signal path (direct coupled), except for the bypassed bypass ones on the power tubes cathodes. He also believes in maintaining correct phase through out. He states that not to do this "Decreases the thereness of the sound " Ecofan make their own transformers in house and I believe Murray winds them himself. The transformer are very large for the physical size of the amps and much of what they do is down to these quality output and power transformers.

The Amps were allowed to warm up for about an hour before listening began but sounded good after about 30 mins. Being a class A design the power amp runs very hot and good ventilation must be given to it.

I could give you a blow by blow account of how each track sounds but I don't feel its absolutely necessary, so I will give you the salient points. These Amps posses a clarity and purity I have never heard before. I know that single ended does this and I have heard many such amps before. However I have never experienced this degree of purity. When lent these amps before my friend asked what I thought. I responded by telling him that " He had ruined me ". For a few thousand pounds these out performed all my other amplification, much of it well regarded (most of it up to 5 times the price ). Bass was deep and extended and a very wide screen sound stage hung between the speakers. They disappeared leaving just the music and wow what sweet music. I was constantly amazed at how the sound was so effortless, responding to each change with total ease (and this with speakers that while suiting the room perhaps are not the best choice for these amps. What would bigger more sensitive ones sound like ?). Constantly I was blown away by how well percussion was reproduced. Cymbals had air and shimmer and very real decay, even multi layered tracks still allowed space for this type of decay. This Pre-power combination managed to make every type of music sound both beautiful, delicate and yet powerful the degree of frequency coherence was like nothing else I have ever heard (so far ).

The Hugh Masekela track a South African Song of sorrow ,Stimela ( The Coal train ) has everything bar the kitchen sink in it. Guitar, keyboards, Sax, Trumpet, percussion and drums and the very soulful voice of the lead singer ? On the liner notes for the cd and I quote " The band groves like there is no tomorrow and the laid back performance forces the listener to ask;How can anything so laid back and yet so tight at the same time ?" This is one of the best live recordings I have. It was like being there. every part of the performance hung in space. The fabulous musicianship both moving and breathtaking. The swings in dynamics tracked with ease, never once did the sound waver. When the ten minutes had passed I just wanted to immerse myself once again in this music. Sumptuous.

If there was any negative compared to the experience I achieve in my other system, it was a slight lack of weight and scale. However as I have already hinted a bigger room and more sensitive speakers would give that extra bit more. In the small room I was using for this review, I don't see how the sound could have been any better.

I consider myself to be very blessed to have heard this set up and as Murray refuses to play the audio game (direct selling, bespoke construction) only a very few will have that pleasure. No magazine would review this kit because of the craftsman nature of Murray's business model, small production runs and mostly to order only. I wanted to share this Ecofan Sound with you because I feel Murray is one of those rare exceptions in audio life a true gifted genius who refuses to compromise on his vision. Pure commercialism at worst destroys this, at best it forces compromises which rob many designs of their true potential.

I award (In my system 9 out of 10 ) I don't know if a 10 exists but this is as close as I have got. Someday I want to hear these on the end of bigger speakers. The degree of valve rush with the speakers and Raytheon valves was good but not silent so very high sensitivity horns may not be suitable (however the other tubes tried did have varying degrees of noise and some were more silent than these, but did not sound as good, in my system.) I think these amps are worth a punt especially at such a low cost, even with the joke the pound had become recently. This is at the end of the day, the most amazing factor in this, the very low cost for so much sound WOW ! Your right Murray it is like being there, and your entry level kit has got me more there than anything else Thank You.

Thanks to Francis for the loan once again. When I am back in work I will be buying these.

Photos to follow when I work out how to do it HELP ?

Regards D S D L ----- Neil

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For those interested, a link to Ecofan's website http://www.ecofansound.com/


Edit... No part of this review may be reproduced without written permission...content and photos are copyright of NK.

Nice review
Thanks for sharing Neil

Good work Neil, I'll have a proper read through later. Sorry you had trouble losing your work half way through! It's always an idea to write long posts in notepad and then cut and paste it into the reply box, that way you still have your work if there's some problem with the system logging you off or going wobbly.

You can post pictures via the 'attachments' bit of the Advanced Reply bit. They then appear as thumbnails at the bottom of your post. If you want them to appear in your text you need webspace, or tell me where to put them and I'll sort it out for you.

Cheers!

Thank you to you and John for your kind comments. Yes I lost the lot. It is at times like this that I realize just how challenged I am when it comes to PC use.

If I can't (with my wifes help get the photos up) I will take you up on your offer.

While Ecofan is not available in the shops I just had to share this amazing experience that I have had with them over the last year or so. Francis brought the amps back to me a few weeks ago to cheer me up after he heard about the job situation. Bit of a double edged sword as I can't afford to buy them. But they will be mine, oh yes they will . Francis also has a set of Ecofan mono blocks as well I can't wait to try them too. when the tube buffer is run in I will comment on it as well. Those are available from stock I think. We bit like what Musical Fidelity did a few years ago in the X 10D but will be better. I have one of those so I can compare them.

Sadly about an hour ago Francis came for his Ecofan amps, as he left a tear rolled down my cheek. I took a few more photos. Very hard to take good pictures of small black boxes. Jan early hes going to bring the Ecofan 2A3 mono blocks for me to try. Review to follow.

Thank You

D S D L --- Neil :)

Hi Guys Photos now in post. Above ^

Thanks to Ian a friend who does all this as a living. He says its easy but as I watched him I just got lost and confused. :confused:

Regards D S D L ----- Neil :)

Ooh!....

Pretty pictures, me likes! :)

Fantastic pics! Very cool... I can NEVER get the low light ones to come out like that!

Very easy, just set up on a stable platform and use a night time mode. My camera is a Panasonic DMc-FX01. The mode is called Night Scenery. Stability is the key. I also have some nice pictures of my Music Reference RM 200 in the dark. Amp with light ash sides on the bottom of the Mana stand in first photo.

I have now cured my log out problems ( I hope, so far so good ) Ian sorted it out for me. Once again thanks for the help Ian.

thanks for the nice comments.

regards D S D L---- Neil :)

Hi i am the owner of these amps ,I have had in depth conversations with the engineer of Ecofan Murray Dick,this 10 years he is trying to learn two young enthuasists to help ,so he can drink more whiskey
I will give roughly for now some of the products he does
Valve phono stage solidstate or valve rectified
Moving coil step up
Valve line stage solidstate or valve rectified
6a3 valve power amp single ended 5w
6550 valve mono blocks single ended 50w
6080 valve otl monoblocks single ended 15 w
I will write loads more but my articles time out so all for now

If these are new products I would be interested in distributing them in the UK. And in return offer concessions to registered Art Of Sound members!

Thanks

Dave

Hi Dave

Firstly, no, these are not new products as such. Murray has been producing his core items for quite awhile, with some new items (the Boost it and Buffer it, being new). My understanding is that Ecofan are not interested in the usual business model(distribution). Murray prefers to deal with his customers direct. The sad fact is if he ever went down the traditional model the extra costs would ruin the value for pound factor. The costs involved in doing distribution from the New Zealand/Australian zone are much higher than from Europe or perhaps even the States. If AOS readers want to deal with Murray I suggest they contact him direct(mentioning Francis and myself as the/a source for your interest, and the AOS review). However you may have to wait as Murray builds the units himself by hand and building amps is not his main source of income as he is an audio repair man. Thus he builds an item every so often. You may find he has what you want built, but more than likely you will have to commission it and wait a little while.

If Murray were ever to opt for the distribution model, there are those all ready waiting, in hope he might change his mind (going by what Francis has told me) to take his products on. However snow balls in hell, would have more chance, as I can't see him compromising this way.

Regards D S D L----Neil :)

Its hard to understand the purity of these amps without hearing ,they use all bog standard parts ,Mains transformer ,output transformers,chokes ,are all wound by Murray himself ,the power amp uses valve rectification, (the two in front of the mains transformer) if you were a little short on cash you could buy the valves for this amp for very little , the signal is dc coupled .this amp can be built in the 2a3 version or using px4 valves.

have a look in the 'coral project' folder at this link

http://picasaweb.google.com/arustyrednail/

see stephenred's lounge featuring the mighty ecofan 6A3 amp and boost-it running tannoy 12" hpd's

later, a

Thanks for the link Adam.

How is everyone down in NZ ? Keeping well I hope.


Regards D S D L

hi,

first southerly flow from the antarctic, bringing clear blue skies alternating with hail and thunder...

will be sending murray indoors to do some equipment building i hope...

have a couple of small stereo amps and a couple of 12w sv-811-10's ready for assembly, transformers wound, chassis prepped - but like the seasons, murray moves at his own natural pace,

greetings to our audio brethren in the north,

regards, a

Hi- thanks for showing the world my scruffy lounge Adam! However, the 6A3 Ecofan does sound outstanding with the Tannoys. However, the Boost It is there for computer sound- while you gain gain (!) after the AS Pro Passion pre there is a slight loss in ultimate purity from a standard CD source such as my trusty CD7. I am using the Ecofan buffer in my study this week with a Marantz DR17, Accuphase E-301 integrated and 15 ohm Rogers LS3/5As. Listening to an old Allman Brothers live album at the moment....the buffer really adds to the sound. Suddenly, you are not listening to solid state.
Since Wednesday when Adam last came round I have converted my system to the other extreme for a bit of rock over the holiday weekend with monolithic JBL 4344s biamped through the BSS FDS360 active crossover driven by the 350watt Jeff Rowland Model 7s on the 15" woofers and the hybrid 120 watt class A Lewitts on the mid and top. They are another rare and wonderful NZ amp whose maker possibly exceeds Murray Dick in brilliance, outright eccentricity and eremitic characteristics- but it's a close call. The Lewitts have SE triode front ends, mosfet power stages, massive hand wound transformers and zero feedback. They overpower the Tannoys but give the JBL mid and top end real life. Combined with the Rowlands we get SPL levels that are dangerous and probably illegal. When this system is cranked up the neighbourhood browns out.
The big challenge for Adam and I now is to get Murray focussed on the SV811-10 monos- they should have that extra degree of OOMPH for the 12" Tannoys (best allround speaker I've had) and be brilliant for the 15" Golds if I can ever work out how to build GRF Pro cabinets. Heard some the other night and must have a pair.
Is this audio business never finished?
Also, just bought another eccentric amp which should arrive next week - a Radford TT100 which was Arthur's swansong design, a hybrid with solid state front end and KT88s on the business end.

Hi Guys


Thanks for the updates...

Yes Adam keep Murray building.....

You have a very interesting collection of kit stephenred.



Regards D S D L

Looks like i had better get some more amps built! Some of the 5w type 6A3 amps coming shortly. A couple of the SV-811-1 ones also are go. One, and probably both are taken though i think. I am looking forward to hearing them myself! I'd in fact like to keep one i think. Only two chassis for those i have. Five of the 6A3 ones. New headphone amp on the bench. One channel lashup has impressed. Been bludging as usual during Summer. Also big fun shaking up the world of men's fashion on www.skirtcafe.org!(see "Jack Track"). The SV-811-10 amps are same circuit as the 6A3 ones. A new phono preamp which should do low output moving coils is "on the drawingboard" Jack.

These amps are not monoblocks, but bigger same looking amps as th 6A3 ones. Jack.

Glad to hear it....sadly now being out of work I wont be able to buy one of the 6A3's or any Ecofan Sound product:(:(:(. If I was still in work I would not hesitate to get the amplifier and the new pre-amplifier. My personal circumstances have changed but my opinion on the 6A3 haven't; in fact if anything they have grown stronger, as I still have to hear anything which can compete in regards to purity of sound and as Murray say "thereness" I am not saying it doesn't exist, I just still have to hear it.

Keep up the good work Jack,Adam and Murray.


Regards D S D L

I see that there is an Irish company selling skirts for men , i think i will have to get one , this will help getting a Ecofan price reduction ,
I have a few purchaces to make this year a battery powered el95 parallel single ended 5w for my car audio ,and his phono stage , i was telling him that there is a very highly rated phonostage called Allnic and this man like him winds all his own chokes and transformers so he has good respect for a man like that ,

Great stuff Giant Haystacks. Be good to see you in your skirt. Way to go! Great feeling. Next only to that of a dress! See "Jack Track" above. SV-811-10 AMPS next, with 6A3 ones. Bufferzone available now. Jack.

Here is a bit of a rant from the "Design Side". Something to keep an eye on is "Headroom". With headroom comes low distortion. I think the new version of the Line Amp should have both volume and "gain" controls. There seems to be a bigger variation in output between digital discs, especially music videos, than other media. This means you con overload the first stage if the volume control is further along in the circuit, reducing noise and in this case not being a voltage divider. Using the "passive" preamp (valves for the phono, just a voltage divider for other input selections) i have found lately a huge variation in output between some music DVDs, and have to back off the voltage divider on for instance the Dixie Chicks, compared with Mary Black, where the voltage divider is full up and the recording of the band sounds absolutely beautiful! As good as the vinyl. I have a Garrard with Pritchard low mass rosewood arm and Garret Brothers cartridge. Sounds good to me but obviously not one of your $30,000 monsters. In fact get that album: "Mary Black Live". Two discs: Live at the Olympia and a doco: Still Believing, and you'll see what i mean. Only got a "Garrard" of a DVDplayer:"Yukai". Refuses to play some discs sometimes,then, for instance the Cowboy Junkies can be heard (seen) again after an absence. A friend gave me that machine when he upgraded. Much better than MY other one though!

Quote:

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Great stuff Giant Haystacks. Be good to see you in your skirt. Way to go! Great feeling. Next only to that of a dress!

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I'm making no comment on this whatsoever - no siree, none, niento! :lol: :lol: :lolsign:

Marco.

I'd say that system should be transparent enough. I use the same Line-amp as in the review above, but driving the "lash-up" of the 12wrms SEOTL power amp. That has been running for a couple of years now, and doesn't seem to be going through 6080s. That amp has good, and adjustable damping factor (without feedback) and certainly "crisps" up my 12" cones. The tops and midrange are professional pressure units (British). I have gone to a lot of trouble getting a natural, believable female speaking voice. That is one of the most difficult for speakers. Male not so hard. But what i was going to say was that no matter what gear you have, we are at the mercy of the joker on the desk at the recording. For instance a really good album (on DVD) suddenly has bass half way along, as the bloke wakes up and discovers "Oh--uh....better move that up...zzz." It would be good if some sort of standard on the levels could be achieved. The engineer on the Mary Black album should be given a medal, and most of the other jokers the sack!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jack Williams

I'd say that system should be transparent enough. I use the same Line-amp as in the review above, but driving the "lash-up" of the 12wrms SEOTL power amp. That has been running for a couple of years now, and doesn't seem to be going through 6080s. That amp has good, and adjustable damping factor (without feedback) and certainly "crisps" up my 12" cones. The tops and midrange are professional pressure units (British). I have gone to a lot of trouble getting a natural, believable female speaking voice. That is one of the most difficult for speakers. Male not so hard. But what i was going to say was that no matter what gear you have, we are at the mercy of the joker on the desk at the recording. For instance a really good album (on DVD) suddenly has bass half way along, as the bloke wakes up and discovers "Oh--uh....better move that up...zzz." It would be good if some sort of standard on the levels could be achieved. The engineer on the Mary Black album should be given a medal, and most of the other jokers the sack!

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Very true indeed JW. Mary Black's music is very good indeed. Mary's music was first discovered in the show room of a shop I used to work in. Dave Marchant of Mission, was visiting and in full flow (if know Dave, you will know what I mean;):lol:)when he heard her on vinyl (I think...it was 20 odd years ago) he thought she was amazing, and took her under his wing a bit, and used Mission speakers to promote her and create the first Mission demo CD. She was a firm fave during Hi-fi demos for years, a bit like Eleanor Mcevoy is now.


Regards D S D L

It would appear that Mary still has a top engineer. I wanted her on vinyl (probably still do) but that DVD was there for the plucking at Real Groovy Records (yes they are still big vinyl nuts!) I do think on Digital Versatile Discs there is more audio room than a conventional CD. They do seem so to me. If the engineer can do his job. Of course if the cam and sound guys were really on the ball, when the piano was soloing, the guitar would be not still showing. Dunno if that is all that hard, but some groups do a lot better job of it than others.

Thanks guys for the kind thoughts! Here is a recent photo to say "I'm in good health...

Click on thumbnail for zoom. Jack.

Hmm.. No response. What can i do next to create a bit of interest? I'm working on it.

Well, i have just spent a few hours listening to another of the above 6A3amps just completed. Admittedly it is still running in, but yes the amount of bass for just 5wrms is pretty amazing, although it does not have the damping factor of the SEOTL, which has totally spoiled me over the couple of years or so that it has been in use. Compared with the SEOTL, the 65khz top end sounds dull against the SEOTL's 100khz. You wouldn't think you'd notice. However, the SEOTL has died rather over the period, so now i have the opportunity of checking it out on the bench and making necessary adjustments. Because of the weird circuit and partly direct coupling, the biasing is somewhat bizarre and i could be thrashing one half of a 6080 but not the other, sort of thing. Soon i will find out, and will update shortly. Jack.

Well, i guess the Triode6A3 amp has "burned in" a bit now, because the tops seem to have sparkled up, and an evening with my friend Dennis included a DVD of Etta James, and that band sounded HUGE! And i just measured it at 5wrms! the speakers are 95db, 12" bottom,(4cuft Thiel), professional pressure mid and top horns. I get a very believable female speaking voice (a difficult test for speakers) while having smooth bottom to 25hz. The room was rockin'! Not having heard one for a while i'm impressed with my own little amp! The SEOTL is on the bench. Both halves of each 6080 seem to be aging the same. Of the four, three were well down while one was 100%. Puzzle. What does Giant Haystacks reckon?

hi jack maybe you could write a little on amplifier construction, as there are lots of silent readers out there who do not contribute, but im sure they are very interested in reading ,
there is another valve engineer who explains things very well and interestingly.he trys very hard and is not outspoken.
i think personally this sort of amp ,is seen as something that cant possibly provide a good sound and cant work ,and tared and feathered ,
you could explain a little from time to time on your ideas or tell about some of your history ,help to educate hobbyists like myself chat soon

Hi Jack

A few photos of the Eco-Fan products you are talking about would be helpful as not everyone knows what they are...I don't mean the 6A3 though as my review has photos of this amplifier. Get Adam to take some digital shots and upload them onto your posts.


Regards D S D L

A bunch of us had a good session on Saturday evening with the resurrected SEOTL and the 6A3 amp. Really, after a "few", everything sounded great on either amp! Yesterday new 6A3amp owner (Barry) brought over the John Blue 4s. The amp was still on the 12" drivers, so we listened to his CD of a Beethoven piece i had never heard before (a Beethoven joke piece Barry said) comprising big orchestra, huge choir plus soloists and a ringing, obviously Steinway piano. That certainly sounded impressive. Then we swapped to the John Blues, without altering volume setting or anything. The effect was the same! Same decibels, weight of orchestra, swelling of choir, ringing piano. I thought the tops of the John Blues sounded sweeter than my phenolic domes. But it was astounding hearing all that power and performance coming from those tiny cabinets on that 5wrms little amp. Then i put on the DVD called Celtic Woman, which opens with a muscular drummer, club-like big drumstick in each hand pounding shit out of a huge high-mounted bass drum, with lilting melody from orchestra and the beautiful singers parading in formations outside an excellent castle. That was all handled with alacrity. The recording was quite a bit louder than Barry's Beethoven CD, OK for me but too powerful for Barry. No problem with headroom that's for sure. Barry has another bigger Ecofan amp and a pair of Keffs (G-H has seen those) and i mentioned his then comment that only the Ecofan amp was the reason for an acceptable sound from the Keffs. Barry said he'd try the John Blues on that system (another room). He might be amazed.

Jack back. Yes, i can take shots with my Canon digital. Not sure what of at present, the SEOTL is in lashup form (but tidied up a bit now) and i have the same Line Amp as in the photo above

hi,

good quality professional pictures of ecofan gear can be seen at www.ecofansound.com - just click on the name of a model on the left of the page.... doesn't give you a sense of the relative size of the equipment though, the 100W single ended monoblocks are a challenge to carry compared with the compact 6A3 stereo amp...

cheers, adam

Quote:

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Originally Posted by adam_ecofansound

hi,

good quality professional pictures of ecofan gear can be seen at www.ecofansound.com - just click on the name of a model on the left of the page.... doesn't give you a sense of the relative size of the equipment though, the 100W single ended monoblocks are a challenge to carry compared with the compact 6A3 stereo amp...

cheers, adam

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I see the websites been updated excellent.


Regards D S D L

hi,

comparing jack william's comments on the JB4 with those of the 6moons* reviewer is an interesting exercise

from 6moons: 'No bass to speak of, an inability to play loud... you can imagine that the JB4 is no champ at playing large orchestral pieces...'

and,

'My issue with the JB4 is that it does not like anything but violins and women's voices and it certainly does not like anything played at any sustained sound level.'

just goes to show what a difference the right amp can make,

rusty


*www.6moons.com/audioreviews/johnblue5/jb4.html

"6moons should get hold of one of those amps alright. He may be amazed. Jack.
P.S.''Giant Haystacks'' has one, perhaps he can lend his.

"Giant Haystacks" asked: How do i build amps? Well i never build one amp. Even two doesn't take twice as long as building one, but six or so is a good number.

Old system: Lay out sockets etc on a piece of wood to see what size the chassis has to be and make a drawing on that size piece of paper.

Mark out position of sockets etc as underneath and get actual capacitors and other things and lay out where they have to go, moving sockets a bit for best fit. Draw a representative of them on the drawing, with all the wires shown. This can then be used as a paper "prototype" while actually later assembling.

Make a full scale drawing and take to metalworkers and get them to bend and weld a bunch (the more, the cheaper per each). Then i drill, punch and file all the holes using a template to mark the centres. That was the old system, where the local blokes didn't have the hole punching etc. However, now we have a local firm (Design Steel) who, if i make the drawing with all the holes also on it, can punch, bend and powdercoat, so all i have to do is assemble.

So then i put in all the sockets, tag strips etc and then put first the wires in, then the components. While the metal guys are generating the chassis, i have been winding all the transformers and chokes for them.

Once the amps are wired up, i then mount the transformers, and connect in the wires from same. In the case of the 6A3 amps, there is a board with tag strips, diodes and capacitors for the D.C. filaments of the 6A3s which i have completed, and this is mounted over the power transformer winding after the transformers are installed, and connected in.

Next is to install the valves, connect to instruments and fire up. Usually, if all the valves are good, there you are, a bunch of amps! At present i have a collection of 6A3, SV811-10, and single-ended big monoblocks on the go. Unfortunately these chassis are the old system. The "Bufferzone" and "Boost-its" are the new one though.

How in fact do "Ecofan" products stack up in the "Ecological' stakes?? Here is a bit of a breakdown: Materials: Built mostly of steel and made to last. The longer a product lasts, the more ecological it gets as it staves off the use of materials to provide a replacement. Some recycled materials where possible. Copper wire, and some plastics in the usual components and panels. Components are chosen for quality and sound, generously rated and it is rare to have to replace much. Power consumption: Per watt RMS valve amps are less efficient on the surface than solid state. But when it comes to listening, given the same RMS, valve amps, especially triode output ones produce a lot more perceptive sound . The current 6A3 triode amps, using techniques for a big sound, appear more powerful than the cold bench instruments would suggest. But the real crux is the efficiency of the speakers.Obviously a set of efficient speakers will require not such a big amp, and thus a smaller power bill. The 6A3 amp would compare favourably with the consumption of the average TV set, and you don't necessarily need a huge set of speakers. The 6A3 amp sounds huge on classical music on a pair of John Blue Fours, which have single 4" cone and stand about 18" high.

Could't resist posting this picture. How to clean your vinyl records!

Friends brought these classic Ecofan amps in for a look over.

Some lovely pics there Jack, many thanks for sharing! I am only sad I never got to listen to the Ecofan's Neil had when I visited.

A photo of "Ten Tube Preamp" of same era, with power supply, but can also be run from the power amps.

Not a lot happening. Here is the photo that got me banished forever from the local audio site!

That is a lot better than the blue denim dress one. (I would delete it!) but here is a good one soaking up live music over three days at the WOMAD yearly music festival.
Jack

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jack Williams

That is a lot better than the blue denim dress one. (I would delete it!) but here is a good one soaking up live music over three days at the WOMAD yearly music festival.
Jack

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That kind of behaviour will NEVER cause problems here at AOS.

I fact a read through may of the threads on here will soon reveal that it is something of a pastime for certain key members! :lolsign:

Look at this device. Made in the 1920s. More expensive than a transformer at the time. Without it the world as we know it could not exist. No radio. No internet. This is one of the first commercially available Capacitors.
And still measures 100% O.K. today!