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

[Jack Williams]

What more is there to say?
Expect more interesting products in the inimitable 2012!

[Spectral Morn]

What more is there to say?
Expect more interesting products in the inimitable 2012!

Happy New Year to you Murray and to Adam as well.

Regards D S D L

[Jack Williams]

Having the actual items that mount on the chassis enables a correct drawing to be made where everything will then fit! We may have metric, and we may have Imperial, (Transformers are resolutely in inches!) but in fact things like pilot lights, fuse holders etc have a planet of their own! Everything gets reduced to millimetres!
Progress will be noticed between first and second photos. Two versions of the amp accommodated, the 6A3 one and SV-811-10s. (Bigger OPTs)
I'll get four of each made, enough to be getting on with for now.

[Jack Williams]

Well this is probably not relevant, but this cafe's got sound. Not on at this moment that I could hear, but there is the speaker.
Looks like quite a respectable one.

[Jack Williams]

Well that was a bit of frivolity, but here are a few observations in the field of audio:
At present I have the BSEA6A3 into the "ESL" (Ecofan Sound Ltd!) speakers (all British) without a line amp. Radio is all valve: Quad FM tuner (Foster-Sealy detector) to Murray Dick reinvented multiplex decoder with straight-wire mono (ten valves). I hear a really clear concerto with zero percepted noise floor in wonderful wide-screen stereo. As good as any LP or digital source, against which I have set it up of course.
Being summer here, at present there is the ball-by-ball cricket, which is on AM Radio Sport for a lot of hours per day.
I wanted to along to the shops about a kilometer away, so waited till between innings (lunch) at the cricket before going along, (on foot or bus if one was soon enough coming). So I thought I might visit Dick Smiths electronic outlet to see what little pocket radios they might have to follow cricket on while walking or bussing. And yes, from a selection I got the Sony walkman version with little black phones for $50.00.
It uses one of size AA battery (cell!) That is a plus over the other ones which use AAA ones for me, because I have standardized my battery devices on that size and have very good solar powered charger for the rechargeable ones. It does do AAAs too but. AAs open cans and run the ohms ranges on my FETVOM for instance. The rechargeables (NH-AA HR6 Mignon 1.2v 1000mAh) Is that an ampere-hour? I find that hard to believe, have a much lower internal resistance than the others, which is just what one wants for ohms range, and anything else really.
So tonight I was listening to live concert on Concert FM on the above mentioned Murray Dick stereo, and I then put in the little earbuds and tuned in on the Sony at the same time. The phone leads are the antenna, and I found that if I held the set (smaller than a cigarette packet) in my right hand I got the best signal.
It sounded really spectacular at first hearing, but you realize very soon that it sounds as if you haven't got the FM de-emphasis on. Very toppy and audience clapping very over crisp. Also very big hiss level. Two reasons for this. El cheapo decoders use swiching method rather than proper multiplexing. Result: much higher hiss level. OK I guess in a $50 radio, but it does need de-emphasizing.
I can improve the sound by a little unit between the socket (standard mini-jack) and phones with bypass cap. I think that will make world of difference.
Younger people are perpetually plugged in these days, on the bus or anywhere. So I reckon a good thing to do is get a really good pair of HiFi phones plugged into my little Walkman on the bus. That sort of sticks it to the younger bods even if I'm only listening to the cricket on AM.

[Jack Williams]

PS: Are these things so toppy because the young people have destroyed their hearing with them? It does come with a warning about volume level.

[Jack Williams]

I guess that's the case, but nobody gives a hoot against the much larger challenges that confront Mankind!

[Jack Williams]

Experimenting with type 50s, which are a whole something else again.

[Jack Williams]

Certainly outsound the compromised 6A3s
I've been hearing some live bands outdoors at the weekend.
Here's a few photos, but I did video several songs on my camera, and it's surprising how good they sound. I'll try and put some up on YouTube, but it's not easy.

[Jack Williams]

Here're are a few more shots.