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Hi all I am interested in the Lundahl 9202 85ma AM core.
The specs can be seen below. Well for the standard. I am confused as too if the am core has to be gaped the same for silicon 85ma core or does it have to be gapped more and have less inductance?
I am concerned about sacrificing the power loss going to the am core.
Now that the am core have been around for years now and hopefully the hype has subsided. How do they compare to the silicon steel and other trans in there price range?
I would like to buy and pair of 9202 and cut them open and adjust the gap perfectly to my needs. Also I want the option of using them in PP or even parallel feed.
I think I could have a lot of fun with a pair. But which cores suit my needs best?
I anyone compared silicon and am cores in the same amp over time?
Follow Ups:
What tubes are you loading? Why do you feel the need to gap yourself? Why lundahl?
There are some great custom winders at present... Lundahl am seems mediocre yet expensive to me. Why?
91derlust.
"Confusion of goals and perfection of means seems to characterise our age." Albert Einstein
there actually cheap compared to most that i have been shopping around online. That is a winder that prints their prices for any given model on their website. For me lundahl are a known quantity at least the iron cores. I have used a few over the years. I haven't tried the am cores. It is hard to justify the almost double the cost for a trans that takes the same time to wind. I believe they make their own cores which makes me a little suspicious of that because compared to say hitachi finemet. How can they be up to the standard of a company with a r&d budget of millions.
The lundalhs are so flexible if I gap them myself I can use them for so many different tubes se and pp. I like to build a lot of amps. I use my trans over and over. And I use many different speakers. So a winder that says they can only make a trans for a single speaker impedance limits the appeal for me. I want to build a big push pull amp but I would most likely pull it down after a while and rework it for se.
There must be people on this forum that has had silicon and then upgraded hopefully anyway.
I am a little reluctant to order custom trans. 3 times It has gone wrong for me. One pair took nearly 12 months another time I never got them at all. And one time they showed up with the taps marked incorrectly. I should add that only one of those guys where american and that was handmade transformer guy and doesn't really count I guess.
where you are coming from now. I am different in that I prefer dedicated tool ideally suited to the job I require, hence custom winds... but I clearly do not build as often as you!
I was a little harsh calling the Lundahls "mediocre" and "expensive"; they are a consistent, solid product that is not cheap, but provides considerable flexibility. Still, I think there are better quality items available for similar money, but I appreciate your desire not to take a risk of getting burned again... and there is their flexibility that is important to you.
I can't help any more than that, sorry. All the best in your journey.
Cheers,
91.
"Confusion of goals and perfection of means seems to characterise our age." Albert Einstein
I think why i should not try pull the ludahl apart. I have a single 1620 i think the windings would fall in on themselves. They have no bobin. opps sorry stupid idea!
Edits: 06/11/16
nt
Lundahl will gap to whatever spec you want within reason, but don't expect to be able to adjust the gap after the fact. Amorphous is going to be better than steel generally.
Yes, you cut into one of these any you will destroy it.
why is that? Is it a matter of the am cores being so fragile?
Have you taken apart Lundahl transformers before?
no only vintage trans. I thought they would just be 2 Ccore pushed together with some sort of shim in there. Anyway. I found magnequests blog. Thats what I want. I don't care how long it takes. Its what I want.
Edits: 06/11/16
What sort of MQ do you want? I have a couple pair of MQ outputs, one in M3 and the other in M4 cores. I think they are great transformers, especially the M3 S240's. I've never had nickel (or nickel pinstripe) or cobalt cores so don't know about them.
John
De gustibus non est disputandum
There are no bolts in the Lundahl, only a tack welded metal strap biding the two halves together that would need to be hack sawed. The gap is inside the coil, so getting alignment will be a challenge. Then you have the issue of replacing the metal band to hold it back together. Not saying you cannot do it, but it is not going to be anywhere as simple as an E I transformer with bolts.
I only have experience with the LL1660 interstages in both the regular and AM version. When I switched to the AM version the improvement in detail retrieval and clarity was very apparent. Whether it's worth the cost is a subjective decision. I like the AM version much better.
John
De gustibus non est disputandum
I haven't tried the Lundahl amorphous core transformers but the Tamura 5002 amorphous compared to high quality steel from two domestic USA winders is precisely as you describe: the improvement in detail retrieval and clarity was very apparent.
I might even say astonishingly apparent.
yes but what about the bass is it weaker sakuma had to eq it up with all his am cores? I guess the less efficient a speaker you use the more this could be an issue.
I really don't notice any substantial difference in the bass compared to the other high end transformers. What I am noticing is a subtlety and clarity that is clearly better with the amorphous core transformer.
Bass is not lower, but overall power handling is. Other than that limitation, the Lundahl AMs are absolutely lovely. Once you use them, it is hard to go back to steel (M3 or otherwise).
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