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My experience with hardwiring Kit1

Since many of you are upgrading to hardwiring on their Kit1, let me
share what I experienced on my PQ signature plus.
It took me about a week to sketch the wirings on all three blank boards that Brian sent me, and took about a week to dismantle my Kit1 and rebuild the boards with hardwires. Mind you I use 2amp/250V fast blow fuse. Initial voltage check without the tubes, passed. Here comes the fun part. With all tubes installed, I flipped on the switch, and the 5U4G glowed and arced,(mullard long neck)so I quickly turned the power off. Removed 5U4G and checked all voltages, and everything passed. Double checked all wirings but couldn't find anything wrong. Tried one more time with 5U4G installed, and again it glowed and arced. Turned the power off immediately. Since the fuse didn't blow I decided to hook up my VOM between pin8 of 5U4G and ground to see what the voltage was, and when I turned the power back on, you won't believe what I saw. 5U4G glowed and the VOM read 699 VDC and slowly creeped down until it settled around 199 VDC, which is way low. Then I noticed the voltage started to increase gradually until it passed the desired 435V and hung around 443V, so I left it on for an hour, when it finally stabilized at 436VDC. Hooked up my DAC and powered it back on, everything was normal so I played John Caltrane's Crescent. Best sound I've ever heard.
I recall what I learnt in basic electricity some 30 plus years ago
was that electricity is the flow and amperage is the pressure in regard to water. With the new wires and silver caps in my kit1, the initial flow of electricity was looking for its path and built up its pressure. Once it found its path, it just gushed out and then stabilized to its regular flow. It was a great experience to see this happen on my VOM.
Its been ten months since my conversion and my PQ signature plus continues to produce the greatest sound I've ever heard in a kit.


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Topic - My experience with hardwiring Kit1 - scarebus 02:12:30 10/16/05 (2)


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