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Tube DIY Asylum Do It Yourself (DIY) paradise for tube and SET project builders. |
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Tube DIY Asylum Do It Yourself (DIY) paradise for tube and SET project builders. |
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In Reply to: Check out this link... posted by Freo-1 on April 10, 2015 at 19:41:05:
I'm quite familiar with the "Maestro": it was part of the Sarser & Sprinkle trilogy of amps beginning with the "Musician's Amplifier", the U.S. version of the original Williamson and ending with the Maestro. They were featured in the "Audio Anthology" series published by Audio Engineering (Audio mag).
You'll note that the operating point chosen for the Maestro's finals is firmly within the ICAS region of operating conditions @ 750V on the anodes and ~ 22W dissipation (25W is max under the "absolute" rating system). Also note that the reader was not informed of this detail nor was there any discussion of the potential consequences this operating point might have on finals life. Thei primary objectives were to achieve higher power than the "Musician's Amplifier Senior" more efficiently and in a more compact package.
It's also interesting to look at RCA's use of the 6146 in audio apps. One relatively common product was the MI-12182 power amp. This one ran the 6146 finals at ~ 570V and 28 mA (16W) and 210 reg V on g2 for short term output of 70W or 35W continuous. Clearly RCA chose to stay within CCS ratings for their commercial offerings. Legend has it that even under these relatively conservative operating conditions there were reliability issues such that conversion to 6550s was a common mod not unlike what happened to the Ampeg SVT, another 6146 amp.
The bottom line here from my perspective is that tubes are extraordinarily forgiving wrt how they're used but with tradeoffs. The tube manuals had operating points for EL34, 6550 and 8417 where 100W could be obtained if one wished to push ratings to the limit. Most commercial products avoided the extremes to gain reliability. In this case the tradeoff is probably power vs life. If you have a large stock of finals, the possibly shorter life may be a good trade for the resulting power and compact packaging. You be the judge.
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Follow Ups
- RE: Check out this link... - Steve O 21:11:44 04/10/15 (1)
- Good Feedback - Freo-1 06:04:26 04/11/15 (0)
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