DIY All DC coupled EL84 SE Amplifier

The two stages of the Aikido driver are DC coupled ad I thought it would !e ice to have the fial stage DC coupled as well" #ith fi$ed grid
!ias o the EL84 also the !%pass capacitor re&uired i case of cathode !ias ca !e ommited" This wa% the amplifier is almost free of capacitors
i the sigal path" The ol% remaiig oe would !e the power suppl% filter cap"
The idea came to me' to use the Aikido circuit to drive the scree grid of the EL84 istead of the cotrol grid"
Scree drive has !ee used !efore' ot ol% for () Amplitude *odulatio !ut also for audio amplificatio' see related liks !elow"
I tried it out ad after a couple of iteratios I eded up with the folowig circuit" It works ver% well' DC coupled through all stages ad without
feed!ack" Iput tu!e is +,-. followed !% +,/."
Schematic
To !uild this oe I re0used the e$perimetal setup of the Aikido drive EL84 SE Amplifier" The power suppl% is also the same"
Sice m% approach to this circuit was purel% e$perimetal' havig a idepedet varia!le 12 suppl% for the driver stage would greatl%
simplif% thigs" This wa% it is possi!le to modif% the idle voltage at the scree grid of the EL84 ad also attai a larger voltage swig at the
Aikido3s output 0if eed !e0 without havig to chage a lot of resistors" To accout for these' a e$tra high voltage ad4usta!le power suppl% was
!uilt that also provides +5 for the grid !ias" ,ote that a chage of the idle voltage at the EL84 scree grid will i tur affect the idle curret
through the EL84" I the ed the 12 used for the driver was 6775" It ma% well !e that a somewhat higher voltage ma% icrease output power a
little"
A further aspect is the scree grid curret draw" #ith the preset circuit the scree grid curret at /8(9 full drive is a!out : mA peak0peak"
Distortio !ecomes audi!le whe the cathode resistors of the cathode follower are made too small ;a!out /77 <hms=" A value a!ove --7 <hms
was foud to !e accepta!le"
Luckil% for me' tu!es are ver% idulget' otherwise such a e$perimetal approach would ot !e possi!le ad with m% lack of kowlege ad
time this ho!!% would remai far less accessi!le to me"
Schematic of the varia!le high voltage power suppl%
Page 1 of 2 All DC coupled Aikido driven EL84 SE Amplifier
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It is !ased o *ichael *aida3s desig' see> ,atioal Semicoductor" Liear 2rief 4? ;pdf=
All @+ resistors are -# t%pes ;what I had at had=" The chai helps distri!ute power amog them" I ormal operatio the% sta% cool" #ith
this circuit the output voltage ca !e set !etwee aroud -/7 ad 6/7 volts" Drawig a!out /7mA from this circuit all compoets sta% cool'
still I mouted the darligto oto a heat sik" This power suppl% is so had% that I will !uild oe for the shack" The multitur pot allows ver%
accurate voltage settig" A had% thig to have"
The soud
This is a flee power amplifier' it does ot eve reach the 6# I hoped for" Yet it achives a good soud level with A/ d2 efficiet speakers i a
moo setup" Ad I dare sa% it will reach comforta!le listeig levels for most music t%pes as a stereo versio"
The amplifier seems particularl% pick% cocerig the <.T" The <.T choice I had for testig was limited to a (ammod /-:ESE ad a TSE04
from @aphael Audio ;germa compa% suppl%ig tu!e amp kits=" The /-:ESE is oversi9ed for this applicatio ad itroduced a kid of
distorsio that tired m% ears &uickl%" #ith the TSE04 the soud is !eautiful' smooth ad fast" The mids ad highs are a dream' delicate' fluid'
clear with plet% of detail ad i spite of pla%ig moo' I perceived a sese of depth or room iformatio I was ot used to !efore" The
dowside of it is the !ass" #ith the chose widigs o the TSE04 ;ratio 48>/:= the !ass is deep ad strog !ut tirig mudd%"
#ith a :8->: ratio the !ass is a lot !etter" It appears much tighter %et the mids !ecome a !it too preset for m% likig"
Assumig a omial speaker impedace of 8 <hms the 48>/: ratio results i a -8 plate load while with :8->: it is +84" I guess the sweet poit
lies somewhere !etwee 68 ad 48" I wish I had more <.Ts at had to tr% this out"
Bpdate ,ov" /6th -7/7
Evetuall% I ac&uired a output trasformer that I thought would meet the 3sweet poit3 that would make the desired 3all dc coupled Aikido
drive SE amplifier3 come true" I picked the 3:6"+7043 out of the rage offered !% @eihoefer " It has a impedace ratio of -"48C4" Loaded with
8 ohms speakers a omial 4"88 would load the plate of a +.?S ruig at +7mA" I hoped also for a !it more output power this wa%"""
Bfortuatel% this oe is ot goig to !e a happ% edig stor%" Although the fial result delivered more power that its EL84 cousi ad the
high ad mid fre&uec% rage stood up to the e$pectatio' the !ass sta%s the weak poit" The output impedace is still much too high ad
makes the !ass soud u!eara!le !oom%"""
I the picture> At the left had side is the sta!ilised varia!le power suppl% 3a la *aida3 used for the Aikido driver" I the middle the ew
@eihoefer :6"+7 <.T" To the right the power amplifier with the +.?s tu!e ad the Aikido usig +,-. ad +,+." I the frot the power
suppl% for the +.?S output stage usig the ED8/ rectifier tu!e"
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Page 2 of 2 All DC coupled Aikido driven EL84 SE Amplifier
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