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< Back John Broskie's Guide to Tube Circuit Analysis & Design Next >

09 March 2014

The Return of the CCDA Octal

New CCDA Octal PCB

The octal complement to the noval CCDA is here. The PCB is almost identical to Kit User Guide PDFs
its noval brother, save for the octal tubes and being 1/10 of an inch shorter. The Click image to download
PCB is 5.5in by 6in and made from the same extra thick stock that all my boards
are made from, which includes 2oz copper traces and silk-screen part labels on
both sides. Each channel holds two sets of output coupling capacitors and its own
B+ RC filters.

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Since I have covered the circuit so many times before, I will let Mr. Google help
find all the details. But blog number 235 and blog 161 might be good places to
start.

I am hooked on the positive feedback configuration, wherein the cathode-

follower's cathode load resistor terminates into the cathode of the grounded-
cathode amplifier. I have listened to both this setup and the setup that grounds
the cathode follower's cathode resistor. I prefer the positive feedback
configuration, as it seems to impart a slightly more jaunty, sprightly character to
the sound, which CD playback particualarily welcomes; surely, welcome is
anything that can help pry away from the music the CD's dead.

To test the PCB, I used the fine new Russian re-issue of the Tungsol 6SN7 tubes
and a PS-1 regulated power supply that put out a regualted 275Vdc and 12V. The
two 6SN7 heater were placed in series, which havle the current the heater
regulator needed to deliver and gave it more DC headroom.

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I almost built a 12SX7-based CCDA instead that would use a realively low B=
voltage os only 100Vdc B+ voltage, but I want to hold on to the few remaining
12SX7 tubes that I own. Speaking of tube rolling, at half the price of the Russian
re-issue of the Tungsol 6SN7 tubes, the Chinese brown-base 6SN7 tubes actually
sound pretty good, which explains why you will find them in so many expensive
retail tube equipment.

E-mail from GlassWare Customers

Hi John,

I received the Aikido PCB today -

thank you for the first rate shipping
speed.

Wanted to let you know that this is

simply the best PCB I have had in
my hands, bar none. The quality is
fabulous, and your documentation is
superb. I know you do this because
you love audio, but I think your price
of $39 is a bit of a giveaway! I'm sure
you could charge double and still
Whenever I switch out my Aikido line stage for a different topology, I miss the have happy customers.
great PSRR that the Aikido displayed. But this time, with the PS-1 in place and the Looking forward to building the
two large RC filters on CCDA PCB, I didn't hear any increase in power-suppy Aikido, will send some comments
when I'm done!

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noise. I hate playing the audio reviewer, but the sound was very fine, particularly Thank you, regards,
Gary.
with the CDE capacitors selected.
And
Mr Broskie,

I bought an Aikido stereo linestage

kit from you some days ago, and I
received it just this Monday. I have a
few things to say about it. Firstly, I'm
extremely impressed at the quality of
what I've been sent. In fact, this is
the highest quality kit I've seen
anywhere, of anything. I have no
idea how you managed to fit all this
stuff in under what I paid for it.
Second, your shipping was lightning-
quick. Just more satisfaction in the
bag, there. I wish everyone did
business like you.

Sean H.

High-quality, double-sided, extra thick, 2-oz traces,

plated-through holes, dual sets of resistor pads
and pads for two coupling capacitors. Stereo and
mono, octal and 9-pin printed circuit boards
available.

Designed by John Broskie & Made in USA

The new CCDA Octal PCB and kit is available now at the GlassWare-Yahoo store.
The PCB alone (with user guide) cost $30 USD. Wonderfully cheap, in other Aikido PCBs for as little as $24
words.
http://glass-ware.stores.yahoo.net/

Only $9.95
to start designing
tube-based crossovers
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TCJ Filter Design

Aikido Cascade
I had planned on introducing this circuit later in the story, but I suspected that,
had I begun with more of my signature power-boosting circuits, many readers
would tune out immediately. Let's face it: we are all intellectual slackers—myself
included. We enjoy our intellectual meals in readymade, bite-sized pieces. How
many of us have read Tolstoy's great novel, War and Peace? How many have
always wanted to do so, but just could not summon the will? The ratio between
these two groups must be something close to one to a hundred. (Or am I being
overly optimistic again?)

Here is how I put it back in blog number 83:

When I lived in Scotts Valley, California, I lived on the side of a mountain, where a
neighbor, digging in his garden, found a small nugget of gold—the real yellow
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metal, not a metaphor. So did I start digging up my backyard? No. I wasn't even
tempted, as I was too busy to hunt for what may not have existed. On the other
hand, if while raking the leaves, I were to stub my big toe on a chunking-big gold
nugget, great. This mirrors many a tube fancier’s view on informative articles that
won’t be read. No doubt many of these seemingly off-topic articles are chock full of
gold nuggets; alas, few are moved to dig for them. For example, an article on, say,
modifying an old Fisher tuner may contain some long-sought, much-needed
answer to some long-labored-over, much-cursed problem; but we also know that it
may not. It is that uncertainty that keeps us from prospecting. This is always a
problem, for me as much as for anyone else, as gold nuggets can be found—and
often can only found—where you least expect them.

Well what sort of sonic gold am I about to place in front of your unsuspecting big
toe? At first glance, you are likely to be dissipointed, as the Aikido Cascade looks
just like the typical cascading of of two grounded-cathode amplifiers, with the
added feature of DC coupling between stages, which is neither strikingly new nor
uncommon. What is novel is the careful ratios between resistor values, which give
rise to a surprising result: a stellar power-supply-rejection ratio.

The Tube CAD Journal's first companion

program, TCJ Filter Design lets you
design a filter or crossover (passive,
OpAmp or tube) without having to check
out thick textbooks from the library and
without having to breakout the scientific
calculator. This program's goal is to
provide a quick and easy display not
only of the frequency response, but also
of the resistor and capacitor values for a
passive and active filters and
crossovers.
TCJ Filter Design is easy to use, but not
lightweight, holding over 60 different
filter topologies and up to four filter
alignments:
The two cathode resistors for the output 12AU7 have been carefully chosen to
create a null in the power-supply noise at the output. This explains the odd 4.3k Bessel,
cathode resistor on the second grounded-cathode amplifier, which seems out of Butterworth,
place, as it appears to be neither essential nor effective. But this resistor makes all
Gaussian,
the difference, as it establishes the required gain from the second stage to amplify
the first stage's leaked power-supply noise to just the right amount to cancel the Linkwitz-Riley.
power-supply noise at the second stage's plate. This magic is possible because the While the program's main concern is
grounded-cathode amplifier inverts the input signal's phase at its output. active filters, solid-state and tube, it also
does passive filters. In fact, it can be
The price we paid for the null in power-supply ripple escaping from the output used to calculate passive crossovers for
was reduced gain and increased output impedance. In this example, with a 12AU7 use with speakers by entering 8 ohms as
tube, the gain could have been 176 without the 4.3k resistor; with it, the gain the terminating resistance. Click on the
comes in at 44 (or about 33dB of gain). The output impedance is about 16k. image below to see the full screen
Without the 4.3k resistor, the Zo would have been about 5.5k. capture.
If we added an additional RC filter to the first stage, however, we would undo the
Aikido Cascade completely.

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Although the second stage receives a fairly clean input signal, its connection to the
dirty B+ results in a poor PSRR figure. (Of course, we could move the RC filter
over to the right, so that both input and second stages received a cleaner B+
voltage.)

So, how do we universalize this Aikido approach to the cascaded grounded-

cathode amplifiers? The first step is to pull back and look at the AC relationships
within the Aikido Cascade.

Tube crossovers are a major part of this

program; both buffered and un-buffered
tube based filters along with mono-polar
and bipolar power supply topologies are
covered. Available on a CD-ROM and a
downloadable version (4 Megabytes).

Download or CD ROM
Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP
For more information...

To purchase , please visit our

Yahoo Store:

http://store.yahoo.com/glass-ware

We start with the input tube, T1. This triode's plate resistor, rp, mu, and cathode
resistor value all add up into a two-resistance voltage divider.

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The formula for a two-resistance voltage divider is simple: ratio = R2/(R1 + R2).
For example, say R1 equaled 9k and R2 equaled 1k, the ratio would equal 0.1; in
other words, 10% of the B+ voltage would appear across resistance R2, as would
10% of the ripple riding on the B+ voltage. (If the cathode resistor, RK1, is
bypassed by a large-valued capacitor, the formula no longer works for AC ripple,
but it still works for DC voltage divisions.) The next step is to replace the tube
variables into this simple formula:

Ratio = [rp + (mu + 1)Rk] / [Ra + rp + (mu + 1)Rk].

Once we know the ratio (or percentage) of B+ ripple at the plate, we can
determine the amount of gain the second stage must develop to counter the ripple
at its output. For example, if 25% of the power-supply noise leaked to the first
stage's plate, then the second stage would need to develop 1/0.25 amount of gain,
or 4, to counter the B+ ripple, as -1 + 1 = 0. If the first stage handed off 33% of the
B+ ripple, then the second stage would have to muster a gain of 3 to counter it.

This is a beautiful image that the pond's surface reflects. Stare at it a bit longer
and enjoy it, as I am about to toss a pebble into the pond.

If the second stage uses a FET, MOSFET, or pentode, then the above picture
remains true. But if a triode is used in the second grounded-cathode amplifier
position, the math gets thicker, as 100% of the B+ ripple never appears at its
output, as its rp and plate resistor also define a two-resistance voltage divider. For
example, say that first stage leaked 25% of the B+ ripple and that the second stage
leaked 50% of the B+ ripple, then the second stage would have to develop a gain
of only 2 to counter the 50% of B+ ripple at its output, not the gain of 4 that the
inverse of the first stage's ratio would seem to imply.

Now, here is the problem, we can vary the second stage's cathode resistor, Rk2, to
establish the required gain, but varying this resistor value will also vary the
percentage of B+ ripple that appears at its output.

Here is the base formula, now solve for Rk2. (Note that Rk2 appears on both sides
of the equal sign.) I have only had one cup of coffee, so I am not up to it. Instead, I
would just ignore the effect that Rk2 has on the second stage's AC voltage division
and use this formula:

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This will get us close; then, we will have to experiment. (By the way, I have gotten
a few indignant e-mails that go something like this: "I built your circuit, but I am
getting 98V on the plate, not the 100V that your schematic shows. What the hell
is going on here? What went so terribly, terribly wrong? Who can I sue?..." Stop
and think about it: to be off by only 2% is a miracle. Anyone working with solid-
state circuits, feedback-free circuits at that, who got within 2% of his target would
be justly overjoyed.)

Aikido Cascade Version 2

Since the two cascaded grounded-cathode amplifiers main advantage is high gain,
the vastly improved PSRR might seem too high a price to pay. I feel your pain,
which is why I have come up with the second version of the Aikido Cascade.

In this variation, the two-capacitor voltage divider injects just the right amount of
power-supply noise into the second stage's cathode to produce a null in power-
supply noise leaving the output. Hallelujah: high gain and stellar PSRR. In
addition, this variation offers a lower output impedance. Are we done now? Of
course not.

Yes, this variation yields a prodigious amount of gain; in this example, 176 (or
about 45dB), but actually attaining the null in reality is a bit tougher, as the right
value for the top capacitor may not be obtainable and some fiddling will be
required in establishing its value. In general, it is always better to use resistors to
establish critical ratios than capacitors, as resistors offer tighter tolerances and
many more values—and are vastly cheaper.

In both versions, the 1N4007 diode is a safety device that falls out of the circuit,
once everything is hot and running, as the diode will become reversed biased, as
the cathode will be much more positive than the grid on the output triode. But at
startup, when all is cold, the diode will be forward biased and conduct, thereby
preventing the second triode's grid from becoming 350V more positive than its
cathode. Never a good idea.

(A friend once had a heck of a problem with a tube project: the input
tube in one channel would glow bright red and then die. After
destroying several tubes, he decided to call me. He gave me the PCB to
inspect and I could see nothing wrong with it, so I plugged in a new
tube and saw the same fireworks show and I threw away the damaged
tube. The problem was that I could see absolutely no problem with his
work: everything looked perfect, all the right values in the right places.
I then took out my 10-power jeweler's eyepiece and gave the board a
careful look. There it was, on the backside, a small whisker of solder

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that bridged the B+ to the grid of the input tube. I then ran a toothpick
in between all the traces and tried again, successfully.

This was the second time that a friend had suffered the B+ energized
grid problem. The other time, the fault lay in the schematic he had
found in an old book, which he faithfully implemented. Interestingly
enough, as I looked at the schematic, my mind corrected the error, so
it took his pressing his finger on it to make it visible to me.)

A Boosted 300B Single-Ended Power Amplifier

Audiophiles love the 300B and with good cause. (I truly like what it does for jazz
saxophones.) The problems with this tube are that they cost so much and that its
cathode and heater are one entity, which of course some see as its best attribute.
Its high cost is one reason why I didn't expect many to build the mighty 1W OTL
that Rozenblit had designed. In addition, too many parallel tubes make me
nervous.

Ideally, I would love to own a 300B-based single-ended amplifier that put out
36W. Since the maximum theoretical efficiency of a single-ended amplifier is
50%, which is never achieved in reality, such a desire can never be realized by a
conventional single-ended amplifier and a single 300B. Fortunately, my
imagination has never been bound by the conventional. Back in blog number 262,
I showed how an impedance-multiplier circuit (IMC) could augment an existing
conventional single-ended power amplifier.

If the output transformer held a 16-ohm tap, then the following circuit could be
used to double the amplifier's power output into an 8-ohm speaker.

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As far as the existing single-ended power amplifier was concerned, it was driving
a 16-ohm load, so it put out 11.3Vpk of voltage swing, which was needed to
establish its maximum output of 4W into 16 ohms. The IMC then added the same
amount of current that the single-ended power amplifier put out to the mix, so the
speaker saw twice the power. Will this trick get us to 24W? It just might, but even
12W is a lot to ask from a single 300B, as something closer to 8W would be more
within its comfort zone.

If we use a 4-ohm speaker instead, then we would get 16W into the speaker. This
feat of electronic magic required that the IMC reflect to the output transformer a
16-ohm load, so the IMC's impedance ratio must equal 4:1, as 16 ohms divided by
4 ohms equals 4. The 0.1-ohm and 0.3-ohm resistors set this ratio in place. Since
the voltage present at the IMC's output before the 0.1-ohm resistor and the
voltage present at the 16-ohm transformer tap are the same, we can instantly see
that the IMC must deliver three times the current that the transformer puts out.

This fourfold increase in power is certainly impressive. But what can we do, if our
speakers are the 8-ohm types, not 4-ohm loads? The best approach would be to
design the single-ended power amplifier anew, with the augmentation of power
from the IMC already in mind.

An inspection of the 300B's plate curves and past practice shows that a plate load
of between 1.6k to 5k seems to work best. In general, the 5k load-line is likely to
give the least distortion and the least power output; the 1.6k load, the most
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distortion and power. The problem we face with a 5k primary is that the winding
ratio must be high; in fact, the square-root of the impedance ratio equals the
winding ratio. In this example, sqrt(5,000/16) = 17.7. So, what's the big deal here?
The big deal is that if we plan on getting 36W into an 8-ohm load, the secondary
must put out 24Vpk. Now, 24Vpk against a winding ratio of 17.7 equals a peak
plate voltage swing of 425V! That is a lot of voltage swing. Far too much. What we
need is an output transformer with a low-winding ratio.

As I typed these words, I know that some will read low-power ratio. Do not make
this mistake; the winding ratio is independent of the power output of a
transformer. In fact, most big output transformers, the type that can put out
200W, hold low winding ratios. Unfortunately, single-ended output transformers
that hold low winding ratios are hard to find. One exception is my old favorite, the
One Electron UBT-1.

Its 1600-ohm primary impedance implies a winding ratio of 10:1 between the
primary and the 16-ohm output tap (to the ground tap). Thus, if we can get the
300B to swing +/-240V swings at its plate, we can get +/-24Vpk swings at the 16-
ohm tap and out of the IMC's output, which would yield 36W into 8 ohms. Now
all we have to do is design the 300B output stage.

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This is as simple as it gets. We could and probably should add some

improvements, such as 5Vdc for the 300B heater, replacing the 620-ohm cathode
resistor with a constant-current source, and my signature Aikido single-ended
output stage PSRR enhancement, the capacitor from the cathode to the B+ in
addition to the existing capacitors to ground. But let's keep it simple. The next
step is to design a frontend. The obvious choice, based on what I have already
written here, is the Aikido Cascade, except this time we will use a 6SN7-based
design.

The B+ voltage of 400V is dropped to 350Vdc by the RC filter made up of the

3750-ohm resistor and the 100µF capacitor. The gain for this design is about 55,
which comes close to what we need to drive the 300B to full power with an input
signal of 1Vpk. If we desire a tad bit more gain, then the following version will
deliver a gain of about 68.
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(I prefer the first version, because I fear the cathode-resistor bypass capacitor on
the first stage. But if you need the extra gain, then you need the extra gain.)
Putting it all together, we get the following schematic.

Where to start? The IMC makes the 8-ohm speaker appear as a 24-ohm speaker
to the UBT-1 output transformer's secondary, which in turn the primary reflects
as a 2400-ohm load to the 300B's plate. The 300B's plate must swing 480V peak
to peak to put out the +/-24Vpk at the output transformer's secondary's 16-ohm
tap; thus, the 300B must idle at 100mA. This means that the 300B is putting out
12W and the IMC is adding 24W to make a total of 36W into the speaker.

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Now this is a hybrid that I would love own. Just imagine the chassis with its top
panel holding two output transformers, one tube power transformer, two 300B
and 6SN7 tubes, and a big potted toroidal power transformer, but with flanking
heatsinks on the sides . More important, just imagine the sound of 36W
seemingly coming from one 300B. In the drawing above, each channel gets three
output posts. What is going on here?

By just adding one more resistor to the IMC, we can get more universal use out of
it, as it would then be able to drive to both 4-ohm and 8-ohm speakers.

Note how the impedance ratio is 1:3 for 8-ohm loads and 1:6 for 4-ohm loads.

By the way, 24Vpk into 4 ohms is 72W, not 36W. How many Magneplanar owners
would love to hear 72W of 300B single-ended sound? Many, is my guess. I
happen to love the sound from these big dipoles, but I know that my 10W single-
ended amplifier is not up to driving them.

Do not make the mistake of believing that only the 300B and the UBT-1
transformer or that only the Aikido Cascade frontend can be used. This is a
universal topology, whose key elements are the output transformer and IMC. A
2A3 or 45 or 12B4 based single-ended amplifier could be power boosted, as could
a 211 or 845 or 6C33 or El34 or KT88 or KT120. In fact, a push-pull amplifier
based on any of these output tubes could be power boosted in the same fashion.
The Aikido Cascade frontend could be replaced by an Aikido Cascode or just plain
Aikido gain stage—or even the lowly SRPP. In fact, here is a third variation on the
Aikido Cascade:

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This time, the DC coupling, safety diode, and the large-valued cathode resistor
bypass capacitor are jettisoned. Instead, we use a coupling capacitor between
stages. The gain for the above circuit is about 55, so we haven't made any increase
in voltage gain, but we have given the second triode much more voltage to play
within, which we would need in this project, as 300B triodes require big grid-
voltage swings.

(The same gain as the earlier version, but with a different plate and cathode
resistor values for the second stage, how is that possible? Since the first stage still
holds the same values, it will pass the same amount of power-supply noise, so the
second stage must deliver the same amount of gain to null the power-supply noise
from the cascade's output.)

Also note that the 4-ohm tap on the secondary falls at the 50% point of this
winding. This means that the 4-ohm tap can be grounded and the "ground" tap
will become an anti-phase output, so a balanced output can be used. This would
allow us to halve the rail voltages that feed the IMC, but would require twice the
IMCs.

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Or, we can go in the opposite direction and build a headphone amplifier based on
this topology. For example, we could power boost a single-ended amplifier based
on a 6H30 or 5687 triode, so that 50-ohm planer headphones could be driven
hard.

Here we see a 6SN7-based CCDA headphone amplifier being power boosted by

the IMC, which will make 300-ohm headphones appear as 3.3k-ohm loads to the
6SN7. The 10µF coupling capacitor is a bit small for 50- and 32-ohm loads, so
30µF might be the better choice.

Of course, we could use the three-resistor IMC trick, so that the headphone
amplifier would offer two output jacks, one for low-Z headphones and one for
high-Z headphones, which would allows us to the use the same 10µF coupling
capacitor for both types of headphones. The 300-ohm headphones would be
multiplied by 3; the 32- and 50-ohm headphones, by 24.

Next Time
I have some OTL ideas to share.

Since I am still getting e-mail asking how to buy these GlassWare software
programs:

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For those of you who still have old computers running Windows XP (32-bit) or
any other Windows 32-bit OS, I have setup the download availability of my old
old standards: Tube CAD, SE Amp CAD, and Audio Gadgets. The downloads are
at the GlassWare-Yahoo store and the price is only $9.95 for each program.

http://glass-ware.stores.yahoo.net/adsoffromgla.html

So many have asked that I had to do it.

WARNING: THESE THREE

PROGRAMS WILL NOT RUN
UNDER VISTA 64-Bit or
WINDOWS 7 & 8 or any other 64-
bit OS.
One day, I do plan on remaking all of these programs into 64-bit versions, but it
will be a huge ordeal, as programming requires vast chunks of noise-free time,
something very rare with children running about. Ideally, I would love to come
out with versions that run on iPads and Android-OS tablets.

//JRB

< Back www.tubecad.com Copyright © 1999-2014 GlassWare All Rights Reserved Next >

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