Elekit TU8600

Discussion in 'Headphone Amplifiers and Combo (DAC/Amp) Units' started by Griffon, Sep 24, 2017.

  1. Cspirou

    Cspirou They call me Sparky

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    You can probably use Lundahl LL1620 as a substitute for LL2770. LL2770 has a primary impedance of 3.2kohms and LL1620 has 3.3kohms.
     
  2. Jerry

    Jerry Friend

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    Anyone can share impression of TU-8600 vs other more well known amps? Thanks.
     
    Last edited: Dec 13, 2019
  3. slankoe

    slankoe Tongue tastes of LH butthole

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    Anyone?
     
  4. bobboxbody

    bobboxbody Friend

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    Does plugging headphones into the jack automatically mute the speakers, or do speakers have to be disconnected to listen to headphones?
     
  5. Griffon

    Griffon 2nd biggest asshole on SBAF

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    It has auto mute.
     
  6. bobboxbody

    bobboxbody Friend

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    Great, thanks. I may try to build one this year.
     
  7. Cspirou

    Cspirou They call me Sparky

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  8. SONDEKNZ

    SONDEKNZ New

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    Can anyone confirm the Gain (dB) of this unit? Been looking hard but nobody seems to disclose this important spec...
    Appreciated.
     
  9. JK47

    JK47 Guest

    Why don't you ask the manufacture?
     
  10. yotacowboy

    yotacowboy McRibs Kind of Guy

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    The fun begins!
    [​IMG]

    I'd been trying to decide between the TU-8600 and the Bottlehead Kaiju as a winter project. On a whim I picked up Ogodai's DG300B boards, but I think I'll put those back up for sale. Obvs I decided to go with the Elekit with Lundahls. Mostly because it'll be fun to compare EC Af 2a3 to this 300B thru headphones, and with Aegir monos thru speakers. I auditioned my current speakers at a local dealer with a 300B integrated and it was pretty f'ing nuts good. Not sure yet what tubes I'll run (probably EH or Genelex to start, then maybe try the Psvane ACME stuff). I've also got some coupling caps to play with. Been almost 20 years since I did my last build (and old Pimeta! JFK so much has changed since then.) so I'm going to take my time since troubleshooting this is a bit more involved and I have no idea what i'm doing, honestly... So, just don't f**k it up from the beginning, right?
     
  11. famish99

    famish99 Friend

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    The diagram with the items labeled in their positions is one of the best ways to audit your work and the test points are pretty informative. When I put mine together, I had accidentally swapped two resistors and we were able to localize it pretty well with those two pages and a multimeter.

    The Elrogs are pricey but they really turn the amp into something non-300b sounding with insane extension at the ends and none of the mid warmth usually associated with the tube.

    Obligatory build photo:
    20200913_161933_HDR.jpg
    And in operation:
    20200919_195752.jpg

    PS: the OPT wires have been braided and routed differently than seen in the photo to bring down the interference with the power transformer.
     
  12. Puma Cat

    Puma Cat Friend

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    NIce.

    Man, I want to build one of these Elekits so bad....I love the sound of SETs.

    A buddy of mine had these amazing Wavac 805-based SETs that were incredible.
     
  13. bhk1004

    bhk1004 Acquaintance

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    I have had my 8600S with the upgraded coupling caps done for about 2 months. Really amazing amp all around. I am running it with the Psvane Acme 300b tubes, telefunken long smooth plate 12au7, and long plate 12ax7 mullard. Fairly straight forward and easy build. 12ax7 long smooth plate telefunken sounds great with it as well if you like a neutral(er) sound.

    @famish99 I have heard great things about the Elrog, that and the EML 300b tubes are on a short list if I decided to switch things up.

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
  14. yotacowboy

    yotacowboy McRibs Kind of Guy

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    Nice looking setup! I'm actually kind of interested to hear how much improvement there is from a "cheap" tube compliment to a full on wallet-assault. I think for the near term I'll start with the Genelex stuff and save some excitement for later. Though i've all but sworn off NOS horseshit after getting burned on noisy tubes with no warranty and shitty NOS tube sellers. Chinese tubes are only half as risky in my experience so far. But this isn't about tube rolling. Almost done stuffing resistors, and AN copper foils and MiFlex caps showed up today. VH ODAMs should be here this week, so after some burn in I'll pull it all apart and do some swapping on the coupling caps. Sidenote: my GF hates it when I get new toys because it means I'm listening to the same f'ing song 800 times over for 3 weeks if I'm trying to listen "critically"...
     
  15. bhk1004

    bhk1004 Acquaintance

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    I havent personally heard the lower end 300B tubes, but I have rolled a ton of 12a_7 variety tubes. There are tons of great tubes that are lower priced. I have just taken a liking to the more expensive stuff, but I 100% support just sticking with good quality lower priced tubes. As long as its within your sound signature that you are looking for, you are really only chasing a difference in sound signature in my opinion. Of course crap = crap, but NOS tube prices are mainly driven by available inventory.

    Below is a link to Victor's 8600 amp kit tube sets that he offers, some of which are pretty reasonably priced as a starter setup. Victor is the distributor in case you havent reached out to him (and the supplier for everyone in the USA/Canada and some other regions that sells them so he will support you regardless of where you bought your kit), and an amazing resource to talk with. 100% recommend opening up email communication with him before starting your build as he responds extremely fast in case you run into any issues or have questions mid build. He actually setup a whatsapp chat with me so that I could call him if I had any questions while putting it together.

    https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/elekit/356044-elekit-tube-set-options.html

    This set below has good reviews, and if you email Victor is his recommended starting point before diving into the deep end. I was planning on going with the below 300b tube (i have a ton of 12ax7/12au7 tubes) before just blowing my load on the Psvane Acme.

    Nature Sound/COSSOR Black Plate 300B (MADE BY LINLAI)+ WE5755 + RCA 12AU7 X 2 (clear Top) $285.
     
    Last edited: Sep 30, 2020
  16. k4rstar

    k4rstar Britney fan club president

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    best sounding 300B you can still buy, Svetlana pairs from 1998, made in st petersburg factory using original WE tooling. problems are price, quality control, best to find a reputable seller.

    ELROG is not really a 300B but some other creation entirely.

    for less money the regular black base PSVANE is fine. this is what the Japanese amp builders are using. I don't think more expensive chinese tubes are worth it.
     
  17. famish99

    famish99 Friend

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    Yeah I would say that RCA clear tops are pretty good value for money NOS, cheaper than some of the new prod AU7 I've bought but way cleaner sounding. You can find decent options on the input with the RCA gray plate AX7 or any of the 5751 equivalents.

    @k4rstar I definitely agree that the Elrog is not really a 300B at all in spirit. Being a fan of 845, I prefer the Elrog sound signature to the usual 300B sound, but Gold Lions are a pretty good new prod if you want the 300B sound without breaking the bank.
     
  18. Puma Cat

    Puma Cat Friend

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    I used to RCA clear tops in my C-J PV12 and liked them very much. A really nice tube and quite musical.
     
  19. bhk1004

    bhk1004 Acquaintance

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    Alright I deleted everything as it seems I had somehow screwed up the calculation and reran the numbers.

    [​IMG]

    AND AMAZINGLY ELEKIT EMAILED ME BACK! And sent me their measurements below, which caused me to go and recheck my measurements that I posted above. Apparently the website that does this calculations does not like excel copy pasted values... its a bit strange. But the manufacturer numbers align relatively closely with what my half ass measurements got.

    The values are as below.
    Position 1 : 670Ω // Zphone
    Position 2 : 550Ω // Zphone
    Position 3 : 240Ω // Zphone
    Position 4 : 120Ω // Zphone

    I honestly have no idea why they decided these would be good values for their headphone tap, as it seems insanely high. I am guessing anyone who is using this amp exclusively with headphones will probably want to setup a speaker tap adaptor. I am currently using an HE adaptor out of the speaker taps.

    Also just to add, Elekit says it is ok to swap the jumpers for the different positions with the amp on. Just turn the volume to its lowest setting before swapping.
     
    Last edited: Dec 10, 2020
  20. Phantaminum

    Phantaminum Friend

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    Thanks for updating this thread with the headphone out values. From experience the positions of the jumpers also relates to the gain. Position 1 has the lowest gain but the highest Z-out. From memory I first started with position 3 and found myself with little play on the pot so I moved it down to 2, then finally 1. I'll verify this information over the weekend.
     

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