Featured

1957 Heathkit EA-2 on pro audio speakers C:



Published
My most impressive 6BQ5/EL84 amplifier! Bought this off of ebay a long time ago, paid a bit more for it than I would have liked but I really fell for the case design with the pattern. Did a complete capacitor replacement as is neccesary with all vintage vacuum tube gear (except main filter electrolytic, since there was nothing wrong with it) and power transformer change to convert it to our mains voltage standard. It is rated for 12 watts of output, but with a pair of new SOVTEK EL84's it easily pushes 14 clean watts, and can do upwards of 16 if you allow a little bit of THD. The distortion on this amplifier is very minimal, as it has a very nice and big size ultralinear output transformer. It goes nice and deep on sub bass, has no problems playing down to 30hz. There is absolutely no audible distortion on sub bass frequencies. The tube compliment is a 6CA4/EZ81 rectifier, 12AX7, 6C4, 6AN8 and of course 2x EL84/6BQ5 in a push pull configuration. I did also add adjustable bias to it, since with its original bias resistor it would run the tubes near redplating. Tubes were cheap in 1957, so they squeezed every bit of performance out of them they could. But such is not the case today, and I would like my tubes to last a bit longer, so I added a big powerful 100-300 ohm variable resistor so I can change the current to whatever I like.

Wonderful little everyday listening amplifier! Not a powerhouse, but 14 watts gets MORE than loud enough, and on my big speakers in the video, loud enough for a decently sized party. C:
Category
Audio
Be the first to comment