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Well, after paint mishaps and whatnot, I think I've finally finished the Seduction. It sounds great with only a little bit of hum that is not audible to me at the listening position, so not a problem. Here's some pics (click on the little ones to enlarge them). My first real tube project! And I didn't shock myself once!!!! Thanks goes to Wayne for offering me the kit! Seduction
So glad that little phono stage found a good home at your place!
Nice job, Shane. How's the 12b4 amp comng along. Have you been hearing it much? What are your impressions? -akhilesh
I love the little 12B4, especially with my Pi Two Towers! These are the speakers I initially heard the amp on in Tulsa and the main reason I bought it. There is plenty of bass and volume in my 12'X15' bedroom. Very smooth mids as expected. Jef added a bandwidth limiter on this amp, and it seems to do well with it. I had a hiccup where the fuse blew once, right at switch on. It was hardwired in, so I put in a fuse holder and put in a new 1A/slo-blo and looked the other way upon turn on :). Checked all the voltages, etc...No problems since with fuses blowing, so I'm not sure what it was. The Seduction does not do well with my 12B4 amp, but I have not experimented with different IC's, carts, etc... yet, but I'm sure it is just a combination of things at this point and can be corrected more to my liking.
I really do like the paint job you did on the top plate. What kind of paint did you use?
Just that $3 a can duplicolor stuff from the local auto parts store. It was metallic garnet I think. I just sanded the plate real lightly to take any obvious gunk off, wiped it down with acetone a couple of times, shot primer, color, and clearcoat just like the can says. I put too many coats of color on and didn't let it cure long enough (my first time messing with auto paint...doh), thus the brass washers under all the screws to hide the little "rings" where I tried to mount the screws too early. I have no idea how long it will stick on the aluminum plate, but I like the tubes in it at this point and see no need to tube roll yet. So I'm not flexing the top plate at all plugging and unplugging stuff. I try to be vary careful and not flex it when I've swapped IC's and such. Just leave it alone if it's working fine I say.