Tom and his excellent Toons!
You know craftsmanship when you see it! Many DIYers are plagued by a lack of effort in the craftsmanship department. And also aesthetics! (maybe not many DIYers are like that, just me...) But here you can see Thomas' effort pays off big time!
First of all, have a look at the system... JVC CD player, MSB DAC, VPI turntable, Pentagon phono preamp plus amps flanked by Musical Technology speakers. The amps are, top to bottom, "Arkhon" followed by "Mei" linestage and under it, the S&B Transformer Volume Control... By the way, the `Arkhon' and `Mei' are Tom's own design...
Aha! This is the mean looking Arkhon! Built dual mono mirror-imaged on super tough 3mm aluminium chassis. Check out the Tango output trans, Tango choke and Elna Cerafine caps... I'm going to faint... The 6C33 `pineapple' is driven by a 2-stage 5687. Note those red, yellow, black probe points. For sticking in your multimeter probes to check the voltages. Thoughful eh?
Beautifully constructed, such an elaborate scheme looks so neat! Built entirely dual mono, coupling caps are Jensen copper paper in oil and those big black Angela polypropylenes are for Ultrapath connection. If this sounds Greek to you, you are not a serious enough DIYer YET.
Horniest `pineapple' in the world. Err, I mean the tube! 6C33 dwarves nearby GE 5687. Toggle switch is for turning on B+ after lengthy delay.
The `Mei' linestage preamp uses the delectable 26 tube. Taming its hum is a bastard! The protoboard houses all the necessary components for "hum killing" duties. Sorry my photo for the `Mei' didn't turn out well, so please scroll up, look at Tom's system for a better look of the `Mei'.
The 26 tube. RCA here. Note the unique plate.
There you have it! Learn from Tom's construction, craftsmanship! I listened to Tom's system on 2 separate ocassions. First time, it didn't sound tubey. I have listened to 2 different implementations of the 6C33 and both times, this pineapple doesn't excite me. It doesn't have the SE sound, even in a SE circuit. Hmm... Anyway, fast forward a year later, the addition of the `Mei' is a master stroke! It imparts the sweetness of the 26 and now the system is a lot more satisfying. Great work Thomas!
My apologies my photographic skills don't do justice to Tom's beautiful creations. : (