Section 1 Introduction Thanks for purchasing the ANK Audio Kits Interstage Monoblock 300B SET Amplifier. Our goal is to provide you with the highest quality kit that you will build from scratch with these instructions. This is very high end and sophisticated piece of audio equipment that will surely become a showpiece of your sound system.
As a result, ANK Audio Kits began offering this service for Level 4 and 5 products so that a significant investment in a kit could be turned into a work of art! Since ANK Audio Kits was born in 2004, over 2,500 kits have been shipped to customers worldwide.
ANK Audio Kits and SET amplifiers go a long way back, right to the beginning in fact, with our Kit1 300B, which has had successive and successful anniversary editions. It's no surprise then that these 300B single and parallel SET monoblocks are simply awesome! A pair of these power amplifiers are a perfect mate for the Mentor pre-amplifier and a path to truly exceptional audio enjoyment.
That way of looking at things sometimes now no longer applies. Please be assured that all resistors supplied with ANK Audio Kits are rated at least per the specified wattage: in some cases, a higher than specified wattage may be supplied.
1.5.10 Optional Finishing Touches From time to time we get asked about some of the build details of the ANK Finished Products that you can see in the pictures in the "Assembled Kits Gallery!" (https://ankits.smugmug.com/) on our website.
There are sufficient voltages in this kit to give you a very nasty and harmful shock, so be careful when powering on, debugging, and probing around. Please contact ANK Audio Kits via phone or email (audionotekits@rogers.com) to discuss any precautions necessary when building the kit if you feel unsure about what you are doing at any stage of the build.
Page 40
Here's a picture of the underside of a nice parallel Legend build: there are circuit differences between this and the Interstage 300B, but there's enough similarity to make it worth looking at. Note again how to wires are grouped and cable-tied, how neatly the capacitors are attached to the tag strip, etc.
Let's begin by wiring up the 8-pin valve base. Tie off the Red pair of wires. We won't be using them; they're used for the parallel 300B build. Take the Orange twisted pair and put heatshrink on the ends so that they do not interfere with anything else.
Overview In this section we will be populating the Filament Supply PCB. This board will take the 7V AC voltage from the Mains Secondary and DC regulate it down to 5V which will be used to supply the 300B filaments.
In this section we'll connect two wires from the Mains Secondary to the AC inputs on the Filament Supply board. These supply the 7V needed by the 300B tube. We recommend inserting the wires from underneath the board, soldering on the underside and the top, then cutting off the excess wire.
8-position Tag Strip Let's begin by installing the valve bases (the 6SH7 and 300B positioning is up to you). You can work on the insert plate outside of the Monoblocks and then when we get to a certain point we will install into the chassis.
Page 66
Connect a Black wire from Pin 3 on the 6SH7 to Tag E. And, finally, referencing the graphic below, Connect a Black 300B Ground wire coming from position 7/8/9 of the ceramic posts to Tag H. Connect the Green (or Black) 6SH7 Ground wire coming from position 7/8/9 of the ceramic posts to Tag D.
Page 73
RCA Ground Tag E 470uf 16V POSITIVE Black Wire to 6SH7 Pin 3 Tag F 1K0 resistor to 300B Pin 3 Wire to Tag C Tag G 220uf 100V POSITIVE Black wire to 300B Pin 4 2 x 1K5 resistors...
Make some basic DC measurements: for example, checking the 5V filaments of the 300B. Install the 6SH7 and the 300B, then power on to make sure that the 300B glows. Install the 5U4G rectifier and measure a number of key AC and DC voltages.
Follow the turn-on procedure carefully. DO NOT AT ANY TIME ONLY INSTALL THE 5U4G TUBE WITHOUT ANY OTHER TUBES (SUCH AS THE 300B) INSTALLED. The reason for this is that the 5U4G tube is counting on having a specific load to drive. If the 5U4G is used without other tubes installed then the amplifier will 'see' significantly higher DC voltages (close to 600V!), which can overextend the Power Supply capacitors.
Turn the amplifier on. Let’s check the 5V DC on the filament pins (Pins 1 and 4) of the 300B: these are the two 'fat' pins nearest the sides of the chassis. Multimeter Setting...
Page 80
400V ± 5% The first measurement is the HT voltage on the Anode (Pin 2) of the 300B: the Anode of the 300B is the pin with a Red wire connected to it from the Output transformer. It's a good idea to get your schematic out and check the location that you are measuring (Pin 2).
Finally, let's check two key AC voltages on the rectifier (5U4G). These are the filament voltages for the 6SH7 and the 300B. Since the maximum voltage on many multimeters is 600V, we'll measure the AC voltage for each pin (4 and 6) referenced to the Chassis Ground. For the 5V measurement, you can simply position the probes as shown: one on Pin 2 and one on Pin 8 (the orientation doesn't matter).
Make sure that your speakers are connected. Recheck the wiring in the Power Supply and Front Insert Plate. If that doesn't fix things, contact ANK Audio Kits at audionotekits@rogers.com. We'll figure things out. Please have a few telling digital pictures ready to share with us.
13.3 Tube Rolling We feel that the sound of the ANK Audio Kits Interstage Monoblock 300B SET Amplifier is truly sublime and that is destined to become a popular kit. It provides a highly detailed and transparent presentation with gorgeous sonics. Rolling some quality new production tubes and/or some nice NOS tubes will allow you to tailor the sound to your particular preferences.
13.4 Thanks Thank you for investing in the ANK Audio Kits Interstage Monoblock 300B SET Amplifier and congratulations on working your way through the build. The manual is new and we would welcome your feedback. Please email us at audionotekits@rogers.com and let us know how everything went: were there any errors in the manual or instructions, parts lists, etc.? Your ideas regarding greater...
Need help?
Do you have a question about the 300B and is the answer not in the manual?
Questions and answers