KEL34 making safe to work on

[bob orbell]

It is called attention to detail Greg, something a lot of people lack . Bob

[Greg.]

Originally Posted by bob orbell

It is called attention to detail Greg, something a lot of people lack . Bob

You may think so. However, there is no prerogative to dictatorially impose that view onto others. To do so is frankly, arrogant and rude.

[Richard]

Malcolm is here, presumably, as he is interested in the ideas and thoughts of others. I changed the mains TX bolt for a piece of studding and a stainless steel acorn nut to match the ones on the OPTXs, a bit fussy perhaps but I was proud of the amp and it cost pennies to do

[bob orbell]

Greg, how can attention to detail be rude, I try and achieve very neat layouts to the best of my ability, I restore motorcycles to better than show winning condition and have received many prizes, I also try to help others achieve similar results, even my bicycles receive the same attention, if you are happy with slap bang work that ends in a poor look, then go ahead, but please don't try and stop me helping others to reach the same goal as myself, you disappoint me and it is not the first time . I shall have no further correspondence with you . Bob

[bob orbell]

Small things like that do make a big difference Richard . Bob

[willslenco]

OOOOer! Sorry to have stirred a hornet's nest guys

I really appreciate all your views, which are all valid. Here are mine:

The black KEL34 is pretty much original, except for the upgraded caps and ECC82 anode resistors. It isn't perfect but does have the original look and now is fully functional and this is how I intend to keep it. However in original build it had XLR connectors for speakers which had been later changed to binding posts - I did debate reverting to the XLRs as it would have been a nice touch with my LS3/5As which also use XLRs, but it's already annoying enough to have adapter cables for them without having even more variations as I have a few pairs of speakers and the main speaker cables are, due to locations, permanently installed. So decided to remove the XLRs to remove any confusion for subsequent owners, but holes are just plugged if I or others wish to reinstate them in the future.

I should mention here that I come from a background of historic building conservation - spent almost 30 years specifying and supervising conservation works to Scheduled Ancient Monuments (everything from prehistoric to castles and abbeys and everything in between) which were in the care of Welsh government. Thus my mind set is to mainly 'conserve as is' and not to restore when dealing with good original examples of technology and for repairs to be 'honest' i.e. not to be misleading and hopefully reversible.

Yes the binding posts are 'upside down' but that is part of the 'history' of the amp and to change would involve further unnecessary work IMHO.

Ah I hear you say "what about the fitting of the IEC socket" - well the original would have been a captive lead and this had already been changed to a horrible inline socket which was downright dangerous IMHO. And again due to location and the desire to be able to change amps easily I decided the change to a fixed socket would be best.

Another bit of personal history which Bob may appreciate - I drove motorbikes for many years on a daily basis in all weathers (only snow stopped me). These I always maintained myself to a good standard. But they tended to be 'rat bikes' in that they didn't get cleaned much and had a lot of wear and tear as they were 'workhorses'. To be honest my cars have been the same, although I no longer maintain them myself, as I don't derive much pleasure in cleaning them and minor scratches etc don't bother me (history again) and as John Peel said "life's got surface noise". So although I appreciate perfect, beautiful, clean I'm not good at it.

Moving on the the other blue KEL34 with the bad paint job. This one has already been modified, painted etc. being one of the original models with the toroidal output transformers, so I don't have any qualms about stripping it right down, repainting chassis and transformers etc. That is just using the 'bones' of it to create something which is personal to me.

Well I seem to have rambled on a bit, hopefully you can now see where I'm coming from and that maybe we can all have differing views which don't have to be right or wrong

[colin.hepburn]

Hi all just thought id start a new thread to deflect from this one on the subject of Attention to detail Builds
http://www.world-designs.co.uk/forum...ead.php?t=8060

[bob orbell]

Well Will, if that is your name and apologies if not, but it is not your comments that promoted my post but the fact I was being called arrogant and rude when I had said in another post how good I thought your resurrection was just pointing out one small imperfection. I do not suffer fools gladly, but you are not on my list , if I ever offend anyone on this or other forums then I always apologise, I hope the offender takes note. Bob

[willslenco]

Thanks Bob, I'm Malcolm but no apologies necessary

[Phil Y]

I wasn't aware that there was any convention on the orientation of speaker binding posts, but from memory, I can't recall ever seeing a commercially built amp that had the +ve connections below the -ve.

Regards, Phil.