Doing as i'm told...

[Al p]

Hello WD forum members, Just a quick line or two to say as a new junior member, & not wanting to appear rude, i should do as the coffee bar says & introduce myself.

I am sat here looking around the forum & just have to say it's nice to be allowed to join such an interesting forum. I have to confess I have spent a lot of time playing with solid state stuff, & not yet had a lot to do with "fires in jam jars" for audio. I have had some dealings with valves for RF courtesy of my interest in amateur radio though. I have always wanted to build a nice valve amp for audio, & I intend to do this in the near future. I really want to build the WD kit with KT88 P/A tubes, so as soon as i can save enough pennies to buy one that's the plan! It is nice to have a project to build that does not mean it is going to be covered in surface mount dust eh!

Other interests: I am a self confessed petrol head, love all things bike, TT etc, (proper mans racing). I am in the process of building myself an off grid
power supply to run the house. Love audio, run an odd collection of kit that has evolved over the years, Cambridge Audio, Audiolab, Quad, terminated by a pair of series 2 HB3's.

Anyway folks that's me - Regards, Al p.

[Richard]

Hi Al and welcome, quite a few of us here are into bikes and cars as well as hifi

[Al p]

Hi Richard, thanks, I failed to mention I also like cars, i am firmly convinced if mankind was intended to walk, on the 8th day god would not have invented the piston engine!

[bikerhifinut]

welcome Al,

If you have experience with valves at RF then you're going to have no trouble building a WD kit.

I built a WD 88VA a few years back, it worked straight away, and continues some 8 years on to give reliable and great sound.
I think we all tweak our amps up a bit and thats one of the good things about kits/diy, especially ones built around tag boards where you can swop parts in easily.
I didnt do much with mine, I replaced the original grey polyester coupling caps with polyprops, cant say the sound was "better", certainly "different" but its all taste innit.
I did put snubber caps on the HT diodes and that was an improvement to my ears.
I tried the schottky mod on the DC heaters and my feeling was it wasnt worth the effort. Others will disagree.
Otherwise, apart from disconnecting the input potentiometer and altering the grid leaks on the ECC83 to 1 meg, i have left it original and it doesnt disappoint.
I have experimented with output valves and have to my surprise found a set of KT90's donated by a mate seem to give a really meaty yet rounded sound.
Again others will disagree. Theres no "right" and no "wrong".

Andy

[bikerhifinut]

forgot to mention............... I have a Triumph Sprint ST 955i and a Royal Enfield 500 EFi with a watsonian grand prix sidecar (Wifes toy).

May I be forgiven!

[Al p]

Hi Andy,

I will get round to building the kit as soon as I can, I am really looking forward to doing it! I was trying to look at the drawings for it earlier, but the stupid interweb fangled thingy said it could not find the server! mutter, mutter, mutter... What H.T. rail does it run on the KT88's? they do have a lovely glow, so it's several hundred & plenty i'm guessing...

My bike stable consists of a pair of original Norton Commando's, a Yamaha FJ1100, & a Yoshimura looney tuned YZF R6, great at speed, but a complete nightmare in towns, no grunt unless you are wailing it like a demented two stroke! I am planning to part ex it for a Triumph 1050 Tiger Sport , always loved the triple lump.

[colin.hepburn]

HI Al
Bikes Cars and Valve Audio some SS as well all your interests on one Forum
Welcome to WD

[bob orbell]

Hi Al P, another WA88 convert here and I have 3 motorcycles, Triumph T140D, Triumph T110 and a 250 Red Panther, for reasons I can't ex plane, I have not ridden for two years, got into push bikes some three years ago and now own Severn, ride about 100 miles a week and love it. BOB

[Al p]

It's great to finally find a home with like minded chaps! Thank you all for the welcome's to the forum. I have not had a bike on the road for a couple of years myself, but i do intend to rectify this soon. I once bought 1963 Norton 650SS wideline featherbed & completely rebuilt it. I loved that & wish I had never sold it. My two Commando's One belonged to my late father, we built that between us, so that is never being sold! My other Commando is one i bought years ago for sprints & hill climbs. It has had major engine work done, now being bored & stroked out to 950CC. It now has a Nourish a solid billet crank, Carillo rods, Cosworth pistons, Mick Hemmings big valve head, & Brembo stoppers at the front. It has had a belt drive primary conversion to replace the drive side triplex chain set up, the clutch has been suitably beefed up, & it drives into a close ratio box. It is quite a lively little thing now! It is not road legal, but i was one day thinking about building it up in a wideline featherbed as a special for playing on sunny days.

I seem to have too many projects & not enough time to play with them all, common problem so i'm told! To add to the fun, I am getting married in September this year. It has since dawned on me that this was really bad planning. Should has planned the wedding for end of May, honeymoon then On The Isle Of Man, TT WEEK!!! (schoolboy error or what!!)

[Shane]

Considering I work in Chaddlewood, I'm surprised I haven't heard you roaring past!