On Tue, 03 Dec 2013 08:10:26 +0000, Martin Brown wrote:> BTW is "boat anchor" the US term for tube based or old dead kit?It's the term for old radios that glow in the dark and that you shouldn't pick up by yourself for fear of rupturing something. I dunno if it's US or English-speaking amateur radio parlance, though. -- Tim Wescott Wescott Design Services http://www.wescottdesign.com
Toob Amplified PC Speakers
Started by ●December 2, 2013
Reply by ●December 3, 20132013-12-03
Reply by ●December 3, 20132013-12-03
Tim Wescott Inscribed thus:> On Tue, 03 Dec 2013 08:10:26 +0000, Martin Brown wrote: > >> BTW is "boat anchor" the US term for tube based or old dead kit? > > It's the term for old radios that glow in the dark and that you > shouldn't pick up by yourself for fear of rupturing something. > > I dunno if it's US or English-speaking amateur radio parlance, though. >I belive its US in origin. In the UK we refer to "Doorstops" ! -- Best Regards: Baron.
Reply by ●December 3, 20132013-12-03
Tim Wescott <tim@seemywebsite.really> wrote:>On Tue, 03 Dec 2013 08:10:26 +0000, Martin Brown wrote: > >> BTW is "boat anchor" the US term for tube based or old dead kit? > >It's the term for old radios that glow in the dark and that you shouldn't >pick up by yourself for fear of rupturing something.The rule is, to operate a radio on the 80M boatanchor net, it has to weigh more in pounds than it produces out in watts. (Although there are occasional arguments about whether plate input power should be used instead.) This seems a fair line to draw between boatanchor and non-boatanchor sets.>I dunno if it's US or English-speaking amateur radio parlance, though.That's the thing about amateur radio, everybody talks to one another so the slang is mostly universal. --scott -- "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
Reply by ●December 3, 20132013-12-03
On Tue, 3 Dec 2013, Scott Dorsey wrote:> Tim Wescott <tim@seemywebsite.really> wrote: >> On Tue, 03 Dec 2013 08:10:26 +0000, Martin Brown wrote: >> >>> BTW is "boat anchor" the US term for tube based or old dead kit? >> >> It's the term for old radios that glow in the dark and that you shouldn't >> pick up by yourself for fear of rupturing something. > > The rule is, to operate a radio on the 80M boatanchor net, it has to weigh > more in pounds than it produces out in watts. (Although there are occasional > arguments about whether plate input power should be used instead.) This > seems a fair line to draw between boatanchor and non-boatanchor sets. > >> I dunno if it's US or English-speaking amateur radio parlance, though. > > That's the thing about amateur radio, everybody talks to one another so > the slang is mostly universal.I've seen people point to an issue of "CQ" in the late fifties (when Wayne Greene was editor), a letter or snide remark after a letter. I've seen the bit, I'm not sure if that is the first use or not. But of course, back then, "boatanchor" I think tended to mean "useless" as well as "heavy". You drag this really neat thing home from the hamfest, only to discover it is completely useless on top of being heavy. So it has no value other than as a boatanchor. SOmething like that. Amd there was surplus like that. Really heavy items with cases that made them twice as heavy, and not really useful for much even with modifications. And then a decade or so later, a lot of stuff became "useless" because nobody wanted AM and nobody wanted tubes, and nobody wanted whatever. So the stuff, heavy but not extremely heavy, became boatanchors when few wanted them. And you could get the stuff so cheap. I remember in the early seventies being able to get ahold of all kinds of "junk" because nobody wanted them at the time. It was only later that "boatanchor" became an affectionate term, when "that old junk" became desirable by people nostalgic for the old days, or for the stuff they couldn't afford when younger. And by then attrition had cleared out some of the supply, suddenly making the old stuff more valuable than it had been decades before when nobody wanted it and there was lots of it. Michael VE2BVW
Reply by ●December 3, 20132013-12-03
On Mon, 2 Dec 2013, Robert Baer wrote:> Maynard A. Philbrook Jr. wrote: >> In article<CX6nu.285389$ER3.31714@fx28.iad>, robertbaer@localnet.com >> says... >>> >>> Jim Thompson wrote: >>>> On Mon, 02 Dec 2013 12:58:56 -0600, Tim Wescott >>>> <tim@seemywebsite.really> wrote: >>>> >>>>> It's winter, and the amplifier in my PC speakers just died. >>>>> >>>>> I think it'd be kinda cool to have a toob speaker amp, but I'm too lazy >>>>> (and time-challenged) to build one up from scratch. >>>>> >>>>> Are there, by any chance, kits out there? I'm not looking for nickel- >>>>> cored transformers with solid silver windings, genuine paper caps rolled >>>>> on the thighs of virgins, toobs dipped in LN2, and all that crap: I'm >>>>> just looking for something that'll give the audio quality of a mid-range >>>>> amplified speaker set, in a cabinet that shows off the fact that it all >>>>> uses ancient technology to get the job done. >>>>> >>>>> Suggestions welcome. >>>>> >>>>> TIA >>>> >>>> Just for fun, you might do a single stage class-A stage using a 2A3. I >>>> did one when I was a kid, but with 5 in parallel ;-) >>>> >>>> ...Jim Thompson >>> Better yet, a push-pull transformerless design! >> >> I remember a quasie tube output, that was bad car ma. >> >> It required a safety circuit on the output, not for users but for >> equipment. The outfit could care less about the user safety! :) >> >> This was a magnetic server that required a broad range of bw. >> the tube outputs were a pair of 4-400Z. Had dual HV supply because you >> needed the - rail for the bottom side. each heater had their own >> transformer with CT to tie off to the common for pinch off biasing. >> >> The top side had some strange method of driving the tube, but it worked >> >> Jamie >> >> > I may still have circuits and/or designs of transformerless tube speaker > drivers that were purported to be perfectly safe to touch active lines (do > not ask which lines, do not remember). > And yes, the circuitry is weird on the push-pull drivers; there was even a > full bridge version. > >Make the speakers electrostatic, and then drive them from the "plates" of high voltage mosfets. Wont' be so good for the low frequencies, but then a lot of computer speakers arent' good down there anyway, the "subwoofers" not being useful for the actual frequencies where subwoofers kick in. Michael
Reply by ●December 6, 20132013-12-06
Jim Thompson wrote:> > Old 8" hard-drives make good door stops ;-)So do Liberal trolls. They can hold a 500 Lb door in place. -- Anyone wanting to run for any political office in the US should have to have a DD214, and a honorable discharge.
Reply by ●December 6, 20132013-12-06
Michael Black wrote:> > I've seen people point to an issue of "CQ" in the late fifties (when Wayne > Greene was editor), a letter or snide remark after a letter. I've seen > the bit, I'm not sure if that is the first use or not. > > But of course, back then, "boatanchor" I think tended to mean "useless" as > well as "heavy". You drag this really neat thing home from the hamfest, > only to discover it is completely useless on top of being heavy. So it > has no value other than as a boatanchor. SOmething like that. > > Amd there was surplus like that. Really heavy items with cases that made > them twice as heavy, and not really useful for much even with > modifications. > > And then a decade or so later, a lot of stuff became "useless" because > nobody wanted AM and nobody wanted tubes, and nobody wanted whatever. So > the stuff, heavy but not extremely heavy, became boatanchors when few > wanted them. And you could get the stuff so cheap. I remember in the > early seventies being able to get ahold of all kinds of "junk" because > nobody wanted them at the time.More like the person who dragged it home, wasn't smart enough to make it work.> It was only later that "boatanchor" became an affectionate term, when > "that old junk" became desirable by people nostalgic for the old days, or > for the stuff they couldn't afford when younger. And by then attrition > had cleared out some of the supply, suddenly making the old stuff more > valuable than it had been decades before when nobody wanted it and there > was lots of it. > > Michael VE2BVW-- Anyone wanting to run for any political office in the US should have to have a DD214, and a honorable discharge.
Reply by ●December 6, 20132013-12-06
Tim Wescott wrote:> It's winter, and the amplifier in my PC speakers just died. > > I think it'd be kinda cool to have a toob speaker amp, but I'm too lazy > (and time-challenged) to build one up from scratch. > > Are there, by any chance, kits out there? I'm not looking for nickel- > cored transformers with solid silver windings, genuine paper caps rolled > on the thighs of virgins, toobs dipped in LN2, and all that crap: I'm > just looking for something that'll give the audio quality of a mid-range > amplified speaker set, in a cabinet that shows off the fact that it all > uses ancient technology to get the job done. > > Suggestions welcome. > > TIAhttp://store.tubedepot.com/diy-k12g.html?vfsku=diy.k12g.2&gpla=pla&gclid=CMOTqfz-nLsCFUdbfgodmHkAIw Roll your own steampunk-style cabinet around this. -- Paul Hovnanian mailto:Paul@Hovnanian.com ------------------------------------------------------------------ f u cn rd ths u r usng unx
Reply by ●July 23, 20142014-07-23
On Mon, 02 Dec 2013 12:58:56 -0600, Tim Wescott <tim@seemywebsite.really> wrote:>It's winter, and the amplifier in my PC speakers just died. > >I think it'd be kinda cool to have a toob speaker amp, but I'm too lazy >(and time-challenged) to build one up from scratch. > >Are there, by any chance, kits out there? I'm not looking for nickel- >cored transformers with solid silver windings, genuine paper caps rolled >on the thighs of virgins, toobs dipped in LN2, and all that crap: I'm >just looking for something that'll give the audio quality of a mid-range >amplified speaker set, in a cabinet that shows off the fact that it all >uses ancient technology to get the job done. > >Suggestions welcome.Is toob a brand name? What sort of amps does toob make?>TIA-- There is something outrageous about such a huge body of evidence being put together, then being confirmed in all kinds of other scientific disciplines, particularly genetics, and having other people just sort of deny it for reasons that have nothing to do with truth. � Matthew Chapman, Darwin's great-great-grandson.
Reply by ●July 23, 20142014-07-23
On Thu, 24 Jul 2014 08:16:30 +1000, Barry OGrady wrote:> On Mon, 02 Dec 2013 12:58:56 -0600, Tim Wescott > <tim@seemywebsite.really> wrote: > >>It's winter, and the amplifier in my PC speakers just died. >> >>I think it'd be kinda cool to have a toob speaker amp, but I'm too lazy >>(and time-challenged) to build one up from scratch. >> >>Are there, by any chance, kits out there? I'm not looking for nickel- >>cored transformers with solid silver windings, genuine paper caps rolled >>on the thighs of virgins, toobs dipped in LN2, and all that crap: I'm >>just looking for something that'll give the audio quality of a mid-range >>amplified speaker set, in a cabinet that shows off the fact that it all >>uses ancient technology to get the job done. >> >>Suggestions welcome. > > Is toob a brand name? What sort of amps does toob make?Someone should start a retro amplifier company and call it "Toob". Really. Someone who loves vacuum tube amps, but doesn't suffer much from audiophoolery. -- Tim Wescott Wescott Design Services http://www.wescottdesign.com
