Learning Vacuum Tube Amplifiers for Senior Design Project

[seang]

Hey all;

None of my EE classes cover vac tubes since they're largely obsolete. The thing is, for my senior design project (I have a year or so, no rush.) I'd like to build an audio amplifier. From experience I know the advantages of vac tubes and am willing to put up with the drawbacks.

I was wondering if you know of any extremely good texts that cover tubes from top to bottom. I know nothing about them and will have to teach myself completely. IE a book covering a tube as an extension or special case of another element won't do. Help?

Thank you.

 

[Danger]

I don't know whether or not this will be helpful, but I have a bunch of old radio and TV repair manuals from the 50's & 60's, including one specifically about tubes. They're at my mother's place, so it will take a while to get them. I'll give you the titles, authors and publishers so you can see if you can find them. Otherwise, I can probably e-mail or PM excerpts without violating copyrights.

 

[turbo]

You might want to check out Randall Aiken's recommendations. I have some of these books, and his "take" on them is pretty accurate, IMO.

http://www.aikenamps.com/Bibliography.html

 

[berkeman]

There's lots of good online info. I googled audio power amp vacuum tube, and got lots of good hits. Here's that hit list:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=audio+power+amp+vacuum+tube

 

[SGT]

I know some audiofiles say that tubes are superior to solid state for audio amplifiers, but I don't see any reason for that. I believe it is only another urban legend.

 

[turbo]

I know some audiofiles say that tubes are superior to solid state for audio amplifiers, but I don't see any reason for that. I believe it is only another urban legend.

I am now in my mid-50s, and I can hear frequencies that teenagers hear that people my age typically cannot (mosquito ring tone). Please believe me when I tell you that extremely short rise-times and "accurate" SS amplification of input signals does not always equal "pleasant" music. My best stereo rig 25 years back was a set of Mac 30 monoblocs with a clean SS preamp and a pair of Klipsch speakers. Unfortunately, I moved frequently to follow construction jobs, and allowed convenience to rule. I went with a nice Sansui integrated amp with smaller Bose speakers that were better-matched impediance-wise. I want those Mac 30s back!

 

[Ouabache]

I see some great links on berkeman's reference. I would also add the following link, part of NEETS (Naval Electrical Engineering Training Series). They outline a comprehensive treatment of electron tube theory and application.

Be sure to check out some of their other Elec Engr discussions.