The Tube Preamp Cookbook Allen Wright

The Tube Preamp Cookbook Allen Wright. 2/7/2019 0 Comments. For the Super Regulator (which I think is a must if you want to get full benefit from this preamp), I ordered it as a kit from Allen - it's cheap anyway and its contribution to the preamp's performance is essential. RIAA equalization is a form of pre-emphasis on recording and de. Here you can download file TheTubePreampCookbookAllenWright. 2shared gives you an excellent opportunity to store your files here and share them with others. Join our community just now to flow with the file TheTubePreampCookbookAllenWright and make our shared file collection even more complete and exciting. That is when Harvey pointed me towards you. He said 'I am going to get Allen Wright to send you one of his cookbooks. You have got to read this stuff!' That was when you and I first connected. Allen Wright with his The Tube Preamp Cookbook. Wright: You put a section of my book in Positive Feedback. Robinson: Yes, because it was great writing.

The Tube Preamp Cookbook Allen Wright. 3/11/2018 0 Comments. True, I could not get a production version of that preamp: instead it had to be Allen Wright's personal development platform, evolved over two decades from one of the very first preamps ever made by VSE. The circuit itself was the latest FVP incarnation, 5A, meaning a hybrid FET.

After finishing the SuperCables CookBook by Allen Wright I decided to make some audio cables. One of the concepts that Allen pushes in the book is very thin wires. Originally I had no intentions of making any cables from the book but after reading through the book I got the urge. According to Allen thin is in. I chose to try a couple of the designs that use wire wrap wire (WWW). Details of the cables that were built using WWW are noted in Part 2 of the SuperCables CookBook review.

The HiFi Test Set-up

The test set-up used to evaluate the cables consisted of an upgraded Oppo 980H, a diy build of the Nelson Pass B1 buffer preamp, a diy 6AS7 SET power amplifier and Fostex FE206En drivers in a back loaded horn enclosure. I selected a number of test tracks which I thought had enough variation to exhibit any great cable sonics. To make sure I was not biased I enlisted the aid of a golden eared friend, Ron from the Melbourne Audio Club. He also brought along his test tracks.

Oppo 980H, Pass B1 Buffer, 6AS7 SET, FE206En Rear Horn

Cable Shoot-Out

We played through about half a dozen test tracks using both short and long runs of #1, Air-spaced Finewire RCA cables and set of #6, Air-spaced Finewire speaker cables which were 2 m in length. My SET amp produces only 3W so fine wire speaker cables will work with this amp. But will it be the best sound we can get?

What we found was in just three test tracks we could listen for:

The shimmer in cymbals
The breathiness in flute and its balance against a harp
The rich tone of a fully fleshed violin

Of course this in no way covers every tone or nuance of every sonic effect listenable on any recording but I feel it was enough to highlight the main differences in the cables.

After listening with the cable combination above we swapped the #1, Air-spaced Finewire RCA cables for a cheap $2 store bought RCA cable. Some areas of the test music actually improved. The sound stage appeared to widen or was it just smeared between the speakers. The violin appeared to fatten-up or was the detail just lost. Ron and I then, cable by cable, started putting back both sets of #1, Air-spaced Finewire RCA cables and the other various cables that we had on hand.

We started with the short #1, Air-spaced Finewire RCA cables which lead from the CD player to the preamplifier. We also introduced my twisted version of the WWW interconnect cables and also my braided Silver Highway RCA cables. I have built many sets of these high-purity silver wire RCA cables and everyone who has used them claims they are excellent. At each stage we re-listened to the three test tracks.

What We Found

Without boring the pants off you with every detailed cable swap this is what we found.

The #1, Air-spaced Finewire interconnect cables work best between the CD player and the preamp (short cable, 150 mm long)
My diy Silver Highway RCA cables (900 mm) worked best between the preamplifier and power amplifier. They worked better than my twisted WWW cable, but only slightly better.
Multi-stand heavy OFC speaker leads (3 m long) with heavy brass banana plugs only just outperformed the #6, Air-spaced Finewire speaker cables (2 m long).

Ron brought his dedicated capacitance and inductance meter and here are the cable measurements:

RCA Cables

#1, Air-spaced Finewire (short): 30 pF, 8 uH, 0.4 ohm

#1, Air-spaced Finewire (long): 30 pF, 13 uH, 1.5 ohm

Twisted cables (destination end): 13 pF, 8 uH, 0.4 ohm

Twisted cables (source end): 138 pF, 10 uH, 0.4 ohm

$2 Generic RCA (1000 mm): 370 pF, 0.1 uH, 0.1 ohm

Speaker Cables

#6, Air-spaced Finewire (2 m): 25 pF, 17 uH, 1.5 ohm

Note: The twisted cables comprise of three wire wrap wires, only two of which are terminated at the destination end. I believe the 30 pF of capacitance for some of #1, Air-spaced Finewire cables is due to the cheap RCA plug that was used. The twisted cables had only 13 pF for the destination end which only has two wires connected. Also the RCA used on the twisted cable were heavy weight high-end types and I believe low capacitance types.

Just a Cable Suggestion

It is worth while trying different cables, weather you make your own or buy them off the shelf. If possible, try borrowing some friend’s cables before outlaying hundreds of dollars on expensive ones. Different combinations of cables can work better than just one cable type used throughout your system. If nothing else, cable swapping and comparison will fill in an afternoon and you may enjoy the music along the way.

Mark Houston - retro-thermionic.

This concludes Mark’s three part series of the SuperCables CookBook. For the full story, refer to the SuperCables CookBook (Part 1) which reviews the book and Part 2 of the SuperCables CookBook review which takes a look at a couple of the cable recipes.

Update (11 December 2010): I've updated the terminations for both the #1, Air-spaced Finewire RCA interconnect cables and the #6, Air-spaced Finewire Speaker Cables. See the Skinny is in! - Thin wire audio cables thread for more information and further discussion.

DIY Cable Projects

DIY Silver RCA Interconnect Cables
Cross-connected Belden 89259 DIY Speaker Cables
DIY Low-Inductance Speaker Cables
Belden 83803 DIY Mains Power Cable

A Reading List For Audio Buffs

Subject: Recording history

From Tin Foil To Stereo - Evolution Of The Phonograph, Oliver Read and Walter Welch

Playback: From the Victrola to Mp3, 100 Years of Music, Machines, and Money, Coleman

Off The Record: The Technology and Culture of Sound Recording in America, Morton

45 RPM: The History, Heroes, and Villains of a Pop Music Revolution, Dawson and Propes

45 RPM, Drate

The Penguin Guide to Jazz, Cook - Morton

Subject: General Hi Fi Reference

Acoustic Design for the Home Studio, Mitch Gallagher

Get Better Sound, Jim Smith

The Complete Guide To High-End Audio, Robt. Harley

Master Handbook of Acoustics, F. Alton Everest

Music, Physics and Engineering, Harry F. Olson

Audio Reality, Rozenblit, Summers, Schiller

Audio and Hi-Fi Handbook, Sinclair

'Repairing Home Audio systems: A Practical Guide to Stereo and Monophonic High-Fidelity systems, Record Changers, Turntables, Portable Phonographs, Magnetic Tape, Radio and Audio Servicing Course', Ecklund

1-2-3-4 Servicing Hi-Fi Turntables, Belt

Audio Cyclopedia, Tremaine

Reproduction of sound in High-Fidelity & Stereo Phonographs, Villchur

Hi-Fi in the Home, Crabbe

The Search for Musical Ecstasy, Rosenberg

Audio System Design And Installation, G.H. Phillip Giddings

Handbook For Sound Engineers: The New Audio Cyclopedia, Glen M. Ballou

Subject:Turntables, Record Players

Joachim Bung: Swiss Precision

The New 2019 Comprehensive Edition

Two Volumes in Slipcase

Deutsche Perfektion: The History of the Legendary EMT Turntables, Pasini http://www.stefanopasini.it/

The Tube Preamp Cookbook Allen Wright -

Thorens articles online:

http://www.stefanopasini.it/images/Thor1215.pdf an informative Thorens history article by Stefano Pasini

Garrard articles online:

'Design Of Transcription Turntables' by E.W. Mortimer, Garrard Engineering Ltd.

Subject: Record Collecting References

Goldmine Record Album Price Guide, Neeley, ISBN-10: 0896895327ISBN-13: 978-0896895324available in the US

The Rare Record Price Guide 2008 (Record Collector Magazine) ISBN-10: 0953560151ISBN-13: 978-0953260157available in the UK

Living Stereo: The RCA Bible: a compendium of opinion on RCA living stereo records, Jonathan Valin

The Canfield Guide to Classical Recordings

Vinyl Junkies: Adventures In Record Collecting, Brett Milano

Subject: 'in the recording studio' books

33 1/3 series books, various authors. Each one covers one record from rock history.

The Beatles, Bob Spitz

The House that Trane Built: The Story of Impulse Records, Kahn

Here, There and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of the Beatles, Emerick, Massey

Kind Of Blue -- The Making Of The Miles Davis Masterpiece, Kahn

The Record Men: The Chess Brothers and the Birth of Rock & Roll, Cohen

Temples of Sound: Inside the Great Recording Studios, Clark, Cogan, Jones

Flowers In The Dustbin: The Rise of Rock and Roll, 1947 - 1977, Miller

The Masters of Bebop; A Listener's Guide, Ira Gitler

Subject: Album Cover Art

Blue Note: Jazz Photography of Francis Wolff

Blue Note: The Album cover Art

In the Groove: Vintage Record Graphics 1940 - 1960

The Greatest Album Covers of All Time, Scott, Miles, Morgan

Albums: The Stories Behind 50 Years of Great Recordings, various contributors

The Tube Preamp Cookbook Allen Wright Model

1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You die, Dimery

The Cat on a Hot Thin Groove: The Complete Collection of 78rpm Artwork from the Legendary Record Changer Magazine, Deitch

Vixens of Vinyl: The Alluring Ladies of Vintage Album Covers, Darling

The Tube Preamp Cookbook Allen Wright Iii

Naked Vinyl, O'Brien

For The Record: The Life and Work of Alex Steinweiss, Jennifer McKnight-Trontz (note: Alex Steinweiss invented the album cover in 1938)

This Ain't No Disco: New Wave Album Covers, Trontz

Subject: General Fiction, somehow involving the Lp

High Fidelity, Nick Hornby

Love Is a Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time, Sheffield

The Show I'll Never forget: 50 Writers Re-live Their Most Memorable Concert going Experience

The Music Lovers: A Harry Stoner Novel, Valin

Subject: Loudspeakers

Loudspeakers An Anthology, J. Audio Engineering Society, Vol. 1 and 2

Loudspeaker and Headphone Handbook, J. Bowers, ed.

High Performance Loudspeakers, Martin Collums

Electrostatic Loudspeaker Design and Construction, Ronald Wagner

The Electrostatic Loudspeaker Design Cookbook, Roger Sanders

The Loudspeaker Design Cookbook, Dickason

Subject: Electronics (vacuum tube)

Radiotron Designers Handbook, 3rd and 4th ed

An Approach to Audio Frequency Amplifier Design, GE Co. Ltd of England

Mullard Tube Circuits for Audio Amplifiers

Beginner's Guide to Tube Audio Design, Bruce Rozenblit

The Tube Preamp Cookbook, Allen Wright

Tube Lore, Ludwell Sibley

RCA Tube Manuals

GE Tube Manuals

A note of appreciation for the fellow inmates at Audio Asylum/Vinyl for offering most of the suggested titles in the list above.