RCA RS-177J Tube Amplifier

 This blog has been super quiet as of late due mostly to Covid and my current space that is not as conducive for expansive audio experience and restoring. That being said I am still finding gear, although much harder to find and it is in storage until a later date.

This nice RCA RS-177J tube amp made my way to me through an Ebay win, the amp was in pretty rough looking condition and needed a serious overhaul including new capacitors, resistors and a general cleaning and a paint job.

This amp seems to have a good reconditioning following on the audio forums, but I mostly followed Mark Walker at Blue Glow Electronics walk through including the front end hot rod modification in changing out the 6FQ7 input tubes to 12AX7 input tubes.

He has a few videos also on the restoration of the RS-177A version of this amp.

I followed Mark's instructions and managed to get this tube amp sounding great. I got all new JJ tubes from the Tube depot.

This amp is from the top of the line console stereos that RCA made in the early 1960's and runs around 12 watts per channel in a push/pull configuration.

These RCA's are worth sourcing out as they are easy to restore and there is lots of info on these. This one is a gift for my son for his 21st birthday, something  he can enjoy for another 50 years.

Audio Nirvana Open Baffle Speakers

Just completed is this pair of Audio Nirvana Super 12 Ferrite Open Baffles.

This pair was my latest version of open baffles and a little more resourceful, the baffles themselves are cupboard doors from a local Restore store for $5.00 each. The base was a end cut of a counter top also found at Restore for $5.00. The cupboard doors had convenient handles built into the cabinet for easier positioning of the baffles.

At any rate this project worked out beautifully, my old Electrohome single ended tube amp is in for repair and I have these hooked  to my Rotel RX-950AX Receiver and they sound wonderful.

These Audio Nirvana 12" full range speakers are simply to die for. I am still waiting to pair this up with one of Audio Nirvana's tube amps which I am raising money for.

Click on this link to help donate. 

So far I have sold enough audio gear myself and have banked $400 towards the purchase of a dream tube amp.

Unitron Speakers

Unitron speakers? Huh? An easy thrift store pass by..... It is what is in the box that the treasures can be found.

This pair caught my eye as the cabinets are in pretty good shape and made of real wood veneer, they do need a bit of sanding and new polish, that is easy work.

I opened these up and found a 10" Coral woofer and Coral Alnico tweeter, I figure the cabinets and the drivers were well worth the low low asking price.

My plan was to find a new home for some 10" Foster Alnico woofers and a tweeter of some sort, these boxes would fit the bill.

 I got these home and listed to them with the Coral's in them, boomy, boxy sound was all I heard. The Q's are too high from the woofer for this box. I pulled them out and inserted the Foster 10" Alnico woofer and a Radio Shack 4" Alnico full range speaker, crossed over with a simple 22uf cap around 900hz. Now these speakers sound delightful, like amazingly delightful.

 

Like amazingly delightful, I am going to do more finishing work on them but I have them up and running and I like what I hear.

I mounted the Corals on a spare baffle board that I had around and gave these a listen....OMG these on a baffle are a completely different speaker. Super efficient, the high Q's add beautiful sounding bass for its size of the woofer and the mids and highs are dreamy delicious. Just as I suspected.

New baffles will be made for these and I will offer them up for sale in the near future.

Raising funds for a new Single Ended tube amp

Do you like the content of this blog?  Want to help contribute to the ongoing musings of a audiophile junkie?

I started a Gofundme link to raise money for a nice new tube amp, my older single ended tube amp seems to be acting up and I am saving up for a new Audio Nirvana EL34 tube amp.

I am also in the process of liquidating much of my current gear to help the funding of the amp.

I believe in an abundant universe and feel that readers of this blog will be generous in their support.

Cheers and thank you for your continued support of visiting this site.

Akai/Foster JMI FE103 Open Baffle completed

I got the Akai/Foster 12" with the JMI FE-103 clone 4" completes today on baffles that have seen lots of different speaker configurations in them.

This set up seems to sound sweet to my ears, the last modification I did was I added a single 22uf capacitor in line with the 4" speaker in first order to roll it off at 900hz. The little 4" woofer was working to hard to reach the lower bass notes and had cone breakup.

I opted to mirror image this pair.

Next Open Baffle Project: Akai/Foster 12" woofers with Foster FE-103 4" clone full range

My next open baffle project will be this Akai/Foster 12" woofer matched up with a JMI Japanese Machinery and Metals 4" full range speaker.

The JMI full range resembles a Foster FE-103 speaker in every fashion. The JMI and Akai are both ferrite magnet speakers. Presently I have them set up on a temporary baffle until I make some new baffles. I am running both speakers without a crossover, relying on their natural roll off, so far this combination is the one I like the best out of the three I tried today.

Of course the finished product will not look like this, this was just a temporary set up to get an idea of matching the speakers and the sound.

I tried these 4" alnico full range also and found I needed to croos them over with a 15uf capacitor, still the 4" speakers shouted louder than the woofer and the bass was mismatched to the woofer output.

Last I tried a pair of Foster FE-163 speakers, these too were much more efficient than the 12" woofers and sounded unbalanced. I think the Foster Fe-163 will saved for a back horn loaded speaker build in the future.

Audio Nirvana Super 12 Ferrite Open Baffles

Lucky me, I have been manifesting a pair of Audio Nirvana full range speakers for over one year and a pair finally landed on my lap today, locally.

These speakers are from David Dicks online site called Common Sense Audio. There one can find all the products that are single driver full range specifically for Single Ended Tube amp nuts like myself.

A friend has a had a pair of the Classic 10 Ferrite  connected to the Audio Nirvana EL34 Single Ended Tube amp, we listened to them just leaned up on the floor and I was impressed with the sound knowing full well a open baffle or a proper enclosure would make these rally shine.

I am super stoked to be writing this blog post as these play in the back ground.

I think the quest for an open baffle full range set up is nearing an end, as these play I now feel I might be selling some excess speakers.

I am glad it is near winter, cold dark and rainy in the Pacific North West as I get to loose myself in the sweet, sweet sound of a Single Ended Tube amp and this pair of open baffle Audio Nirvana 12" Ferrites!!

Finally!!!!! I think I am at the ultimate sound set up to indulge in audio ascension bliss.