Forums https://www.decware.com/cgi-bin/yabb22/YaBB.pl SUPPORT FORUMS FOR ZKITS >> ZKIT 1 Support forum >> Building the ZKIT1 https://www.decware.com/cgi-bin/yabb22/YaBB.pl?num=1583668045 Message started by JBbuzz on 03/08/20 at 12:47:25

Title: Building the ZKIT1 Post by JBbuzz on 03/08/20 at 12:47:25 Hello All! After much contemplation, I decided to give Steve's SE84C based kit a whirl. I have build a few internet kits from custom designers in the past. I always wanted a Zen amp and just recently became re energised in this hobby but wanted to avoid the long wait for a Decware build. This is what I found about this kit building process todate using the stock parts listed: 1) Parts are readily available 2) Part costs are about $340 3) Shipping of parts comes close to $60 from 4 suppliers 4) The costs can easily double depending on personal custom options 5) Edcor at present has a 3 week lead time 6) Mouser is about a 2 day LT 7) Decware ships priority mail with about 2 day LT 8) Parts Express is about a 2 day LT 9) Care must be taken when ordering - a wrong part ordered will skew the above 10) Building the kit is straightforward and not complicated with the proper skill(hence Steve's many pages on soldering!) I received most of the parts for the amp and presently waiting for the trannies. The board is well built. The components are installed and waiting for an ordered solder station to flow silver solder. This video is an interesting piece of film cap polarity, Yea that's right, film caps do have a polarity that should be followed in quality amp builds. Something new for me too :-? In the video Carlson uses an oscilloscope and builds a black box circuit to check film caps outer wrap to determine the best shielding circuit insertion. A good informative video. I just used my ears and the mag phono input on the Heathkit ::) https://youtu.be/BnR_DLd1PDI

Title: Re: Building the ZKIT1 Post by JBbuzz on 03/08/20 at 12:49:13 Top of the ZKIT1 showing components inserted.

Title: Re: Building the ZKIT1 Post by JBbuzz on 03/08/20 at 12:50:18 Socket side of board. John

Title: Re: Building the ZKIT1 Post by JBbuzz on 03/16/20 at 13:04:43 Rough drawing of the enclosure for the ZKIT1. I still need to decide on either corian or oak finish. Either way the bottom portion with OP trannies will be lined with steel.

Title: Re: Building the ZKIT1 Post by JBbuzz on 03/21/20 at 09:55:01 I decided to go with corian to match. All parts for the cabinet are cut and fitted. Went with 18 gauge steel that was laying around. Plan today of soldering the board and drilling mounting holes in steel panels. Once panels are finished with drilling I will assemble with JB Weld. Trannies still have not arrived but shipped. Edcor transformers are encased in steel to help control magnetic fields that can raise havoc with audio signals including hum. Leveraging on this with enclosing the OT in the heavy gauge steel case with orientation of laminations of all Edcors in a minimum magnetic flux interacting fashion, I hope this will bold well in my design. The trannies will be mounted in a radial fashion with the PT laminations facing and behind the output tubes. The output transformers will be mounted on the case 'wings' directly underneath with laminations facing the PT coils. Any thoughts?

Title: Re: Building the ZKIT1 Post by JBbuzz on 03/21/20 at 22:57:07 The board is soldered and holes drilled. Tomorrow I will work on the steel endplates installing mounting brackets for the bottom plate. Will have to wait for the Edcors to finish mounting jacks and plugs on the steel case. If the trannies don't arrive tomorrow, the corian case will get some time. John

Title: Re: Building the ZKIT1 Post by JBbuzz on 03/22/20 at 10:15:34 I'm happy how the drilled holes lined up with the board. Using the pdf see-thru board picture from assembly instructions and reducing the printing to 94%, it produced a 6" × 6" print of the board. Placing a cut out of the board print on the case and prick punching the center of all required holes netted the pictured results after drilling, deburring, and mounting ZKIT1 board.

Title: Re: Building the ZKIT1 Post by JBbuzz on 03/22/20 at 10:23:52 Still waiting for the trannies. This is a picture of plan 'A' of the Edcor scheme. John

Title: Re: Building the ZKIT1 Post by JBbuzz on 03/23/20 at 01:48:20 I spent some time sanding and gluing the outer cabinet today. The last corian piece being set.

Title: Re: Building the ZKIT1 Post by JBbuzz on 03/23/20 at 01:53:28 Things are starting to come together. I will spend tomorrow sanding the corian and fitting/anchoring the steel cabinet in place.

Title: Re: Building the ZKIT1 Post by JBbuzz on 03/24/20 at 19:39:10 Yesterday Edcors arrived. After finishing the corian with #0000 steel wool, I marked and drill holes for the trannies. When ordering from Edcor give them a call for estimated lead time. They told me 3 weeks when ordering and was spot on.

Title: Re: Building the ZKIT1 Post by JBbuzz on 03/24/20 at 19:48:41 Today was spent fitting and drilling end steel plates. Plugs and posts were also marked, drilled, and mounted. Wire routing was figured out. Because of the limited room on the steel back plate, I ended up placing the IEC connector in back of the PT in an attempt to keep power wires from miggling with signal. Tomorrow might be the day to light her up :) John

Title: Re: Building the ZKIT1 Post by JBbuzz on 03/26/20 at 01:56:06 Nice! ;)

Title: Re: Building the ZKIT1 Post by Radarek on 03/26/20 at 02:47:53 Looks great. Like the case... but what about temperature?...power tranny operate at around 104F and lamps around 240F... how you like the sound.... I did the kit too and the day I first powered on I have advertised my Luxman and never looked back. Great little amp... go for bypass ... is well worth it... any hum? Best regatds Radarek

Title: Re: Building the ZKIT1 Post by JBbuzz on 03/26/20 at 10:57:32 Hi Radarek, After hours of use the corian case does get warm. The opening seems to give enough ventilation. I notice no signs of overheating(no smell). First impression of the sound exhibits more detail but a bit thin. I'll give it 50 hours or so of break in before any critical listening. I already loaded Parts Connetion cart full of the anniversary mods along with silver wire. Not sure when the trigger will be pulled. Depends on this virus thing and how it effects my travel plans! Amplifier is dead quite with the Jordans. The PT does have a transformer hum which may lead me to do a slight mod on the inside of the case. Something like installing a barrier between the output tubes and PT(glass, mirror etc.) Thanks

Title: Re: Building the ZKIT1 Post by JBbuzz on 03/26/20 at 11:09:01 The trannies installed!

Title: Re: Building the ZKIT1 Post by JBbuzz on 03/26/20 at 11:11:05 Wired, voltage tested...ready for that first tune!

Title: Re: Building the ZKIT1 Post by JBbuzz on 03/26/20 at 11:16:26 My stack of audio. The AKSA amp on the bottom will be used as a sub amp...another project to add a cannibalized plate preamp to the Aussie build! John

Title: Re: Building the ZKIT1 Post by Radarek on 03/26/20 at 13:46:49 I like that stack. Looks cool. I have a bit of hum barely audible between tracks... with my ~100db speakers. Same as yours PT hums a bit - I used Hammond here. What bypass caps you want to use ? I have Miflex copper in my and Jupiter copper as coupling... Best regards Radarek

Title: Re: Building the ZKIT1 Post by JBbuzz on 03/26/20 at 16:28:17 I have the Jupiter beeswax straight up in my cart. Looks like the Miflex KPCUs are a big step above the Jupiter beeswax and slightly below the Jupiter coppers at 60% less than Jbees. What do you think of the Miflex after insertion? BTW, your build is very nice and well done! John

Title: Re: Building the ZKIT1 Post by JBzen on 03/29/20 at 12:11:00 Sound out of ZKIT1 stock at 0 hour was thin with chunky bass. 44 hours :) ;) :D ;D It is all what they say. I will be modding this kit in the future with silver wire and beeswax caps but at this time moving to the LP supply side starting with an Ortofon Bronze. Cheers! John

Title: Re: Building the ZKIT1 Post by Radarek on 04/21/20 at 03:32:21 Hi John Great amp you have built. Fits your room. How you like it? My amp amazed me every day, hard to keep with daily routine, but lucky to have 2 hours at night to listen to. Some new mods... SR blue fuse and Duelund Tinned Copper bypass caps added to Jupiter Copper cap.... so much more body added to the music, everything exploded, smother highs and more define lowers, how much room is left in this amp???

Title: Re: Building the ZKIT1 Post by JBzen on 04/21/20 at 14:18:42 Radarek, I have not done any more to the ZKIT1. I been busy doing other tweaks to the system like building an isolation stage for components and acquired a ZP3 with Ortofon 2M Bronze for vinyl. I like the amp. I am looking forward of adding the anniversary mods and replace the signal caps when they are in stock. Seems, caps are scarce! Be careful bypassing signal caps. This was brought to my attention by another forum member which reminded me why I use single driver speakers. Bypassing signal caps can lead to phasing problems and additional cap signature to the sound. Too many caps in the audio path can cause many problems with sound reproduction including elevation of incoherence. Did you notice any benifit with the fuse? John

Title: Re: Building the ZKIT1 Post by JBzen on 02/27/21 at 15:31:57 Yesterday I added the anniversary mod and replaced the signal caps. This is the first time the ZKIT1 has been touched since the build. Lii Crystal 10s were added to the system since the build. The addion of the hi efficient Crystals changed my normal gain setting of the ZKIT1 from 2 o'clock with Jordans to 11. Using all Milflex copper in oil caps for both upgrades I was quite disappointed. Volume level was back at 2 o'clock and the amp now runs hot. Running it 4 hours last night it did not over heat with no tell tale smells of such. So this must be normal for bypass caps? The sound is impressive however. There is added musical quality which does put a smile on my face. I was responded to a poster in another thread this morning and found it hard at times to keep a train of thought being pulled into music. Right now it is Yello on Tidal with the same result. I'll give the Milflex the 100 hours burn in before making any conclusions. John

Title: Re: Building the ZKIT1 Post by JBzen on 02/26/22 at 12:57:54 The Zkit1 is closing on it's 2 year anniversary. A lot has changed in the Chariot since the start of the Zkit1. The kit has not seen much change since the anniversary mod except 4 o-rings were added to the base of the kit. The sound is wonderful and has matured. Yesterday, the Zkit1 was updated with new output transformers and silver clad copper cotton sheaf OT wiring. Brackets were added to facilitate base cover removal making the kit portable. The kit is being moved to my office and will be paired with custom built Tiny Radials that will be built. I installed new trannies because there was a urgent need for the Edcors elsewhere(read below the pic). My curiosity got me a start to building Steve's SE84 point to point. It is very much the same as the kit but updates the power supply with tube regulation. Plus, there is increase difficulty and more foresight required to assemble the parts. Steve does not offer the kit anymore for a point to point but has posted enough information to build it if one searches. https://www.decware.com/cgi-bin/yabb22/YaBB.pl?num=1644249053 If you read trough my point to point build there might be a fix for that nagging hum the kit seems to be plagued with. [smiley=tunes40.gif] John

Title: Re: Building the ZKIT1 Post by JBzen on 02/28/22 at 14:08:45 The kit has landed in it's new winter home :) It is patched with a cheap USB DAC once used to drive an old DJ rig. The NEC speakers are attached with 12 gauge Parts Express speaker wire. Power is supplied with an old IEC computer cord plugged into a standard outlet. The kit sounds great and images very well under these circumstances. Best computer monitors I've heard bar none. John

Title: Re: Building the ZKIT1 Post by JBzen on 11/20/22 at 21:08:46 The ZKit1 is road ready! Along with the TRs and all the necessary goodies! John

Title: Re: Building the ZKIT1 Post by Morph on 11/21/22 at 01:19:20 Very cool :)

Title: Re: Building the ZKIT1 Post by Mannytheseacow on 11/21/22 at 04:38:34 Awesome, John. What do you think of the zkit compared to your se84?

Title: Re: Building the ZKIT1 Post by JBzen on 11/21/22 at 10:56:35 Thanks guys. I never did an AB with the two. Might try that in the future. The Zkit1 was well broken in when pulled from the Charoit. The SE84 was installed fresh off the iron with complications. I really can't give an accurate description between the two off the top of my head. The Zkit1 right now will accompany me in my travels over the next few weeks. John

Title: Re: Building the ZKIT1 Post by JBzen on 12/09/22 at 02:09:01 This was a good move to pack the Zkit1 and Tiny Radials for a stay on the beach. It filled the condo main area with good sounding tunes for the last two weeks. The only thing lacking was bass below 80hz. This calls for a mini sub to take her down to the 40s. Another project for me! John

Title: Re: Building the ZKIT1 Post by 4krow on 12/31/22 at 18:14:46 I rarely see such attention to detail and design out of the box. Congratulations for that. Angles can get awkward for something like this. Corian is a favorite of mine in some cases, but I really don't enjoy working with it. Mostly the dust and the smell. The results however are pretty much what I want with a material.  Many years ago, I did something kind similar during a travel for work. In my case, I went the headphone route and was using the Musical Fidelity X10 series headphone amp. I forget now what headphones were used but I suspect Sennheiser was probably the brand. In a hotel room, a headphone system is probably the only reasonable option.

Title: Re: Building the ZKIT1 Post by JBzen on 01/05/23 at 09:57:11 Yeah, working with Corian is basically cutting plastic. The chips can sting. The smell is burning plastic. The finish is like a mirror which is the only positive out of the three. It chips easily and is heavy. Not the best choice for a sharp angled portable case. Portability was not the intent at first but ended like that with the progression of time and new parts in the warehouse! I do prefer wood as a material to toil with. The Corian was left over from a work project. Thanks John

Title: Re: Building the ZKIT1 Post by JBzen on 03/28/23 at 19:03:34 Getting ready for the road with Decware. Sound is superb!

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