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

Socket side of board.

John

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?

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.

I spent some time sanding and gluing the outer cabinet today. The last corian piece being set.

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.

Nice!

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

Wired, voltage tested...ready for that first tune!

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

Sound out of ZKIT1 stock at 0 hour was thin with chunky bass.
44 hours 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

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

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.

John

The ZKit1 is road ready!

Along with the TRs and all the necessary goodies!


John

Awesome, John.
What do you think of the zkit compared to your se84?

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

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