Great Question!

The reason it's done is for strength during shipping.  These Miflex caps have wonderful leads that make certain things possible in this type of wiring that a thinner leaded cap couldn't do.  

My experience with eddy currents is that they in themselves are not an issue, it's when eddy currents from different sources intermingle in the same piece of steel.  Even then it's not the end of the world, look at how things were made in the 50's and 60's with the chassis itself being the ground for everything.  Of course those amps didn't sound like these either.   Eddy currents are hard to understand since you really can't see them, so it's always better to avoid the issue altogether.  We don't have eddy currents in this situation really, just an enlarged field that doesn't mix with anything else and is in 3D space with enough air around it to have no effect on anything.

Steve

The Sarah 300B amplifier will be at AXPONA this year!  Don Thomas of Wathen Audiophile / Cyrotone will have models SEWE300B and TORII JRv2 in their room.  


The room number is 612.

It is right across from the elevators and around the corner from LTA.

Among the Wathen speakers will be the Inertia Cubes and the new CryoTone Dipole flagship speakers. Both sound fantastic with Decware equipment.

Sarah and Veronica may also pop in and hand out coupons to attendees for the new amplifier!  

We are simply supporting Don at Wathen Audiophile / Cryotone by adding some amps to their room.  So we're not doing the show, so to speak, and yes we have done a show with our own room in the past and while it went great the Twin Towers were blown up on the way home and everyone forgot about audio for awhile.  We decided after that that we would be money better spent to host our own show and that is when DECFEST started.

We plan to make some coupons for show goers that would apply a discount for either of the two amps that we will be sending. Don will have them in his room.

Steve,
I hope this isn't a stupid question... can a SEWE300B be ordered from you without tubes and then order the bundle from Don @ Wathen and have that bundle shipped to you during build phase to be tested with the amp ?
Just wondering if you would approve of this if logistically it can be sync'd up.
Thanks,

The amp can be purchased without tubes, yes  

Having Cryotone tubes shipped here and unpacked, stored, tested in the amp, repacked and reshipped is not needed because Don of Cryotone cherry pics the tubes before he sends them to you. We wouldn't be promoting these tubes if it were any other way.  Having Don grade and test these tubes is the same thing as having me do it.

If you want tubes tested in your actual amplifier you'll have to buy the stock tube compliment from me.  Also, anyone planning to invest in an amplifier like this should have a full spare tube compliment on hand for troubleshooting and backup. If a backup tube compliment is out of your budget then probably so is the amp. This would be true for all tube amps.

98% of all amp troubleshooting phone calls and emails are the result of tubes acting up and are from people who don't have any backup tubes. Usually the calls and emails number at least two or three of each and several days or more before new tubes are purchased and then the problem goes away.

It is possible for new tubes to fail weeks or months into the game. It happens. It is also possible for new tubes to just one day develop a noise, a hum, a pop, or any number of other symptoms. When you have a spare tube set and you know this going in, you solve you own problem without but a few minutes of your time, no emails, no phone calls, no surprise expense because you already own them.

We are trying to build 2000 amplifiers right now and doing things that generate more emails and phone calls wouldn't be ideal.


-Steve

I can relate to that. When my KT77’s went noisy, I just switched to KT88s so there was no drop in service so to speak (and i have at least two different pairs of 6V6 tubes for further protection).  At this point, I don’t intend to buy spare tubes for my current amp given how I’m line for the 300b, but will ensure have spare sets for the future amp.  For the 300b itself, my spare will be the cheaper Chinese version.

A lot of SEWE300B activity going on in the "factory"!

2021-07-14 15:20:37      Glen H.      MN      1      SEWE300B      African Padauk      120V      Stock Unit - No Options      Quality Control

2021-07-15 16:22:25      Dr. Benjamin W.      Switzerland      1      SEWE300B      Walnut      230V      Stock Unit - No Options      Quality Control

2021-07-16 09:21:19      Malcolm P.      VA      1      SEWE300B      Walnut      120V      Stock Unit - No Options      Quality Control

2021-07-18 04:34:52      Todd F.      HI      1      SEWE300B      Walnut      120V      Stock Unit - No Options      Testing

2021-07-18 19:14:33      Scott V.      OH      1      SEWE300B      African Padauk      120V      Stock Unit - No Options      On Bench

I was pretty happy with the final result.  Then we suddenly couldn't get the same end bells for the transformer and the new ones wrap around the core making it impossible to print the map on the top without shrinking it way down and even then it looks crowded...

That set my mood for a good part of the day.  Since the foreseeable future holds no chance of the original end bells becoming available, we have to find a way to make the new style work.

The only way to make the new style work is to change the printing.  Delete the map, go back to the logo.

So I came up with this...



And I will be adding this pricier version to the shopping cart as an option on the amplifier in late March.  When we get one built with this, I'll post the pictures here and then update the web site.

Steve

I have only tiny bit of experience with not so much silk screening, but laser engraving. The person that I use makes me wonder just how or why she decided to get into this business. I try to lay out everything so there is no trouble and talk briefly about my expectations, just to do a head slap when it is done.

 Steve, I don't know much about this new amp, but I have mostly appreciated your design skills in the way of making something look special. This one is really a winner. Th layout looks to be perfect for me. When I build stuff that is part of the task, and some of my stuff really needed to be on the bottom shelf of a system where it couldn't be seen well.

Steve, that is a real winning design, if only you could have done it on my UFU-2 !!

Missed the last month of updates—totally forgot that this thread was moved. And here I thought I was going to revive it….

Comments:

It’s a real bummer that the tube schematic cannot be printed on the transformer—that did look pretty cool.  Not quite sure how I feel about the alternative solution just yet.  Need to visualize it on a completed amp with all tubes inserted to have a better grasp of the overall look.

Speaking of completed amps…has any unit shipped to a customer yet?

Also, it would be fun to know when the review unit ships to Guttenberg—so we can gauge how long he takes to review.  That may actually elicit more orders than the unit destined for Axpona.

Kamran, it seems at least one SEWE300B has been shipped to a customer, this week.

Before I contact Decware, does anyone know if the 10% is refundable in the event something unforeseeble happens?

Yep, two retail units have shipped and four more are built and in the Testing or Quality Control phase. One of those may be delayed...I really have a thing for copper, and those transformer endcaps make it damned sexy...

It's. so. BEAUTIFUL! I'm not sure if it's possible, but can you imagine how amazing this would be with a black top/base!?

I've always been a sucker for black and copper/gold/rose gold. Say it's possible, Steve!

eliminate duplicates online

https://youtu.be/or607VzkxEw

6 minutes in—-he drops another sneak peak and says “Phenomenal Amplifier”!

My spidey sense is screaming that the full review is imminent.  

jec3504– I concur and have a strong suspicion Steve has fallen head over heals and ain’t sending it back…

Did somebody say 300b?

This is my first post and I have read through this entire thread.  I’ve been looking at other output tube alternatives, (WE310A) for my next/complimentary amp, but ultimately decided to place myself on the waitlist a couple weeks back.

Like many of you, heard of Steve and his posse some 20 years back in other DIY forums, but never dipped my toes into owning low powered SET.  This was when I was trying to figure out how to get some Edgarhorns (RIP Dr B.E.!) in my bachelor townhome…back then I just couldn’t fit them so I let that ship sail and decided to absorb domesticated life .

Fast forward and sort of settling down onto that certain corner in 2 channel listening, decided to add some glow to the night sessions with tubes.  Even though I know the wait will be incredible, but already so fruitful with Steve providing almost play-by-play-like knowledge and updates, I picked up a one of a kind, Dynakit ST70 for nostalgia with all the original black cat caps, match quad EL34s - beautiful vintage sound . This will have to tie me over till my # is called for my WESE300B.  Very happy to have gotten the nudge to push me over the fence on this…

Welcome Low325!  You’re not alone with getting a stand in amp, while waiting for your respective Decware order. I’m in the same boat.  This forum is a great place to make connections, learn, and make tweaks to get your rig ready for the big day!

John—I am super excited that you’re finally considering Sarah—swing it!

At the rate they're going, 3 years probably is a reasonable estimate.

And, during those 3 years the Sarah may undergo additional changes, and there may be another 2 or 3 new models to choose from.