Caledonian Audio 6BM8/ECL82 SE, Assembly Manual

Page 1: ...Assembly Manual 6BM8 ECL82 SE 2 5W Classique MKII Version 3 0 Caledonian Audio ...

Page 2: ...istory Version Date Changes 0 1 1st of May 2018 Initial creation 1 0 1st of Nov 2018 Reviewed and accepted 2 0 4th of June 2019 Updated against a review 3 0 25th of October 2019 Now for 6BM8 PCB Version C for MKII ...

Page 3: ...or a long time and they should be properly discharged prior to any work The 6 3V or 12V terminals are rated in relation to another voltage reference level but in reality the potential difference between the 12V as an example and ground earth might be anywhere up to 400V So please treat any 6 3V or 12V terminals with extreme care Caledonian Audio will not be held responsible to any incident caused ...

Page 4: ... Power Cables 38 Audio cables wiring 40 RCA Terminals to Potentiometer PCB 41 Potentiometer PCB to Amplifier PCB 41 Potentiometer PCB to Amplifier PCB 43 Amplifier Boards Wiring 45 Speaker Output Wiring 47 Assembly Completion 49 Powering Up For The First Time 50 Questions Support 52 Appendix 53 I Screws Nuts Bolts Sizes 53 II Amplifier PCB Components 54 III Main Power Supply PCB Components 54 IV H...

Page 5: ...r switch 34 Figure 27 Live brown and neutral blue cables from the power switch supplying main power to the power transformer 0V 240V 35 Figure 28 Two cables brown connecting power transformer secondary terminals 0 250V to the main power supply PCB AC IN The green cable is the ground level cable connecting the 0V to the star ground Note the red cable carrying B voltage from the B terminals on the P...

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Page 7: ...We also value any feedback that you might have after going through this document Scope of this document Heater filament PCB Version A Main power supply PCB Version A Amp PCB 6BM8 PCB Rev C Alps RK27 I O PCB Version B Assumptions 1 Only parts and devices which are part of this kit are used in the build Caledonian Audio will not support usage of any other parts or components other than supplied and ...

Page 8: ... Mount power transformer onto mounting board 3 Mount audio output transformers onto mounting board 4 Mount all connectors power and audio 5 Mount potentiometer and its I O PCB 6 Install power cables 7 Install audio hookup cables Components and devices shown in this manual might be slightly different compared to ones included in the kit ...

Page 9: ...er the four diodes D5 D6 D7 and D8 note the polarity of the Diodes See Figure 1 Use the marking on the PCB as a guide Figure 1 Filament supply board with the four diodes Now place and solder the two reservoir capacitors C5 and C6 See Figure 2 Please note the polarity of the two capacitors The PCB is now complete ...

Page 10: ...10 Figure 2 Filament supply board with the four diodes ...

Page 11: ... 6BM8 ECL82 SE Classique Assembly Manual 11 11 Main Power Supply PCB Begin by placing and soldering capacitor C4 and resistor R5 See Figure 3 Figure 3 Main power supply PCB with C4 capacitor and the bleeder resistor R5 ...

Page 12: ...12 Now place and solder the diodes D1 D4 Please note the polarity See Figure 4 and Figure 5 Figure 4 Main power supply PCB with two diodes ...

Page 13: ...Caledonian Audio 6BM8 ECL82 SE Classique Assembly Manual 13 13 Figure 5 Main power supply PCB with all diodes installed ...

Page 14: ...ote the polarities on the capacitors See Figure 6 Figure 6 Main power supply PCB with all radial capacitors Place and solder the dropper smoothing resistors R1 R4 Figure 7 shows the resistors placed and soldered The main power supply PCB is now ready Figure 8 and Figure 9 ...

Page 15: ...Caledonian Audio 6BM8 ECL82 SE Classique Assembly Manual 15 15 Figure 7 Main power supply PCB with all dropper resistors installed ...

Page 16: ...16 Figure 8 Main power supply PCB fully populated ...

Page 17: ...Caledonian Audio 6BM8 ECL82 SE Classique Assembly Manual 17 17 Figure 9 Main power supply PCB fully populated another angle ...

Page 18: ... Side of the amplifier PCB place and solder the valve tube socket See Figure 10 Figure 10 amplifier PCB showing the socket side Ensure that the valve socket is sitting correctly and leveled with the PCB It is important to sit the socket correctly the axis of the socket and PCB are parallel as this will determine the angle of the valve when it is inserted ...

Page 19: ...alve socket soldered to the amplifier board HINTS Put a small amount solder on only one of the socket feet first and check and make sure that all others are sat correctly Only proceed with soldering others once you are 100 sure that the base is correctly placed See Figure 11 ...

Page 20: ...beling on the board against the labels of the resistors packaging It is highly recommended that you double check the resistor values using a digital multimeter Now place and solder all the capacitors Observe the polarity signs for C4 and C6 See Figure 12 Figure 13 and Figure 14 Figure 12 Amp PCB fully populated ...

Page 21: ...Caledonian Audio 6BM8 ECL82 SE Classique Assembly Manual 21 21 Figure 13 Amp PCB socket side with a valve inserted Now repeat the process with the other amplifier board ...

Page 22: ...ter power supply PCB 3 2 x amplifier PCBs We will now start mounting all other components onto the mounting plate in the following order 1 IEC socket 2 Power transformer 3 Audio transformers x2 4 All PCBs Main supply heater supply 2 x amplifier boards 5 Speaker terminals 6 Audio input terminals 7 Potentiometer Refer to Figure 15 and Figure 16 for the exact placements for these components ...

Page 23: ...Caledonian Audio 6BM8 ECL82 SE Classique Assembly Manual 23 23 Figure 15 Placement of all components on the mounting bard bottom view ...

Page 24: ...e IEC socket matters as it determines the orientation of the IEC cable that will be inserted later As a guide install as seen in the example image below It ensures that the fuse slot is below the IEC socket when viewing it from the front Figure 17 Example of IEC socket installed ...

Page 25: ...entation is correct the primary winding terminals the 120 240 V is closer to the outer edge of the board don t worry if you get it wrong as long as you use and connect the correct terminals later 3 Align the transformer so that all four holes are aligned with the four mounting holes on the mounting plate 4 One by one insert the ceramic washer washer shake proof washer onto the screw and then finis...

Page 26: ...lace each of them so that the terminal pins are facing to the inside of the mounting board the two output transformers will be mirror image of each other Mount them by using a the M4 screw washer and locking nut two sets per transformer See Figure 19 Figure 19 Mounting the audio transformers ...

Page 27: ...s and secured with M3 screws 1 Referring to Figure 15 Placement of all components on the mounting bard bottom view and Figure 16 place all the standoffs four for each board on the mounting board and secure them with M3 screws from the opposite front side Make sure the orientations of the boards are correct 2 Place the correspondent PCBs on the standoffs and secure them with M3 screw See Figure 20 ...

Page 28: ... BNC connectors Mount all the connectors onto the board Make sure that no metal parts of the connectors are touching the metal plate The plastic washers part of the connectors are there for this reason Please refer to Figure 21 ignore the star earth for now Figure 21 speaker and audio input connectors and star earth lug ...

Page 29: ...easier Please note the correct side to mount the potentiometer Place it on the side which says Potentiometer this side and solder all six terminals Mount the potentiometer onto the mounting plate as per Figure 22 potentiometer and PCB mounted Figure 22 potentiometer and PCB mounted You should now have all parts mounted on the mounting board ready to be wired together ...

Page 30: ...O NOT TOUCH ANY BARE CABLES when the system is powered up EVEN if it is carrying low voltages Charged up capacitors will be stay charged for long time So please make sure that they have been discharged before touching them It is advisable that you have all exposed terminals and high voltage cables insulated and use suitable wiring colour codes Heater filament cables should be rated at 2 amps Capac...

Page 31: ...Caledonian Audio 6BM8 ECL82 SE Classique Assembly Manual 31 31 Figure 23 Wiring Diagram USA 120VAC ...

Page 32: ...32 Figure 24 Wiring Diagram UK 240VAC ...

Page 33: ...arth Start with connecting the ground safety earth connection from the IEC socket to the chassis Figure 25 Please note that this connection should not be removed ever Figure 25 Ground safety earth from IEC socket wired to the chassis and secured by shakeproof washer and insert lock nut ...

Page 34: ...ing the IEC socket to the power switch Power Switch To Power Transformer Connect the main switch terminals live and neutral to the primary terminals of the main power transformer 0V and 240V for 240V system refer to wiring diagram for 120V system The two cables brown and blue will be carrying the main input AC voltages 240VAC from the switch to the transformer See Figure 27 ...

Page 35: ... power switch supplying main power to the power transformer 0V 240V Power Transformer to Main Power Supply PCB Connect the 0 250V terminals from the Sec 1 100mA on the power transformer to the AC In terminals on the main power supply PCB These are the two brown cables seen in Figure 27 coming out from the transformer ...

Page 36: ...n in Figure 28 Connect the 0V OUT on the power supply PCB to the star ground this is the green cable seen in Figure 28 Figure 28 Two cables brown connecting power transformer secondary terminals 0 250V to the main power supply PCB AC IN The green cable is the ground level cable connecting the 0V to the star ground Note the red cable carrying B voltage from the B terminals on the PCB to the B termi...

Page 37: ...Caledonian Audio 6BM8 ECL82 SE Classique Assembly Manual 37 37 Figure 29 Completed main power supply board wiring ...

Page 38: ...C IN Now we will supply the heater filaments H1 and H2 on the amplifier boards with the 6 3VDC from the heater filament power supply board The setup will be as follows Two pairs of cables will come out from the heater supply board 0V and V Each pair goes to H1 and H2 terminals on the amplifier board A ground level cable connects the 0V terminal on the filament power supply board to the star earth ...

Page 39: ...nual 39 39 Figure 31 Two pairs of black and red cables V and 0V feeding the two amplifier boards The green cable connecting the 0V terminal on the filament power supply PCB and the star ground point The polarity of the H1 and H2 terminals does not matter ...

Page 40: ...point where the signals enter the system If you see the potentiometer IO PCB Figure 33 you will notice that there are two groups of four terminals labelled Chan1 and Chan2 The four terminals are 1 OUT 2 OUT 3 IN 4 IN The idea is that we want to route the audio signals from the RCA connectors where audio signals first enter the system to the potentiometer and then to the amplifier PCBs ...

Page 41: ...he OUT on potentiometer PCB to the Audio In on the amplifier board 2 Connect the OUT on potentiometer PCB to the Audio In on the amplifier board Do the same for CHAN2 side of the potentiometer board but connect to the other amplifier board Some might choose to use screened cables for connecting the potentiometer to the amplifier board Whilst screened cables are highly recommended please make sure ...

Page 42: ...42 2 Connect RCA negative cold terminal and the IN terminal on the potentiometer PCB Do this for both channels Figure 33 Potentiometer on its IO PCB ...

Page 43: ... the potentiometer please refer to Figure 35 3 Connect the OUT on potentiometer PCB to the Audio In on the amplifier board 4 Connect the OUT on potentiometer PCB to the Audio In on the amplifier board Do the same for CHAN2 side of the potentiometer board but connect to the other amplifier board Some might choose to use screened cables for connecting the potentiometer to the amplifier board Whilst ...

Page 44: ...44 Figure 35 Connecting the potentiometer IO PCB to the amplifier PCB In this example a screen cable is used Note how only one end of the screen is soldered to the Audio In terminal ...

Page 45: ...The high voltage input for the amplifier board B on the main power supply PCB 6 Pentode Ground Grounding the triode section of the valve Star ground 7 NFB Provides feedback from the secondary winding of the output transformer into the audio amplifier circuit Speaker out positive hot By referring to Figure 36 start connecting the following terminals Please pay some attentions on the B wiring There ...

Page 46: ...rd If not please refer back to section Heater Filament Power Cables Pentode Ground Simply connect to the star ground O T Connect to Anode terminal on the output transformer O T Connect to HT terminal on the output transformer B Connect to B terminal on the main power supply board or B terminal on the other amplifier board if daisy chaining method is used Triode Ground Connect to the star ground ...

Page 47: ...Wiring The aim for this section is to connect the secondary winding of the output transformer to the speaker terminals There are 4 speaker terminals for the two audio channels in the system Each channel contains a positive hot and a negative ground cable We will start with one of the channels Please refer to Figure 37 Ground Connection Connect the 0 terminal on the Secondary winding of the output ...

Page 48: ...er to the positive hot speaker terminal This is assuming that you will be using the 8 ohm speakers Change this to another output impedance if necessary Repeat the process for the other channel The wiring for speaker output is now complete Figure 37 connecting the output transformer to speaker terminals ...

Page 49: ...an Audio 6BM8 ECL82 SE Classique Assembly Manual 49 49 Assembly Completion We have now completed the assembly of the kit It should look something like Figure 38 Figure 38 Complete wiring and components assembly ...

Page 50: ...d on the amplifier without speakers connected for more than a few seconds please contact support 4 Safety ground Check the resistance between the earth pin on the IEC socket and all grounded metal parts on the amp They should read less than 0 1 ohms 5 Variac It is highly recommended to use a variac which will allow you to slowly bring up voltage to the amplifier system 6 Light bulb current limiter...

Page 51: ...oted done you can power up with the valves connected Perform a complete voltage reading verification by comparing the voltages stated in the schematic diagram Please allow margin of 10 on the reading due to the fluctuations of the main AC supply and the electronic components Pay particular attention to the B and heater voltages ...

Page 52: ...52 Questions Support If you have any question please get in touch with us at support caledonianaudio co uk ...

Page 53: ...n between the mounting plate and the body of the transformer PCBs all Slot Pan Head Machine Screw Brass Nickel Plated M3 6mm RS PRO Steel Hex Standoff Female Female 20mm M3 x M3 IEC Socket Slot Countersunk Head Machine Screw Steel Bright Zinc Plated M3 12mm Power switch The nut and washer are included in the power switch package Power earth lug and star ground point Slot Pan Head Machine Screw Bra...

Page 54: ... Specification C1 Electrolytic Capacitor 47 µF 350 V Radial Leaded 16 mm C2 C3 Electrolytic Capacitor Snap in 100 µF 400 V C4 Film Capacitor 0 1 µF 400 V PET Polyester D1 D2 D3 D4 Silicon Carbide Schottky Diode Z Rec 600V Series Single 600 V 2 A 3 3 nC TO 220 R5 Through Hole Resistor 100 kohm 350 V Metal Film Axial Leaded 500 mW R1 R2 R3 R4 Axial Wirewound Resistor 220Ω 5 7W IV Heater Filament PCB...

Page 55: ...Caledonian Audio 6BM8 ECL82 SE Classique Assembly Manual 55 55 V Schematics Figure 39 Schematics ...