Hey guys!
I haven't necessarily given up on winding transformers, although with school the way it is right now, and me not being able to live without a tube amp, I figured I'd go ahead and buy the transformers. They WILL get wound this summer, however!
I got my transformers today and put them in. I have biased the amp to 45mA per tube. I figure that's pretty reasonable. I've yet to build a preamp as I thought I could enjoy it with my iPod only. I hooked it up, and it's very quiet. It sounds good, from what I can tell, but it's way too quiet to enjoy.
I read in the manual that 1.3V RMS will drive the amp to 35W. However, I am using the Blackburn Audio 6SN7 driver board. I haven't a clue what it needs to drive the EL-34s to 35W. My EL-34s are matched by transconductance, but only one channel has "matched" tubes. The two matched ones are made by Ampex.
I then tried hooking my iPod to my Onkyo 5.1 surround sound receiver. Then I took the headphone out to the input of the ST-70. It got it much louder, but there was some awful clipping. It definitely wasn't putting out 35W. I am thinking that the Onkyo could be clipping, but then again, I only had it at 0dB (halfway on the volume control).
By the way, I am using two Dynaco A-25 speakers (8 ohm).
Any help/insight would be greatly appreciated!
Kyle
P.S. Pictures are soon to come!!