Apr 14, 2016

6J5 Line preamplifier Part 1

The 6J5 is a general purpose not to say an ubiquitous small signal triode.
Its linearity is well known and appreciated by many DIYer's. It is commonly said that what goes in is what comes out. It is the successor of the glorious 27 / 56 family of tubes and has been declined in numerous shapes (G, GT, Metal) and constructions (i.e.the weird E11488) to meet industry or military requirements. The British denominations is L63.
The electrical characteristics of the 6J5 are identical to the 6SN7 with just a single triode in the glass envelope.
Using such a tube when seeking for high fidelity audio reproduction is a very good choice.
Complete data here

Below 6J5G / L63 GEC ST shape tube in white military box.


and fancy Marconi L63


A simple line preamp, theoretical approach.

Building a very simple but very good sounding line preamp as always been challenging.
Very simple means just a few parts of the highest quality for utmost sound
reproduction. The simplest would be nothing more than an attenuator which I tried with some disappointments. No gain, lacks of dynamic and random noise. Something was wrong in my approach of simplicity and I decided to use an active element to reach my goal ( that clearly appeared to be an impedance matcher with gain). Obviously an active element in signal path means alteration and I had to decide which tube would be up to the task.
Playing with triodes for decades taught me that the ones that could be used are not so numerous. For the indirect I would go to the 27 (76, 6C5, 6J5) family of tubes or the Bi / REN904 and PTT100, for the direct the RS242 and relatives, the 841 and some post tubes like Aa and PTT0. All these tubes share excellent linearity, medium µ and exceptional sonic qualities. Unfortunately most are expensive or too scarce for the average amateur I am and I decided to go for the 76/6J5.
These are very cute 6,3V triodes, affordable and easy to source. A good point for future sonic character comparisons of different brands.
Having a pair of Hirata NP206 (20K/600 ohm) on hand I started to think about the best operating point for the lowest distortion.
My first choice was for the 76 but its higher ρ did not perfectly match my transformers, thus I went for the 6J5 (which I did not regret…).

Some drawings and calculations...

A line stage in my system must have a gain of 2/2,5 (+ 6/7dB) to accommodates my amps sensitivity. Loading a 6J5 with 20K will roughly give a gain of 14.5 (+ 23 dB) with a fully decoupled cathode and at operating points Va 240V_250V / Vg -8V / Ia 8mA.
With a 20 Kohm load distortion appears to be very small at usual grid input voltage. Most DAC have a 1.5 to 2V rms output asymmetrical mode, means a maximum of +/- 2.8 Vpeak on grid. Right in the linear region.
The transformer voltage ratio is 1.73 10-1 (-15,3 dB) multiplied by 14,5 it gives me an overall gain of 2.50. Just what I need!



Line stage drawing. Very, very simple, the components choice will determine the qualities of the preamp.



Construction.

As I said previously parts must be of very high quality.

First of it, main attenuator. Might better not consider the usual potentiometer but prefer a stepped attenuator. Just 2 resistors in the signal path making a precise voltage divider.
Good rotary switch and quality resistors give better tracking and balance than the usual plastic or carbon pot.

One exception the ALPS RK40 "Black Beauty". Having both on hand choice was not easy and I picked up the stepped attenuator randomly.

Tubes. I will tell you in a next post, when preamp will be completely finished, my impress upon the different 6J5 / L63 I have on hand.

Transformer. Here a Tango, but any good transformer with 20K primary handling 15 to 20 mA will be fine. Good ones from Hashimoto like HL20K-6 (I love Japanese trannies).


Resistors and capacitors. Plenty of choice, I used Takman metal film resistors with vintage Sic Safco low ESR professional caps.

Tips. Short leads, star grounding plus good oil caps just next to the transformers. Especially important to keep a good transient response when PSU is on a separate chassis. In that case I always split in two the last decoupling capacitor. Can really see the difference with an FFT analyzer.
Some feedback can help in the very low end, and just for once I prefer this preamp with a small amount (2/3dB). Better sound focus and tighter bass.


Next step power supply considerations, complete preamp in its new suit plus some listening tests ....


36 comments:

  1. Very nice. This could be just the preamp to use with the Brook 12A clones I'm working on. Can't wait to see your power supply.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Lain, I am almost (re)done with the power supply. I will certainly post part 2 in a week or so.
      The Brook is a good sounding 2A3 PP amp and I am curious to see how is yours.
      Fred

      Delete
  2. Bonjour,
    superbe de simplicité et réalisation avec de très bons composants, comme les Tango. J'adore la 6J5 que j'utilise sur mon phono RCA.
    PS : êtes-vous le Frédéric Musset qui a publié naguère sur Musique et Technique à propos des superbes 10Y ?
    Cordialement.
    B r u n o

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bruno bonjour, la 6J5 est une petite triode d'exception et bien mise en œuvre...un vrai régal.
      En effet j'ai publié un article sur la 10Y ainsi qu'une réalisation autour de la Visseaux A710 que j'ai fait écouter chez Audio Note rue de l'Yser. C'était il y a longtemps....
      Bonne journée
      Fred

      Delete
  3. As drawn, it certainly looks like the feedback circuit doesn't actually do anything since the cathode bypass cap places the cathode at AC ground anyway...

    Roscoe

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Roscoe and thanks for your comment.
      The cap in cathode is mandatory to prevent any current (degenerative) feedback otherwise gain would be greatly reduced. Not to be confused with the low (~3dB) voltage feedback loop I set in such a way it flattens the overall frequency response of the preamp. I can perfectly see the difference, with or without, on a scope. Resistor value can be chosen to accomodate each one system and taste.

      Fred

      Delete
    2. Hello, Fred! What values ​​of the resistor and capacitor did you use (R3 & C2)?

      Kindly regards,

      Nik

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    3. Hi Nik, thanks for your interest.
      R3 is 5.1K and C2 is adjusted to lower feedback above 10KHz in my setup. Can be omitted.
      Fred

      Delete
  4. Agreed It appears there is no AC feedback whatsoever, due to the cathode bypass capacitor. This could be changed by adding a resistor in series with that capacitor.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi, there is some feedback because the signal taken from the transformer secondary is AC only and is out of phase with the one you can find in the 6J5 cathode. I could have made a loop directly from the anode with a blocking capacitor but it would have introduce a time constant in the circuit.

      Delete
  5. In any feedback circuit, you sacrifice gain to improve linearity. This circuit is no different. If you wish to compensate for non-linearity and frequency-response limitations in the output transformer, you need to provide some AC feedback from it's secondary. In the configuration shown, you indeed have maximum AC gain from the 6J5, but no AC feedback encompassing the output transformer.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. In facts I used this low feedback loop to compensate my speakers lack of bass. This preamp works great without on other speakers (like the JBL L220 of one of my friends)

      Delete
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    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for your comment and interest.
      It's always rewarding to share ideas and schematics and I am open to any suggestion that are tubes related but basically this blog is intended to provide the reader a complete study including a full working unit that I have tested and listened for a long time. In that way the interested hobbyist can duplicate this work and make a fully functional amp or preamp with a minimum knowledge in electronic (taking in account that we are dealing with potentially lethal voltages).
      I take very seriously the tests I do, which explains the somewhat long time between two posts. But once again I am always interested by others suggestions, it's a good way to keep learning.
      Fred

      Delete
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    ReplyDelete
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      Delete
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  17. Looks about what i'm looking for as a preamp, i love simplicity! Would this be combinable in the same housing with the C3G LCR phono?

    ReplyDelete
  18. Hi, I guess it's possible keeping in mind a perfectly shielded power transformerif you want a self contained unit. I personally prefer separate preamp, this allows me to combine units depending upon the music I listen to.
    Fred

    ReplyDelete
  19. Since there's no blocking capacitor, wouldn't the DC on cathode (about 6.7vdc) introduce a tiny amount of DC via R3 on the output transformer's secondary that will carry into the power amp's input? If the power amp has a volume control it can create a scratchy noise when rotated and also upset the bias of some direct coupled amps, solid state and tube. It would not be a problem if the power amp has an input capacitor.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi, R3 resistor sets the feedback amount from transformer secondary and there is only AC current in this loop.
      I never had noise problem with such setup. With input attenuator noise problem could occur from a leaky previous stage, phono or DAC.

      Delete