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Section 6 : TAG STRIP

In this section we will be installing the tag strip. This is the part of the amplifier that holds the 6550 valve bases There is a one page slide of this graphic below located in the

This diagram shows the wiring for the TAG Strip that we will be

doing in this section.

Proceed as follows:

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1. Starting with the chassis oriented as follows our task in this section is to

install the TAG STRIP. This is where the 6550 valve bases and circuitry will be located

See next page for graphic of valve bases

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Step One: Install the two 8 pin valve bases in the two 6550 locations in the chassis. Ensure that the locating slot (betweens pin 1 and 8) in the middle of each base point toward each other . Use M2 screws/washer & nut to mount Note that the valve bases go in as mirror images of each other Note the locations of pin1 and pin 8 and the key notch

M3 6mm screw and hex spacer

1

8

1

8

Tiny M2 screw nut washer

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We have prepared the TAG strip for you that you can now screw into position with the M3 6mm screws provided see below

When you install the valve bases you will need to use M3 screws on the inside

Insert M3 screw on the top of the chassis But use a hex spacer on the inside of the chassis (not the nut as shown in the pic)

Use the smaller M2 screw with M2 washer on the outside

But this time use the M2 nut on the inside of the chassis

Here you can see the tag strp screwed into the hex spacers which are hidden in this picture but are located under the the two screws holding the TAG STRIP in position

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FOR THIS SECTION ALSO REFER TO THE TAG STRIP GRAPHIC AT THE END OF THIS SECTION

1) Fix the cathode resistors (R28 & R29 the paralleled pairs of 560ohm 6Watt resistors) so that they are well clear of the chassis and wiring yet rigid enough to stay in place. Solder them in place one end to pin 8 the other to the tag strip

2) Connect the bypass capaitors (C21 & C22 470uf/50V) across each pair of cathode resistors and solder it in place as shown

Pic shows a good method of combining the resistors

First set of resistors installed along with a black wire that will be used to connect to the power supply board later on

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3) Fix R32 and R33 (3K3 1Watt) to pin 5 of each 8 pin valve base and solder

them. These have a wire connected to the free end so must be mounted securely

don t add the wire at this stage as we will be doing it in an

upcoming section.

4) Solder R26 and R27 (0.68ohm 6Watt) one to pin 2 of the left hand base the other to pin 7 of the right hand base

Pic on the right shows the tag strip from the side

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5) Solder R30 and R31 (220ohm 1 watt) to pin 4 of each base We will be

adding the orange wire in the next section so just attach the resistor for now!!

6) Connect insulated jumper wires as shown in diagram i.e. from pin 7 of the Left hand base to negative side of the capacitor and from pin 2 of the right hand base of its capacitor. Note be careful not to fill both holes in the tag with solder as another wire will later be soldered to this same point

7) Complete the wiring of the Violet and Green wires from the Mains transformer to the R68 resistor and pin 2 of the valve bases

refer to the diagram above

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7) Go ahead and just install the 3K3 resistor on pin 5 of each valve base

we

will be wiring it to the driver board later you can leave it for now Your Tag strip should look like the graphic above but without the orange wires or the PTFE wire!

That s it for the Tag strip for the time being and we will now move on to the Power Supply Board Interwiring

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Section 7: PSU Board Interwiring

To achieve neat wiring work it is recommended that after point 1 to 7 below have been completed then the psu board is sat , approx , on top of the 6 screws it will finally attached to and thus each wire can be offered up to its respective solder pad and trimmed accurately to length. Be aware that a little slack is required to allow fitting ofth4e board .

Most wires will be routed along the left side of the board ( as seen with chassis inverted and pointing forward) the exceptions being the twisted yellow and red pairs from the mains tx. Oh and the choke wires)

Constructors will have to use a little initiative i nthe final placing of each wire . Consulation of the additional sheet pcb interwiring list will aid this process.

1) Solder 50cm of red wire to W22 and W23 : 30cm of red wire to W26 and W27

2) Solder 50cm of black wire to W21 and W24 ; 30 cm of balck wire to W25 and W28

3) Lightly twist the red and black pairs from C17 (i.e. W21 and W22)

From C18 ie W23 and W24 From C19 ie W25 and W26 From C20 ie W27 and W28

4) Solder a 25cm black wire to W15 5) Solder two 25cm orange wires , one to W29 the other W30 6) Solder a 30cm yellow / green wire to W2 7) Solder a 20cm length of red wire to W3

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With the wires attached to the Power supply board as shown you may want to set the board into the chassis but do not secure down as we will be adding more wires. (Your board will have all its wires attached!)

The power supply board will sit on 3 plastic washers on each screw of the choke

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8) This next step is quite important Take a look at the graphic below showing

the Mains transformer primaries ( red and black wires) You will need to twist them in the manner shown Note how the red wires will twist together and will go under the tag strip over to the power supply board while the black wires will be soldered to the valve base Also note and VERY IMPORTANT that the black wires cross over one another to the coorsponding valve base.

See photograph on next page to actually see this wiring . 9) Proceed as follows:

10) Take the two RED wires from the o.p transformer primary and solder them to W7 and W8 of the power supply board you will need to extend these first with 25cm extra RED wire each. Use the heat shrink tubing provided to insulate these joints Do not leave any bare wire exposed because these wires carry the HT voltage ( approx 560V at switch on)

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11) Take the twisted wires coming from the choke and solder one to W5 and the other to W6 - DON T NOT CUT SHORT OR you will be unable to turn the board over !!

12) Connect the two negative ends of the 6550 s cathodes resistors / capacitors (TAG STRIP) to W16 and W17 using 30cm length of black wire .

13) From the Mains transformer connect the Red/Yellow wire to W18. Strip the ends of the orange and Red/white wires from the Mains tx and wrap one around the other at right angles so that you can insert into W13. Solder the wires together then to W13.

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14) Make sure that all wires are trimmed from the solder side of the PSU Board. There must be no loose ends or long pieces that might get in contact with the chassis

15) Route all the wires ( except choke) down the left hand edge ( as seen from below chassis pointing forwards ) of the Psu board . gently slide the PSU board over the 6 locating screws and fix in place with serrated washers and nuts. It is a very tight fit and it does go in! Be careful not to trap the choke wires between the board and nuts .

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Wiring the Rectifier 8 pin valve base - 5U4G 16) Solder the Yellow pair from the Mains transformer to pins 2 & 8 of the recitifer

base , at the same time solder the red wire from W3 of the power supply board also to pin 8 of the 8 pin valve base for the 5U4G.

17) Solder the Red pair of wires from the Mains transformer to pins 4 & 6 of the recitfer valve base. Route these red and yellow pairts between capacitors C11 and C12

18) Fix the green wire from W2 to the earthing tag together with the yellow /green wire from the Mains transformer and the yellow /green wire from the Mains socket

19) Twist together the two orange wires , route towards the 6550 bases and solder one wire to the 220 ohm resistor ( which is soldered to pin 4) on each valve base .Insulate this junction with heat shrink tubing .

This finished the PUS board s wiring

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Section 8 : Driver Board Interwiring

In this section we will hook up the wiring to the driver Board

Power Supply to Driver Board Interwiring

PAD W21 Connects black wire to top leg of C2 (W21) Driver Board PAD W22 Connects red wire to W18 on Driver Board

PAD W23 Connects red wire to W14 on Driver Board

PAD W24 Connects black wire to top leg of C1 (W20) on Driver Board

PAD W25 Connects black wire to top leg of C3 (W22) on Driver Board PAD W26 Connects red wire to W19 on Driver Board

PAD W27 Connects red wire to W15 on Driver Board PAD W28 Connects black wire to top leg of C4 (W23) on Driver Board

The chart above states that W21 black wire and W22 red wire connects to the driver board

black to W21 driver and red to W18 driver etc ..

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Mains Filament Wiring to the Driver Board:

We are now going to connect the Filament AC wires to the valves bases.

Step One: Connect the lightly twisted Grey wires from the Mains Transformer to pins 7 & 8 of the octal 6SN7 base.

Step Two: Connect a twisted pair of wires between the two 9 pin valve bases as shown above with the red and black wires

Step Three: Connect the White/Blue twisted pair of wires from the Mains transformer to pins 4 & 9 of the 9 pin valve base

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Section 9: Feed Back Wiring and Speaker Posts

In this section we will be adding the Speaker posts and at the same time adding the feedback wiring

Take the twisted Yellow/Black pair of wires from W26 and W25, route around the left hand edge of the chassis and solder to the right hand loudspeaker terminals. BLACK wire to BLACK terminal and YELLOW wire to 8 phm terminal correct connection is imperative as this is the feedback to the driver stage. Think about this before you do it because its a little tricky!!!!!

Repeat for the Yellow/Black pair from W27 and W28 to left hand terminals. Black to Black Speaker post , Yellow to 8 ohm.

See next page for some photos of this section!

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You can see how the black wire from the output transformer and the yellow feedback wire are soldered together to the speaker post and insulated with heat shrink

Pic to the right shows the red and black speaker posts in position

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Showing one channel complete!

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Section 10 : Final Wiring Tasks

1) Divide the provided purple wire into two lengths of approx 20cm each. Connect one length of purple PTFE wire to the end of a 3K3 resistor on the TAG strip and use heat shrink tubing to cover the exposed resistor lead. Do the same with the second piece so that you have the two pieces as shown in the pic below.

2) Now connect a length of the purple PTFE teflon covered cable between W4 on the driver board and pin 5 of the LEFT hand 6550 base .

3) Similarily connect a length of the purple PTFE teflon covered cable between W11 (driver board) and pin 5 of the RIGHT hand 6550 base .

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AudioNote Copper or Silver InterConnect Cable AN-A or AN-V

Install the RCA sockets in the back of the chassis - Connect the shielded Yellow AudioNote AN-A cable between the input sockets and the input-driver board. (Signature versions use the AN-V cable) The side with the identification stripe is for the right channel. The red inner wire runs from the inner of the right hand (RED) phono socket to W7 .

(The AN-A cable or the AN-V (Signature Version) cable that you have has one end that goes to the RCA s. This side has the red and white wire pair. The other side has two red wires and a thick tinned common ground. The Red wires go to W7 Right and W8 Left - the thick ground wire can be soldered to any of W1 , W2 or W3 as they are all grounds and all connected together.) Be sure to orient the right and left red wires correctly. With the chassis upside down when working on it the rca socket viewed on the right hand side is the LEFT CHANNEL Note this pic is from the Kit1 300B showing the 4 pin valve base but the AN-A

cable connection is the same!

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Volum e Pot ent iom et er

PLEASE READ CAREFULLLY!

VOLUME POT INSTALL

Now to the 100K ALPS volume potentiometer. With the board turned so that the rectangle VP1 is nearest to you, and on top, locate the six holes that it surrounds. Holding the shaft of the potentiometer, so that it points away from the board, insert the pot, from below, i.e. it is mounted on the capacitor side of the board. Solder in place. NOTE : There is a silkscreen on the PCB on the valve/resistor side.The pot does not go here and goes on the capacitor side of the board

The picture shows the correct positioning of the volume pot. The pot comes with a washer and a nut that you can use to secure it to the chassis. The hole in the chassis is actually for the upgraded TKD pot. For the ALPS standard pot

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provided with the kit you can remove the small metal key that would be used to lock to a chassis Contact support if you have any questions

TKD Upgrade Volume Pot

Iif you have purchased the Signature Kit1 or the TKD potentiometer as an upgrade then follow the instructions outlined here : The Kit1 chassis has been pre-drilled so that the TKD pot fits in snugly. Find the key hole and mount the pot using the washers. You ll need to cut some wires and solder to the PCB with the same orientation as if the Pot was going directly into the pcb

No Volume Pot

If you prefer to have your kit1 as a pure power amp with no volume control email us at audionotekits@rogers.com

for instructions

With the volume pot now installed in the Driver baord seat the driver board and secure to the chassis with the countersunk screws 4mm provided. Also secure the driver board at this time makign sure that there are no loose wires or solder bits in the bottom of the chassis it might be a good idea to shake out the bits at this stage!

Congratulations your amplifier should be complete ! A good final check is to review the table This is a beta version of the manual please check over the interwiring guide to make sure that all the wiring is complete for the PSU board , driver board and the TAG strip -

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AudioNote Kit2 Interwiring

PSU Board

PAD W1 Not Used

PAD W2 Connects length of Green wire to ground tag PAD W3 Connection from Pin 8 of 5U4G Rectifier Valve

PAD W4 Not Used

PAD W5 Black Wire to Choke PAD W6 Black Wire From Choke ( may be red )

PAD W7 RED Wire from Output transformer primary PAD W8 RED Wire from Output Transformer Primary

PAD W9,W10,W11,W12 Not Used

PAD W13 Centre tap of 12ax7 Heaters. Connect Orange & Red/White wire from Mains

PAD W14 Not Used

PAD W15 Connects Black wire to W2 on Driver Board

PAD W16 Connects black wire to negative side of cap C21 on Tag Strip PAD W17 Connects black wire to negative side of cap C22 on Tag Strip

PAD W18 Connects Red/Yellow wire from mains T.X. 0V for H.T.

PAD W19 Not used PAD W20 Not used

PAD W21 Connects black wire to top leg of C2 (W21) Driver Board PAD W22 Connects red wire to W18 on Driver Board PAD W23 Connects red wire to W14 on Driver Board PAD W24 Connects black wire to top leg of C1 (W20) on Driver Board PAD W25 Connects black wire to top leg of C3 (W22) on Driver Board PAD W26 Connects red wire to W19 on Driver Board PAD W27 Connects red wire to W15 on Driver Board PAD W28 Connects black wire to top leg of C4 (W23) on Driver Board

PAD W29 Connects orange wire to R30 Grid #2 resistor (Pin 4 of L/H 6550) PAD W30 Connects orange wire to R31 Grid #2 resistor (Pin 4 of R/H 6550)

Please Note that W15,W16,W17,W18,W19 & W20 are all common ground

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Kit2 6550 Driver Board

PAD W1 Connects white core (-ve) from Right channel input PAD W2 Connects black wire to W15 on PSU board PAD W3 Connects white core (-ve) from Left channel input

PAD W4 Connects purple PTFE wire to R32 grid resistor( pin 5 of L/H 6550)

PAD W5 Connects black jumper wire to W24 on Driver Board PAD W6 Connects black jumper wire to W16 on Driver Board PAD W7 Connects red core (+ve) from Right signal input PAD W8 Connects red core (+ve) from Right signal input PAD W9 Connects black jumper wire to W29 on Driver Board

PAD W11 Connects purple PTFE wire to R33 grid resistor( pin 5 of R/H 6550)

PAD W12 Not used PAD W13 Not Used

PAD W14 Connects red wire to W23 on PSU board PAD W15 Connects black wire to W27 on PSU Board

PAD W16 See above PAD W17 See above

PAD W18 Connects red wire to W22 on PSU board PAD W19 Connects red wire to W27 on PSU board

PAD W20 Connects black wire from W24 (C12) on PSU board PAD W21 Connects black wire from W21 (C11) on PSU board PAD W22 Connects black wire from W25 (C13) on PSU board PAD W23 Connects black wire from W28 (C14) on PSU board

PAD W24 Not Used

PAD W25 Connects black wire from R/H Black speaker terminal PAD W26 Connects yellow wire to R/H 8 ohm speaker terminal PAD W27 Connects yellow wire to L/H 8 ohm speaker terminal PAD W28 Connects black wire from L/H Black speaker terminal

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Section 11: Final Checks & Turn On Procedure

1) Check over the graphic s in the appendix and make sure that the following is double checked

Red / Black Output Transformer Primary Wiring to the Tag Strip and Power Supply Board

FeedBack Wiring from Driver Board to the Speaker posts

Complete TAG Strip graphic

Check of Kit2 Interwiring guide if not already done so.

Once you have finished the above checks then perform these checks prior to turn on !

Step One: Double Check all polarities of components and the transformers

especially the Mains. Using the circuit diagrams follow all the wiring ensuring proper connections and solder joints.

Step Two:

When you are sure that everything is as it should be , fit the correct size fuse into the fuse holder. Connect to the Mains supply via the mains lead and switch on. DO NOT INSTALL ANY TUBES at this point

Step Three:If you own a voltmeter then check that there are 6.3V AC between pins 7 & 8 on the larger valve base on the input driver board and also between pins 4 & 9 on the smaller noval bases.( 9 pin) Whilst you should measure approx 6.3V AC on pins 2& 7 of the 6550 bases

There should be about 420 volts AC between pin 4 of the 5U4G and pin 8 bads hyse and the negative end of C1 on the dirver board and likewise between this point and the chassis metal work. All these measure ments should be taken without valves in place

If you do not own a voltmeter then switch amplifier off and plug in the 6SN7. Switch the amplifier on and if all is well then switch off and install the 12AX7 s and note that they glow also when power is apllied

I would suggest next plugging in the 5U4G This will spread the High voltage DC through out the amplifier If all is well and the fuse does not blow and the tubes installed are lighting up then you can take a voltage measurement on the driver board at W16 , W19, W14, W18, - Be careful not to lean on the chassis

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Use the middle of the Tag strip or the chassis as the ground and put your red voltmeter lead on any of the above W locations you should see around 400-450V dc

Once you are happy that the heaters ( filaments) on all the valves are working or the voltages are correct then screw on the base of the amplifier ( installing the feet at the same time)

Turn the amplifier over and install the the 6550 s Connect a source to the amplifier and hook up a pair of speakers

If there is no sound or one channel is out or any other problem feel free to contact audionotekits@rogers.com for support! Or call at 613 822 7188

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