J&K Audio Design has to halt operations from 18th MAR till 31st MAR 2020 due to COVID-19 outbreak measures from the government.
Apologies for all the delays. We still check and respond to emails.
Take care and stay well everyone!
J&K Audio Design
19/3/2020
Wednesday, March 18, 2020
Thursday, February 27, 2020
Value for money output transformers
Best bang of the buck output transformers! Value for money
output transformers! Good sounding output transformers! Good things need to
repeat 3 times!
Hope everyone is well in terms of the COVID-19 outbreak, as
well as the current stock market correction period. In such treacherous period
of time, what’s better than staying home and do some self-improvement reading, market
research/analysis and new product design!?!?
Who’d like to have a best bang of the buck output transformer?
Please raise your hand! We’ve surveyed the market of output transformer makers,
list out some of the popular names such as Lundahl, Tango, Hammond and etc to analyse
what’s good, and what’s to be had.
The picture shows our rating based on our own criteria –
take it with a cup of salt.
What are the critical parameter for output transformer?
- Primary
impedance ~2.5K to 3.5K (common impedance for most tubes)
- Primary
DC 100mA at minimum (suitable for 2A3, 300B, KT88, KT100, KT120 till KT150)
- Primary
inductance of ~6H per 1K Ohm (for better low frequency loading/response)
- Secondary
0 – 4 – 8 Ohm (suits most speakers out there)
- Output
power 30W (decent, but not too low)
- Frequency
response of at least <20Hz and > 20kHz (for full HIFI bandwidth)
- Tolerance
of +/-1dB (where human ears could hardy differentiate a 1dB difference)
- Decent
headroom/core volume >= 1KG per 10W SE
- Decent
price <$150/pc
With all the above criteria in consideration, we have come
up with 2 output transformer designs to satisfy most users needs. We cannot do
an All-In-One output transformer as the design trade-off is just too much.
Therefore, one (JK Fighter P-OPT) is designed more for
Pentode (KT88, EL34, EL84, KT120, KT150, and etc).
- Higher
primary inductance to cater for higher tube Rp (Pentodes in general)
The other (JK Fighter T-OPT) is designed more for Triode (50,
300B, 2A3, 45, 71, R120, 300BXLS, PX4, and etc).
- Lower
primary inductance to cater for lower tube Rp (genuine Triodes in general)
- Additional 16 Ohm secondary for high efficiency speakers
For those that wish for a warmer sound, they can use JK Fighter
P-OPT with Triodes or even Pentodes. For those that want a more high fidelity
sound, JK Fighter T-OPT is the one to go.
Expected availability ~June 2020. If you’ve feedback on the
design for improvements, or you happen to be looking for one for your design(s)
– let us know before we finalize the design. Email us! If they are valid and
genuine, and doable within the budget, we will include them.
To keep the price low, they are all fixed design. If you
need to customize, it will have to be on standard customize price. Custom made version
will be more expensive, and will have better dynamic headroom too.
We have no plans to release Push-Pull versions since those
have lower demand. If there are a lot of queries, or even OEM requests, we may consider
doing so – let us know.
Thank you for your support!
Take care everyone!
J&K Audio Design
28/2/2020
Monday, February 17, 2020
Vacuum Tube Repair
Good health to all J&K readers, supporters, and most importantly customers!
Just a little update on the COVID-19 outbreak - latest news is that some of our suppliers will resume work on 24th FEB 2020 - hope that situation improves that much to enable them to resume production.
Now back to our agenda here - vacuum tube repairs, or vacuum tube revivals!
I believe, transformers repair is nothing new to our followers. We've repaired hundreds, if not thousands of them over the past many years.
Another critical part of the solution chain would be on vacuum tube repair and revival, especially on those exotic NOS tubes that cost quite a considerable amount of money. We now offer vacuum tube repair or revival service to our customers through our long time partner (a tube maestro).
Do note that not all vacuum tubes can be repaired or revived. Some are dead for good. For some that are still having some life in it, or failed prematurely, or even fail as DOA, maybe they could be repaired. In some cases, some even be buying those expensive exotic NOS tubes that are dead at a dirt cheap price, and sending them to us for repair! If by any chance those dead exotic NOS tubes can be repaired, they could save thousands of dollars comparing to buying good exotic NOS tubes. Those that are worth repairing are those Western Electric signal or power tubes, Genelax / Gold Lion signal or power tubes, or even any old big power tubes that worth fortunes.
Since repairing or revival could a 50-50 or worse kind of odds, one may need to weight the pros and cons before sending for repair. Vacuum tube repairs or vacuum tube revival starts at U$100 per piece, and could be more depending on the type of tubes and illnesses.
Loose base, no connection at tube pin due to broken wire or cracked solder, or broken pin can be easily repaired by base replacement or re-connection internally at the base. Broken filament, could possibly be repaired, on case by case basis.
Here are some things to be considered before sending vacuum tubes for repairs or revivals:
1. Are they worth the trouble or worth the price? Repair price could be more than buying them new or or buying NOS.
2. Mechanically broken vacuum tubes are not repairable - such as broken glass or vacuum loss (inside appears all white).
3. Severely broken tube internally (massive internal structure failure, broken plates for example).
For other cases, please send us some pictures and descriptions and we shall see what we can do.
Examples for some cases on vacuum tubes that could possibly be repaired:
1. Crackling noise
2. Keep blowing fuses
3. Filament shorted
4. Internal pins shorted
5. Open connections
6. Intermittent operation
7. Missing base / base repair / base replacements
8. Oxidized tube pins / internal wires
9. Weak tubes
10. And etc... can't list all since there could be other illnesses
Contact us, if unsure.
Now, go dig your storeroom and see if there are any vacuum tubes you'd like to be repaired. Better still, go ask all your tube audiophile friends for used tubes, broken tubes that they do no longer use, and see if they are worth repairing or reviving! They could save you a fortune, or make you some good money after being repaired!
Tubes that are worth repair, for example, could be 212, 4212, 211, 4211, 4300B, 300B, 2A3 single plate, 2A3 double plate, 801A, PX4, AD1, 53KU, 52KU, U52, EL156, KT88, KT66, Telefunken, Western Electric, Genelax, and various other expensive exotic tubes.
Vacuum tube dealers, sellers, shops owners - if you have tubes that you think are worth repairing, please contact us and we may be able to repair them for you for re-selling later. The same 3 rules above apply.
Start digging! You may encounter a few gold mines! Don't let the exotic tubes go to waste - recycle them!
J&K Audio Design
18/2/2020
Just a little update on the COVID-19 outbreak - latest news is that some of our suppliers will resume work on 24th FEB 2020 - hope that situation improves that much to enable them to resume production.
Now back to our agenda here - vacuum tube repairs, or vacuum tube revivals!
I believe, transformers repair is nothing new to our followers. We've repaired hundreds, if not thousands of them over the past many years.
Another critical part of the solution chain would be on vacuum tube repair and revival, especially on those exotic NOS tubes that cost quite a considerable amount of money. We now offer vacuum tube repair or revival service to our customers through our long time partner (a tube maestro).
Do note that not all vacuum tubes can be repaired or revived. Some are dead for good. For some that are still having some life in it, or failed prematurely, or even fail as DOA, maybe they could be repaired. In some cases, some even be buying those expensive exotic NOS tubes that are dead at a dirt cheap price, and sending them to us for repair! If by any chance those dead exotic NOS tubes can be repaired, they could save thousands of dollars comparing to buying good exotic NOS tubes. Those that are worth repairing are those Western Electric signal or power tubes, Genelax / Gold Lion signal or power tubes, or even any old big power tubes that worth fortunes.
Since repairing or revival could a 50-50 or worse kind of odds, one may need to weight the pros and cons before sending for repair. Vacuum tube repairs or vacuum tube revival starts at U$100 per piece, and could be more depending on the type of tubes and illnesses.
Loose base, no connection at tube pin due to broken wire or cracked solder, or broken pin can be easily repaired by base replacement or re-connection internally at the base. Broken filament, could possibly be repaired, on case by case basis.
Here are some things to be considered before sending vacuum tubes for repairs or revivals:
1. Are they worth the trouble or worth the price? Repair price could be more than buying them new or or buying NOS.
2. Mechanically broken vacuum tubes are not repairable - such as broken glass or vacuum loss (inside appears all white).
3. Severely broken tube internally (massive internal structure failure, broken plates for example).
For other cases, please send us some pictures and descriptions and we shall see what we can do.
Examples for some cases on vacuum tubes that could possibly be repaired:
1. Crackling noise
2. Keep blowing fuses
3. Filament shorted
4. Internal pins shorted
5. Open connections
6. Intermittent operation
7. Missing base / base repair / base replacements
8. Oxidized tube pins / internal wires
9. Weak tubes
10. And etc... can't list all since there could be other illnesses
Contact us, if unsure.
Now, go dig your storeroom and see if there are any vacuum tubes you'd like to be repaired. Better still, go ask all your tube audiophile friends for used tubes, broken tubes that they do no longer use, and see if they are worth repairing or reviving! They could save you a fortune, or make you some good money after being repaired!
Tubes that are worth repair, for example, could be 212, 4212, 211, 4211, 4300B, 300B, 2A3 single plate, 2A3 double plate, 801A, PX4, AD1, 53KU, 52KU, U52, EL156, KT88, KT66, Telefunken, Western Electric, Genelax, and various other expensive exotic tubes.
Vacuum tube dealers, sellers, shops owners - if you have tubes that you think are worth repairing, please contact us and we may be able to repair them for you for re-selling later. The same 3 rules above apply.
Start digging! You may encounter a few gold mines! Don't let the exotic tubes go to waste - recycle them!
J&K Audio Design
18/2/2020
Sunday, February 2, 2020
Corona Virus
Some states or regions in China, including places where some
of our raw materials vendors are located, were mandated by the Chinese Government
to remain close until 10th February, 2020. This is to prevent wide
spread of the Corona virus, and is one of the precautionary measures to avoid
further spread of the disease and threat to the nations.
This has affect the continuous supply of raw materials
needed to produce our products. This may have some impact to the production and
may delay delivery of some shipments. We are could and are still in contact
with the raw materials vendors for the latest update of the situation.
As of now, most of our raw materials vendors will resume production
on 10th February, 2020. Given the uncertainty of this matter, we’re
still actively monitoring the situation.
Kindly contact us if you’ve any concerns. Thousand apologies
for the inconveniences caused.
Monday, January 13, 2020
J&K solid wood chassis
Happy 2020! Business as usual. Hope everyone is well, and still actively and passionately pursuing the DIY audio hobby!
While working on transformers design and orders, we received an order for solid wood chassis with 3mm copper top, for his tube amplifier.
Some said that the wood chassis looked like Chinese kung-fu tea tray... I can't argue with that. It does!
Enjoy DIY!
J&K Audio Design
13/1/2020
While working on transformers design and orders, we received an order for solid wood chassis with 3mm copper top, for his tube amplifier.
Some said that the wood chassis looked like Chinese kung-fu tea tray... I can't argue with that. It does!
Enjoy DIY!
J&K Audio Design
13/1/2020
Sunday, November 24, 2019
J&K custom services
What does J&K have in store? Some may ask. Our blog touches too many things.
Well, let us tell you now in a very brief way. The best answer, is still to email us what you need, and we shall see if we can satisfy your needs, or solve your problems.
J&K main services
1. Transformers (custom made) of all sorts - power transformers, chokes, isolation transformers, input transformers, output transformers, interstage transformers, speaker crossover / attenuator, solid state output transformers, headphone transformers, and etc.
Materials we have now: OFC, OCC Cu, and OCC Ag (silver); single and triple insulated magnet wires; various types of insulation materials for different purposes, and etc.
2. Transformer repair / rewinding / rebuilding - we can repair almost all types of transformers, such as power transformers, input transformers, output transformers, interstage transformers, special transformers and etc. All except SMPS high frequency switching transformers. We had repaired or rebuilt tonnes of vintage and modern transformers from famous brands, such as AN-JP and AN-UK, Western Electri*, McIntos*, Peerles*, Alte*, Marant*, Jadi*, Dynac*, you name it, we have almost repaired it.
*** Thanks to J&K Services #2, we've learnt so much from reverse engineering those vintage and famous transformers for repair purposes. If you need your J&K transformers to mimic certain vintage and famous transformers, we can do so too. We'd prefer our own house sound if you build from now, but if you need to restore vintage amplifiers, we would recommend to follow their way to preserve the house sound, or brand sound. ***
J&K side lines
3. Equipment repair services / modifications / upgrades.
4. Fully built audio gears, such as integrated amplifiers,pre-amplifiers, power amplifiers, isolation transformer, balance power isolation transformer, audio gadgets or audio modules, active crossover, DC blocker, noise filter, ground conditioner and such.
5. Special projects - email J&K and tell us what you need, or what's troubling you, and we can custom the solutions for you, or refer you to our partners to sort out your problems if we cannot do so. We've built such a wide network of friends, customers and partners along the way in this line.
We pride J&K / ourselves to provide top rate quality products and services. Therefore, please excuse or please forgive us if it takes some time to get your project(s) finished. We tried not to increase our staff abruptly just to get more businesses (been there, done that, and suffered due to such) as good quality staff are had to find and train up.
If you need an item done urgently, J&K would recommend you to please plan it far ahead to avoid rushed work.
Thank you all again for your businesses along these years!
P/S: you may find that we're slow on the blogging as time is really short on our hands. We do have very occasional posts in our Facebook page on the projects on hand. So, please visit our FB page more frequently!
https://www.facebook.com/groups/jnkaudiodesign/
Till then, take care and enjoy being alive!
Well, let us tell you now in a very brief way. The best answer, is still to email us what you need, and we shall see if we can satisfy your needs, or solve your problems.
J&K main services
1. Transformers (custom made) of all sorts - power transformers, chokes, isolation transformers, input transformers, output transformers, interstage transformers, speaker crossover / attenuator, solid state output transformers, headphone transformers, and etc.
Materials we have now: OFC, OCC Cu, and OCC Ag (silver); single and triple insulated magnet wires; various types of insulation materials for different purposes, and etc.
2. Transformer repair / rewinding / rebuilding - we can repair almost all types of transformers, such as power transformers, input transformers, output transformers, interstage transformers, special transformers and etc. All except SMPS high frequency switching transformers. We had repaired or rebuilt tonnes of vintage and modern transformers from famous brands, such as AN-JP and AN-UK, Western Electri*, McIntos*, Peerles*, Alte*, Marant*, Jadi*, Dynac*, you name it, we have almost repaired it.
*** Thanks to J&K Services #2, we've learnt so much from reverse engineering those vintage and famous transformers for repair purposes. If you need your J&K transformers to mimic certain vintage and famous transformers, we can do so too. We'd prefer our own house sound if you build from now, but if you need to restore vintage amplifiers, we would recommend to follow their way to preserve the house sound, or brand sound. ***
J&K side lines
3. Equipment repair services / modifications / upgrades.
4. Fully built audio gears, such as integrated amplifiers,pre-amplifiers, power amplifiers, isolation transformer, balance power isolation transformer, audio gadgets or audio modules, active crossover, DC blocker, noise filter, ground conditioner and such.
5. Special projects - email J&K and tell us what you need, or what's troubling you, and we can custom the solutions for you, or refer you to our partners to sort out your problems if we cannot do so. We've built such a wide network of friends, customers and partners along the way in this line.
We pride J&K / ourselves to provide top rate quality products and services. Therefore, please excuse or please forgive us if it takes some time to get your project(s) finished. We tried not to increase our staff abruptly just to get more businesses (been there, done that, and suffered due to such) as good quality staff are had to find and train up.
If you need an item done urgently, J&K would recommend you to please plan it far ahead to avoid rushed work.
Thank you all again for your businesses along these years!
P/S: you may find that we're slow on the blogging as time is really short on our hands. We do have very occasional posts in our Facebook page on the projects on hand. So, please visit our FB page more frequently!
https://www.facebook.com/groups/jnkaudiodesign/
Till then, take care and enjoy being alive!
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