audioXpress May 2021 Celebrates Its Glass Audio and Audio Electronics Roots

Our May 2021 Glass Audio Special edition is certain to inform and inspire you. We reveal what is happening at Western Electric's new Rossville Works in Georgia, where production of 300B tubes is ongoing, we explain how to draw tube load lines, and we offer a valuable preamplifier design that enables you to compare the sound of tube and solid-state circuits from the same audio source. There's also a versatile stereo tube amplifier design to build, and plenty more audio electronics theory and practice in this edition. Now available online and in print.

Hammond Manufacturing has introduced 4U high versions and added extended 559mm depths to all heights of its RM family of 1U - 4U 19 inch rack mounting and desktop enclosures. 1U to 3U half-width versions are also available. The all-aluminum construction consists of a heavy-duty extruded frame with removable vented or plain top and bottom covers. 19 inch units are supplied with rack mounting angles; both 19 inch and half width variants come complete with self-adhesive rubber feet for when the enclosure is to be used as a desktop unit.

This simple project provides a convenient method to remotely power audio equipment. Many manufacturers make audio equipment and power products that can be remotely switched with a low DC trigger voltage. With the trigger supply, my entire system can be turned on and off with one low-current switch. This article was originally published in audioXpress, November 2013.

Keeping things small and inexpensive — and at the beginner’s level — Rick Spencer shows you how to build your own single-ended amp. For about $10 worth of tubes and some small transformers, you can build this neat little amp in one weekend. This article was originally published in audioXpress, April 2004.

Antique tube radios are some of the most coveted vintage electronics any audio enthusiast can acquire. They sound absolutely great, both as for what they are intended - to work as a good old analog radio - but also as an amplifier for external audio sources, including any digital source. In this audioXpress article, from May 2012, Bill Reeve shares how to approach such projects and provides excellent advice.

Here’s an amp project especially for first-time builders featuring the 6BQ5 tube. As Rick Spencer writes in its introduction, "In order for this beloved hobby of ours to thrive and survive well into the future, we must always strive to make it interesting to newcomers." With this in mind, Rick Spencer created this single-ended design using the 6BQ5/EL84 tube in triode mode. This article was originally published in audioXpress, October 2008.

To house small PCBs using USB as the external power and signal interconnect, Hammond Manufacturing has extended its popular 1551 miniature family of IP54 ABS enclosures. This allows the development of USB powered products, leveraging the latest USB 3.1 10Gbits/s standard with generous internal room for PCBs. All versions feature a dedicated cut-out for a standard USB Type A plug in one end and have a recess in the lid for an inlay, label or HMI keypad.

Here is an excellent beginner’s project for those just getting started in this hobby. This “little” amp is easy to construct and has only about 25 parts in each channel. The system transformers are very inexpensive, and the total cost involved for a complete stereo version should be very minimal! This article was originally published in audioXpress, December 2001.

Attention, all first-time (or wanna be) builders of single ended directly heated triode amps. This project’s for you. This is an easy to build, simple direct-coupled input/driver circuit that provides the proper drive voltage to the grid of the 211. A nice way to experiment with a single-ended (SE) triode amplifier.