Arrival of Elekit TU882R

This arrived in the mail today, via EMS in very good condition. Thanks Victor. The box was well packed and appeared to suffer no damage from transit from Japan to Canada to Australia. The box itself, was packed extremely well. You have to hand it to the Japanese, they really do know how to do their packaging. Without peeling apart the various bits of paper protection, everything appeared in very good order.

One of the nice things about getting it packaged like this, is the sense that you are really buying a branded product. Most of my other kits have arrived in an unbranded box, in lots of sealed plastic bags, all put into a shipping box. Un-boxing this, feels like you are un-boxing a camera, a laptop or something really special. I know this is a little silly, but there is something tangible and exciting about un-boxing something like this for the first time. Everything so well packed, each item has its place and order.

Haven't had time to open up and check all the components yet, but the three main things seem to be present. 240V transformer, chassis parts and output transformers. Victor was kind enough to send me the English manual just after purchase, which has allowed me to review it quickly to start building the amp in my head. It appears that everything has arrived, and is in good order and in the specifications as requested (namely 240V).

I will have a few more things to say about the manual and the components later. But I have ordered a set of replacement resistors (Shinkoh Tantalum and Amtrans Carbon Film, all from Japan, seems to fit the bill of this Japanese amp) and will be using some Mundorf Zn Tin foil capacitors as the coupling capacitors. If there is sufficient space, I might place a few low value teflon or PIO capacitors as bypass for the main PSU capacitors. Apart from those, I took the risk and ordered a TKD 2CP-601S 100k stepped attenuator. No idea if this will fit, but I have so many other projects, it will find a home eventually. Apart from those three items, I do not plan to make any more changes to the components.

The main question on my mind, or of issue, is that this amp has negative feedback. It takes the output from the highest impedance tap and brings it back to the cathode of the first stage (or input stage) of the 5670. No idea how this will affect the sound. But in the past, I have avoided the use of NFB designs, but thought it'd be good to include this to see its net effect.

If I get time over the next few weeks, I will start the checking and cleaning processes. Once everything has been cleaning and thoroughly checked, I will being to assemble and hopefully, within 3 to 4 weeks, this will be fully complete. I will be definitely posting progress photos and notes as I go, and once complete, hope to give some feedback comparing this with my other two operating amps.