Under the bonnet of my latest tube preamp

The gold RCAs look stunning against the mat-black diecast case. This shot is electronic pornography. But the whole project was a juggling act trying to get all the parts in a compact case. I must have placed the cct. brds. in this case fifty times trying to squeeze everything in the right place before locking them down. They sit on adhesive computer mounting posts each fitted with rubber grommets to reduce resonance. This allow a construction with no nut heads in the top or bottom. You would not using adhesive stand-offs with heavier parts.

The large Sprague caps were mounted on the bottom of the brds. and then laid over to allow the lid (bottom) on. The SMPS is shielded from the other brds. to reduce induction into the preamp brds. There are dual inputs which are switched and an on/off switch at the front with a trendy blue led. Though a difficult project, due to cramming parts into a case, the results are worth the effort.