Carver "Silver Four" Monoblock project

Well, I think that granite will probably be fine, except for holding onto the heat. You might want to improve the ventilation some to avoid that. The tubes will conduct heat to the bases that connect to the chassis, as well as convect heat off from the glass bottle itself. Of course, the granite will hold the heat on the chassis everywhere it touches the metal, and it will have to be dissipated elsewhere.

Well, I think that granite will probably be fine, except for holding onto the heat. You might want to improve the ventilation some to avoid that. The tubes will conduct heat to the bases that connect to the chassis, as well as convect heat off from the glass bottle itself. Of course, the granite will hold the heat on the chassis everywhere it touches the metal, and it will have to be dissipated elsewhere.

I had not considered the heat issue to much, but the plan has always been to allow some space between the granite and the aluminum. I am also installing a 1/8th inch aluminum plate under the amp for better support. This piece will be properly vented and may allow for the installation of a silent cooling fan that will pull heat out of the bottom.

They look really good so far !! I like the granite color/texture/look





Just a little more info and advice....

I see heat being your biggest enemy here. Any 1 KT-88 runs between 160-180 degrees while our amps are at rest.
The chassis' get hot, because of the tube pins and tube sockets.
The majority of the heat is transferred via the tube pins and bottom metal bands, down through the socket clips to the internal section of the chassis where the wires and parts are soldered.
There is of course also the ambient heat created by the glass portion and the bottom band of each tube.
Carver designed the chassis' to keep themselves cool via convection. The base plates of the amps have ALLOT of large holes in them, as does the top deck of the tube chassis.
The isolation feet, keep the amp chassis about 1.5" off of the granite bases, allowing enough cooler air to be sucked up from the bottom of the amps, as it passes through the chassis, and up past the tubes.

From the looks of this photo you posted......


I don't think you have anywhere near enough top ventilation slots.
The Silver-6's - 7's and 9's, all have 4 slots all the way around each tube, to allow enough air movement.

You say you plan on using KT-120's which may even require more heat dissipation than the KT-88's. The KT-120s are about 25% larger, and also require about 33% more current than the KT-88s. From what I recall, you may also need a larger transformer, than the ones Bob uses in his current amps (you really better check with him on this one!!)
I seem to recall talking to him about the KT-120s a few months back, and the amperage draw was an issue that he would have to make modifications to the transformers if he were to go over to the KT-120s. That's the reason he hasn't put them in any of his amps yet. He didn't want the re-design the transformers (yet)

I hope this info and advice helps.
James

I thought you WANTED vibrations; didn't Bob say tubes "talk" to the room~

I think it was more of the tubes are "listening" to the room....

could you put some small dia computer case/heatsink type fans in the case too help with air flow?

When Bob gets back from Disneyland, I will be discussing the heat issues with him. For now, all I can say is that every hole present on the aluminum has been tranfered to the granite, with exception to the watt-meter and a couple switches. The switches are going to be relocated to the rear of the side panels and the watt meter may find it's way to the transformer cover, or just eliminated.

Looking good, keep us posted.

Cardas wire/solder/posts will all be here next week. Now if I could only find those damn schematics....

You have to keep the Meter! That would look awesome!

I'm thinking these will be very nice!!! Congrats!!!

You have to keep the Meter! That would look awesome!

I would love to incorporate it somehow, but placing it in the face would make the granite to weak. I am looking at mounting it in the transformer cover... anyone have a pair of TFM-45 meters they would care to part with?

Wow. It's already a beautiful thing. Maybe I'll build an amp this winter.
Steve

I wanted to let you know...
The tube sockets Bob is using are "QQQ" sockets.
I don't know what kind you have, but QQQ's are the ones that he's using.

Joe told me that the Silver-7's used QQQ sockets, so I bought 500 of them.
Once they got here, they were NOT the right sockets to match the Silver-7 chassis.
I wound up selling all 500 that I bought to Bob for the amps he's building now.
I went ahead and found the correct sockets for the Silver-7s later.
Bob's QQQ's are about an 1/8" smaller than the ones that were originally in the S-7's.

I just thought I'd post that, cause you had said something about the socket hole sizes being wrong.
This is probably why.

James

Here are some pictures of the faceplate etching. I have already formed my opinion, but I want to know what you guys think as well...

From a standard point of view, it looks really good!!
From a sign makers point of view...
It might be due to the sandblasting process, but the "CARVER" logo isn't quite right.



Silly boy, you should have sent the granite pieces down to me to "laser etch"
A laser can get allot finer detail than sandblasting can, especially in small text.
But overall it looks good

Those pieces are already glued together aren't they ??