ANK Audio Note Kits M3 Phono Board User manual

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Manual Version 1.2 - July 2007

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Table of Contents
ection1: M3 Phono Board Build ............................................................................................................................................3
Phono Board Parts List ........................................................................................................................................................3
Preparation ..........................................................................................................................................................................4
Fitting the Valve Bases ........................................................................................................................................................6
Installing the Resistors.........................................................................................................................................................7
tarting the oldering ..........................................................................................................................................................9
Additional Techniques and Tips.........................................................................................................................................16
Continuing Construction.....................................................................................................................................................18
Installing R3 and R5...........................................................................................................................................................20
Adding the Tube hield Grounds.......................................................................................................................................20
Installing the Capacitors.....................................................................................................................................................23
ection 2: Final Wiring...........................................................................................................................................................28
ection 3: Testing the M3 Phono Board................................................................................................................................29
Hook-Up and Voltage Checks ...........................................................................................................................................30
Appendix................................................................................................................................................................................31
Resistor Color Code Reference .........................................................................................................................................32
Phono Board chematic ....................................................................................................................................................33
Resistors and Color Codes ................................................................................................................................................34

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Section1: M3 Phono oard uild
There are two versions of the M3 Phono Board available.
The tandard Copper Track PCB board is considered to be the simplest board to build whereas the Hard-Wired version is
usually the choice of the more experienced builder.
This manual is dedicated to the Hard-Wired (trackless PCB) version.
Phono Board Parts List
The Complete Parts list for the Phono Board is shown below.
For resistor color code chart refer to the APPENDIX. You can also find an 'Interactive Resistor Color Code Calculator' on
our website (available from the Links page).
Category Quantity Part Designator
Capacitors (Electrolytic) 4 470uf 16v or 220uf C3, C4, C5, C6
2 .33uf C13, C14
2 .22uf C11, C12
2 2.42n C9, C10
2 8n2 or 8200pf C7, C8
Capacitors (Non-polarized)
2 .047uf C1 C2
4 1M2 R25, R26, R1, R2
2 1K2 R19, R20
4 1K R11, R12, R13, R14
2 82K R7, R9
2 47K R4, R6
2 820R R8 R10
2 39K R24, R23
2 100K R15, R16
2 1M R22, R21
Resistors
2 270K R17, R18
* Made up of 1M and
1M2 in series
2 2M2 R3, R5
3 9 pin Valve Bases
1 M3 Phono Board
Valves / Bases
3 6072 V1, V2, V3
Throughout the construction of this board, make sure that no adjacent wires touch each other. Use the black insulating
sleeving provided to insulate such wires from making an unwanted (and potentially dangerous contact). Wires follow the
paths to the components as indicated by the white lines on the board. Often, it will be possible to use the leg of the

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components to connect to the various points, however from time to time, the legs will be too short and will need to be
extended with tinned wire.
The above picture shows the top and bottom of the M3 Phono Board. The bottom of the board shows how the leg of each
component is joined to another - these are shows by the thick white lines.
Whenever making a connection you should, at the same time, trace that connection on the schematic (i.e. circuit
diagram). That way you will make fewer mistakes and also learn more about the circuit.
NOTE: We have included a disk in your kit that includes high-resolution pictures of most of the ones shown here in the
manual so that you can zoom in on them on your computer.
Preparation
The first step is to install the spacers onto the board as
shown opposite.
Note on the underside of the board that we have white lines
(stencils) that show the connections of the components.

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Here are some tools that you will find very handy while
working on the hardwired phono board – a cutter on the left,
a wire stripper/cutter in the middle, and needle nose pliers
on the right.
Have your schematic and Resistor Color code chart handy! These will make it easier for you to verify that you have done
the correct thing as you work through the various connections.

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Fitting the Valve Bases
Our first installation will be the valve bases.
As you can see from the picture opposite the valve base is
inserted in the board and the small spacers are used under
the screw holes.
The Tube hield is then used on top with the screws going
through them.
Use a M3 screw from the phono hardware bag and secure
with an M3 nut on the other side of the board.
Opposite, you can see the underside of the board where
one of the valve bases has been fitted and secured.
Here we have the 3 valve bases installed.
Valve base installation is now complete.

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Installing the Resistors
Our next task is to install MO T of the resistors in the board. tart by referring to your schematic and your Resistor Color
Code Chart. You can start at the top of the chart.
You will notice that the first resistor on the chart is the 820R
resistor (R8 and R10).
Identify the two resistors that have the following color codes
– GREY – Red – Black – Black followed by a thicker
BROWN tolerance band.
You will need to bend the resistor leads with pliers (or
neatly by hand) in order for it to be inserted correctly into
the board.
o, go ahead and install the 2x 820R resistors in positions
R8 & R10.

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Above you can see the two resistors installed correctly into the board. You will also want to gently bend the leads on the
underside of the board so that the resistors don’t fall out as we are going to install all the rest of the resistors (except for
R3 & R5). The graphic on the right you can see how the legs are bent to keep the resistor in position.
Carry on with your color code chart and install the rest of the resistors on the chart – except for the last two – R3 & R5 -
these are a special case.
The pictures above show your Phono Board with the resistors installed.

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The next step is to gently bend down the resistor leads so
that they are roughly following the traces.
In some cases it will be straightforward; in others you will
not be sure which way to go! Do your best!
ome traces will require the needle nose pliers where you
will have to bend the leads to follow the tracks!
Starting the Soldering
Once that is completed we will now perform our first soldering job! We want to connect pin 3 and pin 6 together on the V1
Valve Base.
Using the silver wire supplied with your kit you will want to
slide one end of the silver wire into the valve base V1.
DO NOT CUT the silver wire yet – this is one of the tricks to
using it – always have a long piece – do your soldering and
then CUT when the job is completed – the wire gets very
hot and difficult to handle in short pieces.

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I suggest using a highlighter to keep track of your successful connections so that you know where you are up to. o in our
case we have just completed the wiring of pin 3 to pin 6 of the V1 (LEFT) Valve base – so highlight the connection with a
highlighter or pen. Eventually, you will be able to spot any connections that you may have missed etc.
As you can see from the above picture strip, the three steps involved here are:
• lide the wire into position
• Perform soldering on both sides
• Cut the wire
You will be repeating this a few times!
Now go a head and do the same thing for V2 and then highlight your schematic with the same connection.
Now we will start to make some other soldering connections to the valve bases. We are not going to show you every
detail of the phono board build but rather show you the techniques involved and the correct order that you should do
things and then leave it up to you make your own decisions on connections etc…

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Lets start by looking for some easy connections of the
resistors to the valve bases.
For example, looking at the base on the upper right in the
picture opposite, let's pick some easy connections that we
can make – the connection to PIN 1 looks very easy – Bend
the lead enough with the pliers to fit it into the valve base
pin 1.
This is the leg of R7 that is connecting to the valve base.
Here you can see that the leg of R7 has been connected to
PIN 1 of the valve base V1.
Once it has been soldered you may or may not want to clip
the end – Be careful of your eyes when cutting little pieces
as they can flick off – use your hand to cover them or try to
hold on to the piece that will come off with pliers.
The graphic on the left is a view of the underside of wiring
side of the board with the top side inverted and overlaid
transparently.
This can sometimes be helpful - saving you continually
turning over the board.

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Once that wiring has been completed of R7 you will want to
update your schematic as shown opposite.
We just need to show you a few more techniques and then you will be well on your way to completing the resistor
connections. How about a break and congratulations so far!
Let’s make a connection now to pin 2.
As you can see from the trace on the board the wire must
curl around and connect to pin 2.
Often it will not stretch all the way there so we use the silver
wire to complete the connection (see next two picture for
completion).
As you can see we have curled the lead with the pliers and
now we must extend with silver wire to pin 2 of the valve
base…

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In this picture we have fed the silver wire through the valve
base pin 2 and then applied some solder to the valve base
pin. Then we have soldered to the resistor lead to complete
the connection.
Let's update our schematic with the new connection we
have just made – pin 2 of V1 valve base connecting to R11.
This picture shows that we have completed the connection
of pin 8 and are in the process of using silver wire to
complete the connection of pin 7 – again using a long piece
we will solder and then cut.

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We have completed all the connections to the valve base
V1 – Note that I have not highlighted pin 7 yet but I should
do that now!
The only pins not connected now are pins 4 & 5 - these will
be used for our filament wiring - in other words we will be
using some wiring from the power supply board to connect
to these pins to provide the filament current (this subject is
dealt with later in the guide).
The other pin not connected is pin 9, which is not used.
Congratulations as we have just completed all the
connections to V1.
It is always good to double-check your connections after
completing them, making sure that the stencils on the back
and the schematic and your connections all correspond!
I would suggest that you go over and do the same to V2 now using the same techniques and updating your schematic
highlights!
Another technique that you will use quite a bit of is longer extensions of silver wire – You will need to do this when you
connect to the HT – The HT (or High Tension) is the point on the circuit where the DC voltage from the power supply will
come in and provide the overall electrical DC for the phono circuit…

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If you look on the component side of the board you will see two circles with HT marked on them. Let's wire up the HT
terminal for V1 – do this by using the silver wire to extend.
You can see here that I am laying down a length of silver
wire that I will be soldering to for the HT connection.
Here I am inserting the silver wire through the HT hole so
that it will follow the trace and connect to the resistor lead.
On the component side of the board
you will want to bring the silver wire
through, curl it, and clip it so that you
have a nice hook in order to connect to
later!

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Here I am soldering another lead to the silver wire that is
the HT.
At this point you should have enough skills to start working your way through the soldering process. Before proceeding,
however, please read the following additional techniques.
Additional Techniques and Tips
Use your cutters to cut off excess wire after you have made
a solder connection.

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This picture shows the next tricky part of the board - all the
input resistors.
These resistor legs need to be bent and pulled through the
holes in the board Right I/P. RIGHT GND etc…
Use your needle nose pliers to perform
this task.
The legs are fairly flexible and can be
bent around a bit.
On the top side of the board you will want to snip a little
length and then curl the lead so that it created a little hook
like we did with the HT.

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USING INSULATION
You will notice that in your kit you will have some thin
heatshrink. You will use this in situations where the wires
are coming close in contact with each other. When this is
going to happen you need to cut some heatshrink to ensure
that the wires will not short with one another!
You will need to use a hair dryer, or heatshrink gun, to heat
up the heatshrink so that it wraps – even with heat shrink it
is a good idea not to have two wires touching.
There are times where wires need to cross each other or
need to go between valve bases – its ok to have the wires
go above the board somewhat so that they do not touch
other wires.
Continuing Construction
Now that you have familiarized yourself with the various techniques required, you can continue with construction.
Continue completing soldering connections for all the
resistors except for R3 & R5.
When you are done, your board should look something like
the picture opposite.
Refer to your Hi-Res disk – pictures 1 _8374, 8375, 8376,
8377, and 8378 for close up pictures of the board at this
point.

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If you look at the bottom left corner of the wiring side of the
board you will see the spacer that is very close to the trace
going to W8.
You have two options – to use some heatshrink tubing and
follow the trace or route the trace around the outside of the
spacer as shown in this picture.
The same for the lower right side and W5 - you can route
the wire along the trace shown on the board or go around
the spacer to give you a little more space.
You can see in both cases that even though I have routed
around the spacer, I have used shrink tubing to make sure
that there is no potential short.
The picture opposite shows how the top side of the board
should look like at this point. Your schematic should also be
well marked by now.

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Installing R3 and R5
R3 (left channel) and R5 (right channel) are a special case as each of them is actually made up of two resistors. The
value of these resistors is 2M2 (or 2.2Meg ohms). ince this resistor value is not available in Tantalum, we are going to
put a 1.2M (1M2 1W) resistor in series with a 1Meg 1/2W resistor.
Twist the resistor and solder.
After soldering the resistors together,
clip the extra wire.
You should now have a nice “U”
formation.
Install the resistor into the R3 position
as shown and then solder under the
board into correct position (refer to
your schematic).
Then do the same for the R5 position
Once these resistors are in position
you have completed all the resistors.
Adding the Tu e Shield Grounds
You will want to remove the three GND Lugs from your
Hardware Phono Bag and then install them in the positions
shown in the picture opposite.
You will need to take the M3 nut off each screw and install
the GND lug underneath the nut against the board – then
secure with the nut.