Hagerman Castanet User manual

HAGERMAN
T E C H N O L O G Y
Castanet
Headphone Amp Kit Manual

Castanet Headphone Amplifier Kit Manual
2
Warnings
This product uses dangerous and potentially lethal voltages. Extreme care must be taken
while assembling this amplifier and should only be attempted by a skilled technician.
The instructions in this manual are a suggested guide only and no liability is assumed by
Hagerman Technology LLC.
Copyrights & Trademarks
©Copyright Hagerman Technology LLC 2007. All rights reserved. No part of this
document may be photocopied, reproduced, or translated to another language without the
prior written consent of Hagerman Technology LLC.
Disclaimer
The information contained in this document is subject to change without notice.
Hagerman Technology LLC shall not be liable for errors contained herein or for
consequential damages in connection with the furnishing, performance, or use of this
material. See Chapter 6 for warranty information.

Castanet Headphone Amplifier Kit Manual
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1 Before You Begin
Description
Congratulations! You have just purchased one of the highest performance-per-dollar
audiophile products available. The Castanet is a no-hold-barred circuit topology
designed to offer uncompromising sound. It provides robust output power with ample
signal swing, all at low distortion with an exceedingly low noise floor. All amplification
is provided by the high transconductance 6H30 vacuum tube, which is fed by a fully
choke regulated power supply. No feedback is used anywhere.
Features
• Vacuum tube amplification
• No feedback
• Choke rectification
• Two outputs
Tools
This is a kit product and construction should only be attempted by skilled electronic
technicians. Chassis metalworking is also required. You will need an array of shop tools
and a good soldering iron. If you are at all unsure of this, send it back!
Contents
• Castanet PCB (1)
• Nylon washers, thin (2)
• Nylon washer, thick (14)
• #6 screws (18)
• #4 screws (8)
• L brackets (2)
• O-rings (2)
• Rubber bumpers (5)
• Fuse clips (2)
• Tie wraps (3)

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2 Parts to Buy
Modifications
If you build using the stock chassis, a really nice upgrade is to buy pre-made front and
rear panels from www.frontpanelexpress.com (download files from
www.hagtech.com). Another potential change is to replace the three 3.3uF film
capacitors with Hovland 3.0uF 200V capacitors from AES (#C-H3-200), although this
may not necessarily be a sonic upgrade. Alternately, you can add smaller bypass films to
these, such as your favorite audiophile 0.01uF to 0.1uF capacitor.
Parts List
Parts should be ordered directly from www.digikey.com, www.tubesandmore.com
(AES), www.mouser.com, and www.newsensor.com.
Component Qty DigiKey References
100uF 350V 4 P5938-ND C4x, C5x
470uF 25V 2 P13124-ND C9x
3.3uF 600V 3 338-1141-ND C7, C10x
1uF 63V 4 BC2076-ND C2, C3, C8x
10nF 250Vac 1 P11423CT-ND C1
LED, Y panel 2 L10057-ND D1, D2
LED, Y 1 L20167-ND D5
Diode 2 UF4007CT-ND D3, D4
Switch, power 1 EG1026-ND S1
Switch, cap 1 EG1099-ND
Pot, volume 1 P2T3503-ND R10
Knob 1 226-3131-ND
Ac input 1 Q219-ND J1
Power cord 1 Q102-ND
Fuse 0.5A 5* F2632-ND F1
Heat sink 1 HS372-ND
22R2W 2 22W-2-ND R1, R2
47k 2W 2 47KW-2-ND R8, R9
1R0 1/2W 10* 1.0H-ND R5x, R6x
300 1/2W 10* 300H-ND R3, R4, R11x, R12x
1k 1/2W 5* 1.0KH-ND R7x

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* Minimum quantity.
Component Qty AES References
Socket, 9-pin 1 P-ST9-214G V1
Tranny, power 1 P-T261C6 T1
Choke 9H 2 P-T156G L1, L2
Choke 30H 2 P-T157G L3x
Tranny, output 2 P-T119DA T2x
Jack, phone 2 S-H504 J3, J4
Jack, RCA B 1 S-H267B J2x
Jack, RCA R 1 S-H267R J2x
Component Qty Mouser References
Chassis 1 546-1402KV
Component Qty NewSensor References
6H30 1 6H30PiEHGOLD V1
Component Qty FrontPanelExpress References
Front 1
Back 1

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3 Assembly
Chassis
 Place the blank circuit board on the top panel, centered. Mark the center of the
tube socket. Drill hole in cover to 1.125” diameter using a step bit or hole punch.
 Apply adhesive feet to bottom cover.
The extrusions come with their own mounting screws, but it works better if you can use a
#4-40 tap to pre-thread the grooves so you can use the #4 oval head screws provided.
 Fabricate the front and back panels according to the drawings. Remove protective
plastic and wash with soap, water, and sponge. The stock panels can obtain a
really nice finish when cleaned. Or buy the pre-made panels from FPE.
 Install the RCA jacks into back panel. Add short (about 2”) wires.
 Install LEDs into front panel.
Circuit Board
Assemble in the following order, soldering and clipping leads as you go. Parts are
mounted on the side as shown by silkscreen. Refer to photos.
 Install all fixed resistors (not volume pot). R5 and R6 are each made up of four 1-
ohm resistors in parallel. R9B is unused.
 Install two rectifier diodes and one LED (not the LEDs on wires).
 Install socket.
 Install 1uF (4).
 Install 470uF (2). Can be on either side of board. Beware of polarity.
 Mount ac connector. Use two #6 screws, through the board, connector, thin
washers, and into the provided L-brackets. Solder in place.

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 Install fuse clips (2).
 Remove the metal bracket from the power switch. Install, making it as horizontal
as possible. Add switch cap.
 Install 100uF (4). Double check polarity.
 Trim wire length on power transformer to about 0.5” past the bottom of bracket.
Remove insulation up to bracket level. Save the wires for later. Mount the
transformer on top of two thick washers using #6 screws, having fed the stripped
leads through the appropriate holes. Tighten, then solder.
 Install 10nF ac capacitor.
 Install 9H chokes (2) in the same fashion as above. Make sure the thick washers
are used as standoffs.
 Install 30H chokes (2).
 Install 119DA output transformers (2).
 Install 3.3uF caps (3). Bend and trim leads to fit, you have to solder from
component side. Leads must not protrude through board.
 Install volume pot (don’t solder mounting tabs yet).
 Use the saved power transformer wires to wire the outputs of the 119DA to the
board (labeling of holes is on other side). See photo. Probably best to use black
as ground, green as 4-ohm, red as 8-ohm connections. Add tie wraps.
 Install heat sink.
 Add adhesive bumpers to power transformer, 30H chokes, and output
transformers.

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Castanet Headphone Amplifier Kit Manual
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Integration
 Mount the back panel onto board using two #6 screws into the ac connector.
 Mount the side extrusions using #4 screws. They act as card guides for the circuit
board.
 Set headphone jacks in place, washers removed. Apply volume pot washer.
Carefully mount front panel, securing in place with volume pot nut. Add nuts to
phone jacks, but loosely.
 Solder one pin on each phone jack. Not with one finger pushing jack down into
place on circuit board, heat up the soldered pin with soldering iron. Jack should
not push down into proper position, flat on the circuit board. Do this to both
sides. Solder remaining pins.

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 Tighten all three nuts. Add knob to volume control (flat side opposite set screw).
 Solder LED wires. Square hole is red (positive) wire.
 Solder RCA wires into appropriate holes (labeling on other side).
 Install fuse, and tube. Apply o-rings to tube (microphonic damping).