Building the Audio Note Kit 1 SET amp...

Almarg,
Right. If you go to the product page of the Kit 1 8th anniversary edition (not the C-Core 10th anniversary edition) and you click the download manual tab at the bottom of the page, you'll find photos in the manual of the populated driver board, using the older style, much larger caps. They would have used the top and bottom holes. The smaller sized caps being delivered with the kit these days for C1-C4 use the middle and upper holes, as Al pointed out.

On another note, Brian and I did more testing last night via Skype and confirmed that there are some very wonky AC voltage values on my driver board, so something is wrong there. That seems to be the source of the sonic problems I've heard! It's not impossible that I have some bad solder joints connecting the valve bases to the PCB, so I'm going to go through those and see if adding solder fixes the problem. But in the meantime, Brian is having Digital Pete, his builder in Florida, send me a finished driver board to replace mine in case I can't get mine sorted. I think the one he's sending has the standard Mundorf Supreme caps, but if the board fixes the problem, I'll replace them with my Silver/Gold/Oil caps.

Again, AN Kits customer service has been above and beyond. Although I'll have to swallow some pride to use Digital Pete's driver board in place of my own if I can't get mine sorted, it'll be a quick way of getting the amp in order!

I have enjoyed this thread more than any I can recall here on Audiogon. The comments by Jetrexpro, Grannyring, and others ( and the incomparable insight contributed by Almarg), gives so much validity to the DIY approach.

Even though my skills pale in comparison to those mentioned, my sense of musical enjoyment would be greatly impaired without even my limited DIY minstrations.

Which is why this thread is so enjoyable. I think back on some of my own projects, which all seemed to come with their own set of problems, mistakes, and mishaps, it seems to add to the overall audio, and DIY, experience.

I wouldn't have it any other way.

My very best regards to all,
Dan

I dont know about that Dan. You have taught us a thing or two while making us drool over your DIY Garrard 401 plinth and I will not forget your Class D amp I am storing that note away for future reference.

Grannyring-Thanks for the Clarity Cap tip. I did not know about them. I am contemplating building a 2nd amp and thinking about the power supply so your tip is timely.

Best to Rebbi-a crazy journey but well worth it. Once the problem is solved there will be some serious music making :)

Al, thanks, I see that pages 4&5 of section 7 of the manual that you referenced above show physically larger caps in the C1-C4 positions. Without rereading a lot of the thread, I don't know what symptoms are being experienced other than guessing that an oscillation could be present by those caps being electrically missing.

Grannyring, Looks like the Wima DC Link caps I am trying in my power supply and the ClarityCap TC600 you are using are both Metallized Polypropylene. Looks like we are on the same path. Regards-Jet