Stable Filament Supply

Valves are enjoying increasing popularity in audio systems. With the European ‘E’ series of valves, such as the ECC83 (12AX7) and EL84 (6BQ5), the filament voltage is 6.3 V. Depending on how the circuit is wired, the ECC 81–83 series of twin triodes can also be used with a filament voltage of 12.6 V. In earlier times, the filament voltage was usually taken directly from a separate transformer winding, which (in part) was responsible for the well known ‘valve hum’. With regard to the signal path, current valve circuits have hardly experienced any fundamental changes. In high-quality valve equipment, though, it is relatively common to find a stabilised anode supply. Mains hum can have a measurable and audible effect on input stages whose filaments are heated by an ac voltage. The remedy described here is a stabilised and precisely regulated dc filament voltage. The slow rise of the filament voltage after switching on is also beneficial. The exact setting of the voltage level and the soft start have a positive effect on the useful life of the valves.