Polski (PL) 
English (United Kingdom) 
Text and photos: gsmok, Warsaw
On July 29, 2004, thanks to the Allegro auction service, I became the owner of a Philips tube amplifier, model EL 6411. In accordance with the accepted custom, my cats were the first to evaluate the amplifier. As you can see, the evaluations were weighted by their individual character traits.
In the photo presented at the auction on Allegro, the amplifier looked great. In reality, it was not so beautiful. This was due to a few flaws that the seller probably "forgot". But of course I could have asked him a number of questions before bidding, which I did not do and I can only blame myself. In the two photos presented below, you can see the view of the amplifier a few moments after unpacking it from the box. Of course, you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them with the mouse.
In my opinion, the amplifier has a nice design. It resembles my second purchase: the Philips EL6400 amplifier. This is no wonder, as it is its more powerful version. The beautiful mesh casing (one-piece!!!) is designed in such a way that it is also part of the front panel cover.
On the front panel we have a power switch (ugh... ugly)...
... and control potentiometers (really beautiful)
And now a bit of tar in the stew called "awesome amplifier". I mentioned a few flaws of this unit. Time for some details. The amplifier has two groups of flaws. The first is related to mechanical damage. The company logo is missing and a fragment of the front panel is chipped (visible in the next two photos).
The second group of defects is much more serious. Namely, some homegrown electronics engineer was tinkering with its interior. Before I write more about this, I need to mentally improve myself with a few photos, on which they (i.e. these "corrections") are practically invisible.
To remove the casing, unscrew four (FOUR!!!) screws. For owners of the Polish "MELOMAN" amplifier, there is some great news - the holes in the casing match the threaded holes in the amplifier's chassis. To unscrew and then screw the amplifier, all you need is one screwdriver and one person to screw it in and out (to do the same with the "MELOMAN" amplifier, you need a platoon of soldiers with a tool kit for servicing a Polish tank called "Twardy").
After a few general views of the interior, it's time for some detailed photos. First, those that arouse my admiration and respect for the amplifier's designers and assemblers.
Now it's time for some photos, which show the first signs of the "modifications" made to the amplifier. You can see these black and red banana sockets. It's true that you could see them earlier, but they weren't so conspicuous in the previous photos. Disgusting. I suggest you look at the amplifier without paying attention to this embarrassing part.
It is not clearly visible in the previous photos, but the home-grown repairman not only added those unfortunate banana plugs. He also dismantled other original sockets, leaving empty holes or inserting CINCH sockets. This can be seen in the attached photo. The embarrassing fragments were partially cut off. However, this was not due to my clumsiness as a photographer, but to the fact that I could not simply show these embarrassing views (that would not be fair).
After turning the amplifier upside down, we can look at its interior. Spatial assembly was used, supported by several strips with mounting brackets.
It turns out that the amplifier hides an interesting surprise. To grade the voltage, I will reveal it in a few steps.
Step 1
We look at the bottom of the amplifier. There is some kind of rectangular extrusion here.
Step 2
We take a closer look. It's not just an embossment. It's a kind of storage compartment closed with a metal bottom. What's it for? Maybe it covers some protruding elements mounted on the chassis?
Step 3
We take off the cover. No, there's nothing here, but there are some wires leading from the chassis to a hidden compartment.
Step 4
Enough of that. We open the glove compartment and our eyes meet selenium rectifiers.
More detailed description of the construction coming soon. (NOTE: I wrote this in 2004!!!)
Last update: 05/09/2004
I will be grateful for any suggestions and comments related to the description of the amplifier.
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