Burdjak Area-41 Amplifier

Grzegorz 'gsmok' Makarewicz - 2013 (last update 04/06/2025)
Attention: Gallery for Patient Visitors - over a hundred photos!!!

I present photographic documentation of the Burdjak Area-41 tube amplifier. This is a stereo amplifier made on 6S41S (6C41C) triodes operating in an asymmetric (SE) configuration. The power tubes used are relatively rarely found in designs available on the market. The situation is different with DIY amplifiers. In this group, 6S41S tubes, which are the anemic cousin of the 6S33S tube, are more often used. In the Area-41 amplifier, they provide a really pleasant listening experience - this is of course only my subjective opinion.

I took the photos posted during the amplifier repair. I present them in the order in which I took them while creating documentation for my collection. I will try to add a more detailed description to this gallery in the near future. In the meantime, I invite you to see the details of the design.

I turn the amplifier upside down. The bottom cover is impressively solid - as is the entire mechanical construction of the amplifier. The feet are a real masterpiece - you can put not only the amplifier on them, but also the entire listening room. Bravo!!!

The above photo shows the aforementioned sturdy legs at a slight angle. I couldn't stop looking at them.

To view the tube sockets, you don't need to unscrew the housing, just remove the tubes. The driver tube sockets are traditional, but the power tube sockets are a real rarity. They can be found in various types of devices designed for the military. In the amplifier, they were slightly "battered". In the original version, the visible metal branches are long, bent upwards at a right angle and serve for additional mounting of the tubes placed in the sockets.

The holes associated with the output tubes are exceptionally large. From the point of view of air circulation and cooling of the amplifier, this is an advantage. From the point of view of aesthetics, unfortunately, it does not look good. Especially since through the resulting "view windows" you can see substitutes of what you will see in the following photos.

Here's the interior. A few general photos and a huge set of detailed shots. Unfortunately, when it comes to details, the more details, the worse.

Well, this looks like the inside of a prototype circuit to me. One that will serve as a model for designing an amplifier ready for presentation on the consumer market. Maybe that was the intention and the one I had the opportunity to repair was simply a trial circuit. Look at the "red patent" or signal wires.

The photo below shows once again the signal cables from outer space in all their glory. But they perform their function perfectly in terms of listening.

Very good quality control potentiometers. Adjustments can be made manually (if someone is not afraid of high voltages).

Look how solidly the socket for the electron tube is attached. It's a pity that the assembly of the elements spoils the whole effect.

Here and in the following photos you can clearly see the "levitating" potentiometer.

It is obvious that the electrolytic capacitor had a serious accident because the housing is dented.

The way the elements are soldered to the tube socket contacts should be covered with a curtain of darkness. That's what one would like to say, but unfortunately enlarged photographs reveal the truth about the hand holding the soldering iron with full clarity. It was the hand of a "barbarian". Okay, I was joking. In a prototype (if it's an amplifier in the prototype phase) one could afford to do that.

No more tormenting the insides of the amplifier. Time for the next stage of the photo session. It's high time to see what's hidden under the box that hides the transformers. I unscrew a few mounting nuts (located on the bottom inside the chassis) and slowly reveal the "secret of the interior".

Here is the cover itself. It weighs probably over two kilograms. It is an armored tank turret. The amplifier manufacturer did not skimp on the material.

The inside of the cover is lined with a damping mat.

And now for the mysterious interior. A real mix of good intentions and terrible execution.

Diligently photographed many years ago by: Grzegorz 'gsmok' Makarewicz

04.06.2025 I remembered after years that I once started a thread on the Trioda Forum related to this amplifier. You can read it at this link: Burdjak Area-41

As part of the discussion, I even showed a probable schematic diagram of the amplifier drawn from the tangle of elements and wires, which was also used for simulation using the LTSpice program. I am posting the diagram below.

The diagram is of course incomplete. Why? A quote from my post on the Forum in the aforementioned thread may provide some explanation:

"I haven't quite figured out the windings of the speaker transformers yet. As I mentioned - the windings from each speaker transformer reach the anodes and cathodes of the 6S41S tubes. I think that on the other side one of the windings is connected to the +600V power supply and the other to the +400V power supply, but unfortunately these fragments are impossible to document without dismantling the transformer box"

And after the fun when it comes to the documented schematic. Maybe a miracle will happen and you will find someone who owns such an amplifier and its schematic.