Some Features Of The Board Include - Decware ZKIT-1 Instructions Manual

DECWARE / HIGH FIDELITY ENGINEERING CO.
The silk screen is printed on the bottom side of the board. The tube sockets mount to the top
side of the board only. Parts can placed on either side of the board depending on how the board
is mounted:
A) Mounted inside a steel chassis parts (not tube sockets or volume control) are mounted on the
bottom side with the silk screened parts layout.
B) Mounted on a piece of wood, the parts including tube sockets and volume control are
mounted on the top side where there is no silk screened parts layout.

Some features of the board include:

A) Self-canceling AC heater layout feeding pins 4 and 5 on each tube. One leg of the 6.3
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Volts AC is run on the top side of the board while the other leg is run exactly below it on
the bottom side. In a point-to-point wired circuit the heater wires would be twisted
together and run a close to a metal chassis as possible.
B) A separate ground buss to carry the circuit ground patterned after our point-to-point
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amplifiers to streamline the signal path. (The ground of a circuit is part of the signal path)
C) A separate shield also known as a ground plane throughout the board to take the
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place of the natural shielding you would get from a metal chassis. This ground plane
makes it possible to build this circuit for use on a piece of wood without fear of
oscillations occurring.
When built on a piece of wood, it is imperative that both the circuit ground and the ground plane
be tied together with a short jumper wire. In addition, an earth ground must be connected be-
tween the amplifier's ground plane and the ground lug of your power cord. Without an earth
ground you will likely get high frequency oscillations.