DIY amp and such build gallery

[luvdunhill]

Originally Posted by Smeggy

pft. Luddites and their meaningless measurements. Do measurements ever listen to music? Can measurements ever capture the soul of a recording?
I didn't think so.

maybe you should reread the quote in its entirety.

[Smeggy]

Originally Posted by luvdunhill

maybe you should reread the quote in its entirety.

I did, I was being sarcastic, hence the :P

[luvdunhill]

Originally Posted by Smeggy

I did, I was being sarcastic, hence the :P

so was I, hence the lack of :P

[Smeggy]

Originally Posted by luvdunhill

so was I, hence the lack of :P

DOH!!!

[spritzer]

Who needs measurements when you have got ears. The best tools ever invented...

[deepak]

Originally Posted by spritzer

Who needs measurements when you have got ears. The best tools ever invented...

[EdipisReks]

who needs ears when you have got tools? the best measurements ever invented...

[luvdunhill]

who needs ears when you have Nemso .... the best tool ever invented....

[laxx]

Ain't it Nenso?

[luvdunhill]

Captain Nemo ~ Nemso ~ Nenso whatever

[Beefy]

Originally Posted by spritzer

Who needs measurements when you have got ears. The best tools ever invented...

If it weren't for psychoacoustics, I'd be inclined to agree. Unfortunately, our emotive brain makes it very difficult for us to trust our ears.

If people can 'hear' a difference, there is no reason why they wouldn't be able to scientifically prove that there is one (banning discussion of DBT isn't exactly helpful though, eh? Nice one Head-Fi ). On the flipside, emotion is really what its all about and if someone is happy with what they hear..... well then that's just dandy.

[luvdunhill]

Originally Posted by Beefy

On the flipside, emotion is really what its all about and if someone is happy with what they hear..... well then that's just dandy.

I'm happy just looking at/buying/building cool gear... no need to even turn it on.

[Pars]

Originally Posted by spritzer

Who needs measurements when you have got ears. The best tools ever invented...

Yes they are. However, I did run into a situation recently where I was glad to be able to do some measurements. When I did the discrete I/V stage for my CDP, I had done some listening tests on the bench and it sounded great. I put it in the CDP, and when I put the CDP in my main rig and sat down and listened to it, something didn't quite sound right, but I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was. After some more listening, I ran an RMAA test on it which showed immediately what the problem was: only 6dB channel separation. I had listened to it on the bench without the buffer in... it was causing crosstalk thru the PSU rails. Removing the buffers brought it back up to the 90+ dB it should have been at.

I'd like to think that from just listening, I could have figured out what was wrong, or at least might have thought of pulling the buffers, but being able to run measurements sure made it alot faster.

[Spiug31]

Originally Posted by luvdunhill

I'm happy just looking at/buying/building cool gear... no need to even turn it on.

I'm happy receiving free gear so that I can have a listen, maybe we can work together

what I do hear, varies from day to day but listening to music that emotes a response is definitely my way to wind down . I lack the knowledge to understand how the measured characteristics relate to what I hear so I go by what sounds good and is emotive to me.

[n_maher]

So I decided that I needed to try my hand at something simple point to point before embarking on the journey that will be The Menace. Coincidentally I received an email from a friend with a new, extremely cheap to build, hybrid design that he had been working on. Perfect! So earlier this week I set about building one and finished it last night. Only two mistakes the first time around, both of which were pretty minor and non-fatal, just a bad ground connection and one other easily rectified wiring mistake. I can't share the schematic for the time being but it should be published some time in the next month or so. Given the extremely modest build cost (I'd guess I have ~$50 total into it) it sounds very respectable.

Here's a picture from it right before finishing, the chassis is just a 7"x5"x2" black Hammond steel unit.



I've had it running all day at work so I'm 7hrs into the required 500hr break in and nothing has blown up or caught fire yet.

[laxx]

So how does it sound?

[n_maher]

Originally Posted by laxx

So how does it sound?

Pretty good. Not earth shattering but for what it is it does what it should. I've got parts for a semi-boutique version that I'll build at some point.

[Voltron]

Originally Posted by n_maher

Pretty good. Not earth shattering but for what it is it does what it should. I've got parts for a semi-boutique version that I'll build at some point.

Nice looking work as always, Nate!

[en480c4]

I think it needs a knob from THL that costs more than the whole rest of the amp!

[n_maher]

Originally Posted by en480c4

I think it needs a knob from THL that costs more than the whole rest of the amp!

Nah, it's got a nice basic black knob now. I did put a set of Herbies dampers on the tubes though, they probably cost half as much as the amp!

Originally Posted by Voltron

Nice looking work as always, Nate!

Thanks Al, I look forward to the shootout between it and the SDS-XLR some time soon.