Do It Yourself

Hey guys, My friend is looking into doing some recordings. He asked me if there is a difference between the XLR Microphone cables and XLR balanced audio interconnects. I didn't know the answer to that. Can someone offer some guidance in this matter? Thanks!!

DACT Type 21 Stepped Attenuator Potentiometer 50K 300B - eBay (item 120473999989 end time May-24-10 11:05:02 PDT) Check these out, they look rather nice, any reason why I should try one out? The Rk27 on my millett is suffering from a much annoying channel inbalance! One of these would fit right in!

Hi guys, Been wanting to build this for some time, and was considering a M3 and σ11 to drive some home made computer speakers. I'm leaning towards a nice 2ch set of full range speakers. Based on the microFonken design. Its been awhile since I've done anything on this scale, as such, it would be much appreciated if I can get some advise/opinions/correction on the attached BOM. Cheers in advance

With all those new balanced amplifiers around I can't really resist and I want at least to have a taste of that heaven with a balanced 650, so, what is the most beautiful sounding but also simple DIY balanced amplifier in your opinion?

After almost ten years of loyal service, my KGST is starting to show signs of malfunction. Since last week I have a loud hum in the left amplifier channel. I replaced the tubes with another pair and readjusted the balance and offset. No hum could be heard and I could enjoy the music undisturbed again. The next day the hum unfortunately returned. Readjust everything and the hum was gone. After switching the amplifier off and on again, the hum returned. I have swapped the filaments, but that didn't solve the problem. I also left the gyro turned off, but that doesn't make any difference either. Hopefully someone has a good tip to try.

Hi Everyone, First of all, I'd like to thank you guys for all of the information you have posted on this site. Without all of this, I would probably be screwed, and not able to find enough information on how to make a Stax amp. I have been wanting a sizable upgrade from my pair of HD 595s and after getting the Fidelio X2s which I wasn't too impressed with, have decided to go all the way and get the STAX SR-407 . I decided that I would also like to take this as a learning exercise and build my own amp. I've built a Millet SS Hybrid before, and know my way around electronics a bit, although probably not at these voltages. I have been doing some research over this past …

Any you guys know what's in this box? [url=http://www.head-fi.org/forums/6245035-post760.html]Head-Fi: Covering Headphones, Earphones and Portable Audio - View Single Post - REVIEW: Audiotailor

I just got a PCB that has a void in the solder mask on top of the board. It is not a scratch, the mask is kinda piled up around the void. It looks like a contaminant may have kept the mask off that area. There are some epoxies online to fix this. I was wondering if you guys know of something locally obtainable to fix this?

Hello everyone, I'm sorry to start another thread here but maybe someone will know what I'm looking for. As you might remember, I built a Dynalo, it has been cased since. So it sounds quite good, but the real question is: could it sound better ? Here comes the idea to build a three way Dynalo with active ground, just like B

I have several OPA627 and OPA637 in 8 pin dip. Some I ordered from digikey, some from ebay that could've been digikey samples and some from ebay that aren't. The problem is I acquired some when there were some fakes going around. I didn't separate one order from another and put them all together. I'm sure some are real and some are fake but is there a definitive way to tell?

Received my RS-2 a few days back, the previous owner used GS1000 big bowls with them which fit very tightly and left an annoying residue around the inside edging of both cups. It's a very minor concern, but I was wondering what I should use to get rid of the black gunk? Muchos Gracias.

For the last few months I've lost all my motivation for DIY. I have parts to complete quite a few projects but all my motivation is gone... I haven't been listening alot of music too... I haven't fired the soldering iron probably in 6 months... Any ideas to help me get back DIYing? I'm sure some of you had this problem! Thanks in advance! Manuel

I'm venturing into cable making and I've found sources for everything I need, except good quality copper wire. What should I look for? Thanks in advance! .

I purchased this DAC from another HC'er in Canada down to the states but it looks like maybe he didn't get around to testing it out before selling it to me as it locks onto digital signals but provides no useful output otherwise. I only have a glimpse of the history of this thing but it's lived a rough life. I am positive old forum favorite NoNoNoNoNoNo is the previous previous owner and the work here is very very bad. Lots of WTF and cold solder joints everywhere and bonus scorch marks on some box caps, that odd white wire is a jumper used after he lifted a pcb trace... As a novice I have since cleaned this thing up as far as I can get it, at least at my skil…

Don't be fucking wit sharp toos when you're tired, especially only 10 minutes after the wife says 'should you be doing that when you're so tired' ouch! ` That's gonna leave a mark...

Anyone got a black neutrix 4-pin xlr NCMX they can spare to send me? Cheers Pete

just finished one of these at school. Soldering, Learn how to Solder Kit worked after the first try. no solder bridges. no bad contacts. no cold solders. gentleman who runs the e.e. lab guided me and got me started and said that i could take on a project that has a printed circuit board. as with all else, he said i will learn good practices as i make mistakes. i have started looking into a speaker rig. the drivers are fostex 206e (96db efficiency) so i figured a couple of watts will suffice. the listening volumes will be fairly low. for the 206e drivers, this amp seems to be thrown around on diyaudio a lot for reasons of synergy or what have you. Zen Triode…

Thread for discussion of the Shiguraki clone "Shigaclone" CD transport I have a couple at my friends place in Canada I should get them shipped sometime...

What is the best way to break one? Thanks, Biggie.

Oh, the number of times I have mentioned how much I like Steve Blinn or Adona rack designs! Extruded aluminum exudes strength and elegance, gotta love those T-slots... but, the price, yikes! Well, in my never-ending quest to one day build myself something along those lines, I came across this little gem of a site: http://www.framexpert.com/ What's so special about it? A FREE download program that lets you build whatever you want using the t-slots. I've been playing with the erector set for about an hour now and it is pretty easy to use, especially given the fact that I have no experience with 3-D software whatsoever. It even provides a cost estimate of your build a…

I moved this from the build gallery thread cuz it was getting too far off topic. I am playing around with a Rotel 991 CD player and was going to replace the exisiting I/V stage with THS4031 and AD8599 buffers. My plan was to use Aries adapters and socket the opamps, with Pana FM 100uf caps as close to the V+/V- pins, and somewhere in the area of 1-3.3nf across V+/V-. I had removed the stock opamps, so I put a std. Mill Max socket in one of the I/V spots, and put the Pana FMs on the bottom, going from pins 7-3 (V+) and pins 4-3 (V-). The board has a top ground plane which would be a better spot to run these too than pin 3, but I felt I could get the caps closer to the …

I know almost nothing about capacitors, but have it on fairly good authority that the frequency correction network on my old ESL63's uses an old Electrolytic-type capacitor which is not particularly good for this function, and should be replaced with a Polypropylene version at the same capacitance (220uF). Excepting the vast difference in size between these two types, what brands am I looking for? This cap is in the signal path, so quality is of the utmost importance. Voltage rating shouldn't be lower than 250V. It doesn't necessarily have to be a single 220uF cap - two 100uF caps will do the trick, and might be easier to place in the housing. Thanks for your help …

So I'm turning one of my garage bays into a workshop. I'm able to fit 8' x 10' with a 9' 6" ceiling no problem. I need some ideas on counter surfaces and cabinets. I'd need some storage, an area for a desktop and 4-6 amps, 2 dacs, and a preamp. Lastly an area to work on projects. Is there an online layout tool that doesn't have a huge learning curve or anyone on here that can do a layout? I'd gladly throw a few bucks their way for some time.

Hasy anyone used the silver plated copper wire from navships on ebay? I just picked up 10 ft of shielded 3 conductor 24 AWG stranded SPC. I'm going to use it as hookup wire and maybe balanced interconnects. Has anyone had any experiences with it?

Staxen amps (at least the Mafia versions) use either el34 or 6S4 (with the Megatron including some 12's ...) I sold my tube tester years ago after getting out of SET's and such. What do you all think about testing these tubes? Is there a simple test rig, perhaps even 'in circuit' we can use to test the tubes without having to deal with a full blown tester?