Do It Yourself

My HD-600 is one of my workhorses and I love them. Lately I have been having trouble with the right channel going in and out. I think it might be a bad contact with the wire but I am not sure. Any suggestions or anyone willing to take a look at them for me?

I'm looking for some new hex keys/allen wrenches. I have the typical cheap set and assorted ones that came with furniture, but those suck because they tend to corrode or get stripped by tight screws. I need a set that is well-made and has more torque than the typical L-shaped keys. I know Klein makes sets, but they can get pricey. Any recommendations?

Well, Pars once said that finding connectors it the (one of the) most boring part of DIY. Well, I can only say that finding a suitable multi-conductor cable might be a very close second. Here's what I'm looking for: total diameter 0.195" - 0.265" 6 conductor 400V will be the maximum potential carried, so I suppose 200V jacket is fine. I'm not sure the maximum conductor diameter, as I cannot find this stated specifically for the Switchcraft EN3 series Here's the "datasheet", perhaps someone else can find it. Switchcraft The funny thing is that they give 14awg ratings here: http://www.alliedelec.com/Images/Products/Datasheets/BM/SWITCHCRAFT/SWITCHCR…

Toob n00b alert!! Is it detrimental in any significant way to run heaters at 12 and 6V instead of 12.6 and 6.3V? I'm running a 12V 3.75A regulated supply from an old monitor and it works and sounds fine but wanted to know if there was anything I need to be aware of doing this.

I am probably starting to much thread here but anyway, here is another one. I heard about the Bamaslama amp, and now I want to build one. schematic: PSU amp Is the relay needed because of the power supply design ? Does it make a "plop" when you power the amp ? Can I use cheap dual op-amp or something special is needed there ? Then what kind of relay do I need ? Are all resistors 1/4W ? Do i need matched pair for the second stage tube ? What will be the DC offset like ? What is the filament wiring like ? What will be the approximate price to build it ? I will use cheap coupling caps in the first time. Lots of question as always,

ooh, fancy: diyAudio.com

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

If you see an LOD plug that looks like this one, you might consider running in the opposite direction. Being the fair-minded guy that I am, I will say that this connector has certain things going for it and if those things are really important to you, you might not brand it a sadistic work of the devil. It's the most compact plug I've seen. The locking barbs work great. And the case itself is relatively easy to assemble. On the other hand... the contacts are staked in place. You can't pull out the ones that you don't want that are in the way. You have have to bend the pins that are adjacent to the ones you want out of the way to make any room to work at all…

How crazy lazy would it be for me to buy 3 of these and slap them into an enclosure, with a single big ass toroid transformer? It would be an 6 channel amp, I'd probably not use the 6th channel, as my speaker set up is 5.1 right now. Any recommendations for a Toroid feeding 3 of these? AMP5 kit - Tripath TA2022 41Hz Audio:AMP5 kit Although, I might just get one for starters and build a small desktop amp for 2 channel speaker set up for my computer workstation. -Ed

I need to pick up three sets of tube sockets for my Dared 845 amp and I assume I need 2 pcb mount 12ax7, 2 6sn7 pcb mount (do they make a 7n7 pcb mount?) and a pair of 845 bayonet type sockets. I really prefer high quality over saving a few bucks. Any ideas on where to buy also ceramic and teflon is one better than the other? The reason I ask is I found a local tech here in the East Bay (SF area) that will do the work if I source the sockets. Great older guy who grew up in the radio and recording industry. Thanks in advance for any help that you can provide.

I bet everybody knew this was coming but we've been moving fast and the board is taking shape. If it's not clear from the photo then this is a massive slab, 16" x 12", so quite a bit bigger then the production version. It will be built like the BHSE with the board mounted to the top of the chassis, with the tubes sticking out of the top and the components on the bottom. Massive heatsinks are needed to keep this beast cool and a single angle bracket is used on each side of the board to connect all the parts together and make assembly just a bit easier. To honor the Stax legacy the following will be printed on the board: "With the utmost respect and admirati…

I've been mildly interested in pot shunting since I first heard about it, not for any reason other that it looked different and interesting. Anyway, I shunted my EHHAs RK27 earlier and call me nuts, but it sounds a shitload more detailed and clear to me now than before. I'm hearing all sorts of subtle little things quite clearly than never caught my ear before and I wasn't even trying to listen for it, they just appeared in a way they never had before. Maybe shunting really is that good or maybe my ears are just super sensitive right now, whatever, it seems clarity is greater, detail and spaciousness have improved and soundstage has expanded too with a much more natura…

I remember reading in a post somewhere that Frank was nice enough to release his schematic for his DHT amp, the dynamic version not the electrostat version. I would like to take a look at it. I'll send him a PM at headfi as well.

Well, I'm looking at finalizing a project board that is currently 6.17" x 7.3". The 6.17" needs to be the width of the case, and the 7.3" needs to be the depth. I've looked at a few vendors, as I'm trying to find a width that will accommodate a few of the Hammond 1455 type cases. The Hammond unfortunately is too shallow. I looked at Context Engineering and notice they have one that supports a 6" card width, that might be able to work, with a 8.5" standard depth. I poked around a bit at Teko as well. Anyways, I know a few of you have gone through this and was wondering if you might have a few suggestions? The main deal is I need to finalize the size of the board…

Has anyone here built a line-filter/power-conditioner kind of thing using RFI suppression capacitors? K Works makes something like that, the K Works Silencers, but I discovered that they don't use X2/Y2 rated safety capacitors, which you need if you don't want to kill someone via electric shock or fire. I want to build my own using safety capacitors. For "across the line" capacitors you need X2 class. This will not catch fire and generally will just trip a fuse if they fail. For "hot to ground" and "neutral to ground" you need Y2 class. These are guaranteed not to short. They are self-healing and will open if they completely fail. One might like to use a…

Hello DIY guys, I hope you can clue me into good part sources. I want to build a switcher box. I have two sources and three destinations. (My two sources are my CD player and my computer; three destinations are two headphones amps and a speaker amp.) So I want to build a 2-in 3-out switcher. I want to switch ground as well as the signal so that the grounds of my sources do not have to be connected together at all times. A friend of mine is Don North, who is an experienced designer and builder of equipment, and could probably give me all the help I need, but he's a busy guy! I'm going to get info from this forum if I can. Don did give me just a bit of info. He said I co…

Anyone have experience or opinion on this K&K Audio maxxed-out phono pre-amp? Anything comparable or better for similar $$, DIY or used?

A good friend of mine owns a McIntosh amp and pre-amp--both vintage, probably 1970s. My friend likes audio but doesn't know too much about the technical side of things (and no, my "friend" is not me). He needs some help with this McIntosh gear. My friend's apartment building caught fire and his apartment, though not burned, was totaled. His entire apartment was soaked through due to the fire hoses and smoked through due to the, well, smoke. The gear is now sitting at an audio store in NYC, and has been for a while. He has been quoted a "repair" of $2000.00 for the McIntosh gear and a Hafler amp. He does not have a good idea of what's going on with the gear, and he doe…

Tonight, I'll be making some new ear pads for my new vintage electrets. The electret arrived with ruined pleather pads. No pleather left, only uncomfortable fabric. As a downside, the fabric ruins all the deep bass. My first attempt to restore the pads wasn't a success. They ended up a bit too small for the baffle. I'll be making them (or try to make them) with a bit bigger diameter, to reach further out on the baffle. They are to fit onto here: And the old pads measure like this:

Below is -=Germania=-'s handy work for your viewing pleasure. The unit is an opus dac with usb receiver and a 41hz amp 6 t-amp. The big pictures are of the power supply to the amp that is now making a ticking sound. The front LED is no longer being powered. There is also a low hum from the unit, but I can't tell which board it is coming from. I have a multimeter and soldering iron, so if theres something uncomplicated to try, I am game. I built my power conditioner, so I'm not a total noob, but I never learned how to read circuits. Biggie.

What standards are people using for reterminating these? I'm planning on a single 4-pin XLR rather than 2 3-pin as it is less cumbersome. Does a male connector on the phones with pin 1 for R+, 2 for R-, 3 for L-, and pin 4 for L+, and 2 and 3 connected together for use in single ended amps sound right? Also, anyone know the stock Grado wire colors before I cut this thing apart? If it matters, these are RS-1's bought about 6 years ago.

Hey all, I am planning to re-case my Buffalo DAC using a 2U 300mm deep Pesante case from the HiFi2000 case group buy that is going on. For this case I was going to get some custom panels made from Front Panel Express or Cam Expert. Being my first set of custom panels, I am opening my designs up to any and all criticism for the cosmetic aspects...... and if anybody is really bored and has the time, some super-quick checks that I haven't borked any measurements (particularly for the mounting holes) would be greatly appreciated. Firstly, what the design is going to entail...... I will be buying the SPDIF Mux from Twisted Pear. This includes a 4 position switch detailed…

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!!

I have been thinking about parting with my Melos SHA-1 for a while. It was [url=http://www.stereophile.com/headphones/617/]Corey Greenberg

I've been doing some Google searching and also on diyaudio but I can't seem to find a nice answer to which pins are connected to what on Quad 5-pin and 4-pin DIN interconnects. Anyone here know? -think ive got it now-