Do It Yourself

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…

I got my Buffalo DAC yesterday. I'm having a few problems with the IVY stage, but when I've had it working correctly it sounds flippin' sweet. I do wonder, though, if I can do better for an output stage. Of course, there's the zapfilter, but I imagine using some nice transformers for the I/V conversion or maybe some autoformers would be pretty tops. Anyone have any experience on best sounding method for I/V conversion? Tubes? Opamps? Transformers? Simple resistor (and differences between resistor brands)?

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

The mains cable (crappy 2-wire zip cord) on my SRD-Pro is a bit old and warn, and seems way too long. I would like to replace it with something that's of better quality. Of all the better (google results) power cable I've seen, it's all three wire, some shielded and some not. One article on Belden's three-wire shielded (#83803) mention constructing so that at the plug end, the shield wrap and the the ground wire are connected to the wall plug. At the component end, leave the shield floating; use the shield to capture interference traveling through the cable (in or out) and to ground them to earth so they do not cause any unwanted noise. My question is, if I choose a…

I've been lending a hand with board layouts for a few projects, notably for a build of Kevin Gilmore's DynaFET design, and doing so made me realize two things: (a) there aren't any DIY projects for amps with a truly high-end feature set, and ( I want one, but I can't really afford it. The DIY crowd has some amazing analog designers and has produced some really astounding designs, but the supporting and surrounding circuitry often isn't much more than a pot and maybe a selector switch, and sometimes a power LED or relay control circuit. There's so much more that could be done to make amps more convenient, self-monitoring, and just plain nifty. So I decided that this was an…

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

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

so, I'm working on a rear panel for a preamp. I'm going to use the high-density Neutrik XLR connectors and some nice compact RCA connectors. So, what do you think so far? (rename the .txt to .fpd to see the entire panel, not just the subsection that the .jpg is zoomed in on) I still need to add a umbilical cable connector (6 conductor) and a barrel jack and tidy things up a bit... Opinions? Preamp-Rear.txt

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…

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.

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…

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…

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…

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.

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

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.

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:

So I am just about to start building an M3. I have several questions and was hoping to clear them up here. If these questions have already been answered feel free to point me to another site/thread. I think M3, M^3 and MMM are too short search terms but I got nada in thread titles. My plan is to build an M3 using the AD8610s, with adjustable gain. I would like to use switch-controlled digital potentiometers for both the gain and the volume, but I haven't finished designing that circuit yet (and I also haven't found a readout LCD w/ microcontroller mini board suitable yet) so in the meantime I am going with an RK27 for volume and a gain of 8. I only have low impeda…

Hi, Has anybody got a great idea for a really good power cable that's under about $50 in parts cost, including connectors? The new Woo needs a power cord. At the moment, it's attached to the wall with a spare 14/3 Belden. My past thoughts on power cords have been pretty basic - for-real adequately sized conductors and shield the living bejeezus out of it. I've had good luck with some nice star-quad plenum wire with the safety ground on the outside, a la the recipe on TakeFive Audio. I pulled one of those cords out of my living room system and tried it on the Woo. It was lovely. But nowadays everybody's into braiding everything. I've made some very nice soundin…

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…

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 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'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-