Do It Yourself

after looking at swt61's thread on his custom TT i've decided that's my next project. i'm a begginer audiophile with woodworking experience. what components do i need to make a turntable? how much will it cost for a decent/beginner TT build and how much will an even more decent one cost? what are some options? is it just motor, bearing and platter, and arm that i need? i've got wood. andreu

Does anyone happen to have info on the 4070 cups? What kind of wood it uses, other materials if any, dimensions (doesn't have to be exact), where the bass port is, how angled the drivers are, etc.

So I have done a couple of soldering projects and both of them have not turned out so great. Just wondering if there is a good online guide or some place I can look to get some decent tips. I know a lot of it just has to do with practice, but I feel as though I am missing out on a lot of the subtle little things that will make soldering in general a lot easier on me. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Here's the APC H15 I got recently: I wanted black, but I got the silver for $200 less. Is there an easy way to paint it black? The face plate is some sort of metal. Any ideas about how to make it, well, less silvery?

I want to shoot the audio out of the USB port on my Apple Express instead of the optical out. You tell me how. And none of this "it can't be done" nonsense. Thank you for your assistance.

I need to place an order to Farnell through Newark for some parts I cannot get here in the US (an Euro footprint PCB mount transformer). They have a $20 surcharge for this service. Would anyone else like some parts? I'm going to be ordering in the next day or so, so this will be quick. Some particularly worthwhile gems at Farnell are: LCR Components EXFS/HR box polystyrene caps, Newark part number 73K0558 ROE MKP1837 caps, Newark part number 26M1608 Just let me know here in this thread and we can work payment details out later...

I am not sure if these will live up to the title but it's the name of the speakers so I figured I would go with it. This will just be a down and dirty diary of the cabinet build for my soon to arrive Audio Nirvana Super 10 cast basket drivers. The box is about as simple as it gets. Rectangle with a couple holes cut in it for ports and mounting the drivers. I will be using primarily 3/4" (actually 11/16") Baltic birch and a bit of MDF. Here is all the wood cut up and ready for glue. All clamped up. As you can see I have some cheap ass Harbor Freight clamps that bow under the pressure. But they cost $1.50 so I can't complain.

So as most people know, the Qualia 010 Medium-sized headband is actually too big for most people. I have the M-sized headband myself and have been struggling to get a nice fit with it. At first I was using a folded-up linen to close up the space between the headband and the top of my head but it always felt ridiculous (and looked ridiculous too) so the other day I began looking for a better solution and one day while doing some routine cleaning, I realized I could use a sponge! Yes, a sponge, and it ended up being perfect - just the right amount of leverage and comfortable too. There was only one last issue, how to attach the sponge to the headband without causing any dam…

Now for the dumb questions. I've never built a speaker cable. I want to do something quick and easy to test my AE2 speakers to see if the stock cable is picking up RF. Can I just use two separate runs of Mogami, using all four conductors? I won't be terminating at this point, just twisting the strands. Is this basic premise correct?

Hello Guys, I'm organizing a group buy for mini3 kits for europe. If you're anywhere else in the globe you're welcome too! Here's a link for the thread at HF:Mini3 group buy Manuel

Standard build with AD8620 for LR and 8610 for G, class A bias with JFETs, LMH6321 buffers, unity gain, 24V AC adapter. The AD8610 in the ground channel gets burning hot, and I was measuring something... DC? from power to V- or V+ of one of the leads of the 8610 and it was going back and forth. Also, the LED (this) doesn't even light up. RLED is 7.68k. I'm new to this whole thing so I'm not sure what I should be measuring and what they mean... if anyone can help I'd be forever grateful.

i just found out there's a lot of similarities between this expensive amp and my 32 dollar headamp kits i built recently my question is: who copy who or it's just a Coincident ?

I thought it might be kind of helpful to have a thread of your least favorite parts so everyone else can avoid them. For me, right now it's the Switchcraft TA3F mini 3-pin XLR connector for AKG headphones. Piece of crap is made of metal and bad plastic and is breaking/falling apart on me. But there's no alternative available

Well as a natural progression in this hobby, I find myself with more gear than power cords. In the past I have built power cords with 12 GA wire from Ram Electronics and VH Audio but the ones I have built are too damn stiff. All of my gear sits fairly close to the wall so I need a flexible medium weight cable for my power cord builds. I looked at the bulk cable offered at Take Five and Sonic Craft but they are a little on the expensive side and too heavy to stay properly seated in the IEC. Any recommendations for bulk cable would be appreciated.

So, I have never really found a good quick connect that I like... I used to buy some insulated parts and stick them on the end of an old power inlet that uses quick connects and try and pull the plastic part away quick enough to separate the metal from the plastic, then feed the wire through and solder then reattach the plastic and heat shrink the thing... that's not working with the last few ones I've tried. So, any recommendations? I'd really prefer solder types to crimp and they must be insulated. Thanks guys!

So, I'm working on a pair of monoblocks. swt61 has seen these monster heat sinks. 12.2" wide x 12" tall with 2.925" fins and 0.326" base, weight is 13 pounds... and I got four. I've done some thermal plots of 6 devices per heatsink on a small PCB. Each device is dissipating 14.8W x 6 devices x 4 channels ~ 350W. I'm wondering how much further I can push the devices. The sim data is very close to actual temperatures and since I don't want to drill holes under the devices for thermal probes, the simulator will be gospel. I don't really want to move the devices apart anymore, as I have a PCB in mind I'd like to accommodate, plus a design of my own. Datasheets for devices:…

Twisted Pear Audio Looks like a new round of boards will be available for purchase this weekend. Get 'em now while you can.

OK, so every year about this time, i decide to do something silly and over the top. Last year was the titanium hammer. I need ideas for this year. Has to involve computer controlled machine tools. Has to involve expensive raw materials... Obviously it has to be practically useless.

I'm still on my quest to build a large an powerful electromagnet. I'm wondering if I can put a non oscillating signal in one of the RCA jacks if my old crappy, "don't care if i blow it" amp will amplify the signal. Also how can I put in a non oscillating signal? Would a 1.5 volt battery work?

my GF and I want to build a ferrofluid sculpture. We'll need a pretty damn powerful electromagnet to make it work. The problem is where the hell do we get a powerful but inexpensive electromagnet. I'm hoping that we can build one. Is this something that a total amature can pull off?

Is it too ambitious of a beginner project to try and do like, a BantamDAC and Mini^3 or Pimeta in a single enclosure? Note that my experience with casework and surface mount soldering is zero, not even having made either standalone. I think the casework is going to be the hardest part of this, based on what I've read from past DIY stuff, and I guess the question boils down to "is the casework for two-in-one a bad idea to do before doing a single?" if I'm not mistaken.

I have an XP portable amp from MisterX that I got a while ago. It's set at a gain of 2 (I think) and its not powerful enough to listen to classical music with the im716s. Can anyone change the gain for me?

Hey, I was thinking about using the 220 taps on the primary side here in the US in order to half the voltage on the secondary side of a transformer. Can anyone think of any reason not to do this?

6moons just put up a review of the Kondo Gakuoh amps with an internal picture. All that Tango iron sure is nice with silver windings but it is still a lot of money...

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...