Do It Yourself

I saw this in a post somewhere and assumed it was a typo, but it is in fact real. Here's a linky to the page: http://focus.ti.com/docs/prod/folders/print/opa827.html. Aparently an upgrade to the 627. I'm a big fan of the 627 (I know, it's just an opamp, discrete rules, yadda yadda), so I'm quite anxious to hear what this new flagship is all about.

I have all my parts and finally have some free time to balance the HD650 stock cable with 2 female XLR connectors. I have done some searching and these two threads in particular were the most helpful: http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=205655 http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=89411 My knowledge of balanced configurations is limited so I'll try and compile all the information I've gathered tonight:

Anyone have about qty 16 1/8watt 10 ohm 1% resistors and qty 6 1/8watt 5 ohm 1% resistors RN55D or other metal film should work let me know if you have them Thanks, Pete

Hi folks, my friend bought a power amp from a small manufacturer locally, it's single ended, non-feedback, discrete stuff, two big toroidal trannies inside (450W each), diamond output stage, using 6 pair of 2SC5200/2SA1943, output power is about 100w @ 8ohm, here's the FFT result they send us, gosh, there're lot of distortion between 90 - 900Hz compared with 1k - 20kHz (but, there's still a peak at 2kHz), what reasons do you guys think that may course these distortion? How do we tweak it to make it lower distorted in those area?

Head-Case DIY'ers, I've got a quick question on wiring for neatness. What is a recommended method for tying two 18awg cables from a transformer into one quick connect terminal? Should it be a short piece of 18awg cable soldered to both at one end, adding heat shrink over the junction? Thanks, bperboy

I'd like to make an xlr (2 x 3-pin) to 1/4" female adaptor cable for use with my 4-channel balanced beta22. This is so I can try some headphones without having to re-terminate them first. Is it going to be safe to wire : left xlr pin2 signal to tip right xlr pin2 signal to ring left and right pin3 signals to shaft ?

so pars posted this. http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/group-buys/315474-pure-tube-es9038pro-9028-9018-akm.html#post5259820 all sorts of wrong. lets start with the fact that current output D/A converters really like driving a zero impedance. 27 ohms is not a zero impedance. So with +/-1.2ma you get +/-32mv and then you use the tube to amplify the crap out of it. Nope, definitely not the way to do this. All sorts of noise etc... a while back there was bakoon and audio-gd pointing fingers at each other as to who designed satri and when. so here is the satri version 4 circuit satriic.PDF and here is how audio-gd turns it into both the I/v converter…

The first completed DIY project in 3 years and in my new workshop lives! It's a battery powered Philips TDA1541A based stereo DAC, About 18 months ago I needed something to kick start me back into DIY after breaking down my old setup and moving to Florida. So I built a 10'x11' room in one of the garage bays and proceeded to slowly unpack. I ran across a few threads about the TDA1541 and became curious. This is what I settled on for the first try. It's on a test board I put together so I could mess with different power supplies and experiment with controlling relays to turn the power on and off. It's sounds surprisingly good! Very easy to listen to…

The "super power caps" that Nissan is going to be using in their upcoming hybrid electric diesel cars that they'll be using instead of batteries.

First off, I'm about as much of a DIY audio builder as I am a bronze sculptor. Secondly, I recently bought an enclosure from dsavitsk that has some parts in it that were once a DAC. Specifically, it needs a 12AX7 tube and a CS8412 chip. The tube I have already of course. I did some shopping on the 'Bay and found what I believe is the right DAC chip for $6 from a Chinese seller. The rest of the iterations mentioned in this post are strictly for academic purposes. I'm genuinely curious what the differences (if any) are. The version I bought. CS8414CS for $13 The main difference here is that this one can speak hibit (24/96) and purports to have lower jitte…

I enjoy thinking about different ways to accomplish the often-overlapping electromechanical goals of audio devices. Every few years I get to considering electrostatic headphone connectors, and every time I end up finding the same collection of vintage part numbers, shared experiences, and a few useful drawings that can be put together to probably lead to a functional socket or plug, if you want to make one yourself. I appreciate and have used that information, and now I'd like to consolidate it and create some actual specifications to help anyone trying to make a plug or socket. The most useful thing to start with would be plug specs. Pin diameter, length, pin circl…

Just been auditioning the Asus Xonar Essence One, and they sent me some of these Muses 8820 op-amps to replace the stock 5532s. My, this amp/DAC sounds pretty damn good for $599, and with the Muses ($899 is the price with these installed) it sounds very nice. Articulate, punchy, smooove! I likey. Anyone used these parts? Linky

My original Dynahi built in 2008 is still going strong and sounds just a good as they day I finished it. I replaced the 50K volume pot with a 10K as it should've been years ago. I believe KG said 50 was to high. With the 10K the amp sounds perfect but I think I've lost the use of the full range of the volume control. I only use the first 25% now where I used to use up to 50% or more with the 50K. Do you think it would be ok to switch to a 25K volume pot?

I think I'll ask santa for a good desoldering station this Christmas. It would be for through hole work, can anyone recommend one that works well for them?

Hi all, I'm looking for advice on an upcoming soldering iron purchase, and I'm somewhat limited by my desire to buy from a Canadian store due to cross-border issues. I use the soldering iron a couple times a year, either for DIY cables or to repair a circuit board. Based on the recommendations I've read here, I'm deciding between (prices are CAD): Weller WLC100 - $60 Weller WES51 - $110 Hakko 936 - $115 For light work, is the WLC100 good enough? From what I can tell the WLC100 and WES51 use different tips, and the WLC100 has some rudimentary temperature control (I think) while the WES51 and Hakko have much better T-control. Reading specs on the net can onl…

Can anyone recommend a reliable PCB manufacturer in China?

I am looking for a nice metal enclosure for a summer tube amp project. The requirements: Size: Approx 12 X 12 X 3. This is a bit flexible, and it can be oddlong as well. Material: Metal Color: I would prefer black Cost: I'd like to keep it about $50-$75. more toward the low end, though.

I think I'm moving on from Par-Metal. I can't get them on the phone any more and email response is spoty. Has anyone found a chassis supplier on Ebay that can sell something better? I'm looking for boxes that are 16" wide x 12 - 16" deep by 4" high and where I can have front and rear panels milled by FPE

Cases and heatsinks are a problem for DIY builds. Front panels of thick alloy need machining and tapping as do heatsinks. These items are hard to get machined or the sizes the builder wants are not available. I devised a way of making cases, which eliminated these problems and made for easier case design, lower costs and quicker builds. Cases Made from sheet aluminium alloy of preferably 3mm so only single sheet of material needed. I get the parts laser cut by a company which will also supply the material. The case parts need holes to be countersunk where necessary and are then taken for surface finishing, (bead blasting and anodising in my cas…

I've just stumbled across this http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scots_Guide/audio/Analog.html are there other sites of a similar intent that you can recommend. (This is to save me trawling through threads at HF. )

so due to a comment i made over there, someone wanted to know if i had the eddie current dht filament schematic. here it is. eddiecurrentfilament.PDF

I just happened upon this site, their cases are awesome, and they have a cool power distributor case thing too. http://www.hexateq-av.com/products.html

I did a front panel and i want to order a case with it. I opened the order program and selected the Housing Profile 1. It only allows me to define the length. Does that mean FPE will follow the width and height of my front panel? Is that the true price of the casing? Anyone tell me how to get the case? I'm exploring my options. I have lots of solid wood and i was thinking of casing my b22 with it but im worried about the heat dissipation. I've been putting the casework off for a long time and i want to finish it before the bijou comes.

Some guys insist MUSES 72320 is better than relay-based vol control, but I highly doubt that. Any tried that? (Let's ignore those CS3310 etc which are not so good, we only talk about that 72320)

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