Do It Yourself

Hey gang- When I bought my Hagerman Bugle a while back, Jim set the gain high so it would work with the DL-103. While the sound was excellent, I found there was too much hiss present in my setup, and went to a SUT + MM phono combo. Today I was looking at the Bugle and thinking it would be nice to get the gain lowered so that I could run it from my SUT and compare it to my Bottlehead Seduction. Can any friendly DIYer give me a rough idea of what would have to be done to get the gain on this sucker back down to stock levels?

I've acquired some parts that need to be put to use... don't know what project would be appropriate though. I've got 2 PCBs for an adjustable power supply that can put out a max output of 2A and a voltage of under 25V. I've also got some tube prototype boards with 2 9-pin sockets on each, like this: What I need is an idea of what I can do with these parts... something with 12au/x7 perhaps?

so, I've been playing around with some diodes on a power supply and found some I like, but I think I'm cutting it too close with the current rating. The transformer is 82VCT 50VA R-core and I have a 300mA fuse on each rail after the main supply capacitance, which is around 3000uF per rail. I wouldn't expect any more than 300mA per rail, hence the fuse choice. That being said, there is in-rush and the like to consider, and blowing a bridge isn't too exciting in my book. So, without admitting how stupid I was, and how low I went... in your opinion, what's a good rule of thumb?

Just curious if any of our excellent DIY gang are planning on building one of these? I have no immediate plans for one, but I'd love to see the build in progress if anyone is heading down that path.

Bought a piece of Rosewood and churned out a couple of woodies. It is an amazing specimen as far as wood goes and I hope to use it again in the future; it had a brilliant graining that shines up pretty nicely if I do say so myself. The cups on the left are a commissioned SR225 woody, and the big 'un on the right is my D2000 that some of you might have seen over on the other site. Hope to try out Cocobolo for my next project, just not looking forward to the cost :/.

Could anyone who has succesfully built an issue free AlienDAC post your BOM? I will be placing my parts order through mouser or digikey on Friday and want to make sure I get it all in one fell swoop. I spent some time reading the long thread over at HF and it seems like to many people tried something different and it didn't work out. This will only be the second audio gizmo I've built (1st was a CMOY) so any other comments or advice would be appreciated.

Recently I built a set of 5 strand braid of 18 gauge Jena cryo treated wire for XLR interconnects. They sound great in my system. I have seen references that the Jena wire is considered pricey ($5 ft.) for copper cable. I am wondering is there is a less expensive alternative that still maintains the quality of the Jena wire. I would most like to hear from members who have listened to the Jena as well as any recommended alternatives. But if that is too restrictive, then comments on wire you have personal experience with is fine. I'd rather that the discussion focus on the sound quality of the various cables and bypass discussion of any other recent controversies wit…

I've been getting back into guitar lately and think I'll want to put together an amp relatively soon to replace the cheap starter I'm using. Anyone have any ideas on a good one to put together?

Of course it's not an exact clone due to several changes, but I was wondering what opinions of the project might be. Check it out here/. I'm considering taking that and doing some mods to it or taking the Buffalo and building a DAC around that, or maybe even the PCM1794 or PCM1704. I'm just throwing this out here to see what kind of opinion I get.

Hi all, I'm wanting to try building a cost effective ss amp but with opamps I can change out. Something with a small footprint. Is there any sort of Diy in the range of say $200?? THX

Per the drawing below, where's the best place to solder the ground wire?

So I am getting ready to order a Hakko 936 as my cheap-o irons have pretty much had it. Which soldering tips do you guys recommend? I'm not real big on single use tools, so which tip would you consider the swiss army knife for the Hakko? I will be soldering my first SMD parts so something that runs the gammut would be great. Thanks

i have the next 3 weeks to kill before school starts again. id like to do something productive with my time. i dont know anything about electronics (well i know a little but assuming that i dont know even that will probably be safer for me). i would like to start working on either an amp or a dac that is fairly easy to build. cost is a slight issue so the whole thing should be less than $100 including tools. i already have a soldering iron but no solder. also, i dont know how to read a schematic, much less know how to plan out the layout of the build, so step by step instructions would be highly appreciated. pictures would go a long way too. lastly, id like to build s…

I'm finally going to break down and start doing my own soldering, and thought that maybe I'd make some adapters so that I can use other sorts of tubes in my Singlepower (tube complement == 3 x 6sn7's). 7n7's should be easy --they're just a rewire. It was suggested that I try 5687's. Based on this: and other posts (mostly from Jacob), it seems that it's not a straight rewire. Anyone have any idea what the "schematic" would be? Any others that are straight rewires that I should also try? Thanks for any info.

Anyone have a LM337T they could pop into an envelope and send to me? Hate to place and order for a $.50 part with $10 shipping.

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

So...Black Gate, no more, alas. I noticed in the current issue of AudioXpress that ModWright now has their own line of caps (pdf download). And there were, of course, others -- ClarityCap, Jantzen, Mundorf, Authenticaps (askjanfirst.com?), Auricap (of course). Are any of these any good? Considering how highly ModWright is thought of in the modded source market, I was wondering if anyone has tried their caps yet? I've had vintage gear modified, and happened to have chosen black gates for it, and was quite happy with the results. Were I to do it again (and I probably will), what should be on my short list of caps to try? There is also the old stand-bys -- Panason…

I was going thru my stash to see if I had enough to build a Dynamight and found that I'm short a pair of each of these. I then found that they aren't available anymore Does anyone have (2) of each they would sell, or barring that, anyone know what the singles of these are (if there is such an animal)? If not, would something like matched pairs of 2SA970 / 2SC2240s work?

ok, I need a quick sanity check. Amplifier input impedance is somewhat arbitrary for the Pass F4, but let's assume 47k, which is the default. Output impedance of my preamp is 100k, with coupling capacitor. My soon-to-be speakers have a f3 of 40 Hz and the driver I'm going to use in my future-to-be speakers has a fs of 48 Hz (it's a 15 cm driver), f3 undecided. I'm considering a 3uF capacitor with a small bypass, maybe 10nF. So, I'm getting 1/(pi*47k||100k*3uF), or fc = 1.66Hz. Opinions?

I'm looking for those connectors that sony and AT use with the 3.5mm plug with a screw on 1/4" adapter. Does anyone know if they're available?

A really good article by Nelson Pass on class A, A/B and B operation... http://passlabs.com/pdf/articles/leaving_class_a.pdf

Hi all, I`d like some advice on the helpfulness or futility of wearing gloves while soldering (some suggestions of gloves to get, if useful would also help). Also are there any practical solutions for newbie burn prevention while learning to solder ? My head will be behind a thick lense when soldering so goggles aren`t a concern and there will be a strong flow of air to remove fumes from my vicinity. The most likely soldering station I`ll buy is a Xytronic 369 the same apparent model is labeled as a 379 in America. Rapid Electronics - Auto-temp 369 soldering station

Just fyi: RadioShack Recalls Power Supplies Due to Electrocution and Fire Hazards

Saw this stuff for sale on diyaudio and thought of you guys... would this be the proper stuff for making electrostatic headphone membranes? diyAudio Forums - ESL films any interest?

This one is for all you speaker guys. I figured that most of you don't venture over the Headwize very often and honestly, this thing is so freakin' over the top that I just had to post it here. This amp will debut at the Norcal meet this weekend and holy heck I wish I could be there to see it. Project Development Thread: Click Here And hopefully Ti won't mind if I link to just a few of his images in this thread. Honestly, it's one of the most impressive builds that I've ever seen. Front Back Internal