Do It Yourself

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…

Yes, I know I have it backwards, but that's intentional -- and the question. Is there a way to modify the ER4s to give it ER4p capability? Say perhaps by splicing it above the resistor and having two plugs, one of 100 ohms, the other of 27 ohms? Or perhaps by putting a resistor in parallel instead of in series? (Not sure why you would do this, unless you really didn't want to throw away that resistor.) And then it would be what, 37 ohms, right? Yes, I am looking at Fitz' ad.

I forgot to order the fusedrawer for a DD12.9111.1111 shurter IEC inlet. The part number I'm looking for is 4301.1405 Does anyone have one of these fusedrawers they don't need right now? If not is anyone placing an order with mouser soon that could order this one for me? The mouser part number is: 693-4301.1405 Thanks in advance, Manuel

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?

Does anyone happen to know a good place to get the parts to build one? Wanted to make one for my iPod Touch Thanks!

Anyone want to help this guy out? I'll send him here as well.

Hello, I would like to inquire about "caps in the bias supply" for Stax headphones. Spritzer and others said several times that "caps should not be used after the ballast resistor" (for example here: ) In this quoted case it refers to a cap in parallel after the ballast resistor. In other places the same is said about the cap in series, after the ballast ( What problems does the cap cause exactly, in that position? May I ask an opinion about the attached "blinker" circuit (with a series cap...), of which I read a long time ago; I have used one like this for a long time "without adverse…

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.

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?

Per subject, I see that Soniccraft has a 20% off everything sale going on. It doesn't list dates, so I assume for February? Sonic Craft Specials

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?

Do any DIY experts have any any intel on modding Stax cables to be removable at the earspeaker ala the Stax SR-L700MK2 ? I'm interested because I have a couple of worn out Stax, the cable is fatigued at the strain relief up top and is causing drop outs and static. I've seen youtube vids regarding this fix, but am leery that the connectors used may not be able to safely handle the voltages involved. The connectors are circular four pin mini bayonet style, gold plated pins with what appears to be a black phenolic plastic insulator around them. There is no mention of part numbers used, other than that MrSpeakers sells these connectors. On his website, he …

Anyone know anything about these? How would these compare to Amb's regs, or even the micro GRLV? Someone asked me about them. I'm normally very leery of the shit that Partsconnexion sells (Bybee? Burson? etc.). https://www.partsconnexion.com/BELLSPX17-85570.html https://www.partsconnexion.com/BELLSPX79-85599.html

I'm about to start fiddling with wires as I build up to making myself some cables (balanced interconnect and a balanced headphone amongst others). 26 awg spc solid core wire electrical insulating tape rather than heatshrink (I found a heatgun a bit expensive for learning) a hand drill for twisting the wire Is there an optimal number of turns per inch to twisted pair and starquad cable when used for balanced headphone based audio ? I am aware that cable capacitance can increase with density of wire present at a point (so less turns might be better) and that the common mode noise rejection will cancel interference only if it affects both wires equally (ergo mo…

For the bias voltage, I will be using a DC power supply I'm getting from Ebay: Bertan PMT-10C/N -1 kV 4mA Adjustable High Voltage DC Power Supply. Even though this supply takes in a DC input, the spec sheet says: "These fully enclosed modules are specifically designed with proprietary linear power conversion techniques to provide exceptionally low ripple and noise" Not sure how they can get a regulated high voltage from +24 VDC using "linear techniques", but in without using a switcher, but anyway, my question is: Is it necessary to ground one side of the bias supply? That is, connect it to chassis, U ground and audio ground? Is it necessary or useful for one …

I was wondering if anyone had contacts to wire manufacturers? Thanks, Biggie.

This is something I've been playing with for a while, in short, I can change my K340 from sealed to vented so I have more range for tuning the bass. This picture shows how it's done. Sealed the back with a piece of plastic and taped it in good with electrical tape, but first I put a couple holes in it which I've highlighted with the arrows. How does it work? Well, you can plug one, both, or none of the holes with a small piece of blu-tack, and that'll change how the bass sounds. With the holes open there's more bass but it isn't as tight, you get a bass hump but it doesn't really go any deeper. Close up both holes and the bass gets tight, maybe a bit too tight so i…

Im making this for my friend who is deaf in one ear. Its my first time making one of these and i would like to confirm that the wiring would be as follows IL1 IL2 IG IR1 IR2 on the input side then on the output side would be OL1 OR1 OG OL2 OR2? Sorry to ask such a newbie question but i would really like to make this work for him so that he can enjoy good music.

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!

How can I measure if my DAC puts out common mode DC from the balanced outputs?

Partsconnexion: 15% off all film caps until Oct. 31st (20% off Jensens?) Soniccraft: 15% off everything (in stock only, check Specials page for a few exceptions)

Wondering what type of plastic Stax uses for the (black) jacks on their amps. Or if anyone knows of a black plastic or material that is machinable and plays nice with high voltage. I don't know what Stax uses, thought it might be bakelite as it is hard and brittle but it fails the "409" test for bakelite and a sliver that I cut from one floats as well (bakelite is heavier than water). You can sometimes identify plastics by the way they burn. Couldn't ignite the (tiny) slivers that I had. Possibly a phenolic smell after heating, might be a lower density resin related to bakelite. DIY jacks are usually made from white teflon (or delrin). Black coloured materials t…

Has anyone ever looked at, or used these On Semi parts? Look interesting to me. (Mouser part numbers below): 863-MPSW56RLRAG 863-MPSA56RLRAG 863-MPSW06RLRAG 863-MPSA06RLRAG The "W" devices are rated to 1W @ 25C in free air.

Hey I've got a seduction phono preamp that's developed a problem. I get a low level: thu, thuk, thuk, thuk sound out of both channels. it's not bad with the stock tubes, but with a pair of amperex bugle boys it interferes with the music. It's a fast rhythmic pulsing that is channel independant (shows up in both). I've tried replacing the caps in the PS and the heater PS since someone on the Bottlehead forum suggested it might be "motorboating" but that didn't work. All voltages check out on the amp except pins 1 and 6 on each tube. Both should measure 70V, but one measures 73 on one tube and the other tube it's 67. Any help would be appreciated. Oh yes, …

Saw this somewhere and hadn't recalled ever seeing it before: Switchcraft EH35MMS Switchcraft Just what Justin needs to keep those pesky 6ga ipod docks from breaking jacks