Do It Yourself

This topic has needed its own thread for quite some time (years), so starting one. I may see if I can get a mode to move some of the posts here (Carbon thread, not sure where else they are littered). 11 hours ago, Pars said: GRHV question: I'm building a pair of the singles intended for 400V output. On the BOM I have, there are 2 680uf caps for each board; 1 is a 550V caP, the other a 450V cap. I presume the 550V would go right after the rectifiers in the schematic, and the 450V on the output. The BOM that was posted by jamesmking uses 4 x 470uf 550V Kemets. Is there much difference between the 680uf and 470uf in terms of sound or anything? BTW,…

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

This has been needed for a while. For those with problematic DAC's that put out a bit of DC, and balanced headphone amplifiers happy to amplify said DC and produce differential DC on the output... http://gilmore.chem.northwestern.edu/protector.jpg This is the one case where ti kan's protection board does not work, unless you want to use 2 of them.

It occurred to me a while back that my rig has gotten to a point that in terms of headphone amps it'll be pretty damn hard to beat what I have and that continuing to build more headphone amps is probably pretty silly. Where does that leave me? cue JBLoudG20 and Reks Speakers! Now I was talking with Pete the other day about basic speaker amp projects, specifically the design set forward in the boozhound labs howto pages. I had been looking at that project for a long time and had gathered about half the parts that I needed to complete the build but I was thinking of making some changes (different rectifier and input tubes) and solicited Pete's advice to make sure I did…

In progress Amp design by me, power supply designs and circuit board layout by kerry, support by birgir +/-300 volt power supplies. complementary push pull all bipolar design with cmos style multiplying current mirror.

Maybe keeping such things in one place will prove helpful? Maybe not. Anyway, to get the ball rolling, does anyone have a technique for removing a snapped off 4-40 tap from extruded aluminum side rails? Maybe the sort of kit one uses for removing stripped screws would work, but there is no head, essentially. Any other thoughts?

Someone, who will remain unnamed here, got me interested in building a Megatron I got quotes back from the fab houses. If we can get 10 sets we can get the cost per board down to just under $40 USD (plus shipping from me to the participant). The PCB is 228mm x 228mm and will be 2mm thick with 4oz copper. I did some research and the only obsolete/hard-to-get part is the 4 2SA1968 which Kevin confirmed can be replace with KSA1156 mounted backwards. The board also uses 2 2SC1815 or MPSW06. I have a stack of the 2SC1815 so I am happy to supply them to the GB participants that need them (no cost). Please respond here if you are interested. Thanks!

So who is going to be building one of THESE new Buffalo DACS using the ESS ES9018 Sabre32 DAC Chip? This may just be the DAC I have been looking for as it can take PCM up to 32bits and 192kHz as well as DSD. This may just get me back into some DIY.

Posted this on the other forum, but I get the feeling the audience here will probably enjoy this as well. If I'm breaking any rules by posting this here too please let me know....or just delete it. Cheers. I've started building a pair of Zaph's Bargain Mini's (ZBM) along with Zaph's SR-71. I'll be documenting my build progress in this thread with pictures and comments. Making this thread somewhat for your entertainment and for me to use it somewhat as a log of progress (or lack thereof) as these will basically be my second and third woodworking projects to date. Hope you enjoy this thread as much as I (hopefully) will enjoy the build! I'm planning on building the bo…

Another round of Carbon etc. state your interest here When ever there are enough boards for ordering participants will be asked to pay estimated price. Shipping will be added whenever the cost is known. Boards from PCBNet. Distribution via @mwl168 in US/Canada, and from Denmark, Europe for the remainder. /S

This concept has interested me for a while now given just how simple the amp could be made. Just two tubes per channel and then a phase splitting output transformer makes for a stark contrast to something like the T2. Now whether this simplicity is better or worse isn't the issue for me, I just want something different. I figured it was time to get the concept of these amps outside of the random thread on HF and PM's. I've been talking to Frank Cooter about this and given how happy he is with his D3a/KT88 amp I'm going to try something similar. I'm always a fan of using what I have (hence my Exstata is a bit different from all the others) so soemthing like the …

so tyll has been going crazy over the bakoon for planars. well there are a lot of things i don't like about that amp, especially the battery power and distortion. so here is something much better, tested last night at .06%thd, no feedback, output impedance 100k which is solely due to the servo... http://gilmore.chem.northwestern.edu/currentsourceamp2.pdf http://gilmore.chem.northwestern.edu/currentsourceamp2.zip also testing curved traces

GROUP BUY CLOSED! 4. november 2015 Group buy for Mundorf caps (started in the Carbon GB thread by MWL168) https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1GWDWwLfsIDtwn1HB-x76lS6WyWwLd5lwsORFKiUuuEQ/edit#gid=2024111922 The amounts has been locked, and participants requested to state their location: country/state/postal, in order to estimate shipping costs. Estimated delivery is 43 for the lot and 46 for the remainder. Working on getting on delivery week. /20150916 Update: "680uF caps are comming 23/10 (according to FTCap). As soon as I have got those I'll post pics, and start shipping" 17/10-2015.

There are a few of us building this amp, and at least two of us that have taken this on as a first project, so I'm thinking a thread is in order, since I'm sure that there will be some discussion and questions.

So a couple of people have asked for a discussion of the design elements of the T2, and any observations and improvements that are possible. So as not to polute the T2 build thread, which is already seriously poluted, the discussion of T2 design elements, including kerry's dynamic amp should go here. doug wadsworth (wadia) should be stopping by soon Actually, a moderator change the thread title to discussion of the T2, and other circuitry as we see fit including but not limited to my other designs and shunt regulators and stuff like that etc...

My parents have an old pair of B&W 802 Series 80 speakers. I've read that these are still considered pretty decent, but I'm concerned about the condition these are in. I'd like to replace parts like the binding posts and maybe parts of the crossovers. How difficult is this type of thing? Could an advanced beginner DIYer do it? The speakers look like this (these aren't the actual speakers):

This is the story of a very sick little Firstwatt F5 that needs some TLC. This is hopefully the last chapter in a rather sad story involving our Scottish Lord of Drink. Dough bought it from some scammer on DIYAudio which not only botched every facotr of building the amp but couldn't even be bothered to ship it properly. To fast forward a bit I had expressed my intention to build an F5 here and Doug offered to send me this amp to do with as I pleased. I took this a good chance to tinker with an F5 and help a friend out since this amp will be returned to Scotland in fully working condition later on. Now onto what awaited me in that 13kg box from Scotland. Parts …

Anyone's got experience with this multimeter? I'm getting into DIY and I have the possibility to acquire a used unit in mint condition for 135$. From what I've read, Fluke dmm are generally a safe bet, but I was wondering if anyone had some feedback to give about this particular model.

I started this chat for us general wood monkeys in the hope of getting some good tips on finishing wood. I've managed to get my stuff to a decent level of smoothness and nicely sanded without too many blemishes but some woods have a honking big and deep grain. What is a good method of filling grain to get a very smooth surface without the filler looking artificial? I've tried wetting the wood to raise the grain and smooth it down, then using wet sanding to help fill the grain with it's own sawdust. That's not too bad on the finer grain woods, the coarser stuff is still problematic. I tried some various generic wood fillers with little success, so any hints as to what i…

I've started up this thread to give folks a place to offer their time/parts/labor whatever to help Icarium get his SP amp up and running and with a little luck maybe even sounding good. Hopefully this thread will to organize the effort that I'm sure has already begun via PM's. If your unaware of Dan's situation:

So this started a few weeks ago when someone found a picture of my 100 watt night light. Its an 833A tube. (new picture below) And he wanted a megatron made from 8 of these. (10 vac at 10 amps each tube) so 800 watts filament power just for the output tubes. By the time you make the +/- 1kv power supplies running at 40ma, and the power for the 300b driver tubes etc, way past the limit for usa 120v 20 amp service which is 1850 watts. And with the top of the tube at silly and dangerous high voltage... bad idea. So i started looking for slightly less silly alternatives. I think the 211 tube fits the bill. running with +/-750v power supplies at 35ma. So a megatron with…

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

after all these years we have finally found a solution for the power supply modules at a rational price. which means we can make a transportable electrostatic amplifier. similar to srmxh,srm252,srm270 etc. 3 times the power, +/-400v power supplys, no obsolete components etc. designed to be mounted to the bottom as a heatsink with silicone thermal sheet in between. should be about $250 in parts unless you go nuts with the volume pot. not sure of casing yet.

^ the big round one 30mm diameter x 36mm length with M8 thread I'm going to be ordering these but there is a huge min quantity. Maybe there is interest in a group buy? Likely, $1/piece is enough to cover the cost + share of shipping charges from China, and also some hex nuts. If there is interest the minimum would probably be about 16 pieces or shipping would get too crazy for just a couple.

Anyone already bought this one and/or seriously considering it? Seriously tempted to try one against my M-Dac with the added bonus that it could drive my T1s directly More info: http://soekris.com/products/audio-products/dam1021.html https://hifiduino.wordpress.com/2015/01/30/building-soekris-r-2r-dac/ and a couple of gargantuan diyaudio-threads //UFN