Do It Yourself

So a Nugget B22 that I recently bought from penger died at a local meet yesterday - I walked up to the amp while someone else was listening (more likely trying to listen) and noticed that the amp was off, which seemed odd. The power switch did nothing and re-plugging the cord did nothing either. One day later the amp still doesn't power on so it wasn't temporary either. I verified this amp as working before the meet, and it worked when I set it up at the meet too, as I listened to some music for awhile on it. I hear absolutely no internal noises when depressing the power button and have no idea what caused this and no idea how to fix it either. (Edit: the power button …

After a few weeks burn-in period of this little beast, I found it's very relaxing to listen to. I can hear more juices coming out and the STAX 009 just doesn't have that analytical sounding cliché to my ears. It also enhances the soundstage and life-like of Focal Utopia makes it way more enjoyable to hear. This is a push-pull design tube Headphone Amplifier/Preamplifier attempting to achieve the true high-performance of headphones from Dynamic, Planar Magnetic to Electrostatic models. I've gotten a few PM's asking about the schematics and stuff so I decided to open a thread to discuss more here. …

Hey guys, My friend is looking into doing some recordings. He asked me if there is a difference between the XLR Microphone cables and XLR balanced audio interconnects. I didn't know the answer to that. Can someone offer some guidance in this matter? Thanks!!

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…

Since I discovered electrostatic headphones two years ago, I have been wanting to build a Blue Hawaii. Thanks to the generosity of Head-Casers Nattonrice and Wink, I've got my chance. They supplied the board sets FOR FREE! I am so stoked, I cant thank you guys enough. For whatever reason, I enjoy doing quirky builds. Aesthetics have never been my thing. (prolly because I'm a cheap bastard) I like to instill some sentimental value in my creations along the way. This KGBH isnt going to win any "best of show" awards. It will fulfill three of my objectives: 1) Be totally encased / covered. My listening space, the living room is also shared by two rowdy teenagers …

Oh effing snap. The LCDuino-1 I/O processor - Head-Fi: Covering Headphones, Earphones and Portable Audio

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.

There seems to be some consensus on the voltage requirements for electrostatic headphone amps. Nearly all of the commercially available designs put out between 1000 and 1600 volts peak-to-peak, a range of about 4 dB. The legendary Stax SRM-T2 was specified to put out a bit more, close to 1800 volts peak-to-peak, which is 1 dB higher. This would be equivalent to almost all loudspeaker amplifiers putting out between 50 and 125 watts, with the T2 being like a 160 watt amplifier. However, there hasn’t been much discussion on the current demands for electrostatic headphone amps. Output stage currents in commercial amplifiers have run between 2 mA/channel (Koss ES950) a…

Looking forward to someday having one of these built.

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

and about time... I’ve been keenly anticipating this . Here’s a link for those that are interested or have missed the news; http://www.amb.org/forum/gamma3-high-resolution-dac-development-t2656.html

So I was thinking of building a linear psu for a new PC. I came across this kit on ebay https://www.ebay.com/itm/LPS200-Linear-Power-supply-kit-board-LPS-DC5V-9V-12V-15V-19V-24V-28V-L164-5/111964387845?hash=item1a1198fa05:m:m3fiLyO2CiBO8ZWg77rtjeQ Anyone ever use something like this kit? The Teradak products are really cool but pricey

Well OK this one may be tamed, but it is indeed beautiful to behold. Naaman's casework (and all around attention to detail) sets him apart, along with a handful of amazing builders we have in our group. But this one in particular really hit a chord with me. Simple but eye catching at the same time. I've had my sights set on this DAC for some time now, as it seemed a natural progression from the Epic Opus ( Opus DAC w/Zapfilter output stage) I had from the Twisted Pear line. And this DAC had a surprise for me. Naaman built in a Mini³ amp into the case, so that it could be used as a stand alone system if wanted. That would be nice for desktop use, meets and for me a reason…

I'd like to call into question some do's and don't I've heard about building Stax amps. I'm an engineer who works on scientific instrumentation and have heard a few things I don't understand based on my experience, so thought it's worth a discussion here. Please correct me if my thoughts on these issues is incorrect, from an engineering perspective. High Voltage resistors are necessary In general HV boutique resistors are really only needed when there’s a large differential voltage. Let's take a high quality but not HV resistor, the KOA Speer which range from 250V-1kV working voltage http://www.koaspeer.com/catimages/Products/MF-MFS-RK/MF-MFS-RK.pdf Take…

Hi All, I have been going cross-eyed of late poring through the various threads for the projects required to get a complete amp together and hoping to get a few pointers. I was originally looking at building a Dynalo based amp but after some feedback from Pars and others I had a look at the CFA2/3 boards and think I have decided to go with a CFA3 based build. I am going to build a balanced in / balanced out setup in dual mono so for the amp boards, it will be 2 x CFA3 (based on 89753654_cfp3rssfixedssw-CADCAM.zip) - I am pretty comfortable that this seems to be the most recent version of the CFA3 board. Where things seem to get a bit interesting is the…

So I was working on the torpedo top cover and left it outside the house for the paint to dry. Awesomely enough a fucking duck put dirt and shit all over it. I have access to home depot and limited funds. Is there anything that can be done to fix this so I can start over or did the duck fuck it all? Thanks

I could not help but notice that the dead tree carcass machinists have a thread on wood machining. But dead trees do not make the best cases for stax amplifiers. So i'm a little surprised that there is no thread dedicated to CNC machining metal. The motivation for this thread was that I turned 50 years old a few weeks ago and for my birthday I decided to buy myself a CNC machine so that I could make my own cases for my stax builds. I decided to buy the foxalien Vasto, https://www.foxalien.com/products/cnc-router-machine-vasto?sca_ref=725103.t6qfXeHAnx based on not much more than I needed to machine 400mm by 400mm and the reviews on youtube are very positive. I'm waiting f…

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 decided to create a new division of HeadAmp dedicated to offering DIY parts (both in-house made as well as reselling such as transistors). It's just less stressful and overall more enjoyable dealing with DIYers (of course, this is just in addition to selling the HeadAmp made amps/DACs) I'll have to come up with a list of items. So this is a "Wanted" thread. Current items: - Custom machined Teflon Stax Jacks (pro or normal bias)

Hey all , so this is my first post here so sorry if its not up to par. Recently i bought a Srm-006t amp 404 signature combo . I loved the sound but it seriously lacked volume . I replaced the tubes with a new set of EH tubes .. but aside from a uptake in tone .. I didn't get any extra volume . I started searching Google for mods to this energizer and came across a post by Kevin about a cascade mod for this amp and mention of an article in Audio Express July 2017 edition by James Lin. In the thread i was reading i saw that a board had been designed (im really not a fan of point to point electronics) and messaged Kevin Gilmore about it , He said he was all out…

OK, here's the schematic for my crossovers, including the APOC protection circuit (at the bottom), which is powered by my amp, and is not battery powered: http://www.bwgroup-support.com/downloads/techmanuals/bw/802-TM.pdf Photos of the crossover appear here: http://www.head-case.org/forums/do-yourself/9007-b-w-802-series-80-repair-5.html#post404176 and here: http://www.head-case.org/forums/do-yourself/9007-b-w-802-series-80-repair-3.html#post402352 and here: http://www.head-case.org/forums/do-yourself/9007-b-w-802-series-80-repair-5.html#post404221 I can see which points to connect on the PC board to bypass the relay; that's no big deal. My questi…

I remember reading in a post somewhere that Frank was nice enough to release his schematic for his DHT amp, the dynamic version not the electrostat version. I would like to take a look at it. I'll send him a PM at headfi as well.

Does anyone here have experience with the SEN I/V stage? I want to try this with my BIII http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digital-source/195483-zen-cen-sen-evolution-minimalistic-iv-converter.html

I've been mildly interested in pot shunting since I first heard about it, not for any reason other that it looked different and interesting. Anyway, I shunted my EHHAs RK27 earlier and call me nuts, but it sounds a shitload more detailed and clear to me now than before. I'm hearing all sorts of subtle little things quite clearly than never caught my ear before and I wasn't even trying to listen for it, they just appeared in a way they never had before. Maybe shunting really is that good or maybe my ears are just super sensitive right now, whatever, it seems clarity is greater, detail and spaciousness have improved and soundstage has expanded too with a much more natura…

Ill be making a balanced ckkIII with usb opus dac in one chassis: ati 737-u I have drills and tools but can only do so much. The aluminum front panel is very thick and I won't be able to make indents for the two volume knobs, or even drill two basic holes for the neutrik combos. If anyone has tools to do this stuff, I would be willing to ship the case over. Ill discuss the actual details and sizes etc and the work to be done by aim or whatever. Besides the aluminum, I will have an acrylic sheet of similar thickness and two pieces of carbon fiber sandwitched together. Whatever is drilled on the aluminum will be done the same on the acrylic. The reason is, f…