Do It Yourself

Anyone have experience or opinion on this K&K Audio maxxed-out phono pre-amp? Anything comparable or better for similar $$, DIY or used?

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…

I have a few uses for a simple, regulated power PCB that supports a number of different ~25VA PCB mount transformers with a bit of filtering on each side of the transformer. I'm trying to nail down the schematic a bit and wanted to see if there was any advice out there

Could someone post how to do this, or a link?

Anyone willing to make a Xhadow XLR chassis mount for me ? I am thinking of an aluminium plate (the depth of a gender modules' thread), A threaded tunnel in its? centre to accept the gender module and two or more bolt/screw holes near the edge to allow attachment to a chassis. a disassembled XLR connector is shown http://www.takefiveaudio.com/mall/images/zoom/601_2.jpg the shiny piece with the white core and gold screws in the back of it is a gender module. If anyone spots a design flaw please point it out. I?ve e-mailed Chris Sommovigo at Xhadow and the edited highlights of his reply were : I?d like to get 4 of these mounts so I can have Xhadow XLR c…

I thought it might be kind of helpful to have a thread of your least favorite parts so everyone else can avoid them. For me, right now it's the Switchcraft TA3F mini 3-pin XLR connector for AKG headphones. Piece of crap is made of metal and bad plastic and is breaking/falling apart on me. But there's no alternative available

GROUP BUY CLOSED 4. NOVEMBER 2015 For gauging interest. This GB is intended to be add-on to the MWL168 Carbon Group Buy for anyone interested in building a Circlotron. In addition to a full Carbon, two dual HV900 boards (circlotronhvpowerdualnewer2.ZIP) and two output & driver boards (kgsshvcarboncirclotrondriverv2.ZIP/kgsshvcarboncirclotron.ZIP) are needed. Currently investigating a quote form PCBNet for: circlotronhvpowerdualnewer2.ZIPkgsshvcarboncirclotron.ZIPkgsshvcarboncirclotrondriverv2.ZIPFurthermore FTCaps has been asked for delivery of the 470uF/550V caps required by the HV900 supply. The main difference between the 680uF/550V(76mm) cap and the 470uF/550V(6…

I got a set Sony ECR-500 Electrets from Fungi recently and decided to have a play Insides of ECR. Stripped and cleaned. Getting ready to whittle Whittled! Testing for fit. Parts for assembly. Cable in and felt lining. All assembled. Last shot. Fun little project for the weekend and sounds great.

I published a modification for the Stax SRM-T1/T1S/006 in AudioXpress July 2017, which is just out. The modification adds 5.1 kilohm output safety resistors and cascoded constant current output loads, which with their heatsink fits the space vacated by the plate resistors - see photo. Spritzer did something similar a few years ago with an SRM-007, adding constant current loads, but he also changed to 6S4A outputs. Unlike plate resistors, constant current loads burn up practically no signal current, so while the stock amp burns up 9.2 mA signal current in the plate and feedback resistors at its specified 300 VRMS maximum output, the modified amplifier only …

6moons just put up a review of the Kondo Gakuoh amps with an internal picture. All that Tango iron sure is nice with silver windings but it is still a lot of money...

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 inspired by Frank Cooter's PTP wiring amps he took to the LA meet. So inspired in fact, that I was thinking on building Kevin's KGTT. Besides him and Kerry (and probably Birgir), is there anybody out there who has built it and could post pics of their builds? My first clumsy attempt at a layout looks bad and it won't improve until I get all the components and have an idea of their size and shape. Hopefully it was done right A wood case, which I have never done, also sounds interesting. KGTT Layout a.pdf

Hey all, I am planning to re-case my Buffalo DAC using a 2U 300mm deep Pesante case from the HiFi2000 case group buy that is going on. For this case I was going to get some custom panels made from Front Panel Express or Cam Expert. Being my first set of custom panels, I am opening my designs up to any and all criticism for the cosmetic aspects...... and if anybody is really bored and has the time, some super-quick checks that I haven't borked any measurements (particularly for the mounting holes) would be greatly appreciated. Firstly, what the design is going to entail...... I will be buying the SPDIF Mux from Twisted Pear. This includes a 4 position switch detailed…

Hi guys and gals, I bought a gamma2 and I'd like to plug in to the wall and use the trasit to send it data across toslink to avoid ground loop issues. Does anyone have any recommendations as to what to buy for a 5v 300mA supply to use with it. Sorry for the dumb question but I'm having no luck finding one and I'm obviously looking in the wrong place.

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…

I've got a couple normal bias Staxen I'd like to build an amp for, any ideas for any simple mods to make a normal bias KGST? Edit: apologies if this is a simple mod, I've done searches but what comes up is for going the other direction (normal->pro)

So birgir asked for this one, but truth be told, i have been working on it for quite a while, and i have a working prototype. Specs: DC to 200khz +0, -.2 db Slew Rate >350 volts per microsecond Thd < .01% Voltage Peak to Peak, Stator to Stator 2950 http://gilmore.chem....n.edu/togte.pdf This is not for the faint of heart. The amp actually can go higher in voltage by a bit, but anything over +/-750 for the power supply gets to be Very difficult to regulate well. The +/-250 is actually resistor dividers off the +/-750 Its the only push pull fully dc coupled electrostatic amp that i know of Since this schematic i have replaced the 2s3840 with…

heh, but seriously. If you only have room for a single jack, and want to support balanced (4-channel bridged) and single ended cans, what do you do? Two options as I see it. Use 4-pin jack and tie ground to the shell and/or case or use a 5-pin jack and have a dedicated pin for ground. If the first case, I'm not sure if there are 4-pin female jacks where the where the "shell connection" can be isolated from the case. If this isn't possible, then is 5-pin the only real option? I cannot believe this hasn't come up before. Thoughts?

Does anybody know where to get knobs for the bottom 2 POTS with the dual concentric turning shafts? ALPS Blue Velvet, Bourns Potentiometer and more......

So I sent my K1000 to Fitz a little while back for a re-cable. Today upon removing the wire mesh grills Fitz discovered someone's handiwork... Nice huh? The person I bought them from mentioned that they had new drivers installed, but forgot to mention the custom port in the side of one driver! He also never mentioned they were installed by anyone other than AKG. I've looked back through PMs here and there to discover who the seller was, but sadly can't find the PMs. I also can't find the sale ad. I do remember he was a young kid from England, and it would have been around November of 2008 when I purchased them. Not that I'd get any satisfaction monetarily, b…

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

ok, I have plenty of stuff that needs to go. Perhaps you do too. I'm open to all offers and if you're patient, I'll probably just give it away. Once this stuff goes, I have another list... so.. no prices, please make an offer. Pair of unopened, and unused ports. These are the best ports money can buy I suppose: Measurement Mic Preamp boards and Zen Headphone amp boards: A collection of Brown Dog adapters: Turntable motor pulley: Random component video cable: Mogami headphone cable: Onzow Zerodust, barely used: Twisted Pear Audio Ballsie, first generation I believe: Chinese Softstart Board, works great: A pa…

I decided to recase my original dynahi. I wired the ac inlet, then hooked up the transformer primaries (Avel Lindberg transformer) gray and bown wires went to hot, blue and violet went to neutral. I got correct voltage on the primaries and secondaries when I threw the power switch. I mounted the original psu in the case. This is the board http://gilmore.chem.northwestern.edu/dynahipsbig.bmp I connected one pair of secondary wires to AC1 and the other pair to AC2. The order went 1 to orange, 2 to yellow, 3 to black, 4 to red. I threw the switch and the fuse blew. Now the transformer primaries and secondaries are shorted when checked with a meter out of the cir…

I wasn't really sure where to post this, a friend at work has a set of K701's whose cable has apparently crapped out, can anyone offer any advice on who he might contact to see about getting them recabled at a reasonable price?

I assume frontpanelexpress.com is who I want to use if I want a 3.5"x2" engraved faceplate made for my amp? I'm messing around with their software right now, any tips? Thanks