Do It Yourself

Here a video guide I made on how to make a LOD, hope it will be of some help to some.

I am starting this thread for all that are or will be building JoaMat's mini T2 to share information, ideas, thoughts and experiences. The attached schematic is an updated one .The resistors in the BOM are thick film ones and can be replaced with thin film ones for likely better outcome. The power supply requirements for this amp are +400VDC, -460VDC (EL34 output stage), +220VDC (6922/6DJ8 front end), +15VDC, -15VDC (servo, cathode current source) and 6.3V filament supplies for the 6922/6DJ8 and EL34 tubes that can either be AC or DC. I also plan to use the +15VDC for the CPC1117N high tension delay. EDIT (Feb. 2020): updated schematic and BOM (Thanks Joa…

How crazy lazy would it be for me to buy 3 of these and slap them into an enclosure, with a single big ass toroid transformer? It would be an 6 channel amp, I'd probably not use the 6th channel, as my speaker set up is 5.1 right now. Any recommendations for a Toroid feeding 3 of these? AMP5 kit - Tripath TA2022 41Hz Audio:AMP5 kit Although, I might just get one for starters and build a small desktop amp for 2 channel speaker set up for my computer workstation. -Ed

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.

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

Well as a natural progression in this hobby, I find myself with more gear than power cords. In the past I have built power cords with 12 GA wire from Ram Electronics and VH Audio but the ones I have built are too damn stiff. All of my gear sits fairly close to the wall so I need a flexible medium weight cable for my power cord builds. I looked at the bulk cable offered at Take Five and Sonic Craft but they are a little on the expensive side and too heavy to stay properly seated in the IEC. Any recommendations for bulk cable would be appreciated.

How would you make your own resistor of any arbitrary value? What natural material works well? I've made my own inductors out of tin foil, then capacitors out of mineral oil, and would like to move on to resistors. Any advice would be grateful.

never mind

just finished one of these at school. Soldering, Learn how to Solder Kit worked after the first try. no solder bridges. no bad contacts. no cold solders. gentleman who runs the e.e. lab guided me and got me started and said that i could take on a project that has a printed circuit board. as with all else, he said i will learn good practices as i make mistakes. i have started looking into a speaker rig. the drivers are fostex 206e (96db efficiency) so i figured a couple of watts will suffice. the listening volumes will be fairly low. for the 206e drivers, this amp seems to be thrown around on diyaudio a lot for reasons of synergy or what have you. Zen Triode…

Recommend me any and all good DIY speaker resources. I would like to clone an omni -- specifically, the Pioneer CS-06 looks right up my alley. The point in cloning is not just to cut costs, but also because I've heard its sound is suboptimal, and also for fun and education. I'm thinking for starters, I'll want to compartmentalize all the drivers. See, for example, the pictures on this page (about second or third row down). I've already tracked down schematics and a service manual, but I'm thinking of changing the drivers, so I'd have to re-evaluate the crossovers anyway, right? How do I fight the natural resonance of most drivers?

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

Hello all, I'm working on a little project with my old SRD-6 energizer and a cheapo TA2020 amp. I'm trying to put together a compact transportable setup for my SR-5s. I have done a few modifications to this box already, such as wiring the transformers directly to the speaker taps on the back of the box and directly to the Stax socket on the front, completely bypassing the bias board and the loudspeaker switch. Those mods have done great things in terms of sound quality, but what I'm interested in now is modifying the bias circuit to operate as a self biasing one. As I understand it, Stax accomplishes this by tapping some of the output signal from one of the transformers, …

Thought it might make sense to make a new thread on this so as not to pollute the T2 thread. So this would be limited to the chassis, any potential board run, and any other potential group buys for traffos or transistors (if numbers warrant). I am hoping to move forward by the end of the week. Please keep in mind, if you are in and make your deposit, you are committed and will not back out unless you find someone to take your spot (so if you are not well established, then paypal gift only). Please express interest here or by PM. I have also included a link to the results of the first group buy:

I'm looking to build something along the lines of the Stax SRD-7/ Woo Wee but with better iron in a lower turn ratio (maybe 1:10/1:15/1:20). Does anyone have recomendations for iron? Spritzer, do you offer your bias boards still? I'll keep my eye out for s SRD-7 with pro connection but in the mean time this could be a fun project. Thanks!

Hello everyone, hope everything doing very well today. Few days ago I found two transformers in my dungeon, which named by my wife. I mentioned it has 16V out and double 110V in, so I guess perhaps could make something like stax srd-7. Then I made a pcb and give most places to voltage doubling rectifier, as same as srd-7, and... it works. Well somehow the bias unable to reach 580V, only around 490V, the sound quality, of course, bass section bit weak, so I have to turn the EQ on, then everything fantastic. BOM: 2 30W transformers 110-0-110 in 16V out, 1 50W transformer 220V in 110V out. 1 fuse @200ma 6 0.1uf 630…

after looking at swt61's thread on his custom TT i've decided that's my next project. i'm a begginer audiophile with woodworking experience. what components do i need to make a turntable? how much will it cost for a decent/beginner TT build and how much will an even more decent one cost? what are some options? is it just motor, bearing and platter, and arm that i need? i've got wood. andreu

Hello, this is my first post here. I have Stax SR-303/SRM-313 combo. It works well with my vinyl player but with cd it is cold and boring. Cd (Audio aero prima) is fine with my speakersystem, so I?m not going to change it. I got an idea of DIY tube amp with SR-303. Having read many threads here and the other, now malfunctioning forum, I have found this Gilmores schema: http://headwize.com/projects/gilmore_prj.htm Is this a good schema? What else would you recommend? I won?t make this myself, have to make it by an experienced amp maker, so it can be a relatively complicated amp like that of Gilmores.

Has anyone here built one? I have an RCA caddy, it's about the size of a maxed-out carry-on bag. Similar to this one: The thing is huge, and while it's interesting in an ephemeral way, it weighs about 40 pounds (full), and is of course pretty musty. Big arse mofo. Right now I keep my active, or popular- tubes in three file cabinet drawers. The caddy is filled with odd and end tubes that I may or may not ever have use for, but don't wish to toss. Then I have another cardboard carton with other, stranger tubes, such as duodecar and some extra compactrons. Deal is that it would make more sense to keep the non-active stuff in the file cabinet, and the stuff I …

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This might be of interest to some here: Audio Origami - ReWires I will try this project sometime in the next two months or so, after I have played enough with the Thorens I just got to start my 1st vinyl rig. Just wanted to throw this out there for those of you who are itching to try something new. I have also read up on the DIY Altmann TT, but I'm guessing that's been discussed here before: The Altmann DIY Turntable And then there is the HDD mixing turntable: HDDJ: Turning an old hard disk drive into a rotary input device Well, plenty of projects to choose from!

Hey guys, I need to put together a wallwart for a project I'm working on. Is there any place that sells empty wallwarts you can put your own traffo in? I'm looking to get a 24-36vac center-tapped output. Any suggestions on a plug with three contacts to use for it, also? -edit- found an empty shell and a suitable traffo at jameco. Any ideas on a plug?

as most of us know that beats studios require batteries to properly work. i got my hand on a pair of demo/Retail version of beats studios. these headphones arent wired to have batteries placed in them and the audio input ccable is hard wired to avoid theft. i got a good deal on these, with a spliced cable, what im trying to do here is wire them up so i can use them. This picture shows what the wires look like once stripped of the insulation. two wires one copper and one copper braided with a blue wire. inside the copper braided wire are two wires, one black and one blie, my guess is that these are for the external power source the green and red wires were wrapped i…

Last year I built a pair of balanced cables to go between my Theta Pre and Classe amp. After they broke in, I was really surprised how good they sounded. I used DH Labs Pro Studio and a set of Neutrik connectors. The ground is connected at both ends. I've read that sometimes floating the ground is not a bad idea. I now realize that I could probably live with this cable for a while. Yeah, I like it! I also need to move my gear from it's current location (in between the speakers) to it's new home, in a rack along the wall and off of the damned floor. New rack is in the works. Anyway, I ordered a nice 50 foot section of DH Labs Pro Studio from Parts Connexi…

ooh, fancy: diyAudio.com

Hi, I think I know the answer to this but I'll throw it out anyhow. I have some DMMs and would like to know about what you guys do with respect to calibrations. So I'll use 2 of my DMMs as an example. Fluke 87 and NEW VC99. I put them both in an electrical outlet at the same time and they both show the same V. The Fluke I bought around '96, the VC99 is about a month old. My plan is to measure some caps, resistors, etc and see how much they agree. So far the voltages measure the same. I'm not sure what it tells me if they disagree, but I thought I would just play around with a NEW meter and my Ol' Fluke. I may just send off the Fluke and get it calibra…