64 and going strong. top end of hearing is weak but most music is not above 12k started as diy carpenter/handiman found this site and built some speakers they sounded great due to Michigan winters an cold workshop I took up amp building my mom said for health every thing in moderation so I play sports five days a week allowing me my beer and salt
I pumped tens of thousands of gallons ( maybe more ) of real tetraethyl lead fortified gasoline, starting at about age 12, and continuing until I was old enough to get "clean" jobs.
I got plenty of it on me. I've even soaked clothes in it to get stuff out ( hey, it was cheap - about a quarter/gallon for red dyed ethyl (remember dyes in motor fuel?))
Other than a brush with non Hodgkins Lymphoma in my early 30's, it appears ( to me ) to have had no adverse effects. I do try to ventilate the room when soldering, though.
Win W5JAG
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I soldered every day for 26 years as an electronics tech. Had a lead test and it came back negative. Back to the point of the poll, I am 62. Started working summers in my Uncles TV repair shop at 11 and continued that for 30-ish years. Switched to IT but still enjoy DIY even though my left ear is pretty much dead.
As a youngster we watched that guy do amazing flights on a motorcycle........Then we tried to imitate him on our bicycles......That's why I have two bulging disks in my lower back.
Wait a minute.....I'm on the "going away" part of this curve. Sadly several of my friends are already gone.
Unlike most of my friends who pumped gas, or flipped burgers, my first job at age 15, was at a TV repair shop. I was hired to install TV antennas, but within a few weeks I was fixing TV sets and the shop owner was doing antennas.
Myself and my friends did use gasoline to clean almost everything from slimy car parts to our hands after working on a slimy car engine. Did a good job of setting myself, the car, and the front yard on fire once, but that story has already been told here at least twice.
The aging problem is better described by Rodney Carrington in one song named after it.
I've been hearing about the impending death of the DIY audio hobby for over 30 years. It refuses to die - or maybe it's just an undead thing. A zombie hobby.
A tribe will not die as long as there are new bloods joining. This is why we need to know how many young members are in this forum.
I've been hearing about the impending death of the DIY audio hobby for over 30 years. It refuses to die - or maybe it's just an undead thing. A zombie hobby.
It is not going away exactly
The audio DIY market has expanded, you can thank car audio for that. Many teenagers/20 somethings have cut their teeth in DIY audio in cars. Granted, as life tends to do as we hit our 20's/30's/40's we have kids and life tends to get in the way. I've just made the 50 hurdle so I'll be building speakers/subwoofers or messing with amps and that short of thing out in the garage. Some people think I'm a mad engineer building crazy designs (line arrays, push-pull subs etc.) and then the teenagers show up. They do have some form of knowledge by messing around with car audio so have peaked behind the curtain.
You have to remember that whatever you build, you have to have a place to put it. In my younger years I didn't have a large enough space so that limits the insanity. In cars, the space is limited and that works well. Can't build 10 cubic foot subwoofers for the trunk and considering the price of 15/18/24" drivers--probably a good thing!
Now that I'm older, have the space to store my monument to audio chaos--my stuff gets larger. The garage holds the line arrays stacked on top of 10 cubic foot subwoofers but the house uses smaller speakers/subs for home theater. My eyes are getting much worse, this sure would of been easier 20 years ago! Presently building a subwoofer box complete with 1.5" thick front bezels, very heavily braced and the whole nine yards. Sure, it is overkill for the 15" sub but in ten years I might want a graphene sub to go lower and have higher output (when available) In my 60's, don't want to build another furniture grade end table so it is overbuilt for eventual upgrade. Since I'm half-nuts doing this anyway, as I get older I'll either grow up or get even more mad. Family history indicates it will be the latter and not the former so I'm going prepping for action movies with medical mary jane (for my eyes!)
It seems to me that there is more DIY stuff available now than 25 years ago. I can purchase chip amp boards that require actual soldering to make operational--get them on Amazon if I like. Somebody is purchasing this stuff, one must remember the billions of people in China, India, south-east Asia that also DIY. I'd say the market is expanding because of plentiful information, computer programs for building things, much cheaper test gear, more accurate machining/cutting tools and a wide variety of adhesives. Parts Express expanded their warehouse a few years back as they saw sales increase by 30% so somebody is buying this stuff!
Another term for DIY is custom built--because if you have to have the best performance in a certain size of available space then custom building is the best option--not the easiest or least expensive (ask the car/furniture guys about that!)
Spent the big bucks about 4 years ago on a Lepai 2020+ chip am so I can make the $100 point to get free shipping from Parts Express. The difference between free shipping and paying for shipping made the gizmo $6 and change. I've had a ton of fun using it as a test amp or messing with people out in the garage (have a studio amp and pro amp so guess which amp is playing?) Going to upgrade the thing with a $9.85 Yamaha YDA148 board and swap in a larger filter cap just because since I have to solder in the input/output parts on the board.
Never expected to be playing around with chip amps and power supplies but the teenagers love that little thing. They are drawn to it by the tiny size, very low cost to purchase and it actually works. This is critical to get the bug to bite, they have no fear of electronics so it is a good thing for them to try it out.
For the devout DIY'er, the age that peaks should be in the 50's range. It is the time where you can still see accurately to build the items, you have the space/time/money to get what you need to do it correctly and the patience to do it properly. I built quite a few car systems in my 20's and now build much stronger boxes because I have the time. The time/effort/cost of chasing girls around is a higher priority in your 20's than in your 50's!
So relax, DIY will always be around--there is always a need to custom build things to fit your lifestyle, needs and tastes. I don't see a vast array of subwoofer endtables or vertical line arrays let alone PPSL subwoofers in the market. Although many people are satisfied with off the shelf products that hit the bell curve, there is always a need for very specific items that will never sell in high enough numbers to be worth building--a person has to make a profit to build such things.
For me, my DIY speakers are not the typical cone and dome speakers--I can't beat CNC milling machines and a production line along with the huge bulk purchases. Why spend more money, more effort to get less? I go for the odd ball designs i've always wondered about and then build them. It took me three times and 18 months to get the line arrays usable and the 100+ weight along with hundreds of solder points made it obvious why they are a quirky design on the dark side of audio. As I tell the teenagers that want these things, the juice is not worth the squeeze but for garage use--and the fact I finished building them they are worth it. However, knowing now what it takes I would never build a second pair.
DIY is healthy, the projects are changing and expanding outward. It all started in the home or in pro sound but has expanded to car audio, large boom box devices, subwoofers and active systems for computer desks. It all counts but just different.
Time to get off my butt, the weather has warmed so the PL Premium will cure--glue and screw time!
The audio DIY market has expanded, you can thank car audio for that. Many teenagers/20 somethings have cut their teeth in DIY audio in cars. Granted, as life tends to do as we hit our 20's/30's/40's we have kids and life tends to get in the way. I've just made the 50 hurdle so I'll be building speakers/subwoofers or messing with amps and that short of thing out in the garage. Some people think I'm a mad engineer building crazy designs (line arrays, push-pull subs etc.) and then the teenagers show up. They do have some form of knowledge by messing around with car audio so have peaked behind the curtain.
You have to remember that whatever you build, you have to have a place to put it. In my younger years I didn't have a large enough space so that limits the insanity. In cars, the space is limited and that works well. Can't build 10 cubic foot subwoofers for the trunk and considering the price of 15/18/24" drivers--probably a good thing!
Now that I'm older, have the space to store my monument to audio chaos--my stuff gets larger. The garage holds the line arrays stacked on top of 10 cubic foot subwoofers but the house uses smaller speakers/subs for home theater. My eyes are getting much worse, this sure would of been easier 20 years ago! Presently building a subwoofer box complete with 1.5" thick front bezels, very heavily braced and the whole nine yards. Sure, it is overkill for the 15" sub but in ten years I might want a graphene sub to go lower and have higher output (when available) In my 60's, don't want to build another furniture grade end table so it is overbuilt for eventual upgrade. Since I'm half-nuts doing this anyway, as I get older I'll either grow up or get even more mad. Family history indicates it will be the latter and not the former so I'm going prepping for action movies with medical mary jane (for my eyes!)
It seems to me that there is more DIY stuff available now than 25 years ago. I can purchase chip amp boards that require actual soldering to make operational--get them on Amazon if I like. Somebody is purchasing this stuff, one must remember the billions of people in China, India, south-east Asia that also DIY. I'd say the market is expanding because of plentiful information, computer programs for building things, much cheaper test gear, more accurate machining/cutting tools and a wide variety of adhesives. Parts Express expanded their warehouse a few years back as they saw sales increase by 30% so somebody is buying this stuff!
Another term for DIY is custom built--because if you have to have the best performance in a certain size of available space then custom building is the best option--not the easiest or least expensive (ask the car/furniture guys about that!)
Spent the big bucks about 4 years ago on a Lepai 2020+ chip am so I can make the $100 point to get free shipping from Parts Express. The difference between free shipping and paying for shipping made the gizmo $6 and change. I've had a ton of fun using it as a test amp or messing with people out in the garage (have a studio amp and pro amp so guess which amp is playing?) Going to upgrade the thing with a $9.85 Yamaha YDA148 board and swap in a larger filter cap just because since I have to solder in the input/output parts on the board.
Never expected to be playing around with chip amps and power supplies but the teenagers love that little thing. They are drawn to it by the tiny size, very low cost to purchase and it actually works. This is critical to get the bug to bite, they have no fear of electronics so it is a good thing for them to try it out.
For the devout DIY'er, the age that peaks should be in the 50's range. It is the time where you can still see accurately to build the items, you have the space/time/money to get what you need to do it correctly and the patience to do it properly. I built quite a few car systems in my 20's and now build much stronger boxes because I have the time. The time/effort/cost of chasing girls around is a higher priority in your 20's than in your 50's!
So relax, DIY will always be around--there is always a need to custom build things to fit your lifestyle, needs and tastes. I don't see a vast array of subwoofer endtables or vertical line arrays let alone PPSL subwoofers in the market. Although many people are satisfied with off the shelf products that hit the bell curve, there is always a need for very specific items that will never sell in high enough numbers to be worth building--a person has to make a profit to build such things.
For me, my DIY speakers are not the typical cone and dome speakers--I can't beat CNC milling machines and a production line along with the huge bulk purchases. Why spend more money, more effort to get less? I go for the odd ball designs i've always wondered about and then build them. It took me three times and 18 months to get the line arrays usable and the 100+ weight along with hundreds of solder points made it obvious why they are a quirky design on the dark side of audio. As I tell the teenagers that want these things, the juice is not worth the squeeze but for garage use--and the fact I finished building them they are worth it. However, knowing now what it takes I would never build a second pair.
DIY is healthy, the projects are changing and expanding outward. It all started in the home or in pro sound but has expanded to car audio, large boom box devices, subwoofers and active systems for computer desks. It all counts but just different.
Time to get off my butt, the weather has warmed so the PL Premium will cure--glue and screw time!
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