Is there any DIY equipment that sound bad?

[Bricolo]

Hi,

I was wondering, on this (and other) forums, when a member writes about a DIY amp, preamp, IV or anything else, he always says that he is very satisfied with it. This is true from the simpliest to the most complex topology.

I don't remember the last time I read something bad about DIY equipment, (except for the gainclone )

Why?
-your subconscious is telling you that it sounds good because you did it yourself
-commercial designers don't know theyr job?
-because most of the time DIY stuff don't have unnecessary functions like tone control, balance, equalizing... and this would screw up the sound?

I really don't know

[zobsky]

not a lot of DIY'rs go about forums posting about their failed attempts

[Byrd]

All but the most expensive of commercial designs have priorities other than Sound Quality in mind eg Profits, safety, aesthetics, market demand.

DIY designs are usually built with Sound Quality as the main priority with comments such as
"Hmmm - I didn't consider the fact that this pair of speakers thing won't fit through the door to my house"
or
"I'll probably only be able to afford to run this class A 2 Hours a month" or
"Damn - I wish I had put some sort of covering over that amp. My Dog - "Old Sparky" might not have lived up to his namesake"
arriving later

There are, however , some designs out there that will not be suitable for you. Eg Rod Elliot's Project 3a did not sound very good to me at all. It was quite muddy compared to the Leach Low TIM that I built. But that is of course only my opinion and the same may not hold true for you.

[demogorgon]

Ok, my first diy atempt was a lm358 based headphone booster\amp i made at school a practical op-amp asignment.

made it with +-5v rails, to litle capasitans and way much gain.

-well, it sucked. really sucked.

but that really the only diy thing i'm not pleased with.

and the reason for me being pleased with a diy product:
It's simply not finnished until i'm pleased with it. simple as that. my buffed, inverted, snubbed GC is currently undergoing it's 3 or 4'th mod, so still a work in progress, even though i'v had tunes flowing through it for 4months..

[Frank Berry]

To DIY is to learn.

We've all had DIY design failures. Some of mine have been pretty spectacular ... smoke, exploding electrolytics and fuses that flash as soon as the power is applied.

We try to learn from our mistakes.

Oh yes ... I also had some spectacular success.

[Magura]

I guess it's true that most people don't post about their faillures, hence the impression that all DIY projects are turning out well.

I think that anybody whom have been into DIY for a number of years have made something that didn't work, I for one have made a couple of such projects in the past, but all turned out to be of great value in respect of learning.

Magura

[demogorgon]

Originally posted by Frank Berry
To DIY is to learn.

True, so true.

Originally posted by Frank Berry
Oh yes ... I also had some spectacular success.

And that makes it all worthwhile.

BTW, zobsky: Is that Hårek (harek) in your avatar?

[zobsky]

Originally posted by demogorgon


BTW, zobsky: Is that Hårek (harek) in your avatar?

Hagar the Horrible, cartoon character, morphed with the Mona Lisa, in this instance

Back to the discussion, .. many DIY away projects can blow away commercial equipment many times their cost.

[demogorgon]

Originally posted by zobsky



Hagar the Horrible, cartoon character, morphed with the Mona Lisa, in this instance

Ah, He's the same guy.
gotta like him.

[AudioFreak]

I remember one of the first things I every built, it was quite a complex design considering that I'd had very little experience at the time. Anyway, I built it from a schematic I'd copied from a magazine so I figured that it shouldn't be too hard to do and all should go smoothly. All did indeed go smoothly except I wired a pot incorrectly. Powered on and everything seemed fine, adjusted pot by turning it full travel one way. Smoke and $15 worth of components down the drain. It turned on ok because the pot was centered, but because I had wired the pot incorrectly, when I turned it full travel one way, I had shorted the +ve rail to ground.