I have an old Cambridge Audio server, which i feeling old and tired (its all down to the software which is no longer supported)


So, if you were me, and you had £350 to spend, what route would you go down (RP or tinker board/which dac etc...) ?

edit - more info: It's for streaming music stored on a Nas, can be a wired or wireless connection.

Is anyone aware of availability of a Ramsey FM25 clone or similar low power synthesized FM stereo source? Kit preferred.

Hello, new guy here, first time posting.

I'm building my first speaker, and I'm looking at an amp that says it has an output of 2x15W. I'm assuming this means there are two separate outputs of 15W from the amp.

I'm planning on a two-way system, how do I go about connecting the amp to the crossover considering the amp has two outputs? Do they just connect together? Do I only use one output, and if so should I get a different wattage amp? Help!

One other thing. My speaker system is 2x40W RMS woofers (in parallel) and a 20W tweeter. I figured going with the 2x15W amp was a safe bet, but perhaps I should go higher.

If I've posted this in the wrong section, please do let me know so I can move this across.

Thank you!

Today the sad news arrived that Florian Schneider passed away.

Florian Schneider, Kraftwerk co-founder, dies aged 73 | Music | The Guardian

Always enjoyed his music. May he rest in peace.

If anyone's interested in this driver combination, here's information from a person who built these speakers using my crossover design.

-jAy

--------------------------------------------



Hi Jay,

I`ve just finished your Seas ER18RNX TM design with 27TBFC/G tweeter option. I`ve used my own sandwich (MDF + plywood) enclosure design with front mounted Precisoion Port and Sonic Barrier dampening. Crossover and driver spacing is exactly the same as on your drawings and I have to admit that I`m impressed with sound quality of this speakers. Thank you for creating and posting this great design on your website.

At the moment I`m testing these speakers and I use Plilips DVD as a source cause I`m waitng for a new DAC. Anyway I can write some first impressions.

I`m using a 16,5 litres enclosure with bass reflex tuned at 35 Hz. In my small listening room (15 m2) bass response is very smooth with very nice low end extension. Low tuning provieds a bit lean bass with soft roll off which combined with room gain allows even 30-35 Hz tones to be well defined.

Tonal balance is very even, in my opinion full BSC is an exellent choice for those speakers. Overall response is very smooth and sound stage is huge in every dimension. Speakers just "disappear" in my listening room and completely fill it with sound. 27TBFC/G is really a great tweeter and I didn`t noticed any kind of stress from it crossed over at 1550 Hz, even at very high SPL.

For now I just can`t write any negatives. For a 2 way monitor with single 18 cm woofer they are just amaizing in every aspect. I belive that such great results are achived through well designed crossover combined with good drivers and extreamly rigid sandwich enclosure with additional wood bracing and two separated chambers for tweeter/crossover network.

Most factory speakers sound thin and boomy compared to them because of manufacturer's limitations. They can`t cross too low cause they are afraid of tweeters being overloaded, they use thin and simple enclosures cause they are much cheaper, they use only few db BSC cause speakers must sound lound in shop and have high "on paper" sensitivity. All those limitations provides poor performance when compared to well designed DIY
speakers and it`s very easy to hear the difference. At the moment they are absolutely the best monitors I`ve ever heard.

I`m using them with an old Sony TAF670ES solid state amp (90/140W) and low sensitivity is not a problem for me. Anyway even though those speakers have around 83 db sensitivity I find them at least as sensitive as some speakers I had with 87-88 db sensitivity claimed by their manufacturer.

Btw, there is still some work to be done to make those speakers look really good, but meantime feel free to use those fotos.

- Chris

Hi.

I've been thinking about building a small dual PSU.

I'm looking for the following qualities:
- Tracking: neg rail will follow pos rail
- +/- 0-20V, 0-1A
- Current-limiting with a single pot to set both pos and neg rail.
- voltages shall track even when current-limit is active
- No (overly) temperature-sensitive components in voltage or current-reg.

I don't need:
- super-precise current-limit, but I would like it to be stable over time and temperature
- Super low noise and very precise voltage reg.

Inspiration was this:
Paul's DIY electronics blog: Tuning a 0..30V DC 0..3A PSU DIY kit

Based on those ideas, I have played with the idea below:


V1 and V6 are two X-former windings with smoothing (not ideal sim, but ok).
V11 sets current-limit. should be a pot.
V2 sets voltage.

V4, V5, V7 and V8 are voltages needed for the opamps.

U2 and U3 is the current-sensors (voltage-drop over R9 and R8 relative to gnd
U5 inverts the current-ref for the pos rail.
U4 tracks the pos rail.

V3 and V9 is used to simulate step-response and such.

What do you think? Is the idea valid? can the current-regulators work?

Looking for a pair or two of NEC 2SD1586 /2SB1095
transistors in TO-220F (FP) plastic package. If you have regular metal 2SB1095 that would be acceptable too.
Substitutes like BD954F/BD949F also accepted

I have an extra Yarra Preamp case made by Modushop for sale.
Unopened, still in factory plastic wrap.
$140 including shipping to USA only.

I'd like to build a modestly priced speaker with my son to compliment his low wattage single ended KT88 amp. Does anyone know of DIY designs based around the Eminence Legend B102? Can't be very large and must be >95dB. I know the Lore uses the speaker but he wants to build.

Thanks,
Jim

Hi there,

I have vintage triodes (and others) or cash to swap for WE 310A's..

Thanks!

Hi

Hi All.

Just assessing the crossovers out of vintage 3 way Jamo Loudspeakers.

There are two blue colored smaller ALCAP Capacitors.

One is 2.2mfd 50vnp, and the other is 6mfd 50vnp.


Then there is a larger blue ALCAP capacitor which is 450uF 50vnp.

Is this correct and who supplies poly caps which are 450 uF?

thanks

Cliff

In this post: https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/mul...-15-dual-8-tpl-150-ibwwmtm-4.html#post6046348

I noticed, that Logidy EPSi was used. It is a stereo convolver with low latency, I bought one for guitar cab simulation and it never got used too much since the other guitarist did not want to use cab simulation at all🙂

Anyway, I have that piece of hardware and it can do stereo convolution with an IR wav 24 bit stereo with maximum of 65535 samples. I wonder if I could try to do DRC and/or phase linearization with this device - I think I can, if I am able to get the IR wav I need...any thoughts on that?

Hi all,

My idea is to build an integrated amplifier with these main components:

- Arylic board
- I2S Dac (TDA1545A?)
- PreAmp Korg Nutube B1 (kit)
- TPA3255

I completely a newbie so I need your expert advice.
I want connect the arylic board via i2s to the DAC, and the output of the DAC to the preamp.

I found this DAC kit:

TDA1545A R2R nonoversampling NOS Audio DAC with FIFO reclock - DIYINHK

Is it a good one? I could have an high quality sound with it? Or could be better buy this one?

768kHz/32Bit AK4493EQ DAC, I2S/DSD input - DIYINHK


COuld this project have a HIGH QUALITY overall sound? Actually I own a Denon AVR 3500. Could my project be better in term of sound quality vs my AVR?

The review on Audiosciencereview.com on Denon 3500 is really poor about DAC. One of these 2 boards could sound better of it?

Denon AVR-X3500H AVR Review | Audio Science Review (ASR) Forum

I have found some articles that show that a board with 2 or 4 TDA1545A could be better as well. There is any ready to buy kit for this kind of DAC? I don't really want to spend more than 50/60euro for the DAC part... could be enough to have an high quality sound?


Thank you
Regards

Hello Group:

I built a single-ended 2A3 stereo amp about 10 years ago. A beautiful sounding amp! It went into storage for a few years and I recently fired it back up.

It still sounds fantastic, but in ONE CHANNEL ONLY there is a very low-level noise present when I am not playing music. It is very faint but still annoying, barely detectable from my listening position (95 dB efficient speakers) I really need to get up to the speaker to hear it clearly.

The sound is totally random, it comes and goes as it pleases. Its hard to describe, but it sounds like a kind of random sputtering or the crumpling of a sheet of paper.

Changing tubes does not change anything. And it is not my peripheral gear...the amp does it even when everything else is off. It is not the driver circuitry (a paralleled 6SL7 per channel) because it still does it when the driver tube is completely removed! It is not the AC balance pot across the filament, as I recently replaced the old noisy one and hit the replacement with Pro-Gold cleaner. Rotating the pot does not induce any noise, nor stop it.

I changed the 5U4 rectifier to see if it was sputtering...no change. A scope on the LCLC power supply (independent supply for each channel) shows virtually no ripple or sputtering on the B+ line, my tiny 4 mV of ripple is right about at the ambient RF noise level.

I cleaned the tube sockets and the tube pins with Pro-Gold, and yes, some black oxidation came off but still NO change. Wiggling the tubes while in the sockets does not start, nor stop the noise! I even changed the "cathode" resistor on the bad channel, thinking that it might be a noisy resistor. Nope!

It's driving me crazy!

This is a dirt simple amplifier circuit. There can only be few possible places for this intermittent noise to come from:

1) Bad tube socket...but wiggling the tubes does not affect the noise!
2) Some power-supply related noise...perhaps the electrolytics in that channel or the polypro bypass caps have developed some kind of internal leakage or intermittent micro arcing?
3) Unlikely, but some anomaly in the filament or output transformers? *The main power transformer is shared for both channels, so it can't be that.

I'm going loony! Any advice, suggestions?

Thanks!

I am trying to pick fun tubes that have a glow. I've heard that the 866A's can produce a lot of UV. I've also seen a lot of amps sporting these tubes--usually at around 500V @ 350mA. The 816's are too small. Are there alternatives like with the 0A3's, 0B3's, 0C3's, 0D3's etc.? Is it generally ok to run these tubes without a screen at 400V @ 400mA?

Hey all,

Back in the early '80s I was electrocuted in an industrial accident that knocked me on my a$$, and rendered me unconscious (or maybe kicked me into an alternate universe) for a few seconds. All I remember is the sensation of being hit with a frickin sledge hammer directly in the sternum...and then becoming aware there were several of my coworkers standing around looking down at me, asking if I was OK. I didn't like it.
Which brings us to the here and now...
Due in large part to my story above, I've wanted an isolation transformer for my bench. Well, I found this: AN-104115 - 1000VA 115V Transformer - AnTek Products Corp, and looking at the specs, it should fill the bill, right?
Or is there something I'm forgetting?

Mike

Using the DAC outputs of a L22 in single ended (SE) mode* means trouble. Although it performs reasonably well above 1kHz, below say 100Hz, the distortion increases drastically. At 16.35Hz THD rises from -117.6dB (balanced mode) to -75.9dB (SE mode). That's 100 times more! See fig1. vs fig.2 (Another measurement reveals an increase of 'only' 30 times).
Also the frequency response is affected in SE mode. At 10Hz it drops to about -3dB, while in balanced mode only -0.2dB. See fig. 3 (balanced) vs fig.4 (SE).
The reason for this flaw appears to be a X5R ceramic capacitor in the signal path. See fig. 5, C5. The distortion is not only a result of a wrong type of dielectric but also the value of only 100nF is way too low. As a result, the output current of op-amp X3 rises far beyond its limit at low frequencies, over 25mA. This also introduces more distortion, probably the main cause.

And the remedy? Simply short this evil capacitor, in both channels of course, see fig. 6 where to find them**. Initially I was afraid of a larger off-set voltage at the outputs. But that wasn't the case. It was even lower after shortening these caps.

BTW, I also experimented with other op-amps: A LM4562 instead of the original OP275's, but THD figures were about the same. Maybe OPA1656 will do better.

Cheers,
E.

*XLR pin3 shorted to ground (pin1)

** The two blue wires were just for experimenting with larger caps connected via the 25 pins delta connector from the outside world.

Comment from Bob Bauman at Lynx Studio:
"I will not confirm that your schematic of the line driver is correct because that is proprietary information. However I will say that there was one 100nF cap that was replaced with a zero ohm resistor in later renditions of the line driver."

Hello friends!

I recently got me some secondhand Audio Nirvana 12" full range drivers. I love 'em, just love 'em. Though I feel the enclosures built by the guy I bought them from are suboptimal. The sound is quite peaky/muddy/boomy at around 40hz. Besides, they're not aesthetically pleasing. So I am trying to come up with enclosures of my own. I have had e-mail correspondence with the owner of Audio Nirvana, David, and basically he bashed the enclosure that the guy built. I tend to agree. However, I asked him for his 2 cents regarding some enclosures that I was cooking up, and he told me that t/s parameters are the worst thing that ever happened to sound design; he advised against designing an enclosure of my own.

I tend to disagree. 😀
Of course, I am still going to build my own boxes anyway. At the moment, I am honestly still torn between sealed or vented. Before you roast me, please bare in mind that I am still much of a novice in enclosure design, and that I have no friends that are also interested in DIY audio and such I only have these forums to ride on... So I haven't got much experience listening to different drivers and boxes!

I have some WinISD simulations right here… Blue is closed and Red is vented (port at bottom of box). The curves turn out somewhat the same. Let's assume for now that WinISD is dead-on accurate and let's assume that I'll make the final frequency responses approximately the same with the help of some nifty EQing!




I am wondering though what sonic differences I can expect from sealed vs. vented.
So, this is disregarding small differences in the curves; I am now talking about differences in the character and qualities of the sound. I have read that vented boxes tend to be a bit more rumbly and closed boxes a bit more punchy and fast. Can I expect these sonic differences to come through in the final sound, despite the fact that the frequency curves of sealed and vented would be the same?


Again, please excuse the noob question that probably has been answered many times before


You guys are my encyclopediae, my main source of knowledge regarding DIY audio, and my main pass-time now during quarantine 🙂 thanks for being awesome!

Would love to hear your input

Regards,
Raoul



P.S. I know that you guys sure do love your back-loaded horns… But let's stay clear of that topic for now 😀

P.P.S. Unfortunately I do not have the luxury to build both enclosures and see the difference for myself :/

P.P.P.S. https://www.commonsenseaudio.com/an12cfspecs.jpg

Hi.
Being a novice in this field, but very interested in exploring this type of amplifier more, I'm looking for some recommendations regarding a DIY project for an amplifier for my home stereo.
I'm not looking for a ton of power, my speakers are not very power-hungry, so I guess more than 150W/8 Ohms would not be needed.
Sound quality has to be good, and looking for something that will not break the bank.
I found this in another thread, but have no clue how it sounds, although specs look fine (they all do on paper I know 😀 ).
TPA3255-2CH-260W | 3e Audio Maybe powered by this: AliExpress (also found in another thread).

Anyone out there has some recommendations?

I am trying to understand the different options I have in replacing a stylus. My Roksan cartridge originally came fitted with a Gyger S type of stylus. I can replace it with another Gyger S, a Gyger II, or a Gyger I. I can't seem to find out any information about what difference these alternatives might make to the actual sound. Does anyone here know?

Hi guys my first post here and I'm looking for advice on how to crossover my tweeters. I am running a dsp which will be set to handle the mid driver in a 2 way speaker being powered by a single channel from my amp. I will need to add a capacitor or crossover inline for the tweeter. I have a wiring diagram of the original crossover. Am I best just building all the components on the tweeter side or will an inline cap do? The crossover has a 750ma resettable fuse, 10ohm resistor, 4.7uf cap and then a parallel 0.22mh inductor coil.

Cheers, Gaz.

.........what others would do in my situation. I am looking to build a pair of 3-way (or more?) speakers for mostly rock and a bit of jazz. Fed up with bookshelf sized ones that sound fine and accurate but just can't move enough air to knock me out of my seat when I crank 'em up. Wife has no objection to what they look like or how big they are. The listening room is about 50 sq. metres and just under three metres high. Are there any proven designs out there that might fulfill this dream without breaking the bank. That is the real challenge. Doing this without spending more than the house is worth.

Hello.
I want to buy a NAD C375BEE with similar problem.

YouTube

It's big problem of 375 series.
But difficult to cure.
Any solution please.
Regards

Dear All,

Doe anybody have the schematic of the Teac CD-3450SE ?

Regards,

Davide

Good morning,
I have for years used a Chordette Gem DAC via its Bluetooth facility and its been fine.
Thinking i might get better quality if i used a wired connection i connected USb out from my Surface power hub to the DAC via a long USB cable, now when i change folders on the PC i get loud clicks, but not when i change tracks, its like a switch noise, it never did it when connected via Bluetooth...........
Any ideas, many thanks, mike

First time speaker builder here, making 2x 15" 55-60l sealed down firing subwoofers. Powered by an A800, Kept in check by a miniDSP 2x4.

I'm aware it's wise to flush mount mid/mid-bass drivers, but is it worth me going to the trouble of cutting out a couple pieces of wood to glue/screw to the bottom of the baffle plate in order to get at least pretty close to flush-ish mounting.

It would be a bit of a ballache to be honest. The project is getting close to that satisfying stage of screwing/gluing things together. I'd have a couple things to give a minor redesign to, and I do NOT trust my jigsaw skills quite enough to match the line I draw around my driver flange with my jigsaw😀

They will never be played particularly loud if that makes any difference,

But... If there's a significant sonic benefit to it, then it's probably worth my trouble.


Thanks for reading,
Jon James

Hello, looking for help. I have no technical knowledge of building speakers... at all, first time. But I do know wood working. I have heard that there is a larger enclosure for the Zaph ST 71 but I can not find the drawings.

Also, would it change the sound quality of the shape of the box is changed but the volume remains the same??

I wanted to change the shape to a tapered rectangle. The sides would slope downward but the front and back would still remain straight and parallel.

any help is appreciated.... I have no clue.

I ran some tests on my amps recently. I was surprised to find one amp was fake balanced the other (not surprised) was an honest xlr only single ended amp and the other was something else. I have a question about that last one.

The test was two things:
1) with amps off checking continuity between pins on the xlr inputs. If any of the two pins beep (usually 1 and 3) there's a pin tied to ground (1)… (probably)
2) I made a thru board XLR in and out and had pin 1 (ground) connected thru at all times. Then I was able to connect pin 2 in to pin 2 out or 3 only or both and read the output on a 4" driver.

the amps and results:

Adcom 555se = fake balanced. pin 3 connected I got nothing. pin 2 only and I got full signal. Both 2 and 3 connected thru same full signal.

Yamaha P2050 = honest single ended XLR only amp. Same results as the Adcom.

Cerwin Vega CW-1800 = Strange. With pin 3 only connected there was nothing. With pin 2 only connected I got 76.8 db out of the driver. With both 2 and 3 pins connected thru I got 82.8 db out of the driver. On this amp I connected a XLR cable up to the input (amp off) to do test 1 and put the leads in the other end of the cable to test continuity. This amp has those XLR / TRS combo jacks and I didn't want to miss. It beeped when connecting pins 1 and 3. hmm?

This is kind of a two part post what have you seen? Any other weird results from a "balanced" amp? What is true balanced supposed to do in test 2? And what could be going on with the CV-1800?

Hello Everyone!

Having a bit of an issue with my old faithful TEAC H500 AMp

The manual source selection on this old Amp has stopped working...it uses an ALPS encoder switch to increment 'Up or Down' signal.

Im confident the encoder switch is not it...checked with meter..and also had a spare ALPS Encoder which I swapped in/out and made no difference.

The thing with this is that using a Remote Control to change source input still works fine...source selection is highlighted by an LED and that works also.

Any thoughts from anyone appreciated..it would be nice to have this Amp completely working.

Seen a couple of people have had selector issues...but no luck...if anyone can help ..any thoughts would be most appreciated. Thankyou.

4 by vkmusic, on Flickr


3 by vkmusic, on Flickr


2 by vkmusic, on Flickr


1 by vkmusic, on Flickr


ACME 300B $825

Electronics is both a profession and a hobby for me but I haven't focused on music electronics for a long time. Now I want to make a guitar combo for my son as a lockdown project and will appreciate some tips.

The idea is to make a combo that can be used as a standalone when he wants to play without an external effects unit. So it will include these -
- Gain
- Overdrive
- 3-band equalizer
- Reverb

First question: What sensitivity should I aim for to drive the amp to full power with the gain and volume controls maxed out on the clean channel with tone controls in the flat position? 10mV, higher, lower? (My son's main guitar is an unmodified Washburn N2 but he plays other models too).

Hello. I need a BA-3 card, the store is sold out. does anyone have one that they can dispense with?

Thanks

WTB USA-CA 3-4" fullrange - rs100/rs100p, 4fe35/4fe32, tc9, B80, lavoce fan030.71 etc

Looking for some 3-4" full range drivers.
RS100 8 ohm
RS100p 4 or 8 ohm
4fe35 4 or 8 ohm
4fe32 4 or 8 ohm
tc9fd18

Might also be interested in:
Visaton B80, lavoce fan030.71, tg9fd, 3fe25, 3fe22, ps95

Used is fine, the cheaper the better as long as they're working like they should.

Also looking for RS225p-4a

Selling some brand new Bohlender Graebener Neo3 PDR tweeters. These are the deep back cup versions of the PDR. They have a lower Fs that allows them to be crossed lower than a standard PDR version.
I am looking for $90 each, but I am open to offers.
PM me if you are interested in a pair or larger quantity.
Thanks.

Earlier this year I joined this forum with the intent of trying to learn how to build my first set of speakers. My first two posts were I guess out of place and I should have been more contrite.
After reading about & looking at all of the near field full range speakers here I decided that I would try and attempt to build a set of Montellos. I would like to thanks Big Gun for the inspiration & all the other posts that shared their experience in this little gem of a speaker. building this has been a journey, lot if fun and has tested my skills as a hobbyist wood worker.
So on with the show:
First pic starting out, having cut the pieces from the 1/2" baltic birch I arranged them so I could keep track of the assembly.
Second & third pick, I decided that I was going to attached a veneer so I thick sliced some 1/4 sawn white & red oak. Two of the pieces turned out to have this wonderful grain pattern that became the front baffle for the speakers, the other pieces were from different pieces of firewood. Pieces are about 1/4" thick & surface planed & sanded to 250 grit, 80 at first then 180 to the final 250.
Pic four, All the pieces are cut & ready for final assembly. I sourced out 1/2" felt from McMaster Carr. They sell a"soft" moving felt that is porous to blow through. Hopefully this is the correct choice.
Pic five, Assembly, I secured the felt prior to cut with double sided tape and test fitted each piece speaker trimming felt as I went for a snug fit. Each piece was set to dry for a day.
Pic six, to set off the top & bottom from the sides I used cherry. I messed up cutting the ports so I remade them using the same wood as the front baffle and added a cherry splice to break up the grain not matching.
Pic seven, time for a snooze, Toonces kept coming down to check on the progress so often that when he did not show up one time I had to go looking. Guess he bit tired
Pics eight nine & ten, left front, full set up & right front.
The right front shows a rookie mistake, I set the flush trim bit too high, clipped the driver baflle, had a few choice words with self and oops did it again at the splice. Lesson learned. My wife said she will just smile every time she looks at them. 🙂
These will eventually go on her desk/ home office as she is working at home while the battle of Covid19 rages on.

I am thinking about making some for this location using 3/4" speaker spikes. Would they sound the same as these???

Oh by the way these sound AWESOME. I am using my college Yamaha R300 to power these w/ a NAD cd player and will use a Wiistar digital,optical coax to analog DAC to watch the tv.

My main comparison for audio are a pair of Polk M7's. These Montellos are clearer in the high range and almost match the mid if not very close. The bass is not as mature as the Polks but is full and punchy.

I listened to Copland's Rodeo Suite and heard instruments you could not hear as clear on the M7's. If you know the piece of music, there is a section in the second & third movement where a single triangle is used. In the Montellos you not only hear the sound but the strike, in the M7's you hear the sound but the strike is not as pronounced. Staging is remarkable as well.
I wonder how much more or less would the sound be if I build a pair with the spikes, Hmm?

Well I'm going to say thanks to the designer of the Montello

For those who want to know the finish on the veneer, I used boiled linseed oil on the cherry. On the oak I started with a trans tint called golden oak in denatured alcohol, 24 hour dry time and then boiled linseed oil over the whole speaker again, cherry & oak. Burnishing as the linseed oil dried. every few hours for an hour or two. No finishing varnish or shellac as I want the oil to mature into it's own patina. You could try some amber shellac on a trial piece to bring out the color. I am satisfied with the vintage look of the box.

ENJOY & BE SAFE

I recently built an up firing omni speaker. I'm trying to make sense of klippel bl and kms symmety graphs. Looking at the plots is the slight sag of upfiring working to my advantage?

I'm ready to have our annual meeting again after the new year.
We'll schedule it for the 3rd Saturday in January.


We might as well meet at the same library as the last time
unless we find a sponsor's location.

Hi, included are photos of a 35C5 OPA541 hybrid amplifier. Please only include commentary relating to the thread title.

I have build myself a preamp with 12B4A tubes. About 80v-ish on the plate. Dropping voltage from around 250v over a 11KOhm resistance. Pin 2 and 7(grids) have each a 2,2kOhm connected to the 100K volume pot. A 470 Ohm resistor on the cathode, no capacitor in paralell.
Sometimes the volume starts to increase, then goes "down" again?, witout touching the volumeknob. Can somebody tell me what is wrong. The preamp sounds great if I compare the preamp to other preamps I have12AU7 srpp, 6j5 single stage, but after about 15 hours use the preamp starts to behave this strange.

Recently, I have been trying to put together a fun, simple project to make a headphone amplifier for use at the office. I plan to use this amplifier with a pair of Grado S80 headphones. I already have the PSU drawn up and the simulations look good for producing a smooth 20V through a standard LM317 voltage regulator. However, I wanted to check if my circuit looks correct because it is a modified version of the one from DIYaudioprojects.com found here: DIY IRF610 MOSFET Class-A Headphone Amplifier Project based on some suggestions I saw on this website. I guess my issue is when I run this simulation on LTSpice, it looks good until I get to the voltage being sent to the headphones themselves and I am not sure why or how I can verify this circuit. What kind of simulations should I be running? How can I switch this to reduce PSRR using a negative power supply or perhaps a P-Channel MOSFET? What alternative to the IRF610 would anybody suggest? I have so many questions.

I'm intrigued by hopefully building some speakers with 'Onken' style enclosures)(I'm currently leaning towards 'classic Onken' rather than the Planet10 alternate 'Fonken' -although I have the highest regard for Dave and his work).

I'd be open to either Multi-way or Full-range, but with a definite gladness to go full range if I find suitable drivers within my reach. And I think I have found two potentially-excellent candidate drivers for this: the Tang Band W6-2144 or W8-2145.

I've been using the 'Onken calculator' at HiFi Loudspeaker Design

The W6-2144 looks like it performs very, very nearly as well at lower frequencies as the W8, and the W6 manages to do so in a much more modestly sized enclosure. PDFs of calculations (from the above-mentioned onken calculator website) attached. The results I am getting from the online 'onken calculator' show the W6 an f3 of 33.8hz in a 60.8 liter enclosure vs the W8 with 32.5hz in a 100.7 liter enclosure.

Difference in price between the drivers $91.10 for the W6 vs $96.90 for the W9 is practically a rounding error, so prices of the drivers aren't a reason for me to lean towards one vs. the other.

My questions:

1) Can I reasonably rely on this online 'onken calculator?'

2) I don't yet have real depth of understanding (at least not nearly what I'd like) of how the multiple characteristics of drivers interact with different size and configuration enclosures - so- am I missing the boat here somewhere in what the calculator is telling me, both in relation to:
3) Aside from "graphed frequency response" and a slight gain in db per watt efficiency in the W8 over the W6, is there any other reason I should consider going with the W8 over the W6?

4) similar to "3" but more narrow: if I use a single-ended triode tube amplifier with no negative feedback, would the W8 in a large enclosure present a better load and match to the amp than the W6 in a smaller enclosure?

I realized that I stacked a lot of 'ask' into this question, so thanks for plowing through it. and I appreciate and look forward to input. Thanks in advance!

Hello, you were all so helpful when I was upgrading my stereo speakers a while back and I'm hoping your collective expertise can help again today!

I am hoping to make a mono 'grotbox' speaker for checking my mixes on.

I have a single driver passive speaker to do the job. At the minute I am running a Lepai Class T amp to drive it, but it keeps making loud clicking noises intermittently and scaring the life out of me.

I'm hoping to turn the speaker into an all in one unit with the amp on the inside and a power-switch attached to the outside somehow.

Part of the point is that it doesn't sound great so I'm looking for something cheap and effective rather than 'good'. Any advice is appreciated!

I've attached pics of the speaker and driver.

Audio will be coming from Protools > RME interface > Mackie Big Knob

Thanks in advance 🙂

The Carver ad indicates a five year warranty on amp & tubes, with "Unique Carver Tube Tech" and variable bias. Nothing found on Carver's site and there's little info on-line.

It could be image distortion because the output tubes look like taller KT-120s. Does anyone, here, know the details on this <$5k amp? If an elaborate biasing scheme successfully develops 180 watts from a KT-120 pair, at low distortion, long life, and reasonable cost, what might be the trade-off? Or aren't those tubes KT-120s? Intriguing.

Hello,

Attached is a pic of the board inside my Steve Sank modified Parasound HCA-1000A. I am currently recapping the four large filter caps located in the center and am cleaning the PCB from their electrolyte leakage. It eluded me, but I found another electrolytic cap, which I have circled here in red, which has also leaked some electrolyte onto the board but no bulging at the top at all. It's a 25V 1000uf cap. As you can see the amp is laid out "dual mono" if you will, with a few parts not mirrored on each side and this part is one of them. It's located near that Omron relay. Anyone know what the function of this cap is and if I should swap it out? Wondering how silly it would be if I tried to get by not changing it. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Hi Diyaudio,

While staying at home for COVID reasons, I'm studying different 45/2A3 DC coupled schematics. the following schematic from Shishido San is puzzling me.

What could be the purpose of 22k resistor, between the 300 V B+ supply of the first stage, and the cathode resistor of the power triode ?

Thanks for your assistance. Warm regards,

Jerome

Would the amplifier in a typical plasma tv be able to drive some external speakers, assuming the external speakers were sensitive enough?

I want to disconnect the internal speakers and connect the (same) wires to some external single driver speakers. (I'm guessing the internal amp is anywhere from a few watts to a few dozen watts?) The TV is at my in-laws; one of whom is technicallly challenged, the other has Alzheimer's. I've tried external amp from the line level out, but between the extra remote, and choosing the input on the external amp, etc., they're constantly confused and I just want to make something for them that sounds better (one has hearing problems too) but is seamless from their standpoint. I'd build a pair of bookshelf speakers with some high sensitivity full-range drivers.

Is this likely to work?
I could also feed that internal speaker output signal to a simple (Lepai-type, always on) amplifier and then onto the new speakers, but don't know if the input voltage to the Lepai would be too high, or if there are impedance issues I need to consider.

Thanks for any advice. Watching TV is one of just a few things that make my father-in-law happy.

Hi there everyone.

I have a basic home recording studio setup at home here with some old synths, a bunch of old microphones and a computer with a Lexicon Omega and an Mbox 2 interface.

I'm usually using a mysterious Okay-II dynamic microphone which I inherited off my brother in law, which is good as it isn't very sensitive so it picks up less background noise.

Anyway I found these old Japanese AMI Jorgen SE-25A bookshelf speakers on the side of the road. I want to use these as my monitors for my low budget studio. Obviously they won't be as good as proper monitors, but they should be better than nothing. I am thinking that as they are old, perhaps the manufactures didn't try to colour the sound too much maybe?!

I pulled the drivers out of the boxes as I was painting the front of the boxes and I noticed that whilst the tweeter has a 3.3 uf capacitor on it, there is no inductor on the woofer. I thought it might be better to have an inductor on the woofer. The woofers seem to be 5" and the tweeters seem to be 2"

The Woofers have 481121 E written on them and the tweeters have TWEETER 8Ω 0726Aa Japan 8N22D on them. I looked up on google and there was nothing came up.

Would I get a better sound for mixing with some inductors? I don't have much money to spend as I'm a stay at home father with two children, so there is not much of a budget for this.

By trial and error, I looked up on the following website and found the crossover point which seems to match the installed capacitor.

2-Way Crossover Calculator / Designer

1st Order Butterworth
5500 Hertz

8 Ohm Tweeter / 8 Ohm Woofer

Parts List
Capacitors
C1 = 3.61 uF
Inductors
L1 = 0.23 mH

HI All;

Hope all are safe and well.

After house moves and other financial commitments forcing sale of all my hifi equipment, I now have some time to get back and an opportunity to get back into hifi.

I have my heart set on hi-res streaming (e.g. tidal) and biggest bang for buck, so use of a Raspberry Pi seems logical. I also like the look of Roon.

Speakers i will source locally, used, and the one piece of equipment that survived the clearout is a NAD 3130 integrated Amp.

So for the computer end of things, I am thinking Raspberry Pi 4 + DAC + Roon.

I have a 2018 i Mac that is constantly on, which I think I can run Roon core on.

I am struggling with the options out there for a Raspberry Pi based streamer (i.e. the software options for the Pi, the DAC options etc.) so has anyone any pointers on potential solutions that offer sound quality and reliability?

Thanks

I have been scheming a replacement for my edgar 75 hz horns.

As I have gone back and forth on whether to make another horn or make it simple with a closed box (which, of course, I would obsess over to the point it is almost as complicated as a horn) there is much talk about the stiffness of the baffle with the closed box but I have read nothing concerning whether this is as important with a horn loaded enclosure.

Another question is: If one encloses the horn within a box would it be "bad" to use some of this area as the rear chamber of the horn? I know ALTEC used the inside of the flares of the 825 as some kind of filter but these areas are much smaller than the horn I am considering. Of course, additional space would be required behind the driver but this way it could be made much smaller than it would be with a separate box.

Of course I would use braces along each horn side to the outer cabinet.

You read about using three inches thick baffles with closed boxes but nothing is mentioned how important this rigidity is with a horn. Would the forces acting upon both sides of the driver in a horn make this less important?

Any counsel will be appreciated.

I'm goint to install a fuse (or two. or three.) in my KT88SE amp since I'd hate to fry an output transformer. I see a lot of amps placing the HT fuse on the CT of the power transformer, but would it be a good idea to fuse the output tubes separately in addition to this? Something like 500mA-1A, depending on inrush current, on the CT and around 200-250mA on each tube?

I have got a curve tracer from ebay. But, it neet some repairs. The collector supply seems working. The step generator seems working.

But, the beam is thick. I switched on the tacer there is a large green spot about 3mm in diameter in the screen. I turn the intensity knob to try to make it smaller but little change. I turn the focusing knob the shape of the spot changed from circular to rectanglar.

Grateful if anybody can tell me what is wrong? Is the Z amplifier has got problem??

Any helpful hints will be highly appreciated.

Eric

Hello

I was working on a broken RA 971 amp. It had blown fuses , which despite replacement, did not switch on (on a DBT - 70W halogen bulb).
Here is the schematic : https://www.vintageshifi.com/repertoire-pdf/pdf/telecharge.php?pdf=Rotel-RA-971-Service-Manual.pdf
R
However, I could hear a faint sound from the speakers, so by process of elimination chanced upon the relay RY901 and it associated circuitry. I couldnt find an obvious problem, so reflowed the solders for fuse F901, D902 and couple other passives in that path.

Lo and behold the relay started clicking again upon startup and everything was fine. The amp sounded good in operation, all the while on the DBT. Note that I am not sure what the 'fix' was - a bad solder, or the relay just deciding to come unstuck (it was in storage for a while before that).

The Bulb lights up bright (on switch on) and then doesn't quite go to fully to 0 when it selttles, even when nothing plays.
I have repaired a RA 930 and the bulb goes pretty much 'off' when that amp is in operation, but the 971 having 2x the power i assumed a higher current is normal.

Now when I plug to the socket directly, F902 blows with quite a visible spark and charring inside. For a slow blow 6.3A fuse that does seem like a lot. (note that F901 is associated with the relay)

I am scratching my head about what the issue could be. The caps including the 50v 10mF power caps are all original, and so are other components afaik.

The only other point to note is that where the +/-49V in the schematic shows, I get only about +/-39V (all on the DBT). But then the 50v power caps seem pretty keenly specified at 49v. The RA930 is supposed to have +/-37V and i get slightly less (c34v).

With the power fuses out, and connected directly to mains, the transformer outputs are about 39.5v AC.

The regulated voltages show 16.1v. The regulating transistors q901, q902 do get very warm or even hot at idling.

I did in circuit checks of all the power transistors and the driver/bias transistors that are coupled thermally to the heatsink. I checked all the diodes as well.

I am yet to find an obviously 'bad' component.

Any pointers would be very appreciated.

This afternoon I've been refining the horn in one of my projects*.

I've been doing some measurements as I go, so I thought I'd document the improvements.

Some of this information will repeat from my 'Homster**' thread, so apologies in advance for the redundancy.




The first thing is to put a resistor in series with the compression driver. This does a few things. First, it lowers the noise level. In my setup, with a miniDSP, there was an audible hiss. This is because the compression driver has an efficiency of 109dB. So it's like an Xray for noisy components upstream. On my system, the 10ohm resistor dropped the output of the compression driver by approximately 8.5dB.

In the pics above, I have four measurements. From the top to bottom we have the speaker with no resistor, we have the speaker with a 10ohm resistor in series with the compression driver. Then I repeat the process but I adjusted the output of the compression driver to match the midrange, now with the resistor in series. The difference in noise level was startling.

The second thing that the resistor does is to increase output in the bottom octave of it's response, and in the top end. This is particularly nice since it's challenging to get a lot of output from a compression driver in the octave from 10khz to 20khz. (Due to the driver's mass rolloff.)


Here's how this works: Like most speakers, a compression driver has a rise in impedance at resonance, and due to inductance. When you put a resistor in series, it affects the frequency response *less* at resonance and in the top octave of it's response. (Due to inductance.) For instance the resistor drops output at 2khz by 6dB, but by 8.5dB at 5khz and at 10khz. So once you compensate for the reduction by increasing the voltage to the compression driver, you now have a bit of 'boost' at resonance and in the top octave. (Because the resistor's impact varies by frequency.)

Last but not least, the resistor linearizes the impedance curve to a degree, like a cheap version of a zobel filter, which makes any passive components work closer to 'textbook' values. For instance, if you put a capacitor in series with a compression driver, the affect of the capacitor will be small at the driver's resonance, due to the rise in impedance. But if you use a resistor to linearizes the impedance, then select a capacitor value that's appropriate for the higher overall impedance, the filter slope will be a closer match to the ideal value, be it Butterworth, Linkwitz Riley, etc...

On face value, it might seem like this tweak would reduce the output of the compression driver. But for the most part, it doesn't. The compression drivers power handling is still the same, just a fraction of that power is going into the resistor. And it's excursion is as high as ever. The only real downside is that it's a waste of power... But I probably use about five watts on my compression driver, if that, so the waste of power isn't a big deal to me.

If you want to read up further on this, check out some of the posts on 'LeCleach on Horns' where they discuss putting resistors in series. I broke out a new thread simply to document the results in my project.



More improvements coming up...

* http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/multi-way/252549-edge-no-control.html

** http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/multi-way/151376-homster-how-i-learned-how-fix-horn.html

Hi there,

I think this is kind of an interesting way of doing this. I am installing a Hertz Mille Pro 6.5 (mpk 165.3, 4 ohm) component set-up into my 4runner and I need to pick an amp from my existing stash. I took the backs off all three amps and was surprised at what I saw. I guess largely because I do not know exactly what I am looking at sans the caps and power supplies.

Can you help me pick one on 3 criteria (just for fun)?
1 - Based on looks of the internals?
2 - Based on the specs?
3 - Knowing all what would you yourself actually run?

I will be using the hertz crossovers and may think about going active in the far future since I have the amps.

The three amps are:

Crossfire CFA 142 (35 watts x 2, 4 ohms).

RockFord Punch 100.2 Gold Cap (50 watts x 2, 4 ohms)

MTX Thunder TA404 (35 watts x 4, 4 ohms. Bridged: 140 watts x 2 4ohms.
This is amp is brand new (old stock) btw, I just pulled it out of the plastic, if that matters.

Thanks!

I have an old favorite amp I use for a pair of slightly modified Canton Plus C sub/satt setup in my bedroom.
It is an original Audionics CC-2.
The caps are more than dried up now and causing me to unplug before total failure.

I have a neurological disorder that causes my hands to shake when trying to do precision work. (Cannot even use my turntable anymore)

I am in Southern VA US.

Any of you within a reasonable drive of DC/Roanoke/Raliegh-Durham who is good with a soldering iron interested in the project?
The cap replacement is very straight forward, but I do not want to end up with shaky globs/damage trying it myself.

Hey guys, I just finished a diy ribbon mic and it sounds sweet!!! Compered it to some other brands and I really like its character.
The only downside is I need to cranck up about 8-10db more then the other ribbons I compared with.
I am using a self wired transformer (I will provide with firther info about the core and wiring), 52N magnets and for now I am experiencing with 1.8-2.5u AL foil . I get an avarage number of 11-13 corrugations(maybe to little?) on a 5cm long, 0.5cm wide ribbon .
I guess I just need a clue on what should I be looking next to try and increase the output gain.
Will apreciate any help 🙂😎

I stuffed the Aleph J boards today and did a quick mount in the chassis for a test.

Adjusting the bias for 350mv, then 400mv is no problem on either board.

When I connect a speaker, sometimes LED3 will dim and LED2 will go bright. Then consistently maintain this state if I turn the output of my source up.

If I turn the source output up to the extreme, I'll hear some muffled, highly distorted sound. I may not have heard it at all but my speakers are very efficient. At the same time, LED will blink - seemingly with the amplitude of the input signal.

The behavior is exactly the same on both boards - so whatever mistake I made, it's consistent 🙂

I don't know where to start troubleshooting, and would greatly appreciate help.

The only test tools I have are some inexpensive digital multi-meters.

Thanks in advance!

When I became aware of the F4's ability to be driven by a main amplifier's output, I started wondering if I could use it to drive a wider range of speakers with my SET - and still have the SET character?

I'm not sure how significant this is, but the 300B is a Tubelab SE.

Aside from 300B's any descriptions about the F4 being driven by low power SET amplifiers would be great! Please include your speaker. Thanks!

Hello everybody,

I've jsut got a webinar invitation for some 3M filters:

http://www.filter-equipment.com/uploads/1/2/2/8/122858212/3m-high-flow-hfr-series-data-sheet_1.pdf
Look at bottom right of page 2. That one has the purpose to increase the filtering surface area of a flow passing through the filter, but...
Imagine that the flows doesn't pass through the membranes but tangentially... imagine that is not a membrane but a sheet of Alluminium, imagine it is air and not water and imagine it clamped on the magnet of the cone.

Has anyone ever done a "clampable heat sink" made in the 3M HFR way, to be clamped on the magnet and with the same diameter of the speaker?

The purpose is:
- increase the heat tranfer coefficient (when the cone moves, the convection goes from natural to forced (by the cone moving), so increase the capability to transfer heat;
- increase in the surface area of the magnet, so increase the capability to transfer heat.

This will give two scenarios:
- lower temperatures for the magnet, so higher reliability for the speaker;
- higher allowed power handling.

Has anyone an idea on how (badly) it would impact the sonic performance of the speaker?

By doing the "radiator" in Alluminium and thin, it will give optimal passage for the air, low weight, low costs and less sonic impact, but how can it be calculated?

Thank you all in advance
Roberto

Looking to add four ceiling speakers to my 5.1 to make 5.1.4 for Atmos.
I want to do this on a budget though, since I'm a couple years away from a total home theater build.
It seems the Atmos ceiling speakers don't need to work below 150hz and should be somewhat non-directional.
At $100 for four speakers, any reason not to try the 4FE35's?

I don't have Atmos experience yet, but based on what I've read, I don't understand why some people are going with large speakers for the ceiling.

FaitalPRO 4FE35 4" Professional Full-Range Woofer 8 Ohm

Hello good people!

Thank you for any time you're able to put towards this in advance.

I have a Crown 5000VZ with an unusual problem. It doesn't pass sound, here's the LED situation
ODEP - off - both channels
SIGNAL / IOC - ON, GREEN - both channels
Load / Limit - ON, RED - both channels
DC/LF - ON - both channels

The service manual doesn't cover this combination, but the closest one listed suggests that 'the output stage has been damaged in both channels' and that is it.

Things I have done
Checked the flyback diodes for shorts - D596, 507, 508, 509
Checked the driver and pre-driver transistors for shorts and opens
Checked semi conductors 8188-2 and 8187-4 on all output boards
Repaired numerous dead traces on the output boards (corroded by some obscure green compound)

Would really appreciate any help you good people can offer!

Thanks

Hello everyone!

I develop the reclocker for Raspberry Pi.
I did I2S dividers for BCLK and LRCK.
For testing I use the Raspberry Pi 4 and Volumio OS with selected HiFiBerry DIGI as I2S output.
I connect the Raspi I2S output to my DAC board AK4490, in finally I got corrupted audio.
All wires for I2S connection is very short (not length as 10 cm).
My questions is:
- Which I2S DAC I need select in the Volumio for get native I2S?
- Maybe needed make a configure the I2S driver via I2C or SPI interfaces?

I recently picked up a pair of vintage Weston VU Meters from a Quad Eight.



I am hoping I can add them to an Aleph J that I am building. (I previously built and F5 without issue.)

Has anyone implemented vintage meters of this type? I'm wondering if I can use this PCB board to do it.



I can run 15v from a small transformer or add a regulator and use the 24V from my existing power supply.

One thing I'm unclear on is where this could go in the chain from preamp to amp to speaker outputs. In other words, what is the input to the VU board?

Will it have any negative input on the sound quality?

This is purely for looks.

Hi Everyone,
does anybody happen to know what output devices exposure use in their amp's, specifically the Super XX, i've just shorted the o/p so mine are no more! there are three per channel:
EXP002N EXP002P EXP8N ch1.
EXP002N EXP002P EXP8P ch2.
any info greatly appreciated
Mark

Hi.
I'm building a 4ch ucd400oem amp (driven by two smps400a400) + 4 channels of ucd250lp (one smps400a180).

I made input buffers pcb and all, that part seems to work good (exept one of the ucd400 input buffers that makes the connected module ticking (sound from the speakers) about once a second, no other sound than that), its like some protection is kicking in, cant get whats wrong with it, maybe I'll have to rebuild a new one from scratch.

And I have a problem with one of my ucd400oem modules. it is dead silent, no sound what so ever. I bought 4 of them on ebay and the other ones works as expected. If i connect one working ucd400 oem to the input buffer then it works, switching place with the ucd400oem that not works and there is no sound at all. So there have to be som wrong with the module.


I also have one smps400a400 that has negative rail shorted to gnd. measured when not connected.
I have just sent a question to hypex regarding the smps but I know it will take a while before I get an answer so I thought I could ask hare also. What could be wrong with this one? I have tried to see if there are some metal pieces on the pcb shorting the - and gnd but could not find anything.

This really off putting because I really wanted this to work, already spent a lot on this both time and money. Any help would be appreciated!

some pictures of my input buffers.



Thanks /Joel

Hi,

Just received and built my nc122mp amplifier, in a ghent audio case.
For now, the amp is always on, but I would like to use a trigger input.
I'm not an electonic guru, so I'd like your approbation before doing anything ^^

I undestand that I have to deal with the ncore module H-bus connector.
Need to cut the J6.3 (PS standby output) to J6.9 (PS Enable) bridge, and add kind of relay that will be open/close according to the mono 3.5mm jack input?

My preamp doesn't have trigger output, so I'll use a wifi/IR outlet with a 5V power supply plugged in on it to trigger the amp.

Any recommandations ?
Thanks

I am looking for a cheap simple system for the kids to play around with.

A quick search gives party speaker systems at different prices but you have systems as The box PA 15 DSP as well. A Bluetooth speaker is easy to use but membrane area adds some significant punch in the sound.

Are there better alternatives than the PA system above in that price range?

I think a diy project will be more expensive even if the sound could be better with proper designed speaker cabinets. Only the speaker element will most probably be more expensive than these cheap active systems.

Hey guys,

Hope you’re all staying safe and well.

I’m using a Cyrus One V6 solely as a phono stage in my setup. Naturally it is quieter than let’s say a CD input but it still seems a little on the quiet even as a phono stage. I love the quality of the sound and I’m wondering if any of you guys know of any “mods” to squeeze a little more gain?

Thanks guys

I have used a number of SMPS to power my music server over the years, but none of them has got close to my Paul Hynes SR7 in the high frequencies.

Some computer power supplies, such as high end corsair, and the AX1600i I had have very good voltage regulation and ripple suppression - the AX1600i sounded to me as identical in the lower and mid range, but rolled off / unsatisfactory upper band.

I use Hypex SMPS in my amplifiers and these are completely perfect accross the frequency spectum to my ears.

Has anyone else experience this, and any thoughts reasoning why these computer smps sound rolled off in the high notes, yet the Hypex power supply doesn't seem to do this.

Thanks

Hi,

I found in flea market very large number MOSFET from ex CDMA/GSM BTS or a brand new one from datasheet I know the have 60 to 300w in 1800-2200MHz because the price is very cheap. from 1USD to 10USD I been thinking to use it in Pass design amplifier. but before I regret my idea if some one kind enough to give me idea or suggestion about which scheme and parameter I must use Vmax, I max etc
some of parts I already have is,
MRF6S18060NR1
mrf8s9260hs
MRF8P9300HS

All idea is appreciated.
Anton

Found these in my stash. Are used but measure fine at 435u, 439u and 105u

Make me an offer. Shipping can be with letter (cheap but no tracking I guess) or package (costly)

Collect in Utrecht NL

YouTube

My perspective is based on my feelings, after seeing this video. Loudspeaker design and Mastering go hand in hand. If we take Earl G and lock him in a room with Bob Katz, for a year, though they represent decades of research, both would potentially "master" each others material quickly, because its so closely related.
Mastering has made me a better loudspeaker designer and loudspeaker design has made me a better mastering engineer.

I hope this turns into a discussion about what needs to be done to advance both sides of the fence and how, in 2020. Also mentions of Standout products or Practices.


I named the post as I did because that is the formula, in my mind to move forward....The audience (general public) is less important than is being treated in this video, The audience is "uneducated and incorrect" and we are educated and way more correct. Floyd said it, and I am witnessing, the consumer products move closer to mastering monitors and not visa versa which to me is a slow showing trend of the audiences (general public) audio intelligence increasing causing their expectations to become more like the Mastering engineer. FLoyd shows how they did their double blind test and I see a larger portion of casual listeners than critical listeners ...that can only makes sense because one group has a much bigger pocket book.
I thought.....I thought.....I thought we were moving away from the smiley face voicings and "max bass boost" type systems. The General public will lead you to more non sense if left unchecked....just kick them out of the picture so early in the game. Loudspeaker design, mainly, should be left up to Mastering engineers and Loudspeaker engineers until the later stages, like we have 10 models that we screened out, we'll use the general public to figure out what they like out of what we find acceptable.
So why, why do I say this? Mastering Engineers are the Ultimate Critical Listener! We have the ears! Our job consist of creating the most neutral playback, listening, and adjusting, to create an emotional, dynamic, tonally balanced presentation from scratch. This process is almost identical to the objectives of loudspeaker design but a mastering engineer repeats this process, from scratch, many many times over in a week. How many loudspeakers can a designer create from scratch and go through the hoops to completion in a week? So at the end of the day, Mastering engineers have the experience advantage. If a speaker is perceived well, is a question that should only be answered by mastering engineers since we have the ears. Loudspeaker designers seem to need a group of people, to make decisions. Making these types of decisions are what Mastering engineers do on a daily basis, by their lonesome , and whether they are right or not, is feedback that can be discovered within a short time frame. So not only do we constantly listen and manipulate the signal, several times over, more times in a week, than the loudspeaker designer can be challenged...we are also obsessive with being right, so we are constantly checking our work, within the week, to see if we are "right"......if we are right about our choices voices versus what we hear....we have successful mixes that translate from system to system and successful careers in the field....if the loudspeaker designer is "wrong"....only the mastering engineers and other niches of high critical listening care!!!! How is this possible!? A good production sounds fine on un-perfect speakers! Creating these types of mixes that sound good on every additional system post the studio...cannot be done on consumer level speakers...so not only do Mastering Engineers have the ear training, they have it based on systems that are an attempt at perfection, designed by loudspeaker engineers.

So the advancement of the field of Perfect Speakers should only be pushed forward by the people who are the main consumer of perfect loudspeakers who conveniently happened to be the same people who design the signal in the first place, and thus need perfect speakers regardless of preference, Mastering Engineers....

Go

Hi all,

I'm an IT guy, 37, my father is the big guru (built couple of tube & solid state amps) but we're not living together and he almost doesn't have any more time to teach me on basics of electronics or hi-fi or whatsoever.

- Ca. 15-20 years ago my first speaker set was 2 fullrange boxes made of MDF, I cut the holes, drivers in, glued together - perfect. Then blown with Prodigy at that time 😀 - well, youth .. you know ..

- Ca. 15-10 years ago my 2nd project: 4 boxes, 2 left, 2 right, all mdf. (3 way, separate boxes for Bass and mid+highs). 2x12" (30cm) bass drivers / side, 4 Ohms each, in series, with front-facing bass reflex holes. Mid+high in a separate box on top of it.

- Passive filter for the 3-way was set-up by myself, based on my father's instructions. He calculated me the 2 basic X-over freqs matching my speakers and I had to solder them together and wound the coils also by myself from his copper wire, using a ferrite core (for the bass coils only).. 3-way classic Butterworth design.

Still using these huge boxes, but the speakers need to be changed. Mids are from Visaton, silk dome ferrofluid tweeters from Audio-Ton ( = almost noname, sound excellent however..) .. bass drivers you can forget .. cheap whatever types..


Now I want to sweep the table and start all-new again with a far better project.

What I have:
- precision soldering iron 😀
- contact to a local company building high-end grade extraordinary speakers, also for hobbyists, partly or fully .. I'd have them build my boxes. BIZSÓK Loudspeaker Manufactory
- my ultimate-looking wanna-own speaker design http://www.canhifi.com/Resources/ProductImage/ImageFile/beethoven_concert_grand_1_xtralarge_xtralarge_XtraLarge.jpg
- a 3-way active crossover design I'm going to use from Linkwitz Lab - Loudspeaker Design, fine tuned to my needs with help of my father..

Where I need advice on:
1. High sensitivity, detailing, fast, audiophile-grade speaker driver recommendation (exact models maybe?) - or at least a good store ! For bass, mids and highs.
2. No big magic pls, I'm rather the realistic type of person, not believing in placing spikes below the 230V/AC splitter 😀
3. Some questions regarding tri-amping with different DIY amps

Target music: sadly I'm almost an all-eater but don't want to have 2 separate systems..
- electronic music (Goldfrapp, Air, Morcheeba, Asteroids Galaxy Tour, Jean Michel Jarre)
- Classics (Karajan Gold collection on LP, mint condition)
- Rebecca Pidgeon, Loreena McKennitt, Dire Straits, Mark Knopfler, Diana Krall CDs, SACDs, LPs and high-res DSDs
- Deep house, techno, electronic music (all lossless)


For topic #1 my imagination so far:
- 8 Ohm total. 2-4 bass drivers, 1 or 2 midrange(s), 1 tweeter
- tweeter would be a ribbon type, I LOVE their sound. DIY amp design would be carefully selected to be able to drive such tweeters with transformers.
- mids: no idea. Something from Visaton, Seas, Fostex, Scan Speak, others.. ?
- bass: no idea. Maybe 8-10" ones ? For more power handling I plan 2 pcs here (at least) - does it make sense to have 4 pcs ? (Does it increase overall sensitivity and detailing capability of the bass section while retaining decent power handling ? I hate slow bass..)
- all 3 ways at around 90+ dB sensitivity, I would like to hear details
- 80% stereo music, 20% home cinema use (2.0 stereo, maybe 2.1 but no sub planned yet)

Topic #3 - tri-amping, DIY amps.
- Does it make sense (or is it a completely wrong idea) of using a mixed setup ? MOSFET amps for bass, tube class AB pushpull for mids (Tung-Sol KT150-s), tube OTL for tweeters ? Considering phase coherence mostly.
- Gains matched, in the amp design and also on the active crossover network (matching the parameters of the driver sections of course)
- Where to put the volume controls ? (Stepped attenuators). The more towards last amp stage or right at the beginning at line level in the preamp ? (Before splitting into 3 ways).
- Passive preamp OK ? (with XLR Input from high-res DAC)

Any advice or useful info warm welcome. Please forgive me for my English and try not to laugh if I seem to dream big with so few knowledge about electronics. 🙂 It's always that I dream and my father helps me to put things ready onto the table. 😉 I'll need him for this project too but without your valuable help it would still remain just a simple oldschool design without any traces of quality. I really strive for quality here (combined with decent power), at least as far as a hobbyist I can go..

Many-many thanks !!

Hi All,

I hope all is well out there.

I love my Schiit Saga (R2R), I basically want a networked version of it (I use Roon for my music almost exclusively now), something like the ESP32 controlling an R2R or a LDR based volume.

I would want the firmware to support an interface that allows setting and querying the volume level. Home Assistant automation software has ESPHome which allows you to connect ESP's with automation easily.

I have seen RelaiXedPassive, LDR Pre MkII and some other bits out on the internet but nothing seems to be quite what I need, is anyone else doing this?

I'm happy soldering surface-mount, ordering parts from DigiKey and I have used Gerbers to order boards from PCBWay, so the DIY route is all good, I've never designed a board though.

Thanks for looking.

Cheers
Richard

System: Roon (PC) >> Pro-Ject Pre Box S2 (DAC) >> Schiit Saga (R2R Volume) >> Valvet A1r's (Amp) >> Salk SongTower QWT (Speakers)

helo good folks, I'll get right to it. I don't know much about Audio and such but I was wondering if there is a mixer or something that exists that allows me to change the volume levels of individual programs of my choice, like a knob/slide for Spotify and one for chrome, etc but also have USB inn for my mic and a knob/ slide for that. I have managed to use macros and an external Numpad to use for volume control on Spotify but its kina janky some times and I was wondering if there was something better and I'm kinda interested in learning about stuff like this. Also, I have SteelSeries arctic pro wireless headphones (Amazon.com: SteelSeries Arctis Pro Wireless Gaming Headset - Lossless High Fidelity Wireless Plus Bluetooth for PS4 and PC: Electronics)
and was hoping I could still use them with the mixer or soundcard (again I'm a noob don't know what the ting would be that is why I am asking). I was imagining something like the audio going from my PC into the mixer/soundcard then into my headset and also the mic into the soundcard/mixer or something
Thanks

Hi everyone! This is my first post on this forum 🙂

I have recently been given a pair of quad 99 monoblocks.

Two questions:

1. The speaker terminals on one is kind of broke.

I am thinking of opening it and soldering a new pair of terminals.

I have soldered RCA cables before. That worked great.

Is attaching new speaker terminals doable för a beginner with basic soldering skills? I am kind of assuming it is very straightforward, just soldering wire to the terminal.


2:

Googling this site I found a member stating the following about Quad 99:

"I bought a new Quad 99 as a local shop here is selling for less then 500 USD. I hv solder a direct wire from the RCA input to the amplifier board, and eliminated the messy Quad link circuitry that killed the sound."

That member no longer seems to be active, but the post intrigued me. Just soldering a wire from one place to another doesn't seem that hard, and if it can improve the sound...

Does it sound like good/bad idea? And more importantly - would anyone on this board be willing to help me identify the points to solder when I open monoblocks?

thanks in advance,
Carl
Sweden

Hi there!
I heard a rumor about Alpair 10.2 drivers in droves being spread around Sweden.
Is there anyone in Sweden who is sitting on a pair or two they don't need?

Peace!

/Hilding