Hi guys,
Noticed this intro forum, after posting a few times about amplifiers.
Hi, I'm Suzy, from Sydney, Aust. I'm an engineer. I can't help being an engineer, 'cos my dad was an engineer, and he made me do it. But even worse than that, I'm an RF engineer.
That means I snigger when people mention valves. I also do the hundred yard stare at the poor sales droid at the local hifi shop when he tries to sell me $100 interconnects.
Most of my day-to-day work is in designing really high frequency, really low noise amplifiers, mixers, ADCs, and such-forth in CMOS. It's nice to do hobby stuff every now and then though, so I build stuff.
Some of the stuff I've built have included a telescope , some bicycle frames , and various aquarium stands for our home.
Basically, unless I have a few pots on the boil, I get bored.
I like music (like, d'uh). My CD collection was referred to once (by a workmate) as a "bunch of whinging dykes". I like folksy/indie stuff, but also go for rock and the occasional pop. - Suzanne Vega, Alanis Morissette, Joe Jackson, James, James Blunt, Bob Dylan, Jewel, Tim Booth, Bernard Fanning, Redgum, U2, Dire Straits, you name it. I like music with meaning, music that has a certain level of emotional involvement, introverted music, but still music that's relatively straightforward and unfussy.
I hate opera. I hate music that's lyrically over-embellished. I hate pretty bands.
I recently inherited a pair of old Infinity RS-5B speakers, complete with rotting woofer surrounds. These speakers are a good match for most of the music I like - they have really good mid-range response, and work well with vocals. I tracked down some new surrounds for them, and dutifully fixed the woofers as good as new.
Now, of course, the new speakers have shown just exactly how terrible the rest of my system is, so I'm on a quest for better sound. I was originally going to buy a NAD stereo receiver, but thought that maybe it would be more fun to roll my own (not to mention getting just what I want).
Hence my descent into DIY audio.
My plans are to build a no-compromise (or at least as few compromises as possible), no-hype integrated amplifier, that will be a reasonable match for my speakers, and will allow me to switch through all our video/audio sources with one remote control. That means it has to switch video sources as well. No need for surround though, as our place just isn't big enough for all those speakers (and I'm not much of a movie buff anyway). Above all though, it has to faithfully reproduce my music.
Anyway, nice to meet you all.
Cheers,
Suzy
Noticed this intro forum, after posting a few times about amplifiers.
Hi, I'm Suzy, from Sydney, Aust. I'm an engineer. I can't help being an engineer, 'cos my dad was an engineer, and he made me do it. But even worse than that, I'm an RF engineer.
That means I snigger when people mention valves. I also do the hundred yard stare at the poor sales droid at the local hifi shop when he tries to sell me $100 interconnects.
Most of my day-to-day work is in designing really high frequency, really low noise amplifiers, mixers, ADCs, and such-forth in CMOS. It's nice to do hobby stuff every now and then though, so I build stuff.
Some of the stuff I've built have included a telescope , some bicycle frames , and various aquarium stands for our home.
Basically, unless I have a few pots on the boil, I get bored.
I like music (like, d'uh). My CD collection was referred to once (by a workmate) as a "bunch of whinging dykes". I like folksy/indie stuff, but also go for rock and the occasional pop. - Suzanne Vega, Alanis Morissette, Joe Jackson, James, James Blunt, Bob Dylan, Jewel, Tim Booth, Bernard Fanning, Redgum, U2, Dire Straits, you name it. I like music with meaning, music that has a certain level of emotional involvement, introverted music, but still music that's relatively straightforward and unfussy.
I hate opera. I hate music that's lyrically over-embellished. I hate pretty bands.
I recently inherited a pair of old Infinity RS-5B speakers, complete with rotting woofer surrounds. These speakers are a good match for most of the music I like - they have really good mid-range response, and work well with vocals. I tracked down some new surrounds for them, and dutifully fixed the woofers as good as new.
Now, of course, the new speakers have shown just exactly how terrible the rest of my system is, so I'm on a quest for better sound. I was originally going to buy a NAD stereo receiver, but thought that maybe it would be more fun to roll my own (not to mention getting just what I want).
Hence my descent into DIY audio.
My plans are to build a no-compromise (or at least as few compromises as possible), no-hype integrated amplifier, that will be a reasonable match for my speakers, and will allow me to switch through all our video/audio sources with one remote control. That means it has to switch video sources as well. No need for surround though, as our place just isn't big enough for all those speakers (and I'm not much of a movie buff anyway). Above all though, it has to faithfully reproduce my music.
Anyway, nice to meet you all.
Cheers,
Suzy
Welcome aboard 
You are a lady? Not many around, extremely few (< 5? active) but not zero, that's good.
You are a lady? Not many around, extremely few (< 5? active) but not zero, that's good.
Welcome to the forum. I'm afraid I glossed over your audio bits because I saw the bikes. Very nice. I took the easy way out and had my frames built professionally, but I have a track frame (that I use for hacking round town), a traditional geared road bike that I use for longer distances, and a tandem for fun.
You've lost me on why an RF engineer should snigger about valves. RF was about the last place to lose valves from mainstream design. Yes, I like valves.
With all the tools at your disposal (especially the lathe), and if you adopt RF construction techniques, you ought to be able to make a seriously nice amplifier. Even if it is solid state.
You've lost me on why an RF engineer should snigger about valves. RF was about the last place to lose valves from mainstream design. Yes, I like valves.
With all the tools at your disposal (especially the lathe), and if you adopt RF construction techniques, you ought to be able to make a seriously nice amplifier. Even if it is solid state.
Welcome to the forums Miss Jackson, glad to have you here. I've noticed your other posts.
While others were looking at your frames, I was admiring your telescope. Very nice job. My scope is but a 4.5" reflector. Fun, but not serious. I usually use it for wildlife viewing with a 10mm erector.
While others were looking at your frames, I was admiring your telescope. Very nice job. My scope is but a 4.5" reflector. Fun, but not serious. I usually use it for wildlife viewing with a 10mm erector.
G,day Suzy
Nice scope. Nice to see you here. I already like your posts.... see ya round.....
Ooroo
Nice scope. Nice to see you here. I already like your posts.... see ya round.....
Ooroo
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