Sorted! 
Annoyingly, I'd spent 3 hours diagnosing a fault that it seems only exists with my spare amp and set of headphones I use for testing late night mods..... Maybe the output is slightly too high for this particular amp's input and it's clipping. I don't know.
But the important point is that it's working very nicely on my main system and sounds great.
I'll post some pics and details of the little regulator boards I made when I find a spare moment, but needless to say, they seem to work very nicely
So now I'm ready for Ray's DOS board and a flea clock for the Dac and decoder. Then I might declare it finished!
Annoyingly, I'd spent 3 hours diagnosing a fault that it seems only exists with my spare amp and set of headphones I use for testing late night mods..... Maybe the output is slightly too high for this particular amp's input and it's clipping. I don't know.
But the important point is that it's working very nicely on my main system and sounds great.
I'll post some pics and details of the little regulator boards I made when I find a spare moment, but needless to say, they seem to work very nicely
So now I'm ready for Ray's DOS board and a flea clock for the Dac and decoder. Then I might declare it finished!
cheers guys. I'd measured the DC on the LO and RO outputs from the DAC as +2.5v but hadn't checked at the RCAs. I'll have a look this evening.
I currently have a 1uf DC blocker inline on each of the outputs from my tube stage. I'll check the DC offset at the RCAs and maybe increase this cap if there's any significant DC offset there.
What should be considered a significant amount of DC offset?
I currently have a 1uf DC blocker inline on each of the outputs from my tube stage. I'll check the DC offset at the RCAs and maybe increase this cap if there's any significant DC offset there.
What should be considered a significant amount of DC offset?
Guys (and Gals ?)
I've been listenning a lot for weeks.
Last mod I did : adding soundcare superspike feet. It cleaned the bass, but a bit too much. Most of the time it sounds good, but on some CDs or just a few tracks here and there, I'm clearly lacking some bass. I had a strange feeling from day one, when I put them, but since a friend came for a listenning session and told me "you need a sub buddy", I'm wondering what I could do. I've tried removing them : bass is back, but I lose some precision/clarity, especially in the high, and I prefer that precision/clarity.
Advise please !
I've been listenning a lot for weeks.
Last mod I did : adding soundcare superspike feet. It cleaned the bass, but a bit too much. Most of the time it sounds good, but on some CDs or just a few tracks here and there, I'm clearly lacking some bass. I had a strange feeling from day one, when I put them, but since a friend came for a listenning session and told me "you need a sub buddy", I'm wondering what I could do. I've tried removing them : bass is back, but I lose some precision/clarity, especially in the high, and I prefer that precision/clarity.
Advise please !
Luke, where is your CD player mounted? Is it on a shelf attached to the wall or is it on top of something that sits on the floor? Is it a solid floor or something that could have a vibration or bounce to it?
As I understand it, if you have your equipment sitting on something solid which can't move or vibrate, it's best to use something like a spike which will couple the player to the solid surface, but if you have it sitting on top of floorboards or something thin which can vibrate, then it's best to use a de-coupling solution that will absorb the vibrations.
I don't have experience of trying either, but it's easy to make some tests.
Can you repeat the tests with 4 squash balls or something like that under the feet? instead of the spikes?
I am building my music room now, but I don't know which feet to use until I decide if I mount my tables onto the solid wall or with legs sitting on the wooden floor.
As I understand it, if you have your equipment sitting on something solid which can't move or vibrate, it's best to use something like a spike which will couple the player to the solid surface, but if you have it sitting on top of floorboards or something thin which can vibrate, then it's best to use a de-coupling solution that will absorb the vibrations.
I don't have experience of trying either, but it's easy to make some tests.
Can you repeat the tests with 4 squash balls or something like that under the feet? instead of the spikes?
I am building my music room now, but I don't know which feet to use until I decide if I mount my tables onto the solid wall or with legs sitting on the wooden floor.
My CD player sits on this : Norstone - Kubben
It's made of wood (the dark pieces) then a metal frame and the shelves are made of glass.
I have a parquet floor.
Speakers (floorstanders) are directly on the floor.
I'll go and buy some squash balls for a test after work, later today.
It's made of wood (the dark pieces) then a metal frame and the shelves are made of glass.
I have a parquet floor.
Speakers (floorstanders) are directly on the floor.
I'll go and buy some squash balls for a test after work, later today.
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Well, I didn't got squash balls, didn't have time, and rain made me get back home quickly (bicycle user). But, I've done what I should yesterday when I feel most annoyed when listening at a CD. I tried with and without feet. To discover it's nearly the same thing bass wise, and in fact, I just used to have a bad memory of that daft punk tune
Anyway, sound is different, for sure less bass on some tracks is noticeable, but not that much of a problem. Maybe better speakers may solve that later. Modding my amp may help too. Speaking of that, I got some LM4562 today. So I pop one in my amp instead of that ugly njm2114d.
I have another question : does bohemian rapshody (on this CD, i love the song) sounds sh!t on your gear too ? QUEEN Greatest Hits music reviews and MP3 sounds saturated on many occasions. No problem with the other tracks.
Anyway, sound is different, for sure less bass on some tracks is noticeable, but not that much of a problem. Maybe better speakers may solve that later. Modding my amp may help too. Speaking of that, I got some LM4562 today. So I pop one in my amp instead of that ugly njm2114d.
I have another question : does bohemian rapshody (on this CD, i love the song) sounds sh!t on your gear too ? QUEEN Greatest Hits music reviews and MP3 sounds saturated on many occasions. No problem with the other tracks.
Once I had Vibrapod, then OEM feet, some with pulmber o-ring between OEM feet and case, now don't want to change anything with my wood spikes, I must say having "tight and fast" bass make it more visible and need good amp/speakers to feel it as it is. Just sharing xp, no definitive answer sorry. @+
As for CDs, you may find there are many different masterings out there for the same records, e.g. try to find a cheap RCA Mastersound of Blondie "Parallel Lines". Burned CDs does downgrade a bit the sound, at least in my mind, but this one even burned sounds million times better than anything else. Maybe your Queen's CD pressing is a bad one.
As for you check this out:
http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/queen-a-night-at-the-opera-cd-comparison.246608/
As for CDs, you may find there are many different masterings out there for the same records, e.g. try to find a cheap RCA Mastersound of Blondie "Parallel Lines". Burned CDs does downgrade a bit the sound, at least in my mind, but this one even burned sounds million times better than anything else. Maybe your Queen's CD pressing is a bad one.
As for you check this out:
http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/queen-a-night-at-the-opera-cd-comparison.246608/
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So I thought I'd post a little update about some small voltage regulator boards I made this week.
I wanted an improvement on my solution of separate 7805 regulators, but without spending a load of cash.
I really liked the idea of using the little LT1763-5 regulators like Bigvoice had done here http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digi...ntz-cd63-cd67-mods-list-1846.html#post3183705
But I know when I was speaking to Martin Clark about using 7805s, he said it was important to have the regulation occurring as close to the V-in of the load as possible, so I was going to make a load of separate little boards with lt17635 and site them close to the load.
Because I've moved the electrolytic caps for the dac and decoder supplies into the ceramic cap locations and using surface mount caps on the underside, I had a simple place to add them in after removing the resistors to isolate them from the regular 5v supply.
I did some googling about using the LT17635 and I found a small regulator design using surface mount components and with DIY boards available, schematics and a parts list, but when I thought about it more, I wasn't looking for a 3 pin, 7805 style drop in replacement, I wanted 2 pins at the bottom with a 5mm spacing for ground and V-out and an input somewhere else, ideally at the top.
So I thought I would use the general schematic here:
but flip it around a bit and make it on Veroboard, using the same general principle as Bigvoice had.
so I cut some strips of board 3 wide
Got a 3 pin section of right angle pin and removed the centre pin, and bent the pin 3 leg of the LT17635 up as Bigvoice had done
and trial fitted it
The adaption of the minivreg circuit is mapped out here. Green wire for the Gnd runs behind. Excuse the crappyness of it, I did this diagram on my phone...
Inductor - 10uh 450ma 1210 Murata
C1 - 10uf 10v X5R Kemet C0805
C2 - 10nf 50v X7R Kemet C0805
C3 - 22uf 6.3v Tant AVX
So I added some links in to put the tracks where I wanted them to go
and soldered them in as well as laying some solder pads/blobs down to site the surface mount components onto
then set to work soldering the little surface mount components on. I haven't done a lot of surface mount work before, but needless to say a small tipped iron, a pair of tweezers and a magnifying glass are kind of a must.
Here's one of the finished ones. I'm kind of embarrassed at how scruffy they are and the amounts of solder on there, but it all works and this is just a hobby for me so I'm happy
Gnd wire on the rear
I made 5 in total
I mounted them in and used a cheap LM317 based adjustable regulator to feed them with +8v
You can see I still have a 7805 regulator on the display chip as I understand it's a big source of noise on the 5v rail and this should hopefully isolate it a bit. I also still have a 7805 on my DAC clock as this will be replaced very soon with a Flea clock.
and here it is back in it's case
Does it work? Yes, on my main system it sounds superb. Excellent clarity and detail compared to before, but I didn't have isolated supplies to my decoder and HF amp before. I'll have a scope soon, so I'll be able to check the difference between the normal 5v rail, the 7805s and these. I would expect these to be a lot less noisy.
Would I do it exactly the same again? probably not It's nice how small they are and I'm happy enough with the results. But using strip board, there's no real reason to use the surface mount components. I could have done it with through hole and made them kind of double sided and easier to make without them being much bigger. But it's a learning experience and I've learned a lot, my music sounds lovely, and it was pretty cheap too ( I don't remember exactly, but the total cost for these 5 regulators was somewhere around £20 GBP) so I'm happy
I wanted an improvement on my solution of separate 7805 regulators, but without spending a load of cash.
I really liked the idea of using the little LT1763-5 regulators like Bigvoice had done here http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digi...ntz-cd63-cd67-mods-list-1846.html#post3183705
But I know when I was speaking to Martin Clark about using 7805s, he said it was important to have the regulation occurring as close to the V-in of the load as possible, so I was going to make a load of separate little boards with lt17635 and site them close to the load.
Because I've moved the electrolytic caps for the dac and decoder supplies into the ceramic cap locations and using surface mount caps on the underside, I had a simple place to add them in after removing the resistors to isolate them from the regular 5v supply.
I did some googling about using the LT17635 and I found a small regulator design using surface mount components and with DIY boards available, schematics and a parts list, but when I thought about it more, I wasn't looking for a 3 pin, 7805 style drop in replacement, I wanted 2 pins at the bottom with a 5mm spacing for ground and V-out and an input somewhere else, ideally at the top.
So I thought I would use the general schematic here:
but flip it around a bit and make it on Veroboard, using the same general principle as Bigvoice had.
so I cut some strips of board 3 wide
Got a 3 pin section of right angle pin and removed the centre pin, and bent the pin 3 leg of the LT17635 up as Bigvoice had done
and trial fitted it
The adaption of the minivreg circuit is mapped out here. Green wire for the Gnd runs behind. Excuse the crappyness of it, I did this diagram on my phone...
Inductor - 10uh 450ma 1210 Murata
C1 - 10uf 10v X5R Kemet C0805
C2 - 10nf 50v X7R Kemet C0805
C3 - 22uf 6.3v Tant AVX
So I added some links in to put the tracks where I wanted them to go
and soldered them in as well as laying some solder pads/blobs down to site the surface mount components onto
then set to work soldering the little surface mount components on. I haven't done a lot of surface mount work before, but needless to say a small tipped iron, a pair of tweezers and a magnifying glass are kind of a must.
Here's one of the finished ones. I'm kind of embarrassed at how scruffy they are and the amounts of solder on there, but it all works and this is just a hobby for me so I'm happy
Gnd wire on the rear
I made 5 in total
I mounted them in and used a cheap LM317 based adjustable regulator to feed them with +8v
You can see I still have a 7805 regulator on the display chip as I understand it's a big source of noise on the 5v rail and this should hopefully isolate it a bit. I also still have a 7805 on my DAC clock as this will be replaced very soon with a Flea clock.
and here it is back in it's case
Does it work? Yes, on my main system it sounds superb. Excellent clarity and detail compared to before, but I didn't have isolated supplies to my decoder and HF amp before. I'll have a scope soon, so I'll be able to check the difference between the normal 5v rail, the 7805s and these. I would expect these to be a lot less noisy.
Would I do it exactly the same again? probably not
It's nice how small they are and I'm happy enough with the results. But using strip board, there's no real reason to use the surface mount components. I could have done it with through hole and made them kind of double sided and easier to make without them being much bigger. But it's a learning experience and I've learned a lot, my music sounds lovely, and it was pretty cheap too ( I don't remember exactly, but the total cost for these 5 regulators was somewhere around £20 GBP) so I'm happy
Nice Work
Very Nice!
Very Nice!
Upgraded the PSU today. What I did was:
- replaced rectifiers with schottkys
- C803/C804.................Panasonic TSUP 10000uF/35v
- C805/C806.................Rubycon ZLG 470uF/16v
- C813/C814.................Panasonic TSUP 22000uF/16v
- C815.........................Panasonic FM 4700uF/6.3v
Forgot to bypass the fuses. I'll do that next time I open the player.
First impressions: No revelation but slight improvement in sound and the player seems to run and respond better. The sound is a bit cleaner and more depth to the soundstage.
I will let this burn in and settle for the next few days, before I upgrade more caps.
- replaced rectifiers with schottkys
- C803/C804.................Panasonic TSUP 10000uF/35v
- C805/C806.................Rubycon ZLG 470uF/16v
- C813/C814.................Panasonic TSUP 22000uF/16v
- C815.........................Panasonic FM 4700uF/6.3v
Forgot to bypass the fuses. I'll do that next time I open the player.
First impressions: No revelation but slight improvement in sound and the player seems to run and respond better. The sound is a bit cleaner and more depth to the soundstage.
I will let this burn in and settle for the next few days, before I upgrade more caps.
Well this little lot should keep me busy for a bit.
CFP DOS board and FLex with Tentlabs XO from Ray
I'm going to adapt the DOS board slightly to use my valve output stage as it's final output.
Flea clock kit.
And for C813, I had previously put a 22,000uf 16v TSUP capacitor in, with good results, but because I've fitted a 12v 50va Toroidal, 16v wasn't enough, so I needed a 25v version. I've been looking for one for a while that wasn't any larger than the 25mm diameter of the TSUP cap and yesterday I found one
Matthew at Audio Cap stocks a 25mm dia x 51mm tall version of the CDE SLPX cap which will do nicely, especially for a fiver
Cornell Dubilier 22000uF 25V Snap-in Capacitor
51mm should fit with a few mm to spare under the lid. It weighs about double that of the 16v TSUP 22,000uf cap.
CFP DOS board and FLex with Tentlabs XO from Ray
I'm going to adapt the DOS board slightly to use my valve output stage as it's final output.
And for C813, I had previously put a 22,000uf 16v TSUP capacitor in, with good results, but because I've fitted a 12v 50va Toroidal, 16v wasn't enough, so I needed a 25v version. I've been looking for one for a while that wasn't any larger than the 25mm diameter of the TSUP cap and yesterday I found one
Matthew at Audio Cap stocks a 25mm dia x 51mm tall version of the CDE SLPX cap which will do nicely, especially for a fiver
Cornell Dubilier 22000uF 25V Snap-in Capacitor
51mm should fit with a few mm to spare under the lid. It weighs about double that of the 16v TSUP 22,000uf cap.
I'm curious how it performs with your tubestage!
That's unfortunate, anything I can do to help?
Ray