Hi,
I have been a member for many years and thought it was about time I added an introduction!
I was introduced to diy by a late friend who was kind enough to build me a pair of Aleph 2's (my Aleph 3 was too small to power my Magnepan MG3A's properly). Around the same time he also built an Aleph P1.7 for me, but never got it working.
I had no experience with electronics and being busy with work and it took me some time to try if I could do it myself. It turned out the soldering (of through hole parts) was easy to master (desoldering is another story ...) and I built an O2 headphone amp, followed by a DAC designed by Spencer (fetaudio.com).
I pride myself on debugging the Aleph P1.7 my friend was unable to complete. It worked, but I had some trouble with the Dantimax volume control, designed an arduino controlled replacement but I never finished it and sadly the preamp is on the "will fix this one day" pile.
Over time the number of projects grew, but most remained in the "nearly finished" phase. I did finish an Aleph J and a J2 (using original Semisouth parts I bought years earlier for an F6 that was never built), but many others are still waiting to be built or partially finished.
I retired some years ago and have moved back to Australia (Caboolture, Brisbane northside). I now have the space and time but physically it is becoming more and more difficult. Soldering PCB's is not difficult (and I think my soldering is actually pretty good), but as a wheelchair and vent user the task of wiring and installing boards, transformers, etc. in a case is impossible without help. So, for now, I have many projects that are waiting to be finished. Not that this discourages me from buying parts haha.
To kickstart me back to my hobby, I entered Nelson's VFET lottery and to my surprise was one of the lucky people who were able to buy one. Mine is nearly finished, just the final assembly left to do.
If there is anyone in the area who would like to give me a hand with some of the projects, you are more than welcome to come over. Besides pre, power and headphone power amps, some other projects are waiting to be started or finished. I have a decent set of tools, both an analog and digital scope, an old Fluke 45 benchmeter, a Fluke handheld meter and various other measuring equipment I collected over the years.
I have been a member for many years and thought it was about time I added an introduction!
I was introduced to diy by a late friend who was kind enough to build me a pair of Aleph 2's (my Aleph 3 was too small to power my Magnepan MG3A's properly). Around the same time he also built an Aleph P1.7 for me, but never got it working.
I had no experience with electronics and being busy with work and it took me some time to try if I could do it myself. It turned out the soldering (of through hole parts) was easy to master (desoldering is another story ...) and I built an O2 headphone amp, followed by a DAC designed by Spencer (fetaudio.com).
I pride myself on debugging the Aleph P1.7 my friend was unable to complete. It worked, but I had some trouble with the Dantimax volume control, designed an arduino controlled replacement but I never finished it and sadly the preamp is on the "will fix this one day" pile.
Over time the number of projects grew, but most remained in the "nearly finished" phase. I did finish an Aleph J and a J2 (using original Semisouth parts I bought years earlier for an F6 that was never built), but many others are still waiting to be built or partially finished.
I retired some years ago and have moved back to Australia (Caboolture, Brisbane northside). I now have the space and time but physically it is becoming more and more difficult. Soldering PCB's is not difficult (and I think my soldering is actually pretty good), but as a wheelchair and vent user the task of wiring and installing boards, transformers, etc. in a case is impossible without help. So, for now, I have many projects that are waiting to be finished. Not that this discourages me from buying parts haha.
To kickstart me back to my hobby, I entered Nelson's VFET lottery and to my surprise was one of the lucky people who were able to buy one. Mine is nearly finished, just the final assembly left to do.
If there is anyone in the area who would like to give me a hand with some of the projects, you are more than welcome to come over. Besides pre, power and headphone power amps, some other projects are waiting to be started or finished. I have a decent set of tools, both an analog and digital scope, an old Fluke 45 benchmeter, a Fluke handheld meter and various other measuring equipment I collected over the years.
