surprisetech

Don't know if I'll get to this myself this year, but it looks like a great day out.  Forecast is for fine and sunny weather too!

2013 Kingston Harvest Festival.

Some of Australia’s top country, bluegrass and rockabilly artists – including Adam Brand, Carter and Carter, Lloyd Spiegel Duo and more – will perform under the big top at Kingston Council’s 2013 Harvest Festival on Saturday 11 May from 11am to 11pm

Roy Dore Reserve, Dyson Rd. Carrum.  Enter Roy Dore Reserve from Rigby St, off McLeod Road. (Melways 97 F8)

Entry by gold coin donation.

http://www.kingston....sp?Page_Id=2200

Music Program

11am     Richard Perso

12pm     Lot56

1pm       Sal Kimber & the Rollin Wheel

2pm       Nigel Wearne & The Cast Iron Promises

3pm       The Stetson Family

4pm       Tracey McNeil Band

5pm       Rocky & the Two Bob Millionaires

6pm       Shaun Kirk

7pm       Lloyd Spiegel Duo

8pm       Carter & Carter

9pm       Adam Brand

Just finished assembling a portable Headphone Amp with variable crossfeed and USB DAC, so thought I would post the pics for anyone looking for ideas.

Was a reasonably easy project as I took the easy route of buying pre-assembled boards with the exception of the battery charger circuit.  I also had to modify the mounting of the switch on the Crossfeed board to fit it into the case.
The case is an old one I had that was just the right size to fit all the parts.

I wanted to build a single unit that I could use with a PC/laptop or an analogue source, either at home or when out, and with almost any type of headphones.
Spent a bit of time looking at the various options and this is what I came up with.

Components are:

O2 Headphone Amp with rechargable batteries.  Assembled PCB from JDS Labs (Bottom Right)
6.5mm Headphone socket (front panel) and RCA Input sockets (rear panel), connected in parallel with the onboard 3.5mm connectors via the Headers provided for that purpose on the O2 PCB.

Weiliang USB 24/192 DAC with Analogue & SPDIF out.  Tenor TE7022L + WM8761  (Top Left)

Variable Crossfeed Circuit wiht bass boost from fred-fred in WA.  Inserted between the O2's Input buffer and Volume Control.  (Bottom Left)

DC-DC Converter. 5V to +/-12V.  Charges the O2's batteries from the USB Input or the USB board's plug-pack Input when the O2 is Off.  (Top Centre)

Switch to Isolate DAC output from Amp Input when using an external analogue source.  (Top Right)

Very happy with the results.  My Yamaha Orthodynamics are 150 Ohm and less efficient than most, but the O2 drives them beautifully.

Also very impressed with the low noise floor of the O2.

I wasn't sure how much difference the Crossfeed would make, but I am pleased I included it.  I've been trying it out on a lot of different stuff, most seems to benefit from using the low setting.  Some older pop recordings with extreme channel separation sound better on the High setting, and some material doesn't need any crossfeed at all.

Just got the Daily Deals e-mail from e-Store, and they have Harmony 650's on special.

Also Belkin Surge Protectors and some Projectors and Headphones.

http://www.estore.co...mpaign=20130402

Need for Feed Music Festival and Car Show.

I’m not associated with Lions, but we've been to this event every year and it’s well worth it.

Bands lineup and Car Show program is in the attached pic.

Location is Pakenham Racecourse.

Plenty of free parking and plenty of shelter.

They’ve had rotten luck with the weather in previous years and looks like this year is no exception, but the weather shouldn’t put people off as the music area is all under shelter and there are indoor areas right near the stage as well.

The Light and Sound Parade on Saturday evening is pretty spectacular and something you don’t get to see very often.

The Circle work might be the best you see this side of the Deni Ute muster!

Facebook Page:

https://www.facebook...BushfireBenefit

What are peoples experiences?

I have a bit of older gear amongst my hifi and PA setups and thought I should look at some recapping.

I already had a good LCR meter and early last year added an ESR meter to my kit.

So I proceeded to remove some of the power supply caps and see how they are faring.

To my surprise, some of the oldest ones gave me Capacitance and ESR results like new. 

The most significant of these were the thumping big caps in my DIY PA system Power Amp. 

There hadn't beem any issues with the amp, and no physical signs of deterioration, so I put them back in. This unit is over 20 years old, but only gets used on average for a few hours a month.

If a Cap measures OK with regard to it's Capacitance value and expected ESR, is it OK to leave it in, or are there other factors/parameters to consider?