DIY audio: what are you building?

[Red MacKay 1,185]

"Sounds better to my ears".

 

Indeed - that is where it is.

[SumonKabir 125]

33 minutes ago, Red MacKay said:

An old Telefunken - nice.

 

What - you have had it going for a month - and only now you are telling us!

 

I have a 10Y DHT in my system.  I have mine setup to run 5v rectifiers.  So I can use 80, GZ30, GZ32, GZ34, 5AS4, 5R4, 5U4G, U52 etc.  The two standouts are the 80 and the GZ30.

 

Just this morning I fitted an octal socket with a couple of diodes fitted.  Wow - better detail and bass, but after 8hrs of it - it was splitting my head.  Of course the volts would have been higher and this might be the reason for the headsplitting as I found around 200v was the sweet spot in this configuration.

 

So back in with the old 80.   Ahhh - not as 'clean' and the bass is not so tight, but the music has that beautiful flow again. I have a couple of old globe 80s somewhere - I might see if I can find that and try it.

 

Solder looks so neat. Damn. Never thought about this option for trial. Would give it a go, I may have some Crees somewhere to try out. Not sure 400v rating though.

Edited August 8, 2020 by SumonKabir

[SumonKabir 125]

Point to point Travish phono in progress😀

[mwhouston 4,867]

1 hour ago, mwhouston said:

Could we have some more detailed images of the speakers? 

Still using my Xovers? 

[Steffen 785]

2 hours ago, Red MacKay said:

Just this morning I fitted an octal socket with a couple of diodes fitted.  Wow - better detail and bass, but after 8hrs of it - it was splitting my head.  Of course the volts would have been higher and this might be the reason for the headsplitting as I found around 200v was the sweet spot in this configuration.

 

Interesting. I wonder whether you could emulate the lossy tube rectifier by bridging the diodes with a suitably sized resistor.

 

[crtexcnndrm99 546]

8 hours ago, RankStranger said:

good pics in the build thread 👍 

Yep and I should have added more pics yesterday, but I went nuts on the bracing so it’s not very good eye candy.

[crtexcnndrm99 546]

7 hours ago, mwhouston said:

Still using my Xovers? 

Yes, they’ve been so easy to use so thank you.
 

Interested if you can make a pair with the optimal Xover you mentioned though. 1st order 1100.?. When you have the time

[aussievintage 3,567]

7 hours ago, SumonKabir said:

Point to point Travish phono in progress😀

 

Yep, that's the way to do it.  Separate passive eq filters between gain stages.   I bet it will sound great.  Well done

[mwhouston 4,867]

2 hours ago, crtexcnndrm99 said:

Yes, they’ve been so easy to use so thank you.
 

Interested if you can make a pair with the optimal Xover you mentioned though. 1st order 1100.?. When you have the time

Yes sure. Have some of the parts. I like to use the 4uf Russian PIO caps. Cheap and very effective. And wind my own chokes. I’ll PM you a quote. 

[rewindhifi 28]

Building a PSU for Mac mini in a mini-itx case for $40 on ebay, and the mini-itx PSU going to a replacement power supply for a faulty ReadyNAS. 

 

Talking about kill 2 birds with one stone.

 

 

[mwhouston 4,867]

My wife says they are breading. A collection of all DIY phono preamps, preamps (BoZ) and MC stages. 

[mwhouston 4,867]

I built this many moons ago. It’s a chip based two stage preamp with volume and balance control. But moving mainly to tube preamps it has remained used for many years. Now only requiring a single input from a BT receiver in my system 2 (mainly used for background music) ive re-chipped it and put it in play. It takes the place of a very nice BoZ I’ve been using for some time.  Fortunately uses the same well filtered linear PS. 
 

Usually I use OPA2134s in anything with chips but occasionally LM833s. Looking through my chip draw I found a pair of TL072CNs and after looking at the spec sheets realise it can be dropped in where OPAs have been. 
 

The preamp is playing now and very surprised the preamp sounds bright and crisp. Glad I bought this out of retirement. A stack of gain and balance is easy to use and has a nice central wide spot. Extremely impressed with the sound through my DIY 6L6 SE UL tube power amp. 

 

Has anyone else had experience with the TL072CN chip? If so I’d like to know. I have no idea when I bought them or what I paid. I see they are only $1 each on RS. 
 

https://html.alldatasheet.com/html-pdf/159243/STMICROELECTRONICS/TL072CN/15594/8/TL072CN.html

 

 

Edited August 14, 2020 by mwhouston

[aussievintage 3,567]

2 hours ago, mwhouston said:

My wife says they are breading. A collection of all DIY phono preamps, preamps (BoZ) and MC stages. 

 

Not sure I approve of the way you are storing those box sets either  

[oohms 185]

I've moved from large horns + wide range drivers to proper 1 inch compression drivers - now it is an all Faital setup with HF108R on those QSC clone waveguides and 15PR400 crossed at about 1.2khz

 

The treble is much better now and the woofers are capable of this crossover point, so the next step is integrating the horns into the cabinets

 

 

 

[mwhouston 4,867]

I was thinking on buying a 15PR400 to go with my Altec 511B horns and FaitalPro compression drivers same as yours. Currently using Beyma 12” as the woofer on a Salt Cellar mono system.  
 

There is a DJCity store not far from home which stock the driver.

[oohms 185]

7 minutes ago, mwhouston said:

I was thinking on buying a 15PR400 to go with my Altec 511B horns and FaitalPro compression drivers same as yours. Currently using Beyma 12” as the woofer on a Salt Cellar mono system.  
 

There is a DJCity store not far from home which stock the driver.

They are amazing, we are lucky to be able to source them locally

[tuyen 686]

Lovely sounding combo oohms.  I have the exact same.  Ran it active though.  Havent experimented making a passive network for it yet (but would be keen to know if someone has).  

[mwhouston 4,867]

@catman have you heard of or used the chip TL072CN. I pulled out a chip based preamp I built some years back and re-chipped with with this chip. Not sure when or where I got them but now put to good use. 
 

Ever used the chip or know anyone who has. I’m looking for a second opinion about its sound and performance. 

[catman 1,080]

G'day mate, yes I know of the TL072CN.  They were quite popular before the arrival of the NE5532/4 and were a very good FET audio dual op amp and were well regarded, and as I recall I did build a pretty decent phono stage with them.  However they did have some issues such as a tendency to phase inversion and allied issues under some circumstances.  The present crop of audio op amps are much better and are generally superior.  Regard, Felix. 

Edited August 15, 2020 by catman
Spelling..

[oohms 185]

11 hours ago, tuyen said:

Lovely sounding combo oohms.  I have the exact same.  Ran it active though.  Havent experimented making a passive network for it yet (but would be keen to know if someone has).  

I am running them through a Driverack at the moment but should be able to make a passive crossover for them.. i'll post an update when i do

 

[mwhouston 4,867]

3 hours ago, catman said:

G'day mate, yes I know of the TL072CN.  They were quite popular before the arrival of the NE5532/4 and were a very good FET audio dual op amp and were well regarded, and as I recall I did build a pretty decent phono stage with them.  However they did have some issues such as a tendency to phase inversion and allied issues under some circumstances.  The present crop of audio op amps are much better and are generally superior.  Regard, Felix. 

I have no idea why I have them. Everything I build has 2134s but thought I’d give these a go in a non critical application. I’m impressed with the clarity. 

Edited August 15, 2020 by mwhouston

[crtexcnndrm99 546]

21 hours ago, oohms said:

I've moved from large horns + wide range drivers to proper 1 inch compression drivers - now it is an all Faital setup with HF108R on those QSC clone waveguides and 15PR400 crossed at about 1.2khz

 

The treble is much better now and the woofers are capable of this crossover point, so the next step is integrating the horns into the cabinets

 

 

 

Like the corner cab design 👍 

 

What amplification are you using for them? 

[oohms 185]

23 minutes ago, crtexcnndrm99 said:

Like the corner cab design 👍 

 

What amplification are you using for them? 

Thanks.. amplification is a Yamaha rx-v1067 through the analog multichannel inputs from the DBX driverack, fed from the Sony receiver 

 

After the passive crossover gets sorted, I should be able to use all sorts of low power/valve amps with them

 

This is the lounge at the moment, mounted the horns today

 

[crtexcnndrm99 546]

7 minutes ago, oohms said:

Thanks.. amplification is a Yamaha rx-v1067 through the analog multichannel inputs from the DBX driverack, fed from the Sony receiver 

 

After the passive crossover gets sorted, I should be able to use all sorts of low power/valve amps with them

 

This is the lounge at the moment, mounted the horns today

 

Thanks! They look great! it looks like you’ve been doing some measuring too - I wouldn’t mind giving that a try at some point..

[oohms 185]

20 minutes ago, crtexcnndrm99 said:

Thanks! They look great! it looks like you’ve been doing some measuring too - I wouldn’t mind giving that a try at some point..

Cheers!

 

Measuring for EQ/crossover development isn't as daunting as it sounds, you just need some gear, the right software and a fair bit of patience

 

A USB measurement mic and a dayton DATS for speaker impedance measuring is all you need to prototype your own crossovers, then software wise the DATS software for impedance measurement, REW for frequency response, then a combination of Xmachina and Xsim to come up with a crossover and tweak it in software before trying it in real life

And then lots of inductors, capacitors, resistors etc 😁

Edited August 15, 2020 by oohms

[aussievintage 3,567]

20 hours ago, mwhouston said:

I have no idea why I have them. Everything I build has 2134s but thought I’d give these a go in a non critical application. I’m impressed with the clarity. 

 

Don't bother.  Anything more modern will be much much better.  I compared them to old 5532 and 2134s in a very typical phono preamp circuit and they came last by a long way.  

[mwhouston 4,867]

A member, who will remain nameless and who had built some knockout looking horn loaded speakers around the 15” Beyma concentric speakers ask me to make some Xovers. 
 

He took a pair of Xovers I had used with the Beymas but I felt Xed a little high and thus this pair. These X at 1100hz and are first order. I wound the chokes with 1mm enamel wire to 1.15mH on ferrite. DC resistance is only 0.3ohms. The HF bipas cap is 4uf Russian PIO and with a 22ohm 10W R pads down the tweeter to the woofer efficiency.
 

Bituminised heavy Al is in the lid and the Xover packed with Dacron for resonance control. WBT silver solder used.. All twisted pair Cat5 solid core for hookup and termination with. Solid brass gold plated binding posts.

 

With the Beymas I found 1st order the most dynamic and open sounding. 
 

. 

[mwhouston 4,867]

1 hour ago, aussievintage said:

 

Don't bother.  Anything more modern will be much much better.  I compared them to old 5532 and 2134s in a very typical phono preamp circuit and they came last by a long way.  

I guess that fact they are in a non critical listen system (background only - system2) they will be fine. But I get your drift. It frees up a pair of 2134s for other chores which were in the preamp initially. 

[RankStranger 3,515]

I’ve been working on this power supply in some way or another since at least March. It’s built from a kit based on the Studer900. I was going to build it as two power supplies for a Pi/Boss combo but I lost interest in that and got an Auralic Aries mini so I’m just using one side to drive that at 16V 1A

 

its got an aluminium chassis with a 5mm solid brass faceplate and brushed stainless lid. I’m pretty chufffed with how it turned out. I even made my own dc cable. It sounds a damn sight better than the original wall wart too, which I’m quietly relieved by after all that work  

 

Thanks to everyone who gave advice or answered questions along the way. 👍

 

 

Edited August 16, 2020 by RankStranger

[mwhouston 4,867]

10 hours ago, RankStranger said:

I’ve been working on this power supply in some way or another since at least March. It’s built from a kit based on the Studer900. I was going to build it as two power supplies for a Pi/Boss combo but I lost interest in that and got an Auralic Aries mini so I’m just using one side to drive that at 16V 1A

 

its got an aluminium chassis with a 5mm solid brass faceplate and brushed stainless lid. I’m pretty chufffed with how it turned out. I even made my own dc cable. It sounds a damn sight better than the original wall wart too, which I’m quietly relieved by after all that work  

 

Thanks to everyone who gave advice or answered questions along the way. 👍

 

 

Looks very pro. Where did you get the flash enclosure. Got a link? 

[RankStranger 3,515]

14 minutes ago, mwhouston said:

Looks very pro. Where did you get the flash enclosure. Got a link? 

Thanks. It’s built from scratch. I bought brass bar and shaped and polished it. Bent the aluminium chassis out of 1.6mm plate and bent up the lid on a homemade bending brake. Out of school I did a gold and Silversmithing course and worked as jeweller for a bit and then did a sculpture degree before falling into sales. I haven’t done any metalworking for ages but I really enjoyed getting back into it and I’m definitely going to find more to do now

[aussievintage 3,567]

2 minutes ago, RankStranger said:

Thanks. It’s built from scratch. I bought brass bar and shaped and polished it. Bent the aluminium chassis out of 1.6mm plate and bent up the lid on a homemade bending brake. Out of school I did a gold and Silversmithing course and worked as jeweller for a bit and then did a sculpture degree before falling into sales. I haven’t done any metalworking for ages but I really enjoyed getting back into it and I’m definitely going to find more to do now

 

Nice work👍

[mwhouston 4,867]

2 minutes ago, RankStranger said:

Thanks. It’s built from scratch. I bought brass bar and shaped and polished it. Bent the aluminium chassis out of 1.6mm plate and bent up the lid on a homemade bending brake. Out of school I did a gold and Silversmithing course and worked as jeweller for a bit and then did a sculpture degree before falling into sales. I haven’t done any metalworking for ages but I really enjoyed getting back into it and I’m definitely going to find more to do now

Bloody good job. That’s DIY hardcore.

[RankStranger 3,515]

Just now, mwhouston said:

Bloody good job. That’s DIY hardcore.

Thanks. Maybe it makes up for me not being able to read a circuit diagram  

[RankStranger 3,515]

The open chassis shot is from before I changed the heatsinks. The ones that shipped with the kit were too high so I bought a different one and cut it down to fit. I forgot to take another photo but you can kind of see it through the ventilation holes in the top down shot

Edited August 17, 2020 by RankStranger

[mwhouston 4,867]

3 minutes ago, RankStranger said:

Thanks. Maybe it makes up for me not being able to read a circuit diagram  

Don’t feel bad. I can’t bend metal. Lol. 

[WINEDS 141]

My purifi based class D amp.

 

 

[RankStranger 3,515]

2 hours ago, WINEDS said:

My purifi based class D amp.

 

 

Very keen to hear how it sounds

[WINEDS 141]

It sounds great!   So much clean power.

Edited August 17, 2020 by WINEDS

[mwhouston 4,867]

4 hours ago, WINEDS said:

My purifi based class D amp.

 

 

Looks neat and tight.