* The DIY Audio Thread *

stew007 · 29 Oct 2008 at 20:12

very happy with the sound, the dome mids are natural, a bit like the ATC's the over all sound is better then I could have ever hoped for :cool:

J1234 · 30 Oct 2008 at 17:35

Want to order the bits tonight.. But am now looking at the starving student. Don't know what to go for!

adamau5 · 30 Oct 2008 at 18:18

you will need to order the valves from the states, tubedepot or something.

order the other bits from farnell.

I would recommend bypassing the output caps with film caps.

http://www.pmillett.com/starving.htm

gurusan · 30 Oct 2008 at 21:19

There are some 19j6 tubes on the bay at the moment, i'd snatch them up as I hear they are getting hard to come by. I have a total of 4 hear.

J1234 · 30 Oct 2008 at 21:20

I can only find some in the US, that don't post to the UK.

gurusan · 30 Oct 2008 at 21:41

they do post to the uk. just drop them a mail. very pleasant to deal with, purchased some yesterday.

J1234 · 30 Oct 2008 at 21:42

Excellent, only thing I need to get is the tube sockets, do you know if they sell them?

By the way, are you talking about the company that is selling 2 together or just 1?

gurusan · 30 Oct 2008 at 21:45

i don't think they do sell sockets....I got mine in a kit so I'm not sure where a UK supplier might be....

And the seller is called the radio tube company or something for the 19j6 valves

J1234 · 30 Oct 2008 at 21:49

That's the one, they are selling 4 sockets for £4.90. Will fire them an email now.

Cheers mate

adamau5 · 30 Oct 2008 at 22:41

you need at least 4 valves incase a) you mess up b) you dont mess up and listen so much that they need replacing anyway in a year.

J1234 · 30 Oct 2008 at 23:51

Right, just got 2 valves and 4 valve caps for $20! Good price I think. Will have to buy two more valves later down the line as backups/replacements.

adamau5 · 31 Oct 2008 at 07:22

just dont put 48v through the heaters accidentally.

J1234 · 31 Oct 2008 at 07:35

I'll try not too!

One other thing, I've been advised to swap out C1, C3, C5 and C6 with 470uF caps instead of the ones used in the schematic.

gurusan · 31 Oct 2008 at 08:56

Yeah i sent 48v through the tube lol. I think its still alive, we'll see this weekend.

And yeah 470uF caps are good...I used Nichicon Muse ES for C3 and C5 with Wima MKP10 .33uF as bypass caps because they are supposed to have a significant impact on the sound

There's lots of info at the thread over at head-fi.org

gurusan · 31 Oct 2008 at 10:52

Since I bypassed the output stage on the DAC, I only need 5V. I want make a smaller PSU using some parts from the one that shipped with it and some of my own. (Sanyo WG 1500uF after vreg)

I am completely noob but just threw this together pretty much 99% based off the DAC schematic.

Anything wrong with it? The 12V is coming from the diode bridge from the DAC psu, AC coming from a small 1.6VA toroidal 12+0+12 I purchased the other day

I have heard that the small polyester caps included on the original design are not needed and may detract from power quality? I have some MKP10 .0047 caps that I was planning to use for this, they are fairly high quality I think...but if they aren't needed why are they there?

J1234 · 31 Oct 2008 at 15:09

All bits are now ordered!

Just a matter of waiting, I went with the 470uF cap too in the end.

adamau5 · 31 Oct 2008 at 17:35

Gurusan, too much voltage drop, that poor little reg will be shifting some power.

Justin, the 470uk caps help with startup as well, the current draw on the cold heaters can be too much for the psu, so it can stutter. The 470uf caps help with this and give the psu an easier ride.

p4radox · 31 Oct 2008 at 17:44

Adam W said:
Gurusan, too much voltage drop, that poor little reg will be shifting some power.

What do you mean? The 7805 can take a much higher input voltage than 12V.

J1234 · 31 Oct 2008 at 18:34

Adam W said:
Justin, the 470uk caps help with startup as well, the current draw on the cold heaters can be too much for the psu, so it can stutter. The 470uf caps help with this and give the psu an easier ride.

Yup, read about that too.

Going to make an RCA > Mini interconnect too to go with this amp.

This DIY stuff is addictive and I haven't even started yet!

adamau5 · 31 Oct 2008 at 18:34

Paradox: where do you think all the volts vanish too?

*** The DIY Audio Thread ***

* The DIY Audio Thread *