planet10 Posted March 11, 2021 Posted March 11, 2021 I should still have some of those bords stashed away. That diyAudio project of Brian’s & Peter’s project was a bit of a launch point for diy gainclones. dave
Bunno77 Posted March 11, 2021 Posted March 11, 2021 (edited) Not all that interesting as only cables but I bought these RCA plugs from here about 6 years ago so it feels good to finally make some cables up and use them. Can't find the original ad as this site seems to have changed recently but they are no name plugs bought by a member on a trip to China. Pretty solid feeling and quite heavy. Cable is Canare GS-6 and about 4.5m long. Made longer as it will help with a speaker build I will hopefully be starting in the next week or so with Eminence drivers. Sounding pretty good Edited March 11, 2021 by Bunno77 . 2
GaryT Posted March 11, 2021 Posted March 11, 2021 GS6 makes for a great audio cable, full and rich and handles long runs really well.. 1
Bunno77 Posted March 11, 2021 Posted March 11, 2021 10 minutes ago, GaryT said: GS6 makes for a great audio cable, full and rich and handles long runs really well.. Yeah seems pretty good. Nice copper braided screen and decent dielectric
RankStranger Posted March 11, 2021 Posted March 11, 2021 23 hours ago, RankStranger said: I bought this BrianGT dual-mono Gainclone chip amp last year between lockdowns, half-finished off gumtree in a box of random doodads. BrianGT’s original website is gone and the instructions that I did find aren’t great but there are lots of old posts on diyaudio and I managed to trawl through them to eventually find the guidance I needed to finish it. Haven’t put it through its paces at all yet but it makes sound and doesn’t hum so I’m calling that a total win for this time of night looking forward to building a home for it well, I gave it about an hour and, I’ve got to say, I’m impressed. It can’t keep up with my 215wpc of precision chi-fi (surprise surprise) but for a lot less than a hungie so far, it’s much more than I expected. Most of what it gives up to my Kinki is texture and depth and small detail. It’s not really doing anything wrong that I can tell. I wasn’t playing it loud because the kids are asleep but that’s usually my listening circumstances anyway. I wouldn’t call it warm-sounding at all, but that’s probably my least-favourite descriptor for hifi so, no major worries there. Over an hour or so of play, the heat sink I fitted for testing barely got warm so I don’t think heat will be a problem. Trying to decide if I should mash together a diy case or spend a bit more and order a niceish one from Ali. @mwhouston where did you get that dark grey two-tone one you used for the tri path amp last year? 3
itsparks Posted March 11, 2021 Posted March 11, 2021 4 hours ago, RankStranger said: well, I gave it about an hour and, I’ve got to say, I’m impressed. It can’t keep up with my 215wpc of precision chi-fi (surprise surprise) but for a lot less than a hungie so far, it’s much more than I expected. Most of what it gives up to my Kinki is texture and depth and small detail. It’s not really doing anything wrong that I can tell. I wasn’t playing it loud because the kids are asleep but that’s usually my listening circumstances anyway. I wouldn’t call it warm-sounding at all, but that’s probably my least-favourite descriptor for hifi so, no major worries there. Over an hour or so of play, the heat sink I fitted for testing barely got warm so I don’t think heat will be a problem. Trying to decide if I should mash together a diy case or spend a bit more and order a niceish one from Ali. The chassis from Diyaudio com store are really nice, a bit pricy but really nice ! Well worth the money for the high quality.. 1
planet10 Posted March 11, 2021 Posted March 11, 2021 5 hours ago, RankStranger said: … a hungie... ??? Is that an Ozzie colloquialism? dave
RankStranger Posted March 11, 2021 Posted March 11, 2021 (edited) 3 hours ago, planet10 said: ??? Is that an Ozzie colloquialism? dave “short” for a hundred Edited March 11, 2021 by RankStranger 1
RankStranger Posted March 11, 2021 Posted March 11, 2021 4 hours ago, itsparks said: The chassis from Diyaudio com store are really nice, a bit pricy but really nice ! Well worth the money for the high quality.. yeah unfortunately antipodean shipping makes them extra pricey. I think I have an idea for my own chassis. Sort of Sparkler Audio inspired
mwhouston Posted March 11, 2021 Posted March 11, 2021 https://www.jaycar.com.au/bench-enclosure-88-x-279-x-304mm/p/HB5556 1
planet10 Posted March 11, 2021 Posted March 11, 2021 1 hour ago, RankStranger said: antipodean shipping makes them extra pricey. Italy is closer than here (North America) or is it? diyAudio is an Austrailian owned site hosted in the US. Bits from th estore come from all over, but none yet that i know of starting in Oz. dave PS thanx. hungie = c-note (of course CAD not equal AUD not equal USD and on and on… )
RankStranger Posted March 11, 2021 Posted March 11, 2021 17 minutes ago, planet10 said: Italy is closer than here (North America) or is it? Italy to Aus is about twice the distance from Italy to the us but I think it’s more economies of scale. Our piddling 25M people spread over the same area as conus makes us expensive to serve
planet10 Posted March 11, 2021 Posted March 11, 2021 Yes, shipping across an ocean is a significant expense. And Oz is an island continent. We are way closer to the US (and reachable by truck), shipping from Italy probably rivals to Oz. dave 1
Gryffles Posted March 12, 2021 Posted March 12, 2021 It was an F5, then an F4 and now an F6. Soldered the PCB's yesterday and installed and biased this morning Used decent parts: Toshiba Fets, Charcroft Z Foil resistors on the input, PRP and Ohmite elsewhere. Elna caps. Tried Jupiter silver wire on the input which is unshielded and no issue. Sounds pretty good but needs a bit of time so I hope it'll improve. 4
Bunno77 Posted March 12, 2021 Posted March 12, 2021 4 minutes ago, Gryffles said: It was an F5, then an F4 and now an F6. Soldered the PCB's yesterday and installed and biased this morning Used decent parts: Toshiba Fets, Charcroft Z Foil resistors on the input, PRP and Ohmite elsewhere. Elna caps. Tried Jupiter silver wire on the input which is unshielded and no issue. Sounds pretty good but needs a bit of time so I hope it'll improve. Nice to start out dual mono. Did you have any issues with trans on join of heatsink? Any early impressions on F6 vs f5?
Gryffles Posted March 12, 2021 Posted March 12, 2021 10 minutes ago, Bunno77 said: Nice to start out dual mono. Did you have any issues with trans on join of heatsink? Any early impressions on F6 vs f5? SNA member mwhouston built the original F5 as I wasn’t confident and I decided on dual mono. I don’t have issues as the heat sinks are so much bigger than they need to be. Out of interest, what issues were you thinking of ? F6 is more balanced than F5 and has more weight. Bass is better with F6. It doesn’t have the excitement of the F5 though 2
Bunno77 Posted March 12, 2021 Posted March 12, 2021 9 minutes ago, Gryffles said: SNA member mwhouston built the original F5 as I wasn’t confident and I decided on dual mono. I don’t have issues as the heat sinks are so much bigger than they need to be. Out of interest, what issues were you thinking of ? F6 is more balanced than F5 and has more weight. Bass is better with F6. It doesn’t have the excitement of the F5 though He is a busy man I might be wrong but thought there was something with the location of one trans, it is close to the join in heatsinks so not always good transfer. Hmm good to know. I really should populate my F6 but lost interest after dodgy transformers were supplied (now replaced) 1
Gryffles Posted March 12, 2021 Posted March 12, 2021 (edited) 6 minutes ago, Bunno77 said: He is a busy man I might be wrong but thought there was something with the location of one trans, it is close to the join in heatsinks so not always good transfer. Hmm good to know. I really should populate my F6 but lost interest after dodgy transformers were supplied (now replaced) Ah, yes I noticed that issue and thought it was weird. One mosfet of each board mounts near the edge. I hope it won’t be a problem. I tired of the F5 as it was such a pain to bias and I couldn’t get it sounding how I knew it could. Still no idea why How were your transformers faulty? Edited March 12, 2021 by Gryffles 2
Red MacKay Posted March 12, 2021 Posted March 12, 2021 What volts run on the rails of the F4, F5 and F6?
Steffen Posted March 12, 2021 Posted March 12, 2021 28 minutes ago, Bunno77 said: The laminations had come apart That will actually not affect the magnetic flux, or the transformer performance, but it can cause (mechanical) buzzing under certain circumstances. 2
Gryffles Posted March 12, 2021 Posted March 12, 2021 15 minutes ago, Red MacKay said: What volts run on the rails of the F4, F5 and F6? 24 /25v for First Watt amps 1
Bunno77 Posted March 12, 2021 Posted March 12, 2021 51 minutes ago, Steffen said: That will actually not affect the magnetic flux, or the transformer performance, but it can cause (mechanical) buzzing under certain circumstances. Yeah I still have them and will try fix them up maybe even just cable ties but didn't want to use them on this. Now replaced so all ok 1
Steffen Posted March 12, 2021 Posted March 12, 2021 1 minute ago, Bunno77 said: Yeah I still have them and will try fix them up maybe even just cable ties but didn't want to use them on this. I know, right? It makes you have doubts, and the seed of doubt is often enough to disqualify a component. Was it dropped or mishandled? Was the QA shoddy on that day (nobody wants a Monday morning transformer)? What else is wrong with it? 2
RankStranger Posted March 12, 2021 Posted March 12, 2021 (edited) 6 minutes ago, Bunno77 said: Yeah I still have them and will try fix them up maybe even just cable ties but didn't want to use them on this. Now replaced so all ok When one of my r-cores was buzzing my brother-in-law's dad suggested dipping it in shellac or resin or similar to not give it any space to vibrate in. He used to do it with cheap transformers they got in the 70s. Are you going to get back into the F6 or are you thinking of moving it on? If you are, shoot me a pm Edited March 12, 2021 by RankStranger 1
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