jonclancy
Been here a while!
Mr. Ripple Eater
Amateur EAGLEist
Posts: 1,131
|
Post by jonclancy on Dec 24, 2013 19:02:50 GMT
List them here! For me, simply to finish of some projects. That's it! Currently just fitting the AMB Labs momentary switch relay driver to my MyRefC. Finally, the white LED Belkin switch may actually be connected up!
|
|
Will
Been here a while!
Ribena abuser!
Member since 2008
Posts: 2,164
|
Post by Will on Jan 1, 2014 17:56:49 GMT
Blimey, my list consists of actually doing some non-house related DIY!
1.Finish my musicPC - did some over the holidays, mainly fitting the motherboard and traffos to a board of Williumtm, the new vibration deadening material that looks like 1mm steel sheet glued to 6mm mdf, but isn't. Also made a shopping list of bits needed to finish it off.
2. Rebuild my buffalo dac, decommissioned just before we moved house in 2011 (!) when the Salas shunt powering the 5v rail died. This'll include my amanero usb/i2s convertor with PH regs. Need to get that done.
3. Re-build my AK Class A HA as a pre/HA, using the PCB's some of us got. Will be using the TP Volumite for volco duties.
4. Build my Raspberry PI music server for use in my office, for use during the rare occasions that I get to work from home. I've experimented with RaspyFi and am quite happy with functionality and the Internet Radio (essential for Radio 4!) from the built in audio, so with RaspyFi now becoming Volumio and supporting direct i2s out, coupling the RPi with my PK Dac, plus a digital amp, will make for a nice little desk rig.
If I get that sorted, It'll be time to start work on my AK Mods 15W Pure Class A amp!
Anybody else got any plans?
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 1, 2014 21:14:31 GMT
SWMBO perhaps ? My E.E. friend now has a brand new Oppo 103 and a loaned JLH USB PSU after I "converted" him recently. About that time SWMBO decided the house needed repainting !
|
|
|
Post by PinkFloyd on Jan 1, 2014 21:39:29 GMT
Go Gay maybe?
|
|
|
Post by PinkFloyd on Jan 1, 2014 21:45:34 GMT
erm...... on second thoughts...... not a good look
|
|
|
Post by PinkFloyd on Jan 1, 2014 21:52:10 GMT
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 1, 2014 22:05:41 GMT
When I was much younger, "Happy and Gay" had an entirely different meaning.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 2, 2014 9:23:02 GMT
In 2009 (!) I started to build a bass extension speaker / cabinet for a bass-playing friend. Surprising really he's still a friend as it's not finished.
He had an 18”Celestion driver hanging around and he asked if I could build him something. Enthusiastically I agreed. Built the cabinet, bought handles, sockets, reflex port and so on. Assembled it and tested it using some synth bass and it sounded good. Considering the design was sort of suck it and see it worked very well; the cab dimensions had to match his existing bass combo for aesthetic reasons so all I had to play with was the port dimensions.
Then all that was left to do was buy some sort of carpet-type covering, glue it on, fit castors and hand it over.
Still haven't ordered the covering material :-(
He emailed me at Christmas asking, very politely, if I had finished the project...
So this is No 1 on my list.
P.S. Haven't found a source for a protection grill for the 18" Driver.
Yours ashamedly,
Derek
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 2, 2014 13:11:01 GMT
Haven't found a source for a protection grill for the 18" Driver. I've made some grills in the distant past for, coincidentally, a bass amp, when I was in a band. These were 15" drivers, I bought some appropriate mesh from a local ironmonger, cut some 15" formers some MDF, cut the mesh just large enough for the "dome" and lugs. I then formed this over said former. I bought mesh of a gauge that was quite tough to form and had to do it panel-beating style! I'd recommend a light-ish mesh to make the job easier, once it's formed and attached it will have the necessary strength. The other thing you must work out is how many and what angle triangular cuts you need around the circumference to allow the metal to bend without creasing. For mine, IIRC, it was eight 45o cuts. I can't find a calculator for it ATM but I'm positive there is one. Now get off your butt and finish it, you bad boy
|
|
jonclancy
Been here a while!
Mr. Ripple Eater
Amateur EAGLEist
Posts: 1,131
|
Post by jonclancy on Jan 6, 2014 11:04:39 GMT
Will, great minds and all that....!!! Santa bought me a slice of Pi and I've got it up and running with Volumio (just got the OS on the SD card and Pi plugged into my router). My wifi dongle is on the way and the idea is to stream into my DAC - or into the preamp. Dunno which - early days. I think Airplay will be the easiest way to go. Will I need MPDroid, or can I just use the browser? My iTunes library is on a second drive (partition) in my PC, so iTunes streaming is probably the way to go for now. I think I need a NAS, though. Cheers Jon
|
|
jonclancy
Been here a while!
Mr. Ripple Eater
Amateur EAGLEist
Posts: 1,131
|
Post by jonclancy on Jan 7, 2014 19:59:13 GMT
My Pi is wireless now, but a little flaky. I'll find out how to turn it into an Airplay device over the next few days. I don't really want to mess about with it too much - just get it working!
If anyone can point me in the right direction, I'd be grateful!
Cheers
Jon
|
|
Will
Been here a while!
Ribena abuser!
Member since 2008
Posts: 2,164
|
Post by Will on Jan 7, 2014 22:44:04 GMT
Hi Jon, how's things? I first had a go at doing RPi music stuff back here, which was just a case of monkey-see, monkey-do on my part and following the blog post linked there. I was lucky that the RPi could see whatever was connected to the house wifi modem, as it's able to do uPNP server type stuff to whatever is connected to it. This method did use MPDplayer and all that, whilst Raspfi is a different beast altogether and is easily controlled from the web interface. I've had no luck (admittedly not tried to hard) getting RaspyFi to 'see' that same drive connected to the modem. When using RaspyFi I use the web-interface to select either web radio or play music from a HDD connected to the RPi USB. I'm using the ubiquitous Edimax EW-7811Un wifi adaptor on the RPi, as it seems the dongle of choice for it. I had no luck using wicd-curses to set-up the wifi dongle (couldn't get it to run), but did find a decent guide by googling for the wifi dongle on RPi. I can try and find a link to the page I used if it helps. When you say you want to get it working, how do you mean? One thing to remember is that if you have the HDMI cable connected when running RaspyFi, then you'll get no audio out of the line out jack of the RPi, as audio is routed to the HDMI. That gave me the run around for a bit! To start with try and get RaspyFi or Volumio up and running with music files on a locally connect HDD or USB stick, hard wired to the LAN and playing music from the line out, controlled from the web interface. Once that's achieved, move to wifi connection etc, etc. As for a NAS, there are a few articles on the web on how to use RPi as a NAS, which is cheaper than buying one. As for Airplay, I'm afraid I don't know, as I've got no Apple stuff here.
|
|
jonclancy
Been here a while!
Mr. Ripple Eater
Amateur EAGLEist
Posts: 1,131
|
Post by jonclancy on Jan 10, 2014 5:01:24 GMT
Hi Will, Not too bad - all good with you? As I hod no need, I glossed over those threads. Luckily, you guys have blazed a trail and I am hoping to avoid any ssh and just plug'n'play!! Greg has made some good progress by the look of things and I suppose there are two paths to take: 1 = easy = Pi headphone jack out into pre. Or 2 = harder = better? = Pi I2S out into DAC. I don't like the idea of getting under the hood with limited (very, very limited) knowledge, though! My dongle was linked-to on one of the threads, and should be the "right" chipset, but it's flaky, I'll bin it for an Edimax. I don't need to use the HDMI, as the Pi works fine networked and accessed from the browser into Volumio. It's a one-trick pony, but seeing as I only want one trick out of it, that's a perfect solution!!! Looking up Airplay as we speak, but the internetz here is, er lamentable!! Cheers Jon
|
|
jonclancy
Been here a while!
Mr. Ripple Eater
Amateur EAGLEist
Posts: 1,131
|
Post by jonclancy on Jan 13, 2014 22:35:42 GMT
I have the Pi as an Airplay device - iTunes wirelessly streaming into the Pi. Using the headphone jack at the moment, but either I get a USB DAC, USB to SPDIF converter, or take I2S directly into my DAC.
Interesting.
I also just need to start volumio and then just close the browser window (nothing playing) and start iTunes streaming. Otherwise I get both the Volumio and iTunes output at the same time.
Not that I have anywhere to lkisten to my stereo at the moment!
|
|
jonclancy
Been here a while!
Mr. Ripple Eater
Amateur EAGLEist
Posts: 1,131
|
Post by jonclancy on Jan 16, 2014 14:32:55 GMT
Something in the air/water here!! I've finally finished my AMB Epsilon 24 switch. Works a treat and the white LED switch looks great. All I really need to do to finish this off completely is to drill the front panel for a couple of white, pin-point, LEDs from the amp boards to show they are powered up. The switch is always lit as the E24 has an always-on 12V feed (only a few mA). More pics on the album. Here area couple: Cheers Jon
|
|
|
Post by imstimpy on Jan 20, 2014 15:15:15 GMT
In the immediate term, I've been tweaking my Panda amp. I'm down to drilling some holes in the case and wiring it permanently. Currently, I'm waiting on my toroid from Primrose Audio. I might build another Panda so I can A/B a vanilla Panda with my modded amp.
My work setup, consisting of Lawton L1 Denon D2000s and a HeadRoom Micro Amp now sounds in sufficient compared to my AKG 701s and Panda at home. So far, I'm drawing a blank on how I might improve the signature of the Denons. They sound so congested and bass heavy.
In a few months I'd like to start into the AMB stuff. Likely, I'll begin with their DAC to replace my grubDAC. Eventually, though, I intend to build a Beta.
Longer term I'd like to build a Raspberry Pi server. I doubt it will be too difficult since I'm in that business anyway.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 20, 2014 20:41:14 GMT
How do they sound with the Panda ?
|
|
|
Post by imstimpy on Jan 21, 2014 14:39:51 GMT
How do they sound with the Panda ? I honestly didn't listen to them much. I was listening to Mumford & Sons's Babel at the time. When I queued up the first song on the Denons, "Where are You Now", I was met with some sibilance in the vocals starting 12 seconds into the song. This sonic characteristic only shows with the Denons on the Panda. Since then I have bypassed a number of components and swapped output resistors. It might be better, but I'm skeptical.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 21, 2014 22:33:48 GMT
Did you also try them with 120 ohm output resistors in the Panda ? Many older headphones comply with IEC61938 which requires they be driven from a 120 ohm source irrespective of their impedance.
Regards Alex
|
|
|
Post by imstimpy on Jan 23, 2014 0:24:59 GMT
I've finally finished my AMB Epsilon 24 switch. Works a treat and the white LED switch looks great. Is that a Bulgin switch? I'll add another 2014 plan of mine: get rid of the lame plastic toggle switch on my Hifidiy.net Panda case Did you also try them with 120 ohm output resistors in the Panda ? Many older headphones comply with IEC61938 which requires they be driven from a 120 ohm source irrespective of their impedance. I just gave the Denons a 45 minute listen with 120 ohm Kiwame output resistors fitted in the Panda. My what an improvement over my work setup! In contrast to the Micro Amp, the bottom-heavy nature of the Denons is pulled back some, albeit still "heavy". There is no longer a veil sitting in front of the mid and upper range- there is now some liveliness to non-electronica music. The Denon's sibilance present on Mumford's "Where Are You Now" is still there, but it is now much subdued. Either the highest of frequencies are peaky or there is a slight fall in frequence leading up to the highest highs. This results in a bit of clinicalness to the vocals. As I was wrapping up my initial thoughts on the Denon/Panda combo, I realized my different sources might also contribute here. At home I have a Mac playing through a grubDAC while the work setup is the analog output from my iPhone 5. So I grabbed a 1/8 to RCA cable and plugged the iPhone into the Panda. Aha! The hollowness, congestion, veil, whatever you want to call it is coming partly from the iPhone. It isn't the sole source of the unwanted sound signature, but swapping the source back to the Mac definitely improves the sound. The iPhone into the Panda still plays the Denons far better than the Micro Amp, but it isn't as good as the Mac/DAC into the Panda, and it is still shy of the amazing AKG 701s. Next step is a Lightning to USB adaptor.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 23, 2014 0:52:10 GMT
imstimpy
Quite a few members have reported marked improvements when using 120 ohm output resistors with my Class A HA project and AKG K701s.
Regards Alex
|
|
jonclancy
Been here a while!
Mr. Ripple Eater
Amateur EAGLEist
Posts: 1,131
|
Post by jonclancy on Jan 29, 2014 21:26:50 GMT
Yep, it is the Bulgin switch. I will be rewiring it to light when the amp boards are powered up and use the e24 power to feed the "standby" LED.
|
|
jonclancy
Been here a while!
Mr. Ripple Eater
Amateur EAGLEist
Posts: 1,131
|
Post by jonclancy on Mar 5, 2014 13:03:48 GMT
Currently setting up my new, HUGE HDD in the NAS. Will copy all the tunes over to it later. Idea is to run I2S from the Pi into the AYA DAC direct. Switchable input means that I can run a CDP or just streamed, bit-perfect tunes as I wish.
Big thanks to Juke who made all of this possible!!!
|
|
Will
Been here a while!
Ribena abuser!
Member since 2008
Posts: 2,164
|
Post by Will on Mar 7, 2014 12:55:55 GMT
Sounds like you are flying on this RPi stuff, Jon, I know who to come to in the future.
With impending more-working-from-home, I really do have an excuse to get my rpi/PK dac up and running.
|
|
Will
Been here a while!
Ribena abuser!
Member since 2008
Posts: 2,164
|
Post by Will on Mar 7, 2014 13:21:37 GMT
|
|