D I Y
"It's All About Having Fun Playing With Electrons"
Welcome to the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) amateur audio pages at the Record Crate. As a newbie in this hobby, I know how hard it is to start building your own audio gear. What I hope to do is show other newbies my project(s) as I build them and the questions and problems I run into along the way. I do not know anything about electronics and everything I know will be or was learned along the way with each project. Another theme is saving money anywhere we can.
WARNING! Electricity can kill you! Be careful at all times. Search other DIY Web sites for some caveats. If you try any of the projects listed on my site you acknowledge that you understand I am not responsible for any injuries which may be caused in your experimentation.
Questions or comments? Email me at dancetracks@yahoo.com
Note: This site is always under construction....
Daily Notes
This is just a new section for me to point out updates to my site.
March 17, 2004 - Subwoofer was completed but the plate amp had a 12db slope, which was not steep enough to blend well with my horn or MLTL projects. The 2A3 amp is completed and it sounds great. I can recommend this to anyone looking for a 2A3 project. I'll be searching for matching speakers this year. MLTL project was completed last fall but did not sound good, so on to something else...
March 29, 2004 - Added some links. I think I may be trying the Fostex 208 drivers in open baffles this spring...
Contents:
My Early Projects
Corey Greenberg's Buf-03 Line Stage. This is what started it all. Sorry, I have no pics or notes as I have lost it all since building this project in the early 90s. Greenberg wrote about this project in the pages of Stereophile magazine, published November 1991. Here is their link to the article archive. If that does not work, I have reprinted it HERE without their permission, so don't tell!
So, how does it sound? I think if care is taken in selecting parts quality and the builder is careful to shield the circuit and signal wires against RF noise, the Buf-03 could compare favorably against many solid state (SS) preamps up to $1,000. But let's not talk about who beats who. Let's focus on whether it is pleasurable to listen to. Yes, it sounds clean and detailed. But I've associated that description with most SS gear. Does it have that little black magic to make music sing? Yes. This preamp is a great first-time project for those new to audio electronics.
Zen Preamp. This was built from an Audio Amateur magazine article written by Nelson Pass of Pass Laboratories in 1997. Audio Amateur is no longer published, and the publisher has since stopped individual mags for Glass Audio and Speaker Builder. These are condensed into one publication called AudioXpress.
This design was said to sound tube-like, providing warm sound from a mosfet device. Sonically, I think it missed its mark, but I wanted to try a more difficult circuit compared to the Buf-03 design, which sounded better anyway. I soon disconnected the circuit in favor of just using passive attenuators. Transparency is very important to me and attenuators gave me this. Pictures can be found HERE. This preamp has since been disassembled for the parts to build my 5687 tube preamp.
5687-Based Tube Line Stage (Version I - May 2002). I had been bitten by the vacuum tube bug in the spring of 2002. I built this preamp to replace my Buf-03 line stage but problems plagued me as I tweaked and tweaked. I was almost ready to continue tweaking when I got a great idea about increasing capacitance... but then I was set back with hum so loud it made me cry. I left it for dead, until someone told me not to give up just yet.... Newbies can follow along as I made my mistakes along this crazy journey of lethal voltages. Check it out HERE.
Fostex Back-Loaded Horn (Sept. 2002). What do I drive with so little wattage? Full-range back-loaded horns, of course! I'm thinking about using Fostex FE208 Sigma drivers and making the cabinets myself to cut costs. Lowthers would break the bank and are a pain to set up correctly. -- Fostex has new cabinet plans now. The older BK201 design has been discarded in favor of easier to cut 90 degree angles. I've changed my mind several times on which cabinet to build. Here's a link to the original site that inspired this project. BK201 Check out my speakers HERE.
How-Low-Can-U-Go-Subwoofer. My Frankenstein Horn has only one full-range driver. How can anyone possibly expect it to do double duty and provide slamming bass? I thought it out and looked all over the net for ideas and found a lot of happy DIY Shiva customers... so on with the show, and one big-ass box coming right up! I had originally thought of using two el-cheapo 10-inch Dayton woofers for a simple sub, but the more I thought of the pain of routing and cutting wood, I decided not to be so cheap as I wanted my first DIY sub to be good, not lame-o. Check it out HERE.
2A3 SRPP SET Tube Amp. Got no money for a 300B kit, so I decided to build a cheaper amp. Little did I know that once you start down the SET path, costs always go up. Even so, this should be one hell of an amp with a whopping 3-to-4 watts! Construction has begun. Check it out HERE.
MLTL Sigma. The bass and midrange glare was always a problem with the Frankenstein Horns, so I looked around for another speaker to build. The problem is I don't want to spend a lot of money since I am also building a 2A3 amp at the same time. So what else can I put the Fostex FE208 Sigma drivers into? Another horn? No way! Thankfully, Martin King has a simple project using the 208 in a Mass Loaded Transmission Line. Check it out HERE.
Current Projects
March 17, 2004
No projects at this time...
Future Projects
Starting in 2004...
Tube Line-Stage (Version II). I think I've tweaked my first preamp enough... So, on to another project! I've looked at Pat's Ultimate Preamp and several other 5687 preamp schematics, and even considered a Bottlehead Foreplay kit. This uses a 12AU7. I don't know if it uses a parafeed circuit but I've also heard good things about parallel feed in preamps. But wait! Even better, I've found another simple circuit that any newbie can tackle. This may just be the ticket as I can swap tubes with simple changes, which will allow me to compare a 6N1P against the 5687 and maybe others... Check it out HERE.
Welborne Labs Direct Reactance Drive 300B Amp. This looks promising and I don't have to spec out the parts myself, which is half the fun and most of the pain of building projects. I am 90 percent sure I will be buying this kit sometime in the future. Check it out at Welborne Labs.
300B SET Tube Amp. I've looked over Herb Reichert's Flesh And Blood, JC Morrison's Fi Primer 300B, and Joseph Esmilla's JE Labs 300B and may swing towards the JE Labs. Check it out HERE.
Resources:
What to read?
For beginners like me, info of any kind is real important. I recommend a visit to the book shop of Old Colony Sound Lab and purchasing some books. I am currently reading Bruce Rozenblit's "Beginner's Guide To Tube Audio Design." Please see below for a quick summary of my opinion. You will also need a book on how to read schematics. I have an old book published by Tab called "How To Read Electronic Circuit Diagrams," but I'm not sure if it is still available. Old Colony will have alternatives. I will try to put up a key listing all the strange symbols that you'll see in audio schematics.
I also found a great page at PartsExpress for primers on assorted subjects. Check it out.
Tube Basics From Svetlana - A good primer
Svetlana technical bulletins - Good source on how to use their tubes
Summary Review: "Beginner's Guide To Tube Audio Design"
I've read through the first few chapters and I am lost. Totally lost. Equations are thrown at you left and right and even Rozenblit admits that it is hard for him to explain things in simple terms and asks that the reader re-read each chapter (probably in hopes of gaining an understanding). Unless osmosis occurs and comprehension leaps from the pages of his book into your head, it is unlikely for us ordinary mortals to be able to design any tube circuits. One of the problems I had with his teaching/writing style was that he did not list equations separately, say on a separate page, with explanations for what or where they apply. Now that I am depressed, I think I will read about speaker building from Vance Dickason's "Loudspeaker Design Cookbook" to see if I can understand that hobby.
A Taste Of Tubes - Here's a nice write up on why tubes sound better and a little about how they work. This is from old Sonic Frontiers. (PDF format)
Glass Audio's "Audio Classroom" - Here's a bunch of in-depth primers for designing your own tube circuit. I think I found these at the AudioXpress web site. I just rediscovered them and will be reading them soon...
Designing Your Own Amplifier
Part 1 - Voltage Amplifier Stages
Part 2 - The Power Stage
Part 3 - Phase Inverters
Part 4a - Push-Pull Power Stages
Part 4b - Push-Pull Power Stages
Part 5 - Feedback Amplifiers
Practical Audio Design
Part 1 - Power Transformers and Rectifiers
Part 2 - Power-Supply Filters
Part 3 - Decoupling Networks and Voltage Regulation
Safety Tips
I haven't found a better site stressing the importance of safety than what I've read at Voltsecond's Web site. A must read for any newbie tube builder. This page is also one of the best resources for Bottlehead mods.
Check out Vandit's page and Angela Instruments for some newbie tips.
Where to shop?
Here's a list of places to get started. You'll find many other shops listed on other sites, too. (T=tube stuff, SS=solid state stuff, B=both)
www.percyaudio.com (B) www.digikey.com (SS) www.mcmelectronics.com (SS) www.mouser.com (SS) www.alliedelec.com (SS)
www.welbornelabs.com (B) www.tubesandmore.com (T) www.angela.com (T) www.triodeelectronics.com (T) www.hndme.com (T)
www.audioelectronicsupply.com (T) www.partsconnexion.com (B) www.partsexpress.com (SS) www.tubeman.com (T) www.tubeworld.com (T)
www.sears.com (tools)
Links
Here are some of my favorite sites in no particular order:
Sites with info, tips, projects, schematics, DIY, personal pages, etc.
- Nice schematics and stuff about tubes, including a 5687 preamp.Gabe's Tube Amps - He has some interesting projects and sells low-cost kits.
TubeBuilder.com - good info on tubes here. Tube data!
Vandit Kalia - The site that motivated me to go with the 5687.
World Tube Audio Portal - links to everything about tubes.
JE Labs 300B - The Original JE Labs Site and Derek Walton site about building his version of the amp.
The FI Primer - JC Morrison's cool designs.
AudioReview.com - when in doubt, look here for a review.
Power Supply Primer - Here's a site with simple info on power supplies. Hopefully by now you've seen the similarities between simple tube power supplies and can at least put the parts in the rights place. I don't expect you to know what values to use (I don't know how to calculate those values either), however, if you want to try out your own PS design, you have to download Duncan's power supply design program at www.duncanamps.com. Duncan's site also has many of the tube data sheets you'll need for your tube projects.
Tube data galore! But this site is sometimes slow at night...
Robert Danielak's tube pages. Lots of great projects to try out here.
Looking to learn some basics and maybe get in a project or two? Try DIY Paradise.
Tim Reese - Lots of tube stuff and links
Derek Walton - nice tube and speaker stuff. He built a beautiful version of the JE Labs 300b.
Pete Millett's audio site - a few old tube projects for the adventurous.
Ralph Power's DIY Tube Audio Site - lots of schematics to try out here.
Speaker Stuff
Loudspeakers101 - great site with basics
CarAudio Notch Filter - This is a good page for building a parallel notch filter for your speaker project.
Series Notch Filter - Here's another take on the subject.
Serge's Audio Home - This site has the plans for the Buschorn MKII with the Fostex FE103E.
Bob Brines - Look no further if you want to build a simple full-range speaker
Buschorn MKII. The Buschorn has been adapted for the low-cost Fostex FE103E. It wouldn't cost much to build a pair of these to see what all the fuss is about.... Check out Serge's site for the plans in metric.
The Single Driver Web Site - The place to be for single driver speaker designs.
SpeakerBuilder.Net - Wayne J has some easy designs to build.
Sites with parts for sale, kits, etc.
Adire Audio - Home of the HE10.1 speaker kit and other great stuff
Bottlehead - The site that started it all; inspires you to build it yourself. Home of the Foreplay, Paramour, and other cool parafeed kits.
Triode Electronics - Tube data! and parts...
DIY Cable - has efficient speakers for your tube amps.
Magnequest Transformers - simply the best OPTs for tube amps... and somewhat expensive, too!
ElectraPrint Audio - I've heard good things about their transformers. They are out of my price range at the moment.
ElectraPrint's old link, in case the above doesn't work.
Audio Advisor - keeps you updated on affordable gear.
Decware - tube amps and kits, subwoofer plans, and the famous Zen...
GR-Research - some affordable speaker kits for A/V and/or music. looks promising.
Zalytron - Great looking kits, but I haven't found any reviews from usenet or web sites
Madisound - lots of speaker parts. some kits. good source for Fostex drivers.
Also see the Where To Shop list.
More coming soon...
