Bigman80
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The HiFi Bear/Audioaddicts/Bigbottle Owner
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Post by Bigman80 on Jan 26, 2019 20:41:43 GMT
Looking good. DIY cases have come a longg way.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 26, 2019 21:33:25 GMT
Looking good. DIY cases have come a longg way. Yes they have, almost pro looking. |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 26, 2019 22:42:44 GMT
Looking good. DIY cases have come a longg way. All the way from China.  |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 26, 2019 23:23:50 GMT
Looking good. DIY cases have come a longg way. All the way from China. Lol. Indeed |
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Bigman80
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The HiFi Bear/Audioaddicts/Bigbottle Owner
Posts: 16,434
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Post by Bigman80 on Jan 27, 2019 7:18:32 GMT
All the way from China. Lol. Indeed It’s a great idea to take advantage of Chinese manufacturing in this area. Electronics and circuits from China, I’m less keen on, |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 27, 2019 8:38:23 GMT
It’s a great idea to take advantage of Chinese manufacturing in this area. Electronics and circuits from China, I’m less keen on, China has developed in recent years. Gone is lots of the cheap, nasty crap and they have replaced it with cheap good quality gear. You still have to be careful. I bought some RCA sockets and they were all different sizes. It's about finding the right suppliers. I now have 3-4 trusted outlets I use for certain items but anything for safety,ie fuses, mains related items etc, are all bought from UK outlets. They do want to cross into western markets directly do you can often get great prices. |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 4, 2019 12:09:56 GMT
A bit more done. I managed to hold the hole punch between my fingers to make sure i got the hole central. Happy with the look and leaves enough room to get the name engraved. I think it will look quite classy when it's done!    |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 6, 2019 11:20:17 GMT
Had a play with the design I hope to stick on the front of this. Opinions?  |
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Bigman80
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The HiFi Bear/Audioaddicts/Bigbottle Owner
Posts: 16,434
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Post by Bigman80 on Feb 6, 2019 22:47:18 GMT
Had a play with the design I hope to stick on the front of this. Opinions? I really like that. You should keep that font as it’s got a real identity to it |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 6, 2019 22:49:05 GMT
Had a play with the design I hope to stick on the front of this. Opinions? I really like that. You should keep that font as it’s got a real identity to it Thanks. I feel it suits the "idea" 50/60s valves but with a modern twist. I like it. |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 17, 2019 10:58:30 GMT
Finally, it's up and running. Lashed up to get some hours on. I have a few ideas on the cabling I'd like to try once my hand is better. However, there's a little problem. The RIAA accuracy isn't as close as the theory suggested it would be. It's in need of some fine tuning.   I'm just happy it's up and running at the minute. The finesse can be done when the RIAA is right. |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 2, 2019 14:19:01 GMT
I have just realised that there is a whole section of the journey missing from this thread. I will just add a few bits that happened prior to this stage for the archives sake.
After the initial build of the this board, it was obvious that there was a bass hump/shelf. I took the phonostage over to Alans and we realised that there had been an error in the original circuit diagram that we hadn't noticed. It turned out that we didnt need all of the capacitors which in itself is a bonus. Out came 2x 2.2uf caps and a rejig of the resistor values and a proper decent looking Square wave was showing on the scope. A bit more fine tuning and it was really good. I haven't got a picture available now but i do have one somewhere and will upload it when i find it.
I put a pair of Mundorf ALY in oil caps in the output cap position and raised the value from 2.2uf to 4.7uf. The JFX caps weren't doing it for me and the phonostage was sounding lean and edgy. The Mundorfs did the trick but sounded overly smooth. I then bought a pair of used Clarity Caps and put them in instead and finally i had the sound i expected. Clean and concise. However, i had an ATL DC blocker board lying around and decided to put it in the Bigbottle.
This has been the biggest upgrade so far. The noise floor just dropped. I had to double check i had turned the phonostage on when i plugged it back in.
I am now extremely happy with the unit and reports from those who are hearing the roaming unit Barrington has have all been highly positive. He bought the first one but its now out of spec vs the current design. I need to update it.
It recently had a run out against a Tron Seven and split the room 50/50 on the winner so that's a great reference point to start from. If the older unit is competing, the newer unit should do too as it's now more accurate and has better parts.
As for the final design, things have changed a little since the original ideas for the front panel. I managed to land lucky when forum member "blackmass" revealed he worked in a design and print environment.
I asked him to develop a logo, which he did and did well. Rob dropped the front panel in for the Phonostage today and What a fantastic job he's done too! I think this looks great and it's finally finished Inside and out.
So final built cost is a bit more than I'd originally hoped but far from unreasonable and i could have spent less but went for a few very nice bits. If i were to sell any of these it would be for about £700, now i know how much laser etching costs on the front and back panels.
Not bad for a good quality, made in the UK Hybrid Valve phonostage.
I hope to get this one out and about and get some opinions on it, from an interest POV but i am super happy with it and just love to listen to it.
It's taken about 18-24 months, from idea to actual final product and the amount of work that i have done to get to this point has been quite startling but i do believe that it was worth it. HUMONGOUS thanks to Alan, JPS, Angus and Rob. Without them, this would never have been possible. I just don't know enough lol.   
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 2, 2019 14:44:44 GMT
I am glad you dropped the additional text. I think it was a bit clumsy.
The finished product looks good.
I assume it is tidy inside?
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Post by Deleted on Aug 2, 2019 15:32:14 GMT
I am glad you dropped the additional text. I think it was a bit clumsy. The finished product looks good. I assume it is tidy inside? I think it looks a bit more classy with the new logo. A decision reached with help from Rob. Sometimes it's good to let someone else loose with an idea. Yes, tidy inside too. All top quality components and all the signal wire is Neotech UPOCC stranded. I may change that for the Spotfire but I'm just happy to have it up and running and finished. I'll post a couple of internal pics. |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 2, 2019 15:34:03 GMT
View of the pcb.  |
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Post by macca on Aug 2, 2019 15:55:48 GMT
Looks very smart and professional. Top job.
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Post by dsjr on Aug 2, 2019 15:58:49 GMT
I can't drill metal safely to save me life The price really would double from £550 if your living depended on it, but you'd need to posh-up the front panel with silk screening and so on. Can you talk a bit more on the power supplies please? |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 2, 2019 16:07:53 GMT
Looks very smart and professional. Top job. Thanks macca. Suits my utilitarian tendency lol |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 2, 2019 16:11:13 GMT
I can't drill metal safely to save me life The price really would double from £550 if your living depended on it, but you'd need to posh-up the front panel with silk screening and so on. Can you talk a bit more on the power supplies please? The price has risen to £700 due to the cost of laser etching both front and back panels and if you wanted TOTL valves like the Telefunken, you'd need another £200!!! Unfortunately when it was built (majority speaking) The valves were reasonable but they have risen sharply recently. Posh up?! Why?? I think it's understated look is part of the beauty. I like the minimal approach tbf so i am very happy. What do you want to know about the power supply? |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 2, 2019 16:12:10 GMT
top job there .looks awesome bravo i say  |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 2, 2019 16:14:38 GMT
top job there .looks awesome bravo i say Thanks you  |
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Post by sq225917 on Aug 2, 2019 18:41:42 GMT
Looks great. Gotta keep that wiring bang tidy though, no chock blocks allowed.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 2, 2019 19:37:09 GMT
Looks great. Gotta keep that wiring bang tidy though, no chock blocks allowed. Lol, no the blocks were only in place whilst the fron panel was being etched. I had removed the power switch but wanted to use it. Blocks are removed. I'll upload some better pictures of the guts later/tomorrow |
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Post by antonio on Aug 3, 2019 4:36:15 GMT
Nice work.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 3, 2019 15:40:43 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Aug 3, 2019 15:45:19 GMT
i have no idea what i'm looking at but to me it looks fekin sensational. bit better than this lol   |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 3, 2019 15:51:42 GMT
i have no idea what i'm looking at but to me it looks fekin sensational. bit better than this lol lol Oh dear  I think that's an Integrated so a bit apples v oranges but it's definitely less tidy. eek! |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 3, 2019 16:56:57 GMT
Repeat after me, electrons don't know about OCD.
They love nice straight wires tied into bundles, they can chat to their friends in the other wire. They hate wires crossing at 90 degrees, it makes them feel all lonely.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 3, 2019 17:35:10 GMT
Repeat after me, electrons don't know about OCD. They love nice straight wires tied into bundles, they can chat to their friends in the other wire. They hate wires crossing at 90 degrees, it makes them feel all lonely. Electrons don't know about OCD! haha 😊 |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 11, 2019 21:01:46 GMT
The new MM/MC board is proving to be very well laid out. Spent an hour putting in as much stuff as I have availble whilst awaiting Farnell to get the other bits on back order.     free online image hostingThe Mundorfs are in there just to see if the foul anything position wise. Clarity Caps will go in eventually. I'm quite excited to have MM & MC capability. It'll give me a change to see whether the Fet is as superior to SUTS as I believe it is. |
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