Posted on Sunday, 25th October 2009 by Jimmy Auw

I’m the middle of laziness… Actually I want to finish my Gainclone LM1875 project, but it will consume a lot of my brainpower But I don’t want to waste this weekend doing nothing. So I just test my Mini Regulator for my TentLabs XO2 Reclock Module.

Luckily, I still have old transformer, rated around 1A with 15 VAC output (tested around 15.3 VAC).

I connect the Mini Regulator to the transformer and check the VDC output. The green LED lit means everything is OK The VDC measured around 11.83 VDC. A little bit lower than my expected 12 VDC output but this should be fine. I will try with higher transformer later (16-18 VAC).

Tags: power supply, regulator
Posted in DIY Audio | Comments (8)

Posted on Wednesday, 14th October 2009 by Jimmy Auw

I have made RGN/B4/B5 to Octal Converter few weeks ago. Actually, the converter was made for 1A RGN Rectifier (because of the resistor drop value). I put 2 x 0.5 Ohm to drop 1V from 5V to 4V. With 1V voltage drop and around 1A current, I expect around 1W power dissipation. So this 6.5W Dale resistor should be fine (although a little bit warm after several hours of usage).

Later, I decided to make a new converter for 2A RGN Rectifier. Assuming 2A current and 1V voltage drop, the 5W or 6.5W Dale resistor should be fine, right? Wrong!!! My 5W Dale resistor got overheated (completely untouchable by hand) around 30 minutes of operational time.

Was I losing my math? I didn’t know.

So, I made another converter consisting two resistor in parallel. So the total power dissipation should be around 13W (2 x 6.5W). We’ll see whether those will get overheated again or not

Tags: Dale, RGN Rectifier
Posted in DIY Audio | Comments (2)

Posted on Monday, 12th October 2009 by Jimmy Auw

Some singers have their own unique “tone”, which reflects their “style” when singing. This uniqueness will  make us remember his/her specialty.

This old vintage CD Audio, produced around 2001, shows the wonderful soprano named Cui Yan Guang. She comes from Dalian, China and getting famous on the USA, HK, and Japan for Opera and Orchestra singer. You will understand when you hear her voice on this album.

She sang “vintage” (or I should say, “oldies”) songs. Perhaps at the age of Teresa Teng (邓丽君). But it’s a little bit different sensation to hear Teresa’s songs sung in an “Orchestral” way.

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Tags: CD Audio, chinese, female, soprano
Posted in CD/DVD Review, Collectible Stuff | Comments (0)

Posted on Sunday, 11th October 2009 by Jimmy Auw

Still remember my other “stupidity” here? After several hours of investigation, I finally decide that the Jensen Copper Foil Paper Tube is not a good capacitor for bypassing purpose. The music will lose most of its detail. YMMV, this is based on my investigation. Feel free if you have other opinion.

On the other side, I still have the “Classic” Jensen Copper Foil Aluminium Tube. Surprisingly, this capacitor works better on the High Voltage bypass section! The price of this capacitor is only 1/3 of the Paper Tube. I will give some more listening test, but so far I would stick with this “Classic” Jensen on the bypass section. This “Classic” capacitor gives warmth sensation without losing the details.

Tags: Bypass Capacitor, Capacitor, jensen, power supply
Posted in DIY Audio | Comments (6)

Posted on Tuesday, 6th October 2009 by Jimmy Auw

I do love the improvement after I finish the VCap TFTF Capacitor Mods on my Aikido Power Supply. The staging is awesome. I could “see” not only a center point, but also a little bit left/right, even more left/right, left/right (on the speaker), and far away left/right. But sometime, I feel the Pre-Amp is too dynamic (to speedy). For instrument music, it’s ok. But for mostly vocal dominated music, I think I need to slow it down - a little bit - without losing the awesome staging off course.

Since we know the “problem” is caused by the VCap TFTF, so we have to start the solution from this point also (it’s just because I have “predicted” that I have no option to improve on the other section).

Ok, what should we do?

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Tags: jensen, power supply, VCap
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Posted on Sunday, 4th October 2009 by Jimmy Auw

To simplify the answer, Bleeder Resistor is used to “short” the positive and negative rail on your High Voltage (B+) circuit. The main reason is safety. Without Bleeder Resistor, your capacitors will store some amount of electricity after your system turned off. This may result of hazardous shock if touched, accidentally off course

This time, I change the old Bleeder Resistor (no brand metal film) into Kiwame Carbon Film Resistor with 5W rating. Here you go.

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Tags: bleeder, Kiwame, resistor
Posted in DIY Audio | Comments (11)