Posted on Monday, 13th September 2010 by Auw Jimmy

Some of the readers mailed to me and asked, why do I digitalize my collections? The reason is as below.

I found at least one of my CD has a serious unrecoverable error. The outer circle has black stain on the inside layer. The track from #8 to end, definitely not readable, even with my laptop and Exact Audio Copy. The CD was “Carmen Meets Kharma”, STS SACD – The Essence of Music series (STS 611126). Was one of my really favorite collection

The surprising this was, this CD was not cheap. I’ve seen such phenomena on cheap-pirated-not so well manufactured CD. But rarely on fabricated one and with such rare usage (this CD condition was very good, almost no scratch and played less than 50 times in the 3 years period after I bought it).

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Tags: CD Audio
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Posted on Sunday, 1st August 2010 by Auw Jimmy

I designed a simple SRPP PCB for my own project. A special thanks to my friend, Mr. ATP who helped to process the PCB fabrication.

Well, later these days, I just feel more comfortable with PCB rather than point-to-point wiring. It’s nothing special, just an ordinary SRPP design.

Tags: PCB, SRPP
Posted in Collectible Stuff, DIY Audio | Comments (4)

Posted on Wednesday, 21st July 2010 by Auw Jimmy

I love the Duelund CAST Resistor sound on my speaker crossover. Despite its cost, it’s better than some of my previous favorites, like Sfernice or Mills (YMMV). But since they are designed for crossover application, so they don’t have such high value. I manage to get special order one, custom value at 299R.

Definitely, 299R is not a common value at crossover application. Not even close.

One measured at 303.6R while the other measured at 305.6R. At 0.6-1.6% accuracy, I think it should be fine.

Are you thinking what I’m thinking?

I plan to put this cute black resistor on Grid application, on my tube preamp. Which preamp, we will see later

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Tags: Duelund, Duelund Cast Capacitor, Duelund Cast Resistor
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Posted on Sunday, 18th April 2010 by Auw Jimmy

The sign of a wear out tube? Time to grab some more… >.<

Tags: 26 tube, tube
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Posted on Friday, 2nd April 2010 by Auw Jimmy

My Sanwa PC510 multimeter has the capability to measure the temperature via small probe. So, I’m curious to measure my tube glass/surface temperature. I test the 6N1P, 6N6P, and 5U4G tubes.

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Tags: measurement, Sanwa, temperature, tube
Posted in Collectible Stuff, DIY Audio | Comments (0)

Posted on Tuesday, 23rd March 2010 by Auw Jimmy

After some crazy on the middle of the night decision, finally I decided to purchase the Duelund CAST Silver (CAST Ag) Capacitor. My friend bought my CAST Copper (CAST Cu), so this leaded me into a final crazy decision, to buy the CAST Silver.

The 1 uF and 630 VDC version of Duelund CAST Silver will cost you around US$ 900 each or around US$ 1800 pair. The 0.47 uF and 630 VDC version will cost about 5-7.5% difference, maybe different between retailers.

And don’t forget you have to wait around 2 months, not included shipping time, to get this at home – even if you have the money.

I was surprised to see that the outside appearance of this damned expensive CAST Silver was completely the same with my old CAST Copper. C’mon I spent over 2 times for this caps but with same appearance? Did you buy AMG with standard appearance? At least I expected extra muffler, some body kits, new xenon head lamps, and some shinny grille.

The only different was, on the backside. You could side the sticker wrote 99.999% SILVER

I must wait several days or weeks, before I can judge this capacitor. But I do really anxious to hear how does it sound!!!

Tags: Capacitor, Duelund
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Posted on Tuesday, 23rd March 2010 by Auw Jimmy

I acquired another varian of Jensen Film Caps, the Copper Tube. Basically, Jensen has 4 enclosure models, the cheap Aluminum Tube, then the Paper Tube, Copper Tube, and Ceramic Tube. So far, I have no interest (or budget) to try the Ceramic Tube, so I take the Copper Tube  (hope I made a good decision).

Inside, all of them should be the same. Just the enclosure is different. But I note a significant different in weight between the Aluminum Tube and the Paper or Copper Tube.

After several hours of break-in session, soon I will held a session between my favorite Paper Tube vs Copper Tube. This should be interesting, since Copper Tube is more expensive, and should provide an advantage – less interference, thanks to the Copper natural behavior.

But we must wait several days, or week, until they pass the break-in period.

Tags: Capacitor, copper tube, jensen, paper tube
Posted in Collectible Stuff | Comments (26)

Posted on Tuesday, 23rd March 2010 by Auw Jimmy

At the end or journey where good electrolytic caps is getting more difficult to be acquired, I think I have to consider some alternatives. I love Black Gate and Elna (Cerafine and Silmic), but those are getting rare and expensive. So far, I can live with Jensen 4-pole electrolytic at my Tube HV power supply, but I’m thinking cheaper solution for general purpose usage.

For now, I think this Axial Electrolytic Capacitor from Jensen could fulfill my needs. It’s quite small. The 10.000uF and 16 VDC size is about the size of average thumb. I thought it would be big

I think this gonna be cool for filament supply application.

Tags: Capacitor, jensen
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Posted on Saturday, 6th March 2010 by Auw Jimmy

Never seen this one before. But this 12B4 seems like to have a clear top. Anyway, will keep it for my private collection.

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Posted on Saturday, 6th March 2010 by Auw Jimmy

Another 6CG7/6FQ7 Clear Top, but this time without RCA markings. Made in USA, though? Very similar with RCA writings. Tested very good also on my Knight 600.

Posted in Collectible Stuff | Comments (2)

Posted on Saturday, 6th March 2010 by Auw Jimmy

Must be another lucky day… RCA 6CG7 Clear Top. One of most wanted item. Tested very good on my Knight 600. Will check more detail after my Hickok 539B completely refurbished.

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Posted on Saturday, 6th March 2010 by Auw Jimmy

Must be my lucky day… Could get 4 pcs of LM1875 with same batch number

Posted in Collectible Stuff | Comments (5)