Posted on Wednesday, 24th February 2010 by Jimmy Auw

Last week, we held a DIY gathering. Located at Bintaro, Indonesia. The host was Mr. Didik F. Wiryawan and family. Around 30+ people were there, was one of the crowded gathering ever. Below is the picture of the stage. We held some Blind Test also. You will also see some fancy DIY creation here.

(more…)

Tags: Blind Test, DIY Audio, Indonesia
Posted in DIY Audio, Indonesia | Comments (9)

Posted on Saturday, 2nd January 2010 by Jimmy Auw

A pair of Duelund CAST is enough to rob your wallet. How about two pairs? Well, sometime money is not an object - when you are pursuing the ultimate sound. No sky is high enough

I welcome, two pairs of Duelund CAST Capacitor installed on 6J5-RE604-RS241 Amplifier. The installation process was done just before end of last year (31th December 2009, night!). And well, I saw many fireworks when driving home (around 00:15). Happy New Year first!

(more…)

Tags: Amplifier, CAST, Duelund, RS241, tube
Posted in DIY Audio | Comments (19)

Posted on Friday, 18th December 2009 by Jimmy Auw

I have a short free time at the afternoon, and it’s time to test my Power Supply for my Gainclone. Powered by Talema dual secondaries, each rated at 18VAC/6.3A

(more…)

Tags: Black Gate, gainclone, power supply, talema
Posted in DIY Audio | Comments (11)

Posted on Sunday, 6th December 2009 by Jimmy Auw

I will not use “Ultimate” or “Premium” project since no one knows (even me) the result of this Gainclone project. I would say… “Ridiculous Gainclone”. Is that OK? To be honest, this more likely a mini battleship (A-Wing?) on the StarWars movie than an amplifier.

A brief view of it, from the top. Powered with Mundorf Supreme Silver/Gold/Oil as input coupling capacitor (2.2 uF), Vintage NOS SCR 22 uF as feedback capacitor, and Black Gate F Series as power capacitor, bypassed with K40Y Russian oil capacitor. Isn’t that “ridiculous”?

Keep reading, I will show some things I have done today to assembly my Gainclone.

(more…)

Tags: gainclone, power amp, solid state
Posted in DIY Audio | Comments (28)

Posted on Saturday, 28th November 2009 by Jimmy Auw

Finally, with the help from my girlfriend, I manage to get the Nuvotem Talema Transformer on hand within a week. It’s rated at 6.3A with 2×18V output or about 225VA. Not bad for my LM1875 huh…

(more…)

Tags: power supply, talema, transformer
Posted in Collectible Stuff, DIY Audio | Comments (14)

Posted on Wednesday, 25th November 2009 by Jimmy Auw

I manage to secure some old vintage meters. One is for DC Voltage (up to 300V, exactly what I need for my pre-amp). While the other is mA meter (up to 30mA, another luck for my pre-amp). I’m thinking of removing the old black cover, change it with some wood and acrylic. Are you thinking what I’m thinking?

(more…)

Tags: vintage meter
Posted in Collectible Stuff, DIY Audio | Comments (7)

Posted on Sunday, 22nd November 2009 by Jimmy Auw

When I arrived back home at night and cleaned up my equipment, I noticed that my solder tip has “golden” color appearance. Well, I have been on this solder-toy-world for over 15 years, but never saw my solder tip showed this kind of color.

I think this is caused by the usage of Mundorf M-Solder Supreme Silver/Gold. Check here for another entry of my blog for the short review of this solder.

Am I Seeing (Smelling?) My Gold Burned?

Tags: mundorf, solder
Posted in DIY Audio | Comments (0)

Posted on Sunday, 22nd November 2009 by Jimmy Auw

I also got chance to test the Mundorf M-Solder Supreme Silver/Gold. This is one of the finest solder on the market. Currently, I use WBT for most of my main project. But the chance to try the M-Solder shouldn’t be wasted, right?

This Mundorf M-Solder Supreme Silver/Gold consists of:

• Sn: 88.6%
• Cu: 1.8%
• Ag: 9.5%
• Au: 0.1%

(more…)

Tags: mundorf, solder
Posted in DIY Audio | Comments (5)

Posted on Sunday, 22nd November 2009 by Jimmy Auw

I ordered custom made transformer to replace my old Aikido Pre-Amp transformer. Before, I rarely ordered a “finished” transformer (but prefer doing DIY one with my colleague). But now I’m thinking to try a “proven good” transformer (and considering doing some comparison of its effect).

Finally it’s done. The transformer consisted of few secondaries, to supply my main high voltage, the rectifier, and the tubes.

(more…)

Tags: Aikido, preamp, transformer
Posted in DIY Audio | Comments (4)

Posted on Sunday, 22nd November 2009 by Jimmy Auw

I visited my friend’s home few days ago. We planned to tweak his #26 Pre-Amp (with Parafeed design).

His Pre-Amp was a high quality pre-amp, in terms of parts and design. As you can see below, the high voltage section has Black Gate SKZ capacitor.

He just finished tweaking the high voltage section by adding 3 huge Russian Teflon capacitors (FT-3) and got significant improvement on the sound staging. He was poisoned by the VCap Power Supply trick as I did on my pre-amp, so he tried the cheap Teflon solution first, the Russian FT-3 before going down deeper with VCap

At first, his #26 used Jensen Capacitor Aluminum Foil. The overall sound is live, fast rhythm, and dynamic. A little bit less sexy on the vocal side for my taste and the top end detail was a little bit “flat”. Then we changed to Jensen Copper Foil Paper Tube. How did it sound? Keep reading.

(more…)

Tags: 26, jensen, preamp, preamplifier
Posted in DIY Audio | Comments (14)

Posted on Sunday, 15th November 2009 by Jimmy Auw

It’s a cool weekend, we are entering rainy months. I continue soldering my Ultimate Power Supply. Today, I solder 8 pcs of MUR860 and 70 pcs of Black Gate F Series. Done in 3 hours, not bad huh.

(more…)

Tags: BlackGate, diode, mur860, power supply, rectifier
Posted in DIY Audio | Comments (11)

Posted on Saturday, 14th November 2009 by Jimmy Auw

Some of you have emailed me asking to finish the Gainclone - Black Gate Power Supply project, and well, I’m about to complete it with some modification. Here is the “sneak-peeks”

The rectification section is made dual, total 8 pcs of MUR860 will be used here.

(more…)

Tags: BlackGate, diode, gainclone, MUR, power supply, rectifier
Posted in DIY Audio | Comments (4)