Posted on Tuesday, 20th December 2011 by Auw Jimmy

So far, my current reference for solder is WBT. Price and performance wise, this is one of the best from my point of view (also point of listening). But somehow someday, I was intrigued to try Mundorf top of the line solder, the MSolder Supreme Silver Gold. I know Mundorf quite well, as at some point, I used to love their capacitor (especially the Silver/Gold/Oil series).

This top of the line solder contains 88.6% Tin, 1.8% Copper, (massively) 9.5% Silver, and 0.1% Gold.

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Tags: Goot, Mundorf MSolder Silver Gold, Soldering Iron
Posted in Collectible Stuff, DIY Audio | Comments (4)

Posted on Monday, 12th December 2011 by Auw Jimmy

I was quite surprised to hear this email below few days ago. Yes I knew that some Cardas SRCA has Cardas logo, found on their reference or factory terminated cable – but I didn’t know (or didn’t realize) if their separate selling of the SRCA (plug only) shouldn’t have this logo.

According to Josh Meredith, the SRCA with Cardas logo is a fake or counterfeit one. Except if you buy a factory terminated cable.

Should I say I’m lucky or not? That I have both type of SRCA on hand… >.<

I bought the ‘considered fake one’ on the common public online marketplace ‘where you can buy almost everything’  – I do hope you got my clue. I bought at similar price with common retailer like PCX. The reason for me to buy from that marketplace was the delivery time was faster as the seller was from Asia, instead of – let’s say PCX – which located on Canada. And that kind of shortcut leaded me into throwing money into garbage bin. Since it’s already happened, there is no reason to cry. Let’s see what is the different from the physical side between those two.

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Tags: Cardas, Counterfeit, Fake Cardas, Fake SRCA, SRCA
Posted in Collectible Stuff, DIY Audio | Comments (2)

Posted on Tuesday, 15th November 2011 by Auw Jimmy

So far, Auricap is one of my trusted capacitor brand – in power supply section. I still remember ‘few’ years back (when using this capacitor for the very first time) and comparing with Solen, Hovland, and Bennic XPP in my very first DIY speaker. Sounds familiar – if you were ever there.

Now, time has changed, but Auricap remains there. Affordable and sounds quite natural capacitor. I receive information from my colleague that Auricap releases latest type, the XO series. Not quite sure why Auricap uses XO as their new model. Probably as this new capacitor also available in very larger version (100 uF++, if I’m not mistaken).

Auricap is still my favorite in power supply section, after Solen. Well, so far if you are thinking a full film capacitor power supply, then Solen is a nice and realistic choice, as they are available in large capacitance, adequate 400-630 VDC, and definitely affordable price. Now, with the arrival of Auricap XO, which also offers large capacitance and high voltage, then the different is all about money (and performance to justify the cost).

I order 0.1 uF / 400 VDC and plan to use them in power supply section of my new Aikido Preamp.

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Tags: auricap, Auricap XO, Capacitor, preamp
Posted in Collectible Stuff, DIY Audio | Comments (5)

Posted on Sunday, 13th November 2011 by Auw Jimmy

During the upgrading process, the old Ceramic tube socket also got new replacement to the Teflon one. The problem is, the process to remove the old tube socket will not be an easy job, as removing other parts. Why? Because as other part usually only has 2 leads, the tube socket got 9 points to be removed.

Actually if you really want to re-use the old socket, you have to use hot air solder to remove the perfectly. But I don’t really have the need to re-use the old socket. So I cut them directly.

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Tags: Aikido, preamp, solder, Teflon, Tube Socket, WBT
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Posted on Monday, 7th November 2011 by Auw Jimmy

As I’m about to move my Aikido Preamp to a new ‘home’ (I mean, new chassis), then it’s time to fix all the components used there. Before, I have tested several components on different section and later then I got final conclusion to put what on where, etc. Below you can see one of the original parts used during my earlier testing stage. Now it’s time to finalize?

One most difficult thing is to unsolder all the components first. As you can see below, most of the parts are not yet fixed (long leads, hanging here hanging there, etc etc). Unsoldering them definitely would not be a nice evening job.

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Tags: Aikido, preamp, TX2575, Z201
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Posted on Monday, 17th October 2011 by Auw Jimmy

I always enjoy the beauty of vacuum tube, especially when the heater is glowing bright on thoriated tungsten tube and in a dimmed room. The photo below only taken for fun. I power up the EIMAC 8165/4-65A tube with 4x AA battery. The 6V filament glows, but I think due to limited current from the AA batteries, it can’t be as bright as normal. But even with the limited current, we still can enjoy the beauty of it…

More EIMAC tubes to follow…

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Tags: EIMAC, tube
Posted in Collectible Stuff | Comments (4)

Posted on Wednesday, 12th October 2011 by Auw Jimmy

Still remember the first chapter here? I have transferred the paper mockup into digital format. It didn’t take long time to do that

Just need to send (or print) this format and send to the manufacturer. I’m quite sure they can make one for me.

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Tags: Aikido, power supply, preamp, Prototype
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Posted on Wednesday, 12th October 2011 by Auw Jimmy

I ordered Duelund CAST Cu capacitor few months ago. I already have Duelund CAST Ag (Silver) on my Aikido Preamp. But I wanted Duelund CAST for my future amp (probably it’s gonna be another abandoned project?). As the CAST Ag price is very not reasonable (around US$2500 or more for a pair of 1 uF/630 VDC), then I think the CAST Cu is the best option (around US$ 1200 a pair). I also ordered my Alexander by Duelund capacitor (less than US$ 200 a pair of 0.47 uF/900 VDC), just to ‘finalized’ my passion on it (how bad it could be?).

After around 3 months or so production, finally the goods arrived on my home yesterday. When I opened it, I got a surprise. Duelund changed their chassis design for the CAST capacitor. See below.

I think the design is more likely a ‘small car battery’. Quite nice, since the new design is smaller and it’s ‘boxy’ design could fit on most PCB easily, compared with the old ‘moon cake’ chassis design.

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Tags: Capacitor, CAST Ag, CAST Cu, Duelund
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Posted on Tuesday, 11th October 2011 by Auw Jimmy

It’s interesting to hear how does this low end capacitor would sound. So I eventually try to obtain it. I just can’t stop my passion in this. Sigh…

Priced at very low value (just a little bit more expensive than Audio Note Mylar version), this Alexander capacitor from Duelund got ‘unique’ 900VDC rating. Based on its specification and capacitance availability, I’m quite sure this is more for electronic circuit instead of crossover.

Interesting to hear how does it sound. I also order the new version of Duelund CAST Cu capacitor. Although they are at different level, but at how much? That would be remained as question, until I try it.

All I need is some more time…

Tags: Alexander, Capacitor, Duelund
Posted in Collectible Stuff, DIY Audio | Comments (9)

Posted on Sunday, 9th October 2011 by Auw Jimmy

As my chassis has done few days ago, now it’s time to design the placement of the parts. I have mentioned before that the dimension was quite tight, so I wasn’t sure that I could fit all the parts on it. But without doing some prototyping, I couldn’t confirm that. So let’s start doing that.

My new chassis contains 3 chambers. One for the main transformer, one for the power supply section, and one for signal section. The size around 40×40 cm, more or less.

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Tags: chassis, design, layout, power supply, prototyping
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Posted on Thursday, 6th October 2011 by Auw Jimmy

I did a stupid mistake. I ordered new chassis, but during the construction, I changed some parts and forgot if the new parts actually ‘lot’ bigger than the old one. Two most significant in terms of the size are Hashimoto C-25-150CH and Tamura A-4004. They both occupy over half of the space (see the right chamber, on the size of copper plate). The copper plate itself will hold a giant custom Z11 power transformer.

I have to think how to solve this puzzle… re-order a new chassis would be my last, worst, but also simplest option…

See how things going soon… What you see below is not a ‘complete team’. I still have a pair of VCap and a Jensen 4pole electrolytic to join.

Tags: Aikido, chassis, preamp
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Posted on Monday, 19th September 2011 by Auw Jimmy

Last week, we held a simple DIY Blind Test session. The contenders were all Class A amplifier (we can see F5, J2, Aleph, TUMOS, and some others…)

This was a hot session. Not just because the contenders were very good and serious, but the Class A itself means high current (=hot) and big heatsink (=heavy). So? You can imagine the rest

Below is the preparation of the session. The speaker was DIY 3-way with Vifa driver (XT25, P17, and PL26). The CD Player was CEC, while the Preamp was Aikido. Enjoy some photos below!

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Tags: Aleph, Amplifier, Blind Test, Class A, F5, J2, TUMOS
Posted in DIY Audio | Comments (7)