Posted on Saturday, 2nd January 2010 by Auw Jimmy

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!

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Tags: Amplifier, CAST, Duelund, RS241, tube
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Posted on Sunday, 19th April 2009 by Auw Jimmy

It’s time for Single Ended amplifier benchmarking session. Located at Bakmi Margonda, Sarinah, Indonesia.

Here is some shoot from the event. The system was very simple, Tannoy speaker, Audio Aero Capitole CDP, and AirTight 300B as Reference Amplifier.

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Tags: Amplifier, Blind Test, single ended, tube
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Posted on Monday, 29th December 2008 by Auw Jimmy

I went to my friend’s house to test my “old” Knight 600 Tube Tester. It was old, I got from eBay. I didn’t have step down transformer on hand, so I need to try it elsewhere.

It was a nice unit. Some rust on the screws, but overall all the functions were functional. The roll chart was working completely, no sign of jammed or stucked. This “simple emission tester” could check most tubes, from classic 4 pins to Octal and Nuvistor tube.

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Tags: Amplifier, Audio, tube, tube tester
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Posted on Saturday, 13th December 2008 by Auw Jimmy

A Gainclone challenge? Why not? Solid state? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Wise man says ask “Why” five times. But I think I will end up with same answer Sorry! Just consider this as a small killing time, boredom destroyer project uh…

But remember, we are on crisis, so no budget!!! So, I also don’t want to spend any budget… Well, small budget is ok, but really-really small.

Let’s straight to the point and back to the topic: I want to try a LM1875 Gainclone Amplifier. This is not my first time building a Gainclone, but first time with LM1875. Gainclone becomes famous because this “simple chip amplifier” could sound beautiful – in 47 Laboratory 4706 Gaincard (retail price near US$ 3000) and Jeff Rowland Concentra (retail price around US$ 6500). FYI, Gainclone family has some models, like LM1875, LM3875, LM3886, etc. Each has different specifications, especially for power rating and speaker load impedance – but all amplifier with this chip will be called as “Gainclone”.

I’ve received the PCB from my friend at local DIY forum. Now, it’s time to pick my “agents” – I mean my components

“As always, should you or any of your IM force be caught or killed,, the Secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions. This tape will self-destruct in five seconds. Good luck, Jim.”

Well, just suddenly remember those classic Mission Impossible warning on every end of its mission tape. Now I’m starting to pick my agents. Let’s open my shelves and see what I can find. A Gainclone only need very small amount of components, around 10 pcs each channel. I think I still have some in my drawers.

Some capacitors on my drawer. Umm… I’ve collected these for quite long time.

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Tags: Amplifier, Audio, Capacitor, DIY-Audio, gainclone, resistor
Posted in Collectible Stuff, DIY Audio, Personal | Comments (80)

Posted on Saturday, 4th October 2008 by Auw Jimmy

Well, I have one week holiday and I’m almost dead because of doing nothing. Since I have a pair of Aikido 9-pin Preamp PCB, why don’t I build one?

The main concern of this project is simplicity and cheap price. I don’t want to spend too much money for this project (just to kill my boring days).

So here is the PCB. Nice, sweet, well build by John Broskie.

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Tags: Aikido, Amplifier, headamp, headphone amplifier, preamp, tube
Posted in DIY Audio, Personal | Comments (34)