I wanted a nice-looking component-sized case for my Media PC source, and everything out there seemed, well, huge. And metal. So I built my own: Even with a Micro-ATX motherboard, it still was a challenge to make things compact. Not a lot of wasted space here: SSD (visible in the...

Balanced cable for my HD-580 with braided leather sheath and leather "Y"-splits. My first outing braiding--took me a week of evenings, lol! Mogami quad and Amphenol plugs.

Are you talking about removing the foam rubber strips from the insides of the grilles of the 555's to basically turn them into 595's?

That's a pretty build, Karl!   Thinking about taking tension...I built a headphone cable out of Mogami 3106.  It has a core reinforcement and according to Mogami is electrically similar to the 2549.  It's a stereo cable so was really easy to build into a headphone cable.  It also had a rubber...

  You're right, they're not really necessary.  I poured over the article and realized this really isn't so much a starved plate.  

SOHA-flavored power supply...I'm happy to say, no "magic smoke" on the first test  :     Rectifiers/doubler on the right, B+ in back, +/- low-voltage supply (it's actually trim-able up to +/-15V) in the middle, and -12.6v heater supply on the left.  With a 30VCT transformer B+ is around...

Long time no see!  One of these days I'll have enough free time at a stretch to finish a project before I second-guess myself. I was starting to think re-hashing this all with a known topology, like a Balanced SOHA, would probably end up sounding better.  Then I figured....why not use the...

Test fitting the chassis...             Why yes, Virginia, I'm using a motherboard mounting tray for the bottom.        Hmm...what'dya think this is?  

How to not screw up your nice oak faceplate (click on the pics for the larger versions):     I happened to have a template bushing for my Dremel tool plunge router attachment.  I'll be using a fresh multi-purpose spiral bit on the highest speed setting.   The offset for the guide is...

  The best response I've seen yet.   "Balanced" lines came into being as a means to send signals long distances with maximum noise rejection. Push-pull amplication (which is really what we're talking about) came shortly thereafter.  There are some native advantages to it, some of what you've...

I did a scratch template for the front panel.  The first template I went a little crazy with the French curves and it ended up a little too organic.   This one's a little better:         Oh...and the coupling caps don't need to be that big.     .1uF should be fine.  I'll fix that the...

Working to tame the gain a bit....   Assuming my math is right, differential gain without feedback is around 30.  This version with the feedback resistance set at 240K reduces that to 22.  If I increase the input impedance a hair I can shave another 2 off each triode for a gain of 18.

  LOL and here I went and simplified the CCS before you posted that!    It's all good though...I actually learned a bit in redoing it, so maybe when I put the Cascode version back in I can calculate the values better.  Is it useful to have more voltage swing across the CCS?  If it doesn't...

You're right--I was trying to fully utilize my stereo pots but the legitimate shunt would probably work better anyway.  Fixed.   I also redid the CCS.     I was just thinking, perhaps I could add some local NFB to tame the gain a bit?

  Thanks-I'm looking forward to looking through that pass article.   I really appreciate you wanting to keep me from going down the wrong dark path (I do that with my son sometimes   ).  Here's my dilemma with changing the topology this late in the game:   -I've already invested in a...