First, either analogue or digital signals can be transmitted balanced or unbalanced. Second, to get the advantages of balanced operation when sent over reasonable runs of twisted pair, the source and destination equipment need to be designed for the job. It is highly unlikely that a "balanced"...

I use an old-fashioned Weller where you buy different tips for different temperatures. I use "6" (600F), and have five tips ranging from small enough to wire pick-up arm wires to big enough to solder to 10A terminals. I'm not sure when I last bought a tip. It was at least five years ago...

315C is fine for 60/40.

Calm down, gentlemen. It's not about brand, it's about how the iron works - you need a thermostatically controlled iron. Without a thermostat, the tip doesn't last long, and neither does anything it contacts (PCBs, ICs, etc) . Tips last almost indefinitely on decent irons.

Quote: Originally Posted by boodi I'm afraid of loosing somet. on the signal path with it Not half as much as you will lose if you can't apply power at all...

The easiest solution would simply be to buy a 220V to 110V autotransformer. To power your Earmax Pro, only a tiddly one will be needed.

I've tried fudging linear pots to give logarithmic attenuation too. The best approximation I could achieve was with a shunt resistor 1/6 of the value of the pot, but the results are pretty poor (see graph).

By the time you've taken sales taxes, dealer's mark-up, packaging, transportation, marketing, etc into account, the typical mark-up from component cost to retail price has to be 4:1, and more likely 5:1. For "high-end" stuff it has to be even higher.

You can make your own electrostatic headphones, but in these days of political correctness and litigation, I'll be flamed if I tell you how. (Come to think of it, I saw a flame out of the corner of my eye in an early pair of mine.) For those of you who just have to poke their finger in the...

If you set the 12-position switch to 1dB steps, it would be 0 to -11dB. Adding a 12dB attenuator controlled by a toggle switch would extend your range to 0 to -23dB in 1dB steps. If you didn't mind using two rotary switches, you could set one to ten steps (each 1dB) to provide 0 to -9dB, and the...

Bear in mind that Canford are expensive, so you may want to shop around...

When you heat the solder with the iron, there is an explosion of flux and solder droplets. If you don't clean the flux (and those solder droplets) away, it makes the board leaky. I use Chemtronics "Flux-off" (don't say it too quickly) flux remover, followed by isopropyl alcohol.

I've taught them to leave the loudspeakers and turntable alone, and I've come to terms with the little holes they put in the curtains as kittens, and I've given up reading newspapers (too difficult with a cat sat in the middle), but wires are cat magnets.

Quote: Originally posted by AndrewB Water pistol maybe not around tube equipment. They're just not accurate enough, and they leak whilst not in use (oh yes, I've tried). Mind you, the amazed expression when I managed to get one of my cats squarely on the nose (after she had been...

Thank you for the welcome. Has anyone found a (vaguely humane) way of preventing cats from pouncing on the headphone lead when you move?