[Cotnijoe]

Hey all! Me and a good friend of mine, @MrCaptPlanet are trying our hands at a DIY project and making a CIEM, purely out of interest in this hobby. We are at a university setting so we have access to quite a bit of pretty cool technologies that just take a bit of discovering.
 
Only problem... well we don't know much about creating CIEMs ourselves, particularly the internal BA drivers and how to create a functional device that actually sounds decent. So we're reaching out to the community in hopes of getting some good advice or guidance! 
 
Any help is highly appreciated, as any advice is extremely valuable to us! Any former posts, webpages, files, whatever it may be, that can give us more insight on completing our little excursion will be accepted with fireworks and gratitude!

 

[piotrus-g]

Shoot me an email and I'll send you open source 3 way design using drivers you can easily buy on mouser

 

[Cotnijoe]

  Shoot me an email and I'll send you open source 3 way design using drivers you can easily buy on mouser

 
Piotr of all people have come to my aid!!
 
CaptPlanet actually recently bought a pair of Music Ones from you! (with my recommendation of course 

)
 
His was the orange with blue canals and non-detachable cables and he's loving them!

 

[Silverprout]

  Hey all! Me and a good friend of mine, @MrCaptPlanet are trying our hands at a DIY project and making a CIEM, purely out of interest in this hobby. We are at a university setting so we have access to quite a bit of pretty cool technologies that just take a bit of discovering.
 
Only problem... well we don't know much about creating CIEMs ourselves, particularly the internal BA drivers and how to create a functional device that actually sounds decent. So we're reaching out to the community in hopes of getting some good advice or guidance! 
 
Any help is highly appreciated, as any advice is extremely valuable to us! Any former posts, webpages, files, whatever it may be, that can give us more insight on completing our little excursion will be accepted with fireworks and gratitude!

Hi,
There are some reference designs created by manufacturers.
Don't trust all CIEMs gurus

 
http://www.knowles.com/eng/Our-company/Technologies/Technology-platforms/Balanced-armature-technology#Integrated-circuitry
 
http://www.knowles.com/eng/content/download/4304/58695/version/7/file/Design_Guide.pdf
 
You should use this one :
 
http://www.knowles.com/eng/content/download/5920/103132/version/2/file/Receiver+Datasheet+GK-31732-000.pdf
 
http://www.mouser.fr/ProductDetail/Knowles/GK-31732-000/?qs=wo4x%252bUeoG8WQFoA9Weq6AQ%3D%3D

 

[Cotnijoe]

 

 
Thanks for bringing the design guides to my attention silverpourt. Info from the manufacturers themselves is definitely a good place to start!

 

[Silverprout]

   
Thanks for bringing the design guides to my attention silverpourt. Info from the manufacturers themselves is definitely a good place to start!

 
Yes but now i've got a doubt... because all their multi drivers assemblies uses exactly the same crossover regardless the drivers size or specifications...
Finally you shoud listem CIEMS gurus

 

 

[Silverprout]

   
Yes but now i've got a doubt... because all their multi drivers assemblies uses exactly the same crossover regardless the drivers size or specifications...
Finally you shoud listem CIEMS gurus

 

 
Finally the resistor is used to undamp the CI a little bit and the ceramic cap is here for low frequency decoupling.
These desings are crossover-less (like mine)...
 
Go with it !

 

[MrCaptPlanet]

First, I want to say thanks to @piotrus-g ! I love my ciems very much! they sound fantastic and the fit was stellar. I also want to thank you and @Silverprout for taking the time to help us. I love to do projects over summer vacation, and I am really looking forward to the result of this one. That said we have very little idea what we are doing, so this is going to be interesting

 

[piotrus-g]

  First, I want to say thanks to @piotrus-g ! I love my ciems very much! they sound fantastic and the fit was stellar. I also want to thank you and @Silverprout for taking the time to help us. I love to do projects over summer vacation, and I am really looking forward to the result of this one. That said we have very little idea what we are doing, so this is going to be interesting

No problem, any time. The most important question is how much do you want to spend on this because if you wanted to do this right you will probably have to find some few hundred bucks.
 
User @Furco has good "book" in progress about making monitors, there are some outdated information there, but I would consider it the very basics and you should start by reading this https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jU37oWefx2dGS8dWw5TVkugEtwJh_bh3fuUBNe2HrQg/edit?usp=docslist_api

 

[briancortez2112]

The Knowles GK is a good choice, I like it with a Grey or White damper on the twfk (highs)... It sounds great and takes a lot of guess work out.

 

[MrCaptPlanet]

So I am trying to get a list of everything we need before we begin so I can document everything I do and make a thread about the entire process by the end.
Forgive me if these are stupid questions, but is there a specific soldering station/solder that you would recommend? I have checked out the beginners DIY thread but just wondering if there was any specific type that made life easier.

 

[Hanzo]

  So I am trying to get a list of everything we need before we begin so I can document everything I do and make a thread about the entire process by the end.
Forgive me if these are stupid questions, but is there a specific soldering station/solder that you would recommend? I have checked out the beginners DIY thread but just wondering if there was any specific type that made life easier.

Likely you will want a very small tip do deal with those very small drivers.  You could likely "get away" with almost any one with changeable tips, but better ones are, well, better... Subscribed and waiting with eager anticipation and an eventual desire to reshell/fix my old UM2s.
 
Luck to you!

 

[MrCaptPlanet]

Thanks for the advice! The thread has kind of slowed down because I am on vacation at the moment, but it should pick up steam soon! Lots of planning has gone on, so look for a post soon

 

[Silverprout]

I use this one since 8 years... absolutely perfect !
 
20$
 
Velleman VTSS5U

 

[RedTwilight]

Subbed! @earfonia @ojy89