[splaz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Navyblue /img/forum/go_quote.gif It's not that I got to have boutique stuffs. Just that I'm new in this and I don't know how much would all these affect the final outcome. Ok, all these are subjective but I don't want to be doing things that are obviously wrong. I think I know where to get good plugs (not sure if they really are, but they looked shiny) in various forms locally. I might be able to avoid adding switches and LED. But I still have the followings - resistors (are those above a no no to use?) - solder (it comes with the soldering iron, do they make a lot of difference with Carda stuffs?) - wires (what should I get, expensive speaker cable from audio shops? or just get it of hardware shop?) - plugs (get the shiniest I could find? )

Are the resistors you chose a no-no...

They'd work, I mean different aim but high precision resistors are often wirewound. Difference being these are for power applications not precision.

I have never done a comparison between resistor construction types.

Why not try it for yourself ? Maybe do a blind test or whatever you're happy with... or just use them and if they sound good to you then who's to argue with your ears ?

If they're +-5% though I'd try and match them or pick out the closest if you have a meter.

I'd personally be more inclined to use a high power metal or carbon film, purely because I wouldn't be bothered trying the wirewound and I'd have this weird paranoia that it could sound better with different resistors.

I just use generic 60/40 solder, I'd get 63/37 if I could but it's been hard for me to find where I am.

Wires, I can get trade prices on some wire, but typically not stuff like canare/belden. I personally don't use fancy stuff, just whatever suits the job in the right gauge, almost always plain old copper.

Connectors, depends again what for. I quite like Amphenol and Neutrik connectors.

Personally, the only things I worry about sourcing 'audiophile' parts for are ICs like op-amps and electrolytic capacitors, they're typically the main thing I get sourced from overseas.

 

[Ferrari]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jelle Schrijver /img/forum/go_quote.gif How does this translate to sound? To be more precise, how can you hear this...

If you really want to know: a relative easy, accessible article as food for thought. Take a read (and understand), have fun.

 

[Jelle Schrijver]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ferrari /img/forum/go_quote.gif If you really want to know: a relative easy, accessible article as food for thought. Take a read (and understand), have fun.

Thanks.

 

[Jelle Schrijver]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FallenAngel /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yep, next we'll be listening to speakers with human skin drivers

Close, but no cigar. Human skin would not be strong enough or would be to heavy (because of thickness).

Paper, carbon sheets with natural resins, that kinda stuff is very close. In my experience the biggest enjoyments where with all paper speakers and alnico magnets. And yes, magnets influence sound because of the magnetic field of the voicecoil the magnet itself counter reacts. In my view it changes the harmonic content of the speakerdriver. The only magnet that does not do that is the electromagnet. And those speakers are famous for there musical sound.

 

[SiBurning]

There's an article somewhere that compares the sound you get from different parts. It might only be resistors. I don't remember exactly. I can't find it now, but it's easy to find opinions and information online. For example:
SAS Audio Labs, amplifier preamps, resistor comparisons:
Humble Homemade Hifi Cap Test
Resistor Types--Does It Matter?
Capacitor Characteristics
Replacing Passive Components to Improve Sound Quality

And from Walter Jung's library which you should spend some time at
http://waltjung.org/PDFs/Picking_Capacitors_1.pdf
http://waltjung.org/PDFs/Picking_Capacitors_2.pdf

One other thing to point out is the microphonic effect: the ability of some materials to act as microphones, converting vibration into electricity, and vice verse. Ceramic capacitors are particularly prone to microphonics. Because the effect works in both directions, application of a voltage can produce vibrations in the material that are modified by the shape, covering, solder binding, etc, which in turn produces an electrical signal or noise. This particular nasty is usually not mentioned in the audio world, probably because it only matters in high frequency analog applications. Note that you'll hear people use the word microphonic incorrectly around here when they're talking about conductance of sound through a material other than air, like a headphone cable--an incorrect, but very popular usage. Now before you decide to omit those capacitors, read the second paragraph of post 18 from this head-fi thread: http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f6/byp...81/index2.html

 

[SiBurning]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Navyblue /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'll be using them to build these: Headphone Adaptor for Power Amplifiers Would these be particularly a problem? Should I get new metal film resistors? Btw, does metal film resistors comes in 470 ohms 3W?

I'm not really qualified to discuss the sound of parts, but there are other considerations as well that should be part of any selection of parts.

Personally, I'd think about using 5% metal film resistors in series. You typically need to buy these 5 at a time. They're about $2 a pack. I'd get values of 22, 120, and 240 ohms and try out various series-parallel combinations. There's no reason to use 1% resistors in a simple divider circuit, although you'll probably get some argument about drift with lesser tolerance resistors.

I might first use whatever I had on hand to figure out what values to get, then get exactly the head-fi envy boutique parts I need. (Well, *I* would never get a boutique part, but...) I'd also consider using several 1W or 2W resistors for easier thermal handling and maybe use 2 2W guys or 4 1W guys in place of each resistor. More important, I'd be thinking about some kind of heat sink and thermal paste. This is where those rectangular guys have the advantage. You can use thermal paste and use almost anything flat--like a metal case side--for a heatsink or attach any old heatsink.

Of course, if you have a boutique part in mind, then build the case around that. Find some really cool looking metal half-round contraption to thermal paste some funky colored $$$$$ resistors, then mount a snazzy zalman heatsink over it and make the top of clear plexiglass. Or put the resistors inside a sealed plastic case filled with colored (non conductive) oil, and run some pipe to the zalman to water cool it.

Seriously, a good part of DIY is to have fun and build something that's fun to use and show off.

Don't skimp on parts like connectors and switches. In a simple application like this, they should be solid to survive and have the metal to conduct whatever you'll throw at it. The last thing you want is to have to go back and replace some flimsy connector, or maybe a shorted amp.

 

[Navyblue]

Thanks all for your inputs.

Initially I decided to get all 470 ohms (1 for R1, 3 in parallel for R2 and none for R3), the reason for such a choice being I am able to match them very precisely.

I went to the electronic shop again today, I didn't see any shop stocking metal film resistors higher than 0.5W rating. I could get a bunch and parallel them, but it seems to be not a very smart thing to do. So it's either I settle with what is available to me and build a modest one for experimentation, or I'll have to import decent stuffs from abroad.

 

[HiGHFLYiN9]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FallenAngel /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yep, next we'll be listening to speakers with human skin drivers...

IIRC in one of my computer history classes, it talked about a guy from the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center that made a speaker out of the stomach lining from an animal. Evidently it sounded pretty good until it started to decompose. So I guess it's kinda close, but certainly not ideal.

 

[amb]

There is a company making hemp speaker diaphragms. Ummm....

 

[MoodySteve]

You mean Hemp Acoustics. I plan on trying some of their drivers when I'm better set up for speaker building.

There was also a company in the 90s that successfully produced high-quality MDF made from hemp stalk. Sadly, the product (and company) never took off due to the rather ugly political climate surrounding anything to do with that plant.

So much for my all-hemp speakers.

 

[Uncle Erik]

There are non-inductive wirewound resistors out there. I've used them and they're pretty good. Couple things: they cost more and are usually too big to fit on PCBs. But if you're going point-to-point, they're awesome.

Practically speaking, don't use carbon comp resistors. Material theories aside, they drift like the sea. I've restored radios for years and usually test removed components for the hellavit. Out of at least a thousand carbon comp resistors, I haven't found ONE that was anywhere near spec. Don't use them if you want anything resembling precision. Guitar amp guys like them because of the fuzz and distortion, though.

As for connectors, I like Neutrik. Some friends play in bands and swear by them - they drag them to bars and they survive drunken practice sessions. Maybe not the most exotic materials, but the prices are fair and they survive punishment.

I use Kester 60/40 solder, but Radio Shack has good solder, too. To me, the point of solder is to make a physical connection. 60/40 does that reliably and consistently. I've tried ones with silver, eutectic, and others. All of them were tricky to work with and took more effort to make a solid connection. So I just use 60/40. And if the RoHS types come for leaded solder, I'll go into my savings and buy cases of it. No tin whiskers for me.

 

[Beefy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jelle Schrijver /img/forum/go_quote.gif To contribute to this thread. I believe in the mother-of-tone principle. That is that the used material should be as close as possible to your body organics. So carbon would sound better to your ears than metal.

It has been said already, but I just have to re-iterate how incredibly silly this is.

Junk like this is what gives 'audiophiles' such a bad name...... and the fact that individuals get sucked in to crud like this makes it plainly obvious how many people know absolutely nothing about human physiology.

[EDIT] Oh good lord. I just started reading the Mother-of-Tone site. It reads like something trying to sell a perpetual motion machine, and ranks among some of the most ridiculous junk I've ever read........

Quote:

If the printed circuit board vibrates, all components are flexed to a certain degree. If you flex a capacitor, you do not change its actual charge, but the distance between the isolated plates. If this distance varies, the capacity of the capacitor changes (smaller distance -> higher capacity). If you change the capacity while keeping the actual charge constant, the voltage across the capacitor changes. You have just generated a Signal.

Yeah, sure buddy, whatever

 

[Beefy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uncle Erik /img/forum/go_quote.gif There are non-inductive wirewound resistors out there. I've used them and they're pretty good. Couple things: they cost more and are usually too big to fit on PCBs. But if you're going point-to-point, they're awesome.

When I was building my M^3, I remember AMB being very adamant that even if they claim to be non-inductive, they always are........

 

[Jelle Schrijver]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beefy /img/forum/go_quote.gif Junk like this is what gives 'audiophiles' such a bad name...... Yeah, sure buddy, whatever

Phew, fortunately you didn't resolve to name calling.

It's nice to see that you are so open minded....

It's nice by the fire... nice and warm

One last advice: Look up respect in the dictionary

 

[SiBurning]

Oh, man. I gotta dig up my Hot Tuna records for those hemp speakers.

There's not much reason to worry too much about accuracy in this particular circuit. It's a simple divider and nothing more. Even drift is probably not very important. Long term, I'd be much more concerned about overengineering the current handling capability and ensuring good heat removal from those resistors. That way, if and when they do drift, it's still safe. With drift, the worst that happens is you need to turn the volume up or down. Okay, maybe it becomes less than optimal for a particular can, but we're talking years, and what're the odds of the same cans with the same impedance being used in 10 years? If you don't hand tune those resistor values to within 5%, there's no point in getting more than the cheap 5% resistors. Arguably, anything within 30% or so tolerance is meaningless in this application anyway, as long as you follow the power handling overengineering principle.

I also have a copy of Wake of the Flood on vinyl somewhere between Grank Funk Railroad and Jethro Tull that might sound better with hemp.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beefy /img/forum/go_quote.gif When I was building my M^3, I remember AMB being very adamant that even if they claim to be non-inductive, they always are........

They can easily wind in both directions in turn (pun intended), which would cancel out a lot of the inductive effects. It's not perfect, by any means.

Hmm. Even Jethro Tull might sound better on hemp. Not sure what would sound good with haggis. Maybe Armor For Sleep?