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Home-Made IEMs
Apr 17, 2015 at 4:09 PM Post #3,646 of 16,072
mython said:
   
 
I presume that stuff is water-soluble, or it might denature the acrylic.
 
What about UV resilience of the dye? If it's intended for food, I wouldn't expect it to have much UV resistance...
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All excellent questions of which I have no answers:  
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What I can tell you is that based on my primitive tests, the food coloring doesn't impact the strength of the cured acrylic and it does NOT bleed when the cured acrylic is handled.  And yes, since the food coloring is water soluble, so is the acrylic resin I'm using, apparently.  When mixed, it's not like an (oil+water) solution but more like an (alcohol+water) solution.
 
But here's the honest truth, most of the customs I'm making aren't using a translucent faceplate so I don't necessarily see the need for UV resistance.  Also, I'm a big believer in first impressions so as long as something looks excellent the first few times I see it, I start caring about how it looks less and less as long as it functionally continues to excite me as it did the first day I got it.  Some would call this the "Honeymoon-Is-Over" phase.  Don't get me wrong, I like things brand new just like everyone else, but once I pop the cIEMs in my ears, I'm not concerned about how they look anymore.  
 
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say the reason I'm making these kinds of statements is because if I do find I fall out-of-love with a particular design I used, I'll just dismantle it and make a new set using the next flavor of the week.  Also, I have absolutely no idea how well my cIEMS are going to hold up to normal wear-and-tear.  If I still have my first pair of Opus 3's eighteen months from now and actively using them and haven't developed some sort of medical malady because of materials I used, I'll consider it a major success on many levels.
 
Apr 17, 2015 at 9:21 PM Post #3,647 of 16,072
furco said:
Furco secret for coloring acrylic and keeping transparency:



Works like a charm!!
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I like this idea, I think I will give it a go for my next build. Even if it is not all that UV stable, I don't often wear my IEMS outside so the most UV light they are exposed to is during construction and than very little after that. I have been getting OK results with a few drips of opaque colors mixed with clear uv resin but the clarity is not a good as I would like.
 
Apr 17, 2015 at 9:31 PM Post #3,648 of 16,072
furco said:
Does anyone want to help contribute to a pro's and con's list for 2-pin vs Mmcx connectors?

I'm a huge fan of Mmcx because:
- 360 degrees of rotation
- High amount of force to disengage the plug
- One single standard, in other words, universal compatibility regardless of manufacturer.
- available in 90 degree bend as well as straight
- 500 reconnect cycles before failure of materials
- corrosion resistant due to being made of brass.
- Being made of brass gives it some "bling" factor.
- cost; I can get 10 male plugs for under $10. Female jacks are a little more expensive but not much.

Okay, now some con's:
- because these connectors are made for coaxial cable, wiring them can be a little complicated when using normal headphone wire.
- potential "dead zones" between plug and jack. In other words, it is possible in some situations, that turning your head a certain way will result in loosing a signal in the earphone. Not sure how frequently this might happen but I know for a fact that it can happen.
- could require some extensive reconstruction of a custom shell in order to install it because of its large size? Given I have no experice with 2-pin connectors nor their size relative to a Mmcx, this is just an observation about mmcx connectors which may be also true for 2-pin. When installing them in my customs, I usually find myself saying "Jesus!! That's a big hole! And it still doesn't fit right??!"

Cheers!!
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I switched to MMCX because I hate having my IEM's detach from the cable by accident all the time. The down side to MMCX is that I find it much harder to solder to the closely spaced pins on the back of the connector during construction, with 2 pin connectors I can use 2 separate connectors and then join them together with a little UV resin after I have all my wires soldered on. Given the choice of 2 frustrations, I prefer to go with the option that gets the annoying bit out of the way up front instead of dealing with it constantly on the back end.
 
Apr 17, 2015 at 9:33 PM Post #3,649 of 16,072
cmos1138 said:
   
I like this idea, I think I will give it a go for my next build. Even if it is not all that UV stable, I don't often wear my IEMS outside so the most UV light they are exposed to is during construction and than very little after that. I have been getting OK results with a few drips of opaque colors mixed with clear uv resin but the clarity is not a good as I would like.
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These were made with red and blue neon to make purple.
 

 

 
Apr 18, 2015 at 5:02 PM Post #3,651 of 16,072
acain said:
Furco it looks like you have a lot of bottles of Viagra in the background just kidding nice work. Ever think about a pot to control the bass like JH Sirens?
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Those are an older set I made for my son. I just wanted to show what the food coloring looked like when used to make shells.

As far as the plethora of Viagra bottles, I toss and turn a lot when I sleep and the last time I fell out of bed and almost got a concussion. Now my wife gives me the little blue pill so I stop rolling out of bed. Works like a charm. Haven't fallen out since! :)

I use a 1 - 100 ohm pot when prototyping. I wish there were variable capacitors that worked just as well. For now anyway, bass usually isn't something that I find I need to tame in my configurations. Also, all of the testing I've done with N-way crossovers has been hit or miss. But I actually haven't done any retesting after making my coupler. It might be time to dust off the breadboard and have at the 6 driver I was trying to develop.
 
Apr 18, 2015 at 5:44 PM Post #3,652 of 16,072
furco said:
As far as the plethora of Viagra bottles, I toss and turn a lot when I sleep and the last time I fell out of bed and almost got a concussion. Now my wife gives me the little blue pill so I stop rolling out of bed. Works like a charm. Haven't fallen out since! :)
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Ahhh... memories of youth - I used to wake up 'in a tent', every morning! (still do, sometimes, but not so often, alas...)
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furco said:
I use a 1 - 100 ohm pot when prototyping. I wish there were variable capacitors that worked just as well. For now anyway, bass usually isn't something that I find I need to tame in my configurations. Also, all of the testing I've done with N-way crossovers has been hit or miss. But I actually haven't done any retesting after making my coupler. It might be time to dust off the breadboard and have at the 6 driver I was trying to develop.
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Since you mentioned breadboards, I suppose it would, conceivably, be possible to rig a bunch of very-small-value capacitors on a breadboard, and incrementally try them in various combinations. Not as convenient as having a 'variable capacitor' within a finished, sealed, CIEM shell, I admit...
 
Apr 21, 2015 at 11:19 AM Post #3,656 of 16,072
I've gotta say...the sound from Sonion drivers are so warm and enjoyable. Just the right warmth too, and not sluggish at all. Knowles drivers sounds so harsh in comparison.
 
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