Thanks!@tonybuild all three cross components look like great starting points. Couple of things I always watch for when working with these two very different type of drivers. the 3300:i9 has TONS OF juice on the deep sub freqs. Tons of punch but can get a bit reckless, meaning it can do one of two things, muddy up the overall soundstage OR (which is more common) leans toward a much darker sounding IEM. ways I try to combat the bully driver; 1) I always run my positive lead from the connector to the negative pad on the 33i9. 2) connect the negative pad on the 33i9 to the positive pin on the connector. Doing it this way in my testing always yield a cleaner more controllable response that made the lower mids much more responsive to the Passive components. 3) I have stopped using thick film SMD resistors in every build design I make. In their place I use SMD MELF resistors. The tolerances are much more accurate (within 1%) and there is considerable less THD. 4) Over time thick film resistors seemed to always get a little crispy or chippy. Meaning, they would always begin to breakdown and cause some low level unwanted frequencies to trickle in. 5) I prefer L-Pads on the i9 as it causes the first resonate peak to lay down a bit in the same peak position. Whereas a series resistor will always push the resonant peak up the EQ leading to NOTICABLE distortion. 6) Im loyal to the 1mm ID for the I9 when paired with the TWFK. When the i9 is paired with the 2389 or ED using 1mm ID, the result almost always sounds like an old tube radio. BUT, with TWFK, I dont hear this and the charts bare it out.
TWFK is extremely easy to work with. 2mm ID tubing at arlund 15mm with a grey damper 3-4 mm from the sound bore. In this build, dont strangle the TWFK output pontential. Without any RC components, TWFK only reaches 110dB. Real world though, its more like 107-108. You need most of that passive draw. If not, you’ll find yourself chasing your tail jn final tuning.
TL;DR version:
3300 9\i - reverse polarity, calculate your L-Pad for -8 to -12 dB (if Im remembering right thats like a 5.2 Ω MELF (or thick film) in seriez with a 6 Ω in parallel. Also, wire the 2 subs of the 33 parallel. 1mm ID x 2.5 OD at 15mm tube length with a yellow Damper positioned betwen 8-12mm
The TWFK, 2mmIDx3mmOD @15-16mm in length and a white damper 3-4mm from the sound bore.
PSA - On lower driver count builds, Its good practice in my build experience to never share pads with other drivers. All wires connect to driver pads the. led to the the connector and not another driver. Makes any potential future repair easier to diagnose.
sorry for the novel. You caught me just about to redesign my in-home entertainment room and rebuild my wifi network for faster cloud performance. Let me know if you have any questions. I fell in love with doing this by doing this exact 4 driver build at least 40 times. If you can get this dialed in and consistently reproducing the same soundstage from the breadboard. The higher driver count builds make more sense and the biggest challenges become engineering enough space to them as opposed to chasing your sound carrot on a 48 hour bender.
gotta go. THE ADHD is kicking in and if I dont follow the dopamine rn and get back to designing, I will most like start a new favorite hobby by noon.
im here to help anytime!
Home-Made IEMs
- Thread starter Bilavideo
- Start date
PeaksZA
New Head-Fier
Thank you for your reply, after taking the weekend to think about it I think that its a combination of things all of which you've mentioned, mainly to do with the CI overpowering the mid range. My Canal insertions were definitely wrong because my pair with a single RAB driver and 2mm tubing sound great (used them with an open back onstage and way preferred them over KZ AS06's) . But more over I think that the 1,5mm tubing on the TWFK is maybe choking the output and the CI adding a lot of mud in the 400hz range.
I currently don't have any testing equipment , I tried making something with an old lav mic and an old pen ,but no good. So any (relatively) cheap suggestions are welcome!
My Sound-guy friend at church recommended that I just try EQ the IEMS to sound good using a graphic eq, that will at least give me and idea of what my problem frequencies are, and I tried that comparing them to my Reference monitors and I came up with this eq curve.
Some what confirms my suspicions.
So my plan of action is to go to 2mm tubing on TWFK and using the orange damper on the CI while I wait for a testing solution. and then I will rebuild the crossover to something more appropriate.
Any DIY solutions for test mic's are also welcome!
C4PPY
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Anyone tried taking one of those LDAC/Aptx Adaptive TWS and transplanting the internals and swapping the drivers into new and maybe even CIEM shell?
Has been eyeing some of those 10/12mm Planar drivers and putting them in a ciem but driven by something like the SoundPeats Mini Pro internals.
Has been eyeing some of those 10/12mm Planar drivers and putting them in a ciem but driven by something like the SoundPeats Mini Pro internals.
swtnate
500+ Head-Fier
Be prepared for the unexpected. So much depends on damper, ID, and tube length. While the crossover is important, in my opinion, more can be done with less if the above three things are in placed and tested out correctly. GOOD LUCK! Let us know how it turns out.Thank you for your reply, after taking the weekend to think about it I think that its a combination of things all of which you've mentioned, mainly to do with the CI overpowering the mid range. My Canal insertions were definitely wrong because my pair with a single RAB driver and 2mm tubing sound great (used them with an open back onstage and way preferred them over KZ AS06's) . But more over I think that the 1,5mm tubing on the TWFK is maybe choking the output and the CI adding a lot of mud in the 400hz range.
I currently don't have any testing equipment , I tried making something with an old lav mic and an old pen ,but no good. So any (relatively) cheap suggestions are welcome!
My Sound-guy friend at church recommended that I just try EQ the IEMS to sound good using a graphic eq, that will at least give me and idea of what my problem frequencies are, and I tried that comparing them to my Reference monitors and I came up with this eq curve.
Some what confirms my suspicions.
So my plan of action is to go to 2mm tubing on TWFK and using the orange damper on the CI while I wait for a testing solution. and then I will rebuild the crossover to something more appropriate.
Any DIY solutions for test mic's are also welcome!
Not tried, but I was interested until it turns out that most of them use a charging case that has too little space. Also, not enough power from a lot of them to drive more transducers.
C4PPY
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I thought about that and really either you need to design/3D print a new case or I was thinking to take a magnetic pogo pins and incorporating them as I dont really need the charging case.
Some of the SoundPeats(and others) are multi transducers so most have some sort of amplification other than the BT SOC (I think) but for me it was mostly to take single Planar/Micro Planar and make something like the planar wars just TWS and CIEM.
I thought about to take KZ VXS Pro as a donor TWS. It seems it has newest BT codecs with SoC QCC5171 and not complicated design. I mean there are not much peripherals like touch pads, not lot of mics (for active noise canceling) or flex cables. I saw several TWS teardowns and they may have several PCBs, mics and flex cables that placed to specific place in TWS shell.
But anyway there are external BT TWS modules like FiiO UTWS3 and UTWS5, KZ AZ20, etc.
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C4PPY
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Agree, the KZs would be simpler does they do Aptx Adaptive with the QCC5171 onboard?
I have a pair of UTWS3 and had been looking at both the iFi GoPods and KZ AZ20 together with "just" doing a CIEM with some tranducers of my own choice.
Yes, it listed here https://kz-audio.com/kz-vxs-pro.html
Generally that SoC is capable with LDAC but KZ does not implemented it in firmware.
There are some photos https://i0.wp.com/gamingph.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/kz-vxs-pro-earphone-5-scaled.jpg?ssl=1
https://i0.wp.com/gamingph.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/kz-vxs-pro-earphone-3-scaled.jpg
that show it has simple internal design.
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Miguel Eingel
New Head-Fier
Hola amigo, eres de Chile, donde has logrado conseguir las resinas y materiales para hacer los IEM?
theispitar
New Head-Fier
Hey everyone, been lurking here for a while. I've been trying to make my own silicone CIEMs, but haven't had a lot of success. I recently decided to try a 3D printing workflow, and have managed to make some very good, full-shell custom tips! They're not perfect, but for a first success, i'm very happy with them.
I applied a coat of Dreve Lack B to it, and it really made a huge difference, nice and clear. I was wondering if anyone else has worked with this lacquer before and can give me some insight into the curing of it. It's been about 36hrs and it's still tacky in places. Should it be taking this long? Is there something else I should be doing to encourage it to cure properly?
I applied a coat of Dreve Lack B to it, and it really made a huge difference, nice and clear. I was wondering if anyone else has worked with this lacquer before and can give me some insight into the curing of it. It's been about 36hrs and it's still tacky in places. Should it be taking this long? Is there something else I should be doing to encourage it to cure properly?
Has anyone tried resin printing on top of existing resin IEM shells? I'd like to make interior chambers and print the custom fit for CIEMs around the base shell.
swtnate
500+ Head-Fier
i have used colloid negative molding formulas from Dreve, to Knight products until eventually formulating my own. The recipe and fairly detailed instructions were posted awhile back. Be aware that if you lack experience preparing agar recipes, be prepared for some trial error before the formulation fully saturates and kicks over to crystal from its initial murkiness.
nicefit was one of the last branded colloids I experimented with. I found it to be the thickest viscosity out of every available branded product I had available. Due to its thickness, I found it difficult to get small amounts (ie just enough colloid to make a pair of shells) of material up to its high point long enough. What I see in your pic is a colloid that was still sweating out a bit at the time you poured in your resin. Couple that with the minutes spent under intense UV lights that can raise the temperature of the negative, causing more sweating.
Theres two solutions Ive had success using.,
maintain strict tolerance on the melting point. Insure the entire colloid being heated has a uniform temperature. Be mindful of varying temperatures from the top, bottom, left, and right. Once the melting temp is reached, hold that temperature steady for 3-5 minutes. DONT ALLOW IT BOIL THOUGH. By keeping the material at the high melt point for a longer duration, you are allowing the agar to fully disperse and become fully soluble.
2) the band aid solution I use when this creeps up on me while batching multiple custom sets. Option a) after solidifying at room temperature and becoming quite firm, put the negative molds with the impressions still inside, in the fridge for 5-10 minutes. This little zap in the dry cold will allow that little bit of sweat on the negatives surface to also fully cure. option b) if you did all of the above to the best of your ability, and you still get this result, add 3 drops of concentrated Dawn dish detergent into the negative mold. Fill mold with water and gently agitate the water to get the dish soap off the mold surface. Next use a soft/ thick mop head style artist brush and cautiously clean your negative mold surfaces. Begin from the top of the impression working your way around and into the canal. Now, lightly rinse the negative with cold to room temperature water and allow to dry compmetely. (Fwitw, I place mine in front of my office dehumidifier or if dry times are long due to the environmental conditions, i place the 90-95% cured mold on the dehumidifier outlet vent.
Lastly, the only thing agar/ transparent colloid excels at is cost. However, silicone investment material is always way easier to control and maintain than colloid, depending upon the equipment available. Keep at it with the agar until you get it the way you want. Then, Write down the SOP. The same SOP is followed in perpetuity until the resin is changed in manufactured batches or theres a change in your equipment or worflow.
nicefit was one of the last branded colloids I experimented with. I found it to be the thickest viscosity out of every available branded product I had available. Due to its thickness, I found it difficult to get small amounts (ie just enough colloid to make a pair of shells) of material up to its high point long enough. What I see in your pic is a colloid that was still sweating out a bit at the time you poured in your resin. Couple that with the minutes spent under intense UV lights that can raise the temperature of the negative, causing more sweating.
Theres two solutions Ive had success using.,
maintain strict tolerance on the melting point. Insure the entire colloid being heated has a uniform temperature. Be mindful of varying temperatures from the top, bottom, left, and right. Once the melting temp is reached, hold that temperature steady for 3-5 minutes. DONT ALLOW IT BOIL THOUGH. By keeping the material at the high melt point for a longer duration, you are allowing the agar to fully disperse and become fully soluble.
2) the band aid solution I use when this creeps up on me while batching multiple custom sets. Option a) after solidifying at room temperature and becoming quite firm, put the negative molds with the impressions still inside, in the fridge for 5-10 minutes. This little zap in the dry cold will allow that little bit of sweat on the negatives surface to also fully cure. option b) if you did all of the above to the best of your ability, and you still get this result, add 3 drops of concentrated Dawn dish detergent into the negative mold. Fill mold with water and gently agitate the water to get the dish soap off the mold surface. Next use a soft/ thick mop head style artist brush and cautiously clean your negative mold surfaces. Begin from the top of the impression working your way around and into the canal. Now, lightly rinse the negative with cold to room temperature water and allow to dry compmetely. (Fwitw, I place mine in front of my office dehumidifier or if dry times are long due to the environmental conditions, i place the 90-95% cured mold on the dehumidifier outlet vent.
Lastly, the only thing agar/ transparent colloid excels at is cost. However, silicone investment material is always way easier to control and maintain than colloid, depending upon the equipment available. Keep at it with the agar until you get it the way you want. Then, Write down the SOP. The same SOP is followed in perpetuity until the resin is changed in manufactured batches or theres a change in your equipment or worflow.
mattmatt
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Can you tell us about your curing process?I get several areas like that when first using a new negative mould (nice-fit agar). second time little to no problems. the mould had no wax particels inside. am i right that it has to do with the mould an about cleaning/drying it before i put the resin in? if yes, what should i use for cleaning? glysol, isopropanol...?
1. Pour resin
2. 1st cure
3. Pour out excess resin
then what?
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