[Possum]

That almost sounds sinister...
like...

YOU WILL JOIN US

 

[Pierre Lambion]

So, is there a dark side of the diy

?

 

[Apheared]

well you run and you run
to catch up with the sun
but it's sinking...

Time.

This hobby eats large gobs of it.

 

[Daniel Pumphrey]

I think that the my choice of components does enhance the sound of this particular amp. I am into pure metals and pure silver is probably the best conductor available at a reasonable price. It probably cost me a grand total of 25 cents for All the wire used in this amp. Yes it took time to insulate my own wire by removing the teflon from other wire. Why, Because I am CRAZY. The other components are not what would be considered the Top-of-The Line by far. Yes the Cerafines are nice but they are not Black Gates. How many can afford to match pairs from 150 Black Gates. That is why I like WIMA caps. I got 100, traded 50 to Apheared and then decided to match parts. Then I bought another 100, matched them and sold the ones I didn't want. I could not afford to do that with Black Gates or Cerafines. Again, I'm crazy but it can be fun. The other side effect is knowing that my channels are very closely matched.

I think an amp like this benefits from carefully matched parts, especially the resistive divider and signal bearing resistors and caps. So the cost really comes down to time and very careful construction with really good solder joints. This amp certainly sounds better than the ones with generic parts I have. So I think it makes a difference and it gives me something to talk about.
Since it seems to take me forever to finish a project these days, I choose to use good components.
Dan

 

[paulb]

Apheared:
Floyd fan, eh?
I think I'll take Wish You Were Here as a demo for choosing my next headphones.

 

[aeberbach]

You don't have to strip insulation from other components for pure silver wire - I ordered some stuff from handmade electronics (hndme.com) and he has clear teflon insulation ready to go, good stuff. I think I will place another order too, teflon is great because it doesn't melt & get ugly when soldering. His ordering system and catalog are primitive but nobody has quite the range of useful stuff he has. Wellbourne, Angela, Percy etc. were all missing just one item when I was looking to get it all in one place.

 

[ppl]

jteef: Your Ideas are what i had in mind to a point. The Things i do not like in the Signal path are capacitors and that includes the Good ones. Compensation and coupling capacitors can be Avoided and I make every Attempt to do so when ever Possible.
The Stability issue is of Extreme Importence, What an Amp Dose at Clipping can reveal how dependent the Amp is upon its Feedback Loop and thus allow a path of Investigation to see if this will affect performance below that level, However Just because the amp misbehaves at clipping and is thus dependent upon it's feedback loop is not nessasarly an indication of Bad design it could be issues like Phase reversal somthing older BI-Fet Opamps will do, But have no relivence when operated below Clipping. Or it could be an Issue that requires Attention Like Osc. At Clipping or an intermedeate Point. NonetheLess the True quality of any Equipment can only be found by evaluating alot of different Factors and then try to Get a Complete picture of the System.

Can a DIY Design outperform an Allready Available unit at a lower cost! Of corse The DIY Design has none of the Costs incured by a manufacture. The DIY Loudspeaker Folks found this out Along time Ago. However The Manufactured Design can outperform a DIY unit if the DIY project was not done properly and This includes checking for things like instability and other Issues.
All in All The DIY Audio is a Hobby and one should do a hobby for fun.