[Clutz]

Is about 75% completed. I forgot to buy some 100kOhm resistors and a pot (Doh!). I've decided not to use any surface mount connections cause I'm happier with the flexibility of connecting the input and output to wires which I have hang out of the box. Maybe for the second attempt!

If all goes well, I think my next attempt will be a Pimeta or a PPA!

Excited!

 

[llmobll]

kodos

 

[Clutz]

Well, I have 80% of my first two Cmoy's built. I forgot to buy two pots when I bought the rest of my parts and 100K Ohm resistors (for the R2 resistors in the amplifier section), and I cannot get back to the electronics supply store until Saturday (which is why I started building the second one). Doh! I set the gain in both of the headphones to 6 because I'm going to be using either HD590 or HD477 headphones (HD477 is my friends headphones). Hopefully these two will be operational by Sunday night (gotta hang out with the lady friend on Saturday)- and then all I'll have to add is the DC Power Jack.. Not too hard- but I still want to do it.

As much as I am excited about this, it also makes me want to start my next project- but I'm not sure if I should go for a PIMETA or jump straight into a PPA. Any thoughts?

 

[n_maher]

Well there's that whole thing where a PPA will cost you 5 to 10x what the cmoy did ($200 to $300 +/-) but if money is no object go for it. Just realize that the the higher level amps have a ton more parts to order too which can be a challenge to manage if you're not organized.

Me, I built 3 cmoys, then some MINT's, then PIMETAs and now it's on to the land of STEPS and MMM/PPA V2. I like a gradual learning/cost curve.

HTH,

Nate

 

[Clutz]

How much better would a PPA sound over a PIMETA? I realize that this is a largely subjective subject- but I'm curious. I don't know ifI can really afford to do a PPA- but if I build a a PIMETA, and then shortly after that hear a PPA I think I'm going to be annoyed that I spent the money on building a PIMETA..

On the other hand, I could then always sell the PIMETA..

Maybe doing a PIMETA is a good starting point.

I've just started two new hobbies - running and electronics DIY..

Both can be either relatively inexpensive or expensive..

 

[skyskraper]

i reckon the pimeta is fantastic. you can build one pretty cheaply too, and it will still sound fantastic!

board/jfet's/caps from tangent: $15 or so shipped.
opamps (say opaX134's): $10 or so
buffers: $15 or so.
resistors (you don't have to use vishay dale's to get good sound): $3 or so
pot: $2 (evj, which is still really really nice)
i/o jacks: $5 or so (depending on what u use, but there's no real reason to get cardas rca's and neutrik locking jacks, i use the neutrik nys215 for a 1/4" trs jack fom mouser for around $1 and local rca jacks for $3 a pair)
diodes/tle/fet/led: $5 MAX
enclosure: $10-whatever. you don't have to get a hammond, there are plenty of other enclosures out there cheap, my pimeta is in an instrument case that cost $5usd.
knob/sockets/dc jack/battery snaps/other stuff: $5.

total: $65 is very doable for a pimeta, it's easy to build and troubleshoot, and sounds fantastic all things considered.

 

[easypeasy]

I've started my cmoy(s), I'll probably build more than one

Still need to find some nice headphone sockets and I still don't have
any 2227s or 2132s (Doh!), but I do have two 627s (double doh!!).

Anyway I found out how long since I haven't touched a soldering iron
and made a mess of my first board

 

[Clutz]

I finished my first Cmoy- roughed in- no power switch yet, no POT for volume yet (which I think I may leave out actually- I'm not using a line out, so I can just use the more convinient volume control on my Mac).

I plugged it into my Panasonic SLSX500 PDCP and a pair of Sennheiser MX400 headphones. I was just checking to see if I had wired it up properly- I hadn't expected it to make much of a difference with my MX400s (I chose to use these because they accidentally went through both the clothes washer and then the clothes dryer..)

but it *did* sound different. THese are not great headphones (and weren't even before they were.. uhh.. given swimming lessons) - but the difference was pretty clear (IMO). The bass was better defined, and the high treble "faster" for lack of a better word (btw: I was listening to Nine INch Nails- FUrther down the spiral).

i'm excited.

I think my immediate next project is actually to build a slightly modified Cmoy, using 470uF Caps and a 0.22 uF caps (instead of 220 and 0.1), better resistors - and I am going to get a TLE2426 (Anyone know where I can get these in Vancouver?) instead of uysing the resistor based voltage divider.

I'm stupidly excited

 

[Edwood]

Congrats.

ANy pics?

So which other amp are you moving onto next after Cmoy's?

-Ed

 

[Clutz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Edwood Congrats. ANy pics? So which other amp are you moving onto next after Cmoy's? -Ed

I think I am going to do a PIMETA. I think I will order the parts from Tangent on Monday - and order a bunch from Digikey.

I'm going to make a few Cmoys - one for my best friend, one for a guy I work with who has some decent cans (a pair of Sennheisers, 400-series, not sure which)- one for my girlfriend and then I think I make a super-Cmoy (as described in my previous note).
I think I'll also make it a 18V (Dual 9V batteries) as opposed to a single 9V and make a DC power connector and get a 24 volt wallwart. I may even try some op-amp rolling.

I'll take pics and post them soon - I may have to borrow a friends digital camera.

Does anyone have any comment on whether using the large capacity caps would improve the sound versus the stock cap sizes? I read on Headwize that using the TLE2624 versus the basic resistor voltage divider makes a difference.

I cannot get over how much better this is making my little MX400s sound. The sound is way more open. I think I'm going to have to start using this with my iPod too. I'm stoked.