tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34394269813998717272023-11-16T22:29:04.272+08:00Lucas, Lyra, and DIY Audio Projectsa place to post Lucas's and Lyra's pics, my DIY audio projects & and random ramblingsgarbagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10407297023242561540noreply@blogger.comBlogger164125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3439426981399871727.post-34404543975471866572010-06-23T23:19:00.006+08:002010-06-24T11:45:59.539+08:00Blog switching over to PosterousI'm switching my blog over to Posterous.The new blog can be found at vincentwong.posterous.com. Just did the manual porting of 165 posts that I have done since Jan 2007. The old one will still remain though.Posterous offers means to blog via email and also an iPhone app. Just perfect for me to do small postings. ;)Let's hope this will improve my attempt to put new stuff onto the blog. Hahaha...garbagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10407297023242561540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3439426981399871727.post-44551316406220034522010-06-16T21:20:00.008+08:002010-06-16T22:10:49.694+08:0026 DC 45 amplifier - updated schematicThere goes thoughts of re-using the power transformers. B+ after regulation has to be around 455v. I probably need around 500v prior to regulation. This also means the capacitors would need to be put it series or to use the huge oil types. Unfortunately, I only have three 660vac oil run capacitors. The rest are 370vac types.Now, I'm starting to wonder if the C4S can drop that much voltage. Is it garbagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10407297023242561540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3439426981399871727.post-11484451908047588482010-06-15T22:46:00.008+08:002010-06-16T11:04:33.675+08:0026 DC 45 amplifierSo, here's the scribble on paper. Operating points are pretty standard stuff for 26 and 45. The brief is simple... DC coupled amp, with driver C4S loaded and with LED biasing. Filaments will be DC current regulated. B+ will be regulated by a HV Maida circuit. Tamura F475 is intended to be the output iron, but I may A/B the FT10S that I got from Andix.Chassis will be a departure from the tower garbagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10407297023242561540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3439426981399871727.post-70308786057037333282010-06-14T22:57:00.003+08:002010-06-14T23:10:01.527+08:00Universal Studios SingaporeWent there last Saturday. Was a sunny afternoon and it was a weekend, plus the school holidays. Queues were generally long. The Rapids Adventure has a 80 mins queue...Lucas quite enjoyed the Enchanted Airways ride at Far Far Away. The show at Far Far Away was ok, but I thought they over did the water spraying portions... Disney had the same type of shows too.I thought the Revenge of the Mummy garbagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10407297023242561540noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3439426981399871727.post-24620082235294448052010-04-26T15:39:00.005+08:002010-04-26T16:18:20.550+08:00Audio part of the Tokyo tripOnly covered Andix. Was supposed to visit Audio Professor and some others at Akiba area, and also to pick up some Takman resistors, but really... traveling with kids in tow is very difficult to slot in personal agenda... Yet, it was when searching for Lucas's Animal Kaiser game machine that led me to Andix.Was asking a staff in the arcade where I can find an Animal Kaiser machine and I used my garbagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10407297023242561540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3439426981399871727.post-28944253866037686582010-04-26T13:25:00.005+08:002010-04-26T13:45:39.593+08:00Tokyo TripWent on a 5N4D trip to Tokyo. Was drizzling on the 2 days that were meant for Disney. What a pity.We went to hunt for a place for Animal Kaiser on the first day. Walked around Akiba and went to all those bigger arcades, but could not find it. Eventually asked around and was directed to go back towards the Akiba station at Yodobashi Camera building. Found one machine at L6. I would have thought itgarbagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10407297023242561540noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3439426981399871727.post-52884573737576890642010-04-13T23:10:00.008+08:002010-04-14T00:13:52.661+08:00Murphy's Law strikes at Preamp ShootoutFirst, a big thank you to Francis for being an accommodating host for us at the shootout. He recently had his Shanling CDP modded by a local guru to have the opamps working in class A. It was wired to use this stage with XLR connections and single ended connections via RCA will rely on the CDP's in-built tube buffer stage.When it was my turn, with the same track played, there was this nasal vocalgarbagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10407297023242561540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3439426981399871727.post-71725285795068638782010-04-05T15:12:00.006+08:002010-04-05T15:19:35.339+08:00Packing the preampTook out a diaper box and turned it into a suitable packing for a preamp shootout that will take place next week.With 10 different preamps and many participants, it will not be meant as a definitive "best preamp" knock out, but more of an excuse for some audio nuts to get together and experience the different types of preamps available at the venue. It's a mix of commercial and DIY preamps. I garbagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10407297023242561540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3439426981399871727.post-53500109566205178682010-03-13T22:44:00.004+08:002010-03-13T23:24:38.901+08:00Head-Fi nowI've not listened to my system for some time. Even when I have the time, my kids could be taking naps, so blasting away on my speakers is not exactly desired. Then I started to think if I should venture into the realm of the sgheadphones and headfi guys... My experience with the Grado SR80 was good, except for the super uncomfortable sponges... It was torture just to listen to an entire cd garbagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10407297023242561540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3439426981399871727.post-64711754368830588132010-01-28T22:52:00.002+08:002010-01-28T23:44:35.525+08:00Preamp power supply rebuiltThe PS-2 shunt regulator was nicely fitted into the preamp. I contemplated fitting it into the power supply chassis, but gave up thinking of how to mount it. When I built the PS-2 on the heatsink, I was thinking of mounting it via a screw onto the back of the preamp. That's how it was done in the end.But looking at the power supply, I wanted to rebuild it with a proper transformer as the one garbagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10407297023242561540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3439426981399871727.post-20151649758395721062010-01-08T22:59:00.006+08:002010-01-08T23:22:17.487+08:00Mighty Midget KIVed againOne of my KIVed project would be the Mighty Midget. I only got it working on one channel. The B+ was not enough when using the 6X5 rectifiers. Just a tad short for regulation. It was at around 290vdc. I need 300vdc for the Mighty Midget, and more if I want to use the Janus Shunt regulator. Out went the tube rectifier and in came some CREE CSD10120 babies. I'm using these 1200v 5A Schottky diodesgarbagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10407297023242561540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3439426981399871727.post-58867727554346946572010-01-08T22:14:00.005+08:002010-01-08T22:56:00.020+08:00Revisiting the 5687 PreampThis preamp was working well since it was built. There were a couple of mods done since then, namely, the Feedforward Shunt Regulator, and also the DACT 50K Stepped Attenuators. I was re-looking the design especially from the perspective of my entire chain, and thought I should try out a different operating point.What I had in mind was to do a -2v bias. This meant removing one LED from each garbagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10407297023242561540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3439426981399871727.post-41999115599461519962010-01-08T21:40:00.004+08:002010-01-08T22:13:24.288+08:00Bass panels are in place at lastFinally mounted, after some trial and error. I had to drill the bolts on the ceiling rather than the wall on the rear as the "wall" was really false wall. It's just a box meant to flush the 8 pieces of diffusor panels. Drilling on the ceiling was tough. The front wall was much easier to drill.An extra wire had to be used to secure the bottom of the panel so that it can be pulled up into the garbagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10407297023242561540noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3439426981399871727.post-67210234107353183632009-12-29T22:42:00.004+08:002009-12-29T22:49:37.218+08:00Hollywood DinosWe were at Jurong Bird Park this morning for the Hollywood Dinos trail. Normally there would be more pics, but I only had a few as we forgot the camera and I was using my iPhone to capture some images... that is before it flew off under a bridge with around 2 feet of water below.There were not that many varieties of dinosaurs and it seems the dinos were reused from the Science Center exhibit. So garbagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10407297023242561540noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3439426981399871727.post-37264688214434258212009-12-28T22:47:00.010+08:002009-12-28T23:34:34.137+08:00Lucas's Xmas BreakWell, his school is having a 2 day break today and tomorrow. San brought Lucas to the zoo with her friend and kids. They waited for almost an hour before Ping and kids turned up!Anyways, guess they had fun at the zoo. Of course, a stop at the children's playground area is mandatory.We watched Alvin and the Chipmunks 2 earlier, and there were a couple of Meridian gear in the show. The F80 and I garbagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10407297023242561540noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3439426981399871727.post-82292247173239178322009-12-28T22:28:00.004+08:002009-12-28T22:45:07.389+08:00Clearing the roomWith some projects out of the way (either completed or KIVed even longer... haha), it is time to clear the room as the carpet needs a good shampooing... However, the 2 bass traps have been sitting at the side of my left speaker for way too long. I really need to get them out of the way.Time to hang it up at a 45 degree incline at the ceiling at the front and back walls... I've been delaying this garbagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10407297023242561540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3439426981399871727.post-74593238420415684482009-12-25T13:25:00.003+08:002009-12-26T14:42:50.006+08:00Lucas's 5th birthday partyWe celebrated Lucas's 5th birthday party earlier on 19th Dec instead of Xmas eve. It was at Xplorer Kids, Downtown East. His friends were invited and they all had fun in the huge play area.Catering and some in-party entertainment was provided and the event was entirely outsourced. We just had to cart the presents back home.More pics here.garbagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10407297023242561540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3439426981399871727.post-89840511163569853372009-12-23T22:52:00.007+08:002009-12-24T10:36:33.622+08:00Only transport clockedOnly managed to install the clock for the transport. SPDIF reclock was not possible as the circuit that does the digital out conversion on my cd pro2 kit is somehow defective. I recalled that it does not work even prior to me doing the reclock as then, I tried to route the EBU signal from my transport to the pcb, but there is just no signal at the digital output.So, only the transport is using garbagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10407297023242561540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3439426981399871727.post-3296993376617008342009-12-14T12:17:00.004+08:002009-12-14T12:38:41.227+08:00Reclocking the CD ProIt's been approximately a year since I put together my CD Pro2 transport. I'm going to take the plunge and modify it with a better clock and also to reclock the SPDIF output.With some help from Nick Tan, the daisy website and some blind faith, I took the risk to remove the crystal onboard my transport and get it ready for the reclock module on the pcb kit.I realised that I do not have the garbagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10407297023242561540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3439426981399871727.post-908112321398754472009-11-26T22:16:00.005+08:002009-11-26T23:19:10.176+08:00Nixie Tube clock updatesThe clock is finally completed and in an enclosure. I thought for a long time before deciding what the enclosure should be. I searched for aluminium ones from farnell and also RS, but could not find one of the form factor that I am looking for. I then decided to do one from scratch.I remembered that I have some aluminium sheets in my cupboard. I found a suitable 3mm thick piece that can be used. garbagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10407297023242561540noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3439426981399871727.post-28703311331850821222009-11-19T16:22:00.003+08:002009-11-19T16:39:38.651+08:00Nixie Tube clockI've got the Nixie Tube clock from tubehobby since June I think. I just did not have time to build it and also did not have the mood to enjoy my DIY stuff.Recently, I finally tried to build the kit. When testing the power for the B+, I did so without the PIC in place and without the tube as I needed to adjust it to 160V. However, when doing so, I could only get close to my input voltage from my garbagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10407297023242561540noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3439426981399871727.post-17020701563657890942009-11-19T16:17:00.004+08:002009-11-19T17:01:19.013+08:00Edna's here for a visitWe were supposed to go fly kites together at Buangkok, but her brother is down with fever. So Edna was here for a swim, after which, we had McDonald's together.Some pics here.garbagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10407297023242561540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3439426981399871727.post-32106039107772637492009-09-13T16:18:00.005+08:002009-09-13T16:26:16.271+08:00Busy weekendLyra celebrated her 1st birthday at the infant care on friday. We celebrated for her at home today with some friends and relatives. The food from the caterer was quite good. Chili Padi Catering does nonya food. The curry from the chicken curry was very good. So was the bo bo cha cha. Their lemon tea also tasted quite refreshing.Yesterday, we went to Pasir Ris Park and they played at the outdoor garbagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10407297023242561540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3439426981399871727.post-22077059147067909912009-09-05T14:46:00.004+08:002009-09-05T14:55:15.596+08:00What's up doc?It's been a long time since the last update. On the audio side, i have gotten proper stands for my Coral Beta 8s and have gotten a Lenco L75. A rebuild is in order for the Lenco some day down the road.Over at home, things were not so smooth. We went to the zoo with Lucas and Lyra during the National day holidays. Then Lyra had fever for 5 days or so, then San got it for a week, then Lucas got it garbagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10407297023242561540noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3439426981399871727.post-82910260403607968242009-07-22T22:38:00.002+08:002009-07-22T22:44:34.143+08:00Lyra's disappointing makeoverThis was taken on 4th July right smack over lunch hours, with a cranky baby who just wants to nap and an elder brother who was especially mischievous during the shoot.It did not help that the photographer was curt and did not seem enthusiastic about the job even though the studio supposedly specializes in taking photos of kids and pregnant women.Some pics here.garbagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10407297023242561540noreply@blogger.com1