Best bang for your buck in audio?
1. A better than decent preamp.
2. A better then decent amp.
3. A better than decent cartridge, tonearm, turntable.
4. QUALITY SPEAKERS. No other piece or component can make up for less than decent motors.
5. DECENT interconnects and speaker cables. NO, I am not talking about those uber expensive crazy cables, just what is better than the usual $9.99 crap. Hell, you can construct decent stuff if you are handy with a soldering iron that smokes more than half what you can buy for 10 times as many $'s. jmho. |
toddverrone,
Thanks for letting me know.
czarivey,
Congratulations! |
@czarivey your post made no sense until I looked at the title of the thread. Ha! DIY indeed. Well done and enjoy! |
Had one recently and can't get more excited!
Restored Mac 1900 receiver -- GIANT KILLER
Purchased one at craigslist $180. After diagnosing unit at home of the craigslist seller, I talked down price from asked $400, because I spotted weak Left channel had lack of bass in both mode with or without loudness. One output transistor found weak with trivial diode test, but replaced all transistors to have them all same brand. Certainly checked proper voltages across driving transistors to make sure that they operate properly. Also sound-tested signal output out of driving transistors with specially modified headphones for signal tracing. After final assembling of transistors, I was still checking if they run too hot and after 3 hours of continuous playback I was able to touch transistors with bare fingers safe... Jumping onto this discussion back and wrote post of my own as well just because I'm super-excited that I did NOT resell it and still enjoying it so much! This receiver gives you nearly EVERYTHING for relatively small to medium room including clarity, precision, instrument separation and superb imaging. |
@sabai the magnets I'm using came from an old laptop that we cannibalised for parts. They've been sitting in a drawer for 4 years. This is a much better use! So there's no 'store' to ask. Walmart didn't have any neodymium magnets.. So I dug through my kids' geomag building toys (plastic rods with neodymium magnets on the ends and ball bearings to use as connectors) and found 4 little neodymium cylinder magnets that fell out of the plastic housing. I put them on my RCA connectors between the pre and amps, on both ends this time.Â
I'll have to order some online for the breaker panel. But I'm skiing next week, so it'll be a while before I report back... |
toddverrone,
I use the 1/2" x 1/8" discs (as well as others). So, yours should be comparable. Hopefully they are N48 or N50. The store should know. Have you tried putting a packet of 12 both under and above your breaker? |
Not sure about strength, but they are definitely neodymium. They're only 1/2"long and 1/8" square in cross section |
toddverrone,
You're welcome. I'm glad to hear this is working for you. What size and strength are the magnets you are using? Are they neodymium or ferrous? |
@sabai damn, I tried some magnets I had laying around: super strong, taken from an old MacBook.Â
They made a very noticeable difference. For the better, so far, but I like to listen for a while to truly hear the strengths and weaknesses of any change.Â
I put the magnets on the IEC connectors and on the RCA connectors between my amp and pre  on the pre end. So far they're magnetically attached to the cable clamp screws. I'm heading to Walmart to buy more and some Blu tack so I'm not limited to placements on set screws.Â
Thanks for the ideas! |
toddverrone,
If your wife has a chance to listen she may change her mind. |
geoffkait,
One day when I am ready. I trust my own ears. |
Rooms full of little bowls definitely do not pass my WAF |
Sabai, you should try it. Trust me. And trust Franck Tchang.
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Â
sabai OP
geoffkait,
You stated, "... which one of you knuckleheads is going to be the first one on your block to knock off the Graphene contact enhancer?"
I suggest you be the first knucklehead to try this experiment since it is your idea.
Ouch! Good one. I was actually more interested if anyone had used the tiny copper bowls in other rooms, you know, like Franck Tchang suggested.Â
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geoffkait,
You stated, "...
which one of you knuckleheads is going to be the first one on your block to knock off the Graphene contact enhancer?"
I suggest you be the first knucklehead to try this experiment since it is your idea. |
Bensturgeon,
You stated at the beginning of this thread, "Very rewarding to DIY in this hobby where retail mark ups can be in the thousands of percent. !!"
I could not agree with you more. Especially when you look at the markup of these little cone things that you put on the walls and inside components. The price they are charging is what incentivized me to try to make my own. I am really glad I did -- for about $1 apiece. |
sabai OP
geoffkait,
This is reasonable since it is your idea, after all.
What is reasonable and what is my idea? What are you referring to? Perhaps you did not understand my question, difficult to say.Â
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geoffkait,
This is reasonable since it is your idea, after all. |
geoffkait,
You should be the first knucklehead to try to come up with an idea and let us know. |
Yeah! That way if you don't like it you can just erase it.
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Rub it with a pencil and be done |
Dream come true for the cheap DIYers among us. From what I hear through the grapevine there’s a new contact enhancer in town. The active ingredient of which is ...drum roll...Graphene! Now I have a sneaking suspicion this stuff ain’t going to be cheap so which one of you knuckleheads is going to be the first one on your block to knock off the Graphene contact enhancer?
Pop quiz: Assuming you wanted to make some how would you do it?
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So, here’s the $64K question: has anyone tried the tiny little bowls in other rooms? If so how do you place them?(obviously the ubiquitous diagram no longer applies.) |
herman,
You stated, "If I was filthy rich I would play with wires but paying so much  for wire is a huge waste of money on my budget."
I feel the same way, which is one of the main reasons I am really into DIY.
I loved the one about your wife in the corner on one leg. |
on topic, no anger
too Todd's point, I use DIY cat5 cables for both speaker and interconnects.
IMHO opinion there are so many other variables that the wires you use are the final piece to the puzzle. Since things like speaker placement and electronics (amps, sources, etc.) play such a huge role in the sound and wires so little I don't see any reason to spend megabucks on wires when other things have so much more impact. As I see it I will never reach the point, for that matter get even close, to spending money to improve  components that I can justify spending more on wires.
If I was filthy rich I would play with wires but paying so much  for wire is a huge waste of money on my budget. I think the elephant in the room is how much the sound varies between recordings. People  spend way too much time optimizing their system for a particular group of recordings (whatever they consider to be their reference recordings) when optimizing for whatever they picked may have a negative impact on recordings they don't
On the other hand, I do find that when I have my wife stand in the corner on one leg and cluck like a chicken for a few minutes before a listening session that the sound waves bend downwards then slightly upwards as they approach my chair revealing  subtle details that I would otherwise overlook. YMMV
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Anger Management. LOL. Keep it coming. That's a classic. |
Whoa! Hey! What's this, the weekly meeting of Anger Management?Â
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toddverrone,
I use top-of-the-line Futurech wire and connectors for my DIY wire. I have used other wires, and the connectors you mention, including Oyaide. Nothing comes close to Furutech in my system.
Regarding magnets in power cords, I use small cylindrical neodymium magnets in the empty spaces inside the connectors.
dave_b,
You make a lot of sense.
herman,
I agree.
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what is interesting is he sells magic pebbles, magic plastic flowers, magic little digital clocks, magic phone calls that transform your room when you hold the receiver up in the room, etc.......
So how do you explain he currently has 1193 positive feedbacks with 2 neutral, no negative. It is inconceivable that  in over a thousand sales of voodoo nobody would post negative feedback.... shame on Audiogon |
Geoffkait has to be on some kind of psychoactive medication...or he should be. Â His statements are confused, misleading and often contradictory. Â If something sounds like horse manure, it probably is. |
@sabai what type of magnets did you use in your PC connectors, and how/where did you mount them? |
@2channel8 I’ve made loads of different power cables, interconnects and speaker cables. You absolutely can get better sound with DIY cables, but you need to choose connectors and cables wisely. I’m a cheapskate, so my choices in connectors and cables are good to start with if you’re sceptical and want to experiment. They’re good enough to hear a difference over stock cables if your system is resolving enough and your components’ power supplies would benefit. I use sonarquest connectors that are $40 for a set with aluminum housing. If you want to go fancier, I’ve heard the iego connectors are very good, especially considering their price. I’ve used yarbo cables with the sonarquest connectors to good effect. I’ve also been using a PC made from lots of braided cat 5 cable, but I won’t recommend that because it’s not as robust as a PC for the general public should be. Here’s a great sounding DIY PC: http://image99.net/blog/index.htmlAlso, if you don’t have decent interconnects or speaker cables, you won’t hear a difference from power cables. I made speaker cables from cat 5, but all you need to start is wire of good copper and sufficiently large diameter with no or good connectors. Interconnects should be of sufficient quality, the crappy RCA cables that come with components are hardly up to the task. Have fun! |
herman,
Never mind. We can still have some fun with this even if the genetic link is removed here. I tell you what. Why don't we pretend the link is still there so we can keep this going. We won't tell anyone. Shhh. Just between you and me. |
That probably explains your proclivity for wagging your tongue. It must be genetic. she is my grandfather's second wife, not my Mother's mother, so not genetic  |
Now, now geoffkait. No need to get testy. We all have our genetic handicaps, even you. |
Now, now, geoffkait. No need to provoke people by wagging a snippy tongue. Try to lighten up and all will be well. |
That probably explains your proclivity for wagging your tongue. It must be genetic.
😛 |
More tongues wagging here than at a little old ladies quilting convention I find that remark very offensive!!!!!! my grandmother is a "little old lady" who quilts |
Sabai, why so snarky, Honey Bear?
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You know, try not to let things get to you here. No need to take things seriously all the time.
If you lighten up a bit all will be well. Try your best to keep the fun coming -- anything good for a laugh will do. After all, you're good at that. Remember, this is just a hobby. The comic relief will be wonderful -- and greatly appreciated. To make it easier, everything is fair game. Don't feel restricted. You can even improvise if this is what it takes. The possibilities are limitless. |
Geoffkait: More tongues wagging here than at a little old ladies quilting convention
sabai OP
geoffkait,
"Little old ladies quilting." I love it. Keep it coming. This makes lightening up so much easier -- and so much more fun.
Did you mean lighting up?
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geoffkait,
"Little old ladies quilting." I love it. Keep it coming. This makes lightening up so much easier -- and so much more fun. |
More tongues wagging here than at a little old ladies quilting convention.
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herman,
Maybe that will get my system ticking.
You see, I am already lightening up and I'm feeling a lot better for it. |
herman,
Muddy waters and magic pebbles. I think you’re onto something. Maybe all I really need is a clock. |
Sabai, you are right. The posts are purely for entertainment value since they can't possibly be based on anything factual  All you need is plain old tap water. Everyone should be familiar with the relationship of heat and sound, that sound travels faster through warm air than it does through cold air. So you can easily control how sound waves travel through the air in your room by placing bowls of very cold water out in front of the speakers in a row, let's say 3 or 4 bowls depending on how big the room is and how big the bowls are. Thus when you listen to your favorite track you'll notice it's clearer, more open and more realistic. Because the sound waves are bending downwards due to the slowing up of the waves close to the bowls of cold water more sound reaches the listener's ears. What if the speakers are lower than the listener's ear? How can you possibly assume that the sound waves "are bending downwards.?"  Why else would I go to the trouble of putting up 40 copper bowls since I do not have a conventional speaker system, only the headphone system? So Geoff claims that the bowls he is using clean up the sound of speakers but he doesn't have any speakers. This guy has been , as you suggest, an endless source of amusement. However, since as I see it, the forum is a means to help all of us reach the goal of audiophile nirvana, the baseless, idiotic, suppositions that we often get here just serve to muddy the waters and the only useful purpose is to entertain the trolls and possibly enrich them as they sell magic pebbles, flowers, clocks, and ................ |
It’s seems quite obvious to me. Why else would I go to the trouble of putting up 40 copper bowls since I do not have a conventional speaker system, only the headphone system? |
I don't have the answer to this. But maybe Franck Tchang does. You can contact him by email. I would be interested in hearing what he has to say. |
Think about it for a second. They're acoustic resonators. How can they possibly affect a headphone system?!
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