While I agree that a touch screen isn’t necessary…it would still be cool to see. I haven’t played around with electronic circuitry in 30 years, but I have to admit that I’ve been reading your posts on this and I’m tempted to give 'er a go. Well, if I ever get better control over my right hand nerve endings, that is.
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Man it is no fun with a fading vision either. I’m still in the denial / reading glasses phase but the tricks I have to pull to see what I’m doing are crazy. Thank god for a decent camera in the phone, I clamp the phone and cast the image from the camera on the screen.
But apart from this I don’t regret the project. It wasn’t cheap and in the end it will be as expensive as a good middle class amp but the cost was spread over more than 7 months. However, the kit has a great rep, it’s used in a lot of custom built high end stuff, Tom is presenting his amps on big hifi trade fairs along with a lot of big names. If it all works out as I hope, the next project is upgrading the speakers.
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Looks like you did a good job there @Bad_Influence!!
I went through all the escalation, from Quad 22 + II system with the 57’s hooked up with aTthorens 124, then next to it I had (stole, couldn’t resist the bargain those days) a Leak 20, then had a 3020 with a Rega Planar, from that went to a BS Meridian active speakers driven by a tube preamp on a Nakamichi, yes I was one of those… first cut Vinyl, monster cables, gold connector and so forth… was it worth it? Yes and no.
After all those years of ordeals, the truth is really simple, you have to find a balance… can you place the instruments? Is the stage image solid? Do they sound real? Do you like it? STOP! That’s it! From that on, we just spend a lot of money that it’s just reaching for a non existent perfection that either our room, our ears, the recording will not be able to reproduce.
At today I still have a dream of building my own as you did, my thoughts went to: I’m a bit old to do that, then I thought… it’s not the age, it’s the money that you would spend in doing it, tubes, useless gold contacts and so forth, or either: Should I use the 3886 or the TDA and on and on and on, endless useless doubts, so I admire your work, because you made it happen!!
Does it work? YES! does it sound good? YES! Fair enough, IMHO it doesn’t have to compare to high end system, it won’t, it has to sound good and pleasant, it’s your ears you have to please, pleasing the mind or reaching for perfection, it’s the expensive bit… What if instead of, should apply sound correction?
Well, we are also mixers, we all know very well that route!!!
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This is true, especially if you consider that there is no other market where people are SEARCHING for snake oil. As I mentioned earlier, our local hifi guru said that most people aren#t trusting their ears when they buy stereo stuff but they rather go for the shiny stuff with lots of lights and dials.
I know people with stereos for unbelievable money and you can’t even tell them that their TVs sound better than the expensive stereo.
Of course I’m searching for something to reproduce music in a “natural sounding” way. But people sometimes forget that natural reproduction often doesn’t sound spectacular. And one thing always followed me. I have to get used to the speakers. The stuff that first sounds spectacular usually sounds much worse later when you spent some time listening. And the stuff where you think “something’s missing” sounds much better after a while. Like in a classical concert where you first think “turn up the volume”… it WILL get loud enough after a while.
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ABSOULTELY @Bad_Influence very often, a flat response, i.e. real, isn’t met with much fanfare. Hence the need for “Boom and Sizzle”.
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Hi @Bad_Influence I just wanted to congratulate you on your project. Your work looks incredibly clean. Not that I know much about the subject but I take interest in others’ endeavors. I read through your thread and saw your progress and everyone’s comments. My only interest was that a long time ago I had a part time job soldering motherboards. I was basically just a pair of hands soldering all day. I didn’t really understand all the components on the board.
Great looking work 
!
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it’s usually right, it’s never a matter of volume, for me it was a matter of details, can I hear the pedals of a church organ? Can I hear the keys? can I hear changing chords on a classical guitar on my reference records? Do I get the right stage image? Is Greg Lake on my right or middle right?? Then that system works, you could have that with a well thought 1000£ system, and might not have it with a 10000£ system, I’ve heard things that were only fatiguing the ears, not Hi Fi… but it’s my HO, as you said, one of the markets where snake oil is the driving force. I’d like to see those people have a listen to an old Cyrus, or even a 50 yr old Marantz.
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Just finished a little side project, a pair of desk speakers for the computer.
322mm high, 132mm wide, 186mm deep. 3" full range speakers with a bass reflex enclosure. Running on a 20 quid Nobsound amp with bluetooth and line-in.
Had a little accident while cutting the hole for one of the speakers when the circle jig for the router slipped a few mm but managed to disguise it well enough.
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