What have you DIY'd in your system?

[JCOConnell]

I have made extensive modifications to my cj preamp, built my DAC from a kit, made my interconnects myself, built an electronic timer for my hour meter, and modified my tube tester.

[Steve Lefkowicz]

Currently, just my rack (a typical flexi-rack) and my passive line stage (though built for me by a friend). Someday I want to build a gainclone.

[Alrainbow]

Wow your pretty good at this. In the past I built a few things. David Hafler kits. His preamp , his Amps dh500 and a dh 220. The preamp I do not remember the model. I still,have them all and they work . Cross overs fr some speakers , even used O scope to find the best point of cross over
no at this age I am done with that. I fly rc helicopters so they always need something , very critical stuff a major pain really. I envy those who enjoy doing it. As I never did or do now. My plan now is sell,of everything by end of year and just keep one set of headphones . Before I sell of the IRS v I do want to hear how the amp sounds with them one last time. As of now I use aragons in balance mode .

[JCOConnell]

Wow your pretty good at this. In the past I built a few things. David Hafler kits. His preamp , his Amps dh500 and a dh 220. The preamp I do not remember the model. I still,have them all and they work . Cross overs fr some speakers , even used O scope to find the best point of cross over
no at this age I am done with that. I fly rc helicopters so they always need something , very critical stuff a major pain really. I envy those who enjoy doing it. As I never did or do now. My plan now is sell,of everything by end of year and just keep one set of headphones . Before I sell of the IRS v I do want to hear how the amp sounds with them one last time. As of now I use aragons in balance mode .

I had a Hafler DH220 power amp for about 15 years that I built as a kit. Served me well until I finally sold it on ebay about 15 years ago.

[Alrainbow]

Hahhahaa. Good stuff for times right. From way I have read the dh220 had a better sound than the dh500. I used the dh500 for the low end on my rs1B for years.

[Johnny Vinyl]

I changed the power cord on my IA. Mind you, it was plug 'n Play, but I did it myself!

[Rob]

all my wire was purchased in bulk and hand terminated or manufactured by me for the last 30+ yrs. I've had custom speaker and Turntable/equipment racks/stands designed by me and fabricated by vendors I used to do business with in another work life. I killed off the modding bug very early on and remain ambivalent to the concept. Many moons ago I was involved in building a new commercial speaker/crossover system but i wasn't the brains behind it nor could I suggest I'm a designer. I've built a number of amps from kits, one was kit #2 from Dennis Had, a 300B based SET amp I later sold to great Walt Bender of Audiomart fame.

[JCOConnell]

Hahhahaa. Good stuff for times right. From way I have read the dh220 had a better sound than the dh500. I used the dh500 for the low end on my rs1B for years.

Don't know about differences in sound quality, but I always wanted a DH500 but was turned off by the fact that it used a fan to cool the heat sinks when driven hard.

I traded in my Bose 901s for Maggies and the DH500 kit. Got so excited about it that I finished one channel first to hear what I made. Was kinda glad it had that fan.

[Alrainbow]

Well it's does and yes my fan jamed and it over heated and shut down. A little wd40 and it's fine. It's a small heat sink inside just a small square with all of the output transistors on it. Not sure if there are mosfets or what kind
plus or minus or both. Funny how we both had them

[GaryB]

I don't have time for nearly as much for DIY as I used to but I still have quite a bit of DIY equipment in the house from the days when I had more time. Modding gear is pretty easy and I still have time for that but I don't build much from scratch now, which I used to do quite often. These days, life outside of audio makes it harder for me to have time for DIY. Writing all this down makes me realize that it might be time to thin the herd and move some of this stuff out.

In any case, I have a 2 or 3 systems in different parts of the house, each with a bit of DIY. Here's what's in the current rotation.

Main System

DIY stuff
Turntable: DIY based on parts from Scheu turntables in Germany
Phono: DIY version of Pass X-ONO; homebrew step up based on SB TX103 transformers
Preamps: modded Conrad Johnson Premier 14 (details upon request)
Interconnects: DIY
Power cords: DIY
Digital: modded Squeezebox and TEAC VRDS T1 transport; home built DAC based on PCM63 chip

non-DIY stuff
Amplifier: First Watt F7
Speakers: Horning Eufrodite
Speaker wire: Auditorium A23


Casual listening system in family room

DIY
no turntable
Tuner: modded Sansui TU9900
Preamp: modded Threshold FET 10/hl
Amp: Sun VT-25 built from kit
Digital: modded Squeezebox and home built DAC based on ESS 9023
Cables: mostly homebrew

non-DIY stuff
Speakers: Reference 3A mm de Capo i


Other DIY stuff in the house

restored Harman Kardon Citation II; restored Fisher integrated tube amp; restored Scott integrated tube amp
DIY TVC preamp
a few different homebrew speakers
modded NYAL Super It phono stage
quite a few different modded FM tuners

I'm sure I'm forgetting something but this gives some flavor for what I've done over the years.
---Gary

[rockitman]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]n19769[/ATTACH] My current diy...amp stands for my Lamm LP1 power supplies. Adding the spikes using 3/8" thread inserts into the wood . The Track audio spikes (8) are $130.00 and the two 20"x16"x2" laminated maple cutting he's were $220.00 for both of the. The spikes aren't installed yet in the picture.

[Barry]

I'm probably not your typical hi-end audiophile. I started doing modifications and building a kit or two back in the 70s. Audio Amateur, Speaker Builder, International Audio Review, and more recently, diyAudio have been my inspirations. Earliest projects included a complete rebuild of a Phase Linear 400 amp, a Hafler DH-100 preamp kit, and Pooge modifications to a Hafler DH 200 amp. My approach has been to buy fairly expensive, high-quality equipment that sounds great, and upgrade it with the best parts available regardless of cost.

Current components with major parts upgrades include a Pass Labs Xono & 3 way crossover, a Sansui TU 717 tuner, a VPI turntable bearing assembly, 2 totally custom built tube/ss hybrid power amps, and a pair of completely rewired Magnepan 3.6 speakers with a custom Duelund Cast external passive crossover (tweeter/midrange).

I do much less solder slinging now than I used to, mostly relying on others, considering the complexity of the work, lack of schematics in some cases, and risk of messing up pretty expensive equipment.

[Mortsnets]

I put together a bucket sub (Ed Schilling design). I own some diy gear built or modified by others: modified Sony PlayStation 1, TPA3110 based amp, DiyTube St-35, scratch build Darling 1626, Belden 8402 based ICs. I find DIYers to be some of the nicest 'philes.

[Alrainbow]

Does a diy caps count ?

[JCOConnell]

you mean changing caps in other products?, yes.

[Alrainbow]

Lol my wrigthing really is third world.
Although I have replaced caps as you posted. I meant a computer server for digital music