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Post by Andrei on Jul 12, 2014 4:05:05 GMT
I've decided to have a go at assembling my own cables, just for the crack. I do have previous industry experience in soldering although that was many years ago when in my 20's so I'm probably out of practice. I have a Maplin, temperature controlled iron and a set of three, fine, replacement tips, a set of 'Helping Hands', and an adjustable, automatic wire stripper/cutter sat in my Amazon basket ready for purchase next week (my ancient Weller soldering station recently gave up the ghost unfortunately). I'm actually excited about the prospect. If the cables I assemble pass muster quality-wise I may make them available via my ebay account eventually but for now though I am looking to assemble cables for myself, which'll be nice and will also give me a sense of achievement  With that sort of gear you should make your own cables. There are some good cables and good connectors to choose from so I would expect great things! |
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Post by Dave on Jul 12, 2014 6:51:46 GMT
Thanks buddy, actually it is Brian's (2957) cable venture which inspired me to pull my finger out and give it a go 
I spent the first ten years of my working life populating and inspecting circuit boards. I began my old career working on support boards for what are now regarded as some of the most iconic arcade machines of the 1980's such as Defender, Pacman and Galaxians. The market was new, exciting and vibrant back then and I was young, keen and very much into the emerging UK home computing explosion so the job was right up my alley. The downside was that there were quite a few young and cocky entrepreneurs knocking about at the time who possessed plenty of drive and ambition but little experience within the industry. They were very keen to enter the fray but most got their fingers burnt rather swiftly as a consequence. I think I worked for all of them  Most of these start-ups didn't hang around for long, which might explain why I worked for six different companies in the space of five years in my late teens and early twenties.
During this period I honed my soldering skills and became very good at it, it's just a matter of me chipping away at the rusty stuff to rediscover my mojo again. I reckon I'll be okay though... hehe |
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Post by jandl100 on Jul 13, 2014 7:33:37 GMT
Nice system you have there, Dave. In my experience, Art's speakers can be hit or miss, some are great while others leave me struggling to hear anything at all special. The Skibos fall in the first category! I tried that Klotzy MC5000 cable with those plugs and have to confess I found it decent but not great, there's a fair bit more rez to be had in my system than they allowed through. Cables can be very system dependent, though, and personal preference comes into it as well, of course. At the cheap end of the market I think I prefer Gotham Ultra Pro; a bit more pizzaz to them in my system, they seem to capture the leading edges better. |
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Post by Dave on Jul 13, 2014 10:50:41 GMT
Thanks Jerry I appreciate your comments. I am really happy with the system as it is just now, and the way it sounds. I was unsure of the Skibo's for quite a long time to be honest. As I mention earlier in the thread, they present music very differently to my beloved DM2's and for quite a while I treated them as a stop-gap option until I could fix the B&W's, a 'throw-away speaker' if you will, and as such I was not giving them the respect they duly deserve. The DM2's do sound lovely and I will always have a soft spot for them, but... they have a tendency to sound a bit lazy with pacier material and compared to the Skibo's, imaging can be a bit hit or miss. The plan was to sell the Skibo's on once the DM2's were up and running, that won't be happening now. I am keeping both sets of speakers as I enjoy each of them for different reasons...
The Klotc MC5000 based IC's I'm playing with at the moment are working very well here, but as you say, cable performance is system dependent. The fact that they have ousted a pair of RFC's mighty Pluto items should give you an idea just how well they are performing in this installation |
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Post by jandl100 on Jul 13, 2014 14:52:41 GMT
I heard a pair of the Skibos at Scalford and was seriously impressed by their excellent all-round performance. They even were great at classical, and the Skibo's owner had never even tried that. Very unusual for a non-classical-oriented system to cut the mustard with classical music, ime. The MC5000 ousted the Pluto?  - blimey, they didn't do that chez-Jerry!  Damn, I could have sold my RFCs off at a profit if they did!  |
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Post by Dave on Jul 13, 2014 15:28:55 GMT
I heard a pair of the Skibos at Scalford and was seriously impressed by their excellent all-round performance. They even were great at classical, and the Skibo's owner had never even tried that. Very unusual for a non-classical-oriented system to cut the mustard with classical music, ime. The MC5000 ousted the Pluto? - blimey, they didn't do that chez-Jerry! Damn, I could have sold my RFCs off at a profit if they did! They do classical extremely well in this system Jerry plus they also rock like gods I'm currently listening to a Decca recording of the Brahms symphonies (Riccardo Chailly) on Spotify (heresy, I know) and it is sounding pretty spectacular in here
Yup, surprised me too and you know how much respect I have for Paul's work. The Klotz's mange to eek more detail out of a good recording in this setup and yet possess the Pluto's open, airy presentation. I can best describe the effect thus: Listening to Seven Nation Army from The White Stripes seminal Elephant, with the Klotz's in play transient detail is mightily impressive. The kick drum on this track is weighty with lots of slam, with the Pluto's installed though it is as if the drummer has placed a small cushion in the bass of the kick drum to dampen the attack. It is subtle but noticeable. Piano on the other hand sounds effortless and pure, I've not heard a more natural rendition of a piano from any system I've owned before so now I find myself scouring Spotify for good piano based music rather a lot. It is the same story with Violins and particularly Cello's. I love the sound of this instrument, whether recorded well or not. I could sit and listen to Cello pieces all day
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Post by Andrei on Jul 14, 2014 22:22:42 GMT
Yup, surprised me too and you know how much respect I have for Paul's work. The Klotz's mange to eek more detail out of a good recording in this setup and yet possess the Pluto's open, airy presentation. I can best describe the effect thus: Listening to Seven Nation Army from The White Stripes seminal Elephant, with the Klotz's in play transient detail is mightily impressive. The kick drum on this track is weighty with lots of slam, with the Pluto's installed though it is as if the drummer has placed a small cushion in the bass of the kick drum to dampen the attack. It is subtle but noticeable. Piano on the other hand sounds effortless and pure, I've not heard a more natural rendition of a piano from any system I've owned before so now I find myself scouring Spotify for good piano based music rather a lot. It is the same story with Violins and particularly Cello's. I love the sound of this instrument, whether recorded well or not. I could sit and listen to Cello pieces all day
I remember reading something rather interesting in Casanova's memoirs: He said that his favourite instrument was the Cello! I kind of have to agree, and that is one of the things I like about Vinyl - it does Cello better than CD. I played a cello last week - when I say 'play' it is more in the sense of 'children playing'. I played a bit on the open strings. Absolutely gorgeous. Just while on the subject of Cellos - I have a copy of Jacqu Du Pre playing Frank's violin sonata transcribed for Cello - it a real treat. |
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Post by Dave on Jul 14, 2014 22:57:12 GMT
Whilst I cannot claim to possess the honourable gentlemen's prodigious experience with women (the missus would definitely have something to say about that  ) he had great taste in musical instruments. Unfortunately my turntable is very poorly and my phonostage has gone to RIAA heaven Andrei. As the vast majority of my listening is done via my 'puter these days (with impressive results I might add) I am seriously considering bailing out of the vinyl side of things. I'll see how things go over the next couple of months, last time I played a record was on my birthday, April 20th... 
I'd love to hear the piece you mention, I wonder if it is on Spotify?
Ah wait, is this it?
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Post by Dave on Jul 19, 2014 19:30:23 GMT
Seeing as AoS seems to be non-operational just now I thought I'd share a shocking revelation with you. As I have begun to document on AoS, I am planning to expand my knowledge a bit by modifying a pair of cheap and cheerful AV speakers I bought years ago for an equally cheap and cheerful surround sound speaker system.
Manufactured by Acoustic Solutions who are based not far from me in Weedon, Northamptonshire they are their AV 21 model. AS still produce these I understand although in mk2 guise. I'm unsure as to the differences between mine and the mk2's but that is not important in this context. The driver line up consists of a 130mm paper cone woofer and 1" dome tweeter both of indeterminate origin. The crossovers contain just two components, a resistor and an electrolytic capacitor. I did write the values down on a piece of paper however I've mislaid it, I'll add this information later when AoS is back up. According to Istari Knight (James) on AoS he's fairly certain the crossover is so configured that the mid/bass is running full range with the tweeter adding a bit of pep and sparkle to the top end.
The shocking thing is though, I have them hooked up to the main system just now to gauge their unmodified performance characteristics and I have to say they sound pretty good, taking into account their design limitations and the fact that these tiny speakers cost me just £19.99 from Argos. Granted, they won't trouble a pair of LS3/5a's or even a pair of JPW Gold mini-monitors but I am tapping my feet and bobbing my head along to Massive Attack's Mezzanine just now so they must be doing something right. They definitely have a 'character' however. Midrange is a bit in-your-face and obviously deep bass is non-existent. Kick drums sound a wee bit boxy and enclosed but generally what I am hearing is a clean, musical presentation with fabulous pin sharp imaging and a decently wide soundstage which is a tad two dimensional as there is limited depth to the image. It's there but not all that prominent. Turn the wick up and the tiny bass/mids leap into life and try their damndest to offer a sense of scale to proceedings, and on the whole they succeed admirably. Frankly I am astounded twenty pounds can buy you this level of performance, well done AS
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Post by Andrei on Jul 19, 2014 22:31:13 GMT
Whilst I cannot claim to possess the honourable gentlemen's prodigious experience with women (the missus would definitely have something to say about that ) he had great taste in musical instruments. Unfortunately my turntable is very poorly and my phonostage has gone to RIAA heaven Andrei. As the vast majority of my listening is done via my 'puter these days (with impressive results I might add) I am seriously considering bailing out of the vinyl side of things. I'll see how things go over the next couple of months, last time I played a record was on my birthday, April 20th...
I'd love to hear the piece you mention, I wonder if it is on Spotify?
Ah wait, is this it?
Yes that is the piece. Although I love my analogue rig, I still have 'financial regrets'. The dosh I've spent on my front end and vinyl could have gone towards a high end amplifier like one of the better in the Audio Reference line. The fact of the matter is that about 80% of my listening is via PC - and very good it is too. And convenience! with about 10 Beethoven or Sibelius Violin Concertos to choose from it is rather nice to have the easy options to choose. Not only that but the quality is catching up with hi-res downloads, and advances in DACs to the point that the digital vs vinyl debate is losing its meaning - they are both good. No regrets Dave, no regrets! |
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Post by Dave on Jul 20, 2014 0:18:04 GMT
And very beautiful it is too, loved it |
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Post by Dave on Jul 20, 2014 8:21:03 GMT
Following on from my post above and having spent a little more time assessing the AS AV21's I continue to be impressed by these ultra-low budget boxes and as a result, what was originally intended to be an educational and fun project could well turn out to be something a little more serious. My ultimate aim would be to try and bring their level of performance close to that of the LS3/5a if at all possible, or at least as close as I can get. This will require some serious modifications to the cabs, new drivers and a far better crossover I would think. "Why waste your money when there are some decent small speakers available out there for 'pocket money' prices already?", some may ask. It's simple really, if all goes to plan I should end up with a lovely sounding pair of small speakers by the end of the project which I have put together myself. One can not put a price on the resulting sense of achievement I will experience in which case
Some photos of the gubbins:
  
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Post by jandl100 on Jul 20, 2014 9:29:48 GMT
Quite a challenge you've set yourself there, Dave!
DIY speakers especially are very difficult - the interactions of the x-over, drivers and cabinet are very complex.
Go to it, and best of luck!
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Post by Dave on Jul 20, 2014 9:39:37 GMT
Thanks Jerry For now I will keep it simple by attempting to extract the maximum potential from them by employing some simple and judicious mods such as replacing the cheap, foam acoustic wadding with lambs wool, replacement of the cheap electrolytic cap and resistor for better quality items plus I will brace the cabinets using an elegant solution proposed by Chris on AoS (thanks again Chris, you're a star ) |
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Post by ChrisB on Jul 20, 2014 9:48:18 GMT
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Post by Dave on Jul 20, 2014 9:53:22 GMT
Actually Chris it was your thread on AoS which inspired me to do this, must have missed the bracing bit though |
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Post by Dave on Jul 20, 2014 10:00:00 GMT
Oh dear the Skibo's are looking a little glum, they've had nothing to do for over 24hrs...
I now have these hooked up to my little JVC AX-A3 integrated amp which I use as a headphone amp, it being driven from my BTE passives unattenuated output, and the AV21's are still sounding fab... |
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Post by Dave on Jul 20, 2014 10:27:37 GMT
Been thinking about this brace of yours Chris. I am going to adapt your idea and use steel instead of wood for the pads as I am a little concerned that over time the nuts will work their way into the wood, thus loosening the brace and allowing it to vibrate. Another advantage to using steel is that I can get away with using a thinner section which means less intrusion to affect the internal volume |
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Post by ChrisB on Jul 20, 2014 10:33:45 GMT
Then you'll have to find a way to make the top of the bolts dead flat - they won't make proper purchase on a steel plate - I tried it!
That's why I used wood - because it's easy to make cups for the end of the bolts to sit in.
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Post by Dave on Jul 20, 2014 10:39:26 GMT
More research needed admittedly, I'll see what I can come up with on t'internet and get back to you |
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Most of these start-ups didn't hang around for long, which might explain why I worked for six different companies in the space of five years in my late teens and early twenties.
Damn, I could have sold my RFCs off at a profit if they did! 
) he had great taste in musical instruments. Unfortunately my turntable is very poorly and my phonostage has gone to RIAA heaven Andrei. As the vast majority of my listening is done via my 'puter these days (with impressive results I might add) I am seriously considering bailing out of the vinyl side of things. I'll see how things go over the next couple of months, last time I played a record was on my birthday, April 20th... 
