Post by karatestu on Mar 3, 2021 14:16:47 GMT
I recycle where I can. I try to do my bit to save the planet and save money where possible. Most things I have built like speaker prototypes and racks have used old bits of junk wood laying about on the farm. It's like going back in time - open an old shed and have a rummage through all the things that normal people who have thrown away decades ago. i usually come up with something useable.
Found these old oak tables that I am going to build my bipolar up and down firing speakers into.
I need something to build my electronics into that will suit my room which seems to be full of natural wood furniture (oak or pine). The electronics themselves are built using recycled parts where possible - transformers from other projects, regulators etc etc. It's a pity big psu electrolytic capacitors don't last forever otherwise i'd be recycling them as well
Anyway, another rummage through the endless store of junk turned up an item of furniture which is looking promising to house my electronics. I don't want a rack with stacks of black boxes on show. The idea is to have just the turntable and CDP (and streaming equipment if I ever go that way) on top of this furniture and everything else hidden away. Actually the only items that will be in a traditional hifi enclosure will be the turntable and cdp. The rest will be built INTO a wooden structure that is the enclosure. Kind of like classII equipment with no exposed metal on the outside.
I found this old blanket box (ottoman) which is quite a bit bigger than the usual blanket box found at the bottom of peoples bed. It is 107cm wide x 52cm deep by 60cm high and made from 28mm pine boards. But I need to make the width 7cm narrower and the height 20cm taller so it will fit in an alcove in my living room at home and lift the sources up to a comfortable height.
Yes it's in a bit of a two and eight as most things are which have been in the back of a shed for decades. Built by my Grandfather probably so it would be nice to use it for sentimental reasons if nowt else. So strip all the fabric off is the next job. Finding wooden planks to match might be tricky but as I need ventilation in the back and nobody will see that I thought I could remove the planks from the back and use them to increase the height at the front and sides. I would then use something else for the back and make a frame for the inside out of 44mm planed timber or some such as I need the front to be removeable for tinkering and servicing.
Ah but what about control knobs like volume and source selector ? I had an idea to make part of the joint where the front meets the top at 45 degrees and create a little control panel in the bevelled edge that is created. The volume control and source selector switch will be quite a long way from this control panel so I will have 6mm wooden dowel extension rods between the two . Found some old round wooden door knobs that could look good as control knobs. This way I can remove the front panel and have nothing attached to it.
All the psu's (and I mean all of them) are going to go on the ground floor of this with the power amp boards, phono boards, source selector and volume control on the next level about 60cm above that. Why go to the trouble of having every single transformer in the system offboarded and remote from their load? Well I have experimented in the past and found that distance is the best thing between psu and load when considering the damaging effects of EMI. I used to have my transformers not bolted down so I could move them around whilst music is playing. The effect was in some cases quite dramatic. Even when there was no audible hum in the first place i found increasing the distance between psu and load made the music sound better. So that is mainly why I am doing this. Plus I almost completely use EI transformers for everything because I think the resultant sound is more to my liking but the stray field compared to toroidal transformers is larger. I have one toroid still in my system but that will be replaced for an EI in due course.
An added bonus from all this is that my signal wiring between sources and the phono stage, source selector, volume control(s) and power amp boards will be very short. The connections made inside the cabinet can even be hardwired and take the shortest route as the crow fly's.
Madness ? Maybe but worth it so I don't have to sit and look at a pile of boxes, i should get improved music because of it and it will be easy to dust.
Found these old oak tables that I am going to build my bipolar up and down firing speakers into.
I need something to build my electronics into that will suit my room which seems to be full of natural wood furniture (oak or pine). The electronics themselves are built using recycled parts where possible - transformers from other projects, regulators etc etc. It's a pity big psu electrolytic capacitors don't last forever otherwise i'd be recycling them as well
Anyway, another rummage through the endless store of junk turned up an item of furniture which is looking promising to house my electronics. I don't want a rack with stacks of black boxes on show. The idea is to have just the turntable and CDP (and streaming equipment if I ever go that way) on top of this furniture and everything else hidden away. Actually the only items that will be in a traditional hifi enclosure will be the turntable and cdp. The rest will be built INTO a wooden structure that is the enclosure. Kind of like classII equipment with no exposed metal on the outside.
I found this old blanket box (ottoman) which is quite a bit bigger than the usual blanket box found at the bottom of peoples bed. It is 107cm wide x 52cm deep by 60cm high and made from 28mm pine boards. But I need to make the width 7cm narrower and the height 20cm taller so it will fit in an alcove in my living room at home and lift the sources up to a comfortable height.
Yes it's in a bit of a two and eight as most things are which have been in the back of a shed for decades. Built by my Grandfather probably so it would be nice to use it for sentimental reasons if nowt else. So strip all the fabric off is the next job. Finding wooden planks to match might be tricky but as I need ventilation in the back and nobody will see that I thought I could remove the planks from the back and use them to increase the height at the front and sides. I would then use something else for the back and make a frame for the inside out of 44mm planed timber or some such as I need the front to be removeable for tinkering and servicing.
Ah but what about control knobs like volume and source selector ? I had an idea to make part of the joint where the front meets the top at 45 degrees and create a little control panel in the bevelled edge that is created. The volume control and source selector switch will be quite a long way from this control panel so I will have 6mm wooden dowel extension rods between the two . Found some old round wooden door knobs that could look good as control knobs. This way I can remove the front panel and have nothing attached to it.
All the psu's (and I mean all of them) are going to go on the ground floor of this with the power amp boards, phono boards, source selector and volume control on the next level about 60cm above that. Why go to the trouble of having every single transformer in the system offboarded and remote from their load? Well I have experimented in the past and found that distance is the best thing between psu and load when considering the damaging effects of EMI. I used to have my transformers not bolted down so I could move them around whilst music is playing. The effect was in some cases quite dramatic. Even when there was no audible hum in the first place i found increasing the distance between psu and load made the music sound better. So that is mainly why I am doing this. Plus I almost completely use EI transformers for everything because I think the resultant sound is more to my liking but the stray field compared to toroidal transformers is larger. I have one toroid still in my system but that will be replaced for an EI in due course.
An added bonus from all this is that my signal wiring between sources and the phono stage, source selector, volume control(s) and power amp boards will be very short. The connections made inside the cabinet can even be hardwired and take the shortest route as the crow fly's.
Madness ? Maybe but worth it so I don't have to sit and look at a pile of boxes, i should get improved music because of it and it will be easy to dust.