DIY Audio or OCD to the next level

[MarcelNL]

Wow! Hello sound, goodbye living room!

that was the idea anyhow, the current idea is not that much larger than the previous one ;-)

 

[MarcelNL]

think BIG....my best friend bought a Telefunken M15a Magnetophon, wow what a sound (a direct to tape recording made for a radio program)

 

[ACHiPo]

think BIG....my best friend bought a Telefunken M15a Magnetophon, wow what a sound (a direct to tape recording made for a radio program)

View attachment 311289

“Shaped like a Telefunken U232”. “Pluking too hard!”

Sorry—listening to Hot Rats and couldn’t resist.

 

[MarcelNL]

does not ring a bell, other than Zappa... A telefunken Mike?
(Almost bougt a couple of Telefunken/Neumann CMV3 some years ago, the famous tube mikes from the heydays of the NSDAP)

 

[ACHiPo]

does not ring a bell, other than Zappa... A telefunken Mike?
(Almost bougt a couple of Telefunken/Neumann CMV3 some years ago, the famous tube mikes from the heydays of the NSDAP)

Zappa's Joe's Garage. It's a long story. Give it a listen--my adolescent brain loved it, and it's still a fun, if somewhat off-color, musical story about the evils of music. The allusion was to a Telefunken vacuum tube (presumably). And "pluking" was, well, what you could call sex back in the day I suppose.

 

[MarcelNL]

I like Zappa!
will do!

 

[ACHiPo]

I like Zappa!
will do!

I corrected my memory—Joe’s Garage Act II Scene 11 “Sy Borg” refers to a “Telefunken U-47” which is a mic. I always assumed it was a tube given the delightfully raunchy context, but the size and shape of a U-47 mic makes it even raunchier.

Regardless “Telefunken” always makes my inner 14 year old giggle a bit.

…now back to your regularly scheduled DIY audio thread

 

[MarcelNL]

aha, U47 is indeed a famous Telefunken Mike!

 

[Lars]

Neumann made U47's as well. The long body versions with VF-14 tubes are amazing, the short body FET versions are mainly used for kick drums

 

[ACHiPo]

Neumann made U47's as well. The long body versions with VF-14 tubes are amazing, the short body FET versions are mainly used for kick drums

Well in “Joe’s Garage” the shape is used in a totally different non-audio way!

 

[HolyDiverScallop]

“With leather??” *giggle*

 

[ACHiPo]

“With leather??” *giggle*

‘On the bus!”

 

[Lars]

Well in “Joe’s Garage” the shape is used in a totally different non-audio way!

This should make you exited then and still fit in the theme of this thread..!

Here is an original U47 next to a tube mic I build from scratch. Mine held up very well.

 

[MarcelNL]

Telefunken is sort of Neumann, in those days all the companies were intermingled.....AEG Telefunken, Neumann, Klangfilm, Philips, Zeiss Ikon, andso-on

 

[MarcelNL]

Came across a stash of Panzerholz (Delignite) and could not resist...only one issue; the slabs (1100x2400x45mm) are WAY too havy to handle alone (s.g.1.4), with two is about manageable...

 

[ACHiPo]

Came across a stash of Panzerholz (Delignite) and could not resist...only one issue; the slabs (1100x2400x45mm) are WAY too havy to handle alone (s.g.1.4), with two is about manageable...

View attachment 315015

Heavy enough and expensive enough to be gold! What will you do with it?

 

[HolyDiverScallop]

Are you going to build your horns out of panzerholz?

 

[MarcelNL]

The Panzerholz is for vibration control in specific places, like a shelve under the Server one for the DAC, also plan on making brackets to support the speaker magnets out of it (lowering distortion)

For cabinets etc I'd never want to use panzerholz, I now have far more than I need so I think much of it'll be dispersed amongst a few friends in this crazy hobby...

 

[Nemo]

Anyone got some recommendations for a basic/starter hi fidelity headphone set up?

Would this necessarily include DAC, amp, other bits and pieces?

Currently using Sony WH-1000 XM2 which are the best headphones I have used but I suspect they are a bit below the level of gear that you audio nuts would consider.

 

[MarcelNL]

head-fi forum is likely a good place to start!
The kit you listed is not needed for a starter head phone set but when you want to up the game a dedicated DAC, Amp (or DAC with head phone amp integrated) and some wiring is unavoidable, as well as thinking about what to use as source.

 

[Nemo]

head-fi forum is likely a good place to start!
The kit you listed is not needed for a starter head phone set but when you want to up the game a dedicated DAC, Amp (or DAC with head phone amp integrated) and some wiring is unavoidable, as well as thinking about what to use as source.

Thanks. I'll take a look at the head-fi forum.

 

[Michi]

The Sony MDR1AM2 are nice. I got to try those a while ago. Not on the cheap side, though.

One thing to keep in mind: if you are over forty, much of the higher frequencies have disappeared from your hearing, and this gets worse with increasing age. For most people, the tap closes around 12-13 kHz once they reach 60 years of age. Considering that, spending a lot of money on really high end gear might well be a lost labour of love.

At any rate, you can get truly excellent quality without resorting to an external DAC and amplifier. I'd also check out Sennheiser and Klipsch, depending on your budget.

 

[MarcelNL]

Even though the ultra high frequency end of audio may be lost to some extent at elevated age, sensitivity to phase coherence, dynamics and distortion are not lost so easily and those are area's where the good distincts itself from the bad and the ugly.
You can check your hearing ceiling quite easily, a 20-20.000Hz sweep video on YT or the web played through a system you know capable of 20.000Hz (or thereabout) does the trick, or walk in at one of the nowadays many places that sell hearing aids for a free check.

You may be surprised how much hearing is still present unless you've worked with power tools or visited real loud concerts without any hearing protection.

My hearing still goes up to 17.000, age 59 and being a child of the disco age...I used to be able to hear a bit beyond 20Khz...(22-ish)

for head gear the same applies; better buy great used stuff than new mediocre stuff, upgraditis is a well known phenomenon in audio so great deals can be had!

 

[Jovidah]

Just checked... mine fades at 17k-17,5k as well, but I'm about 20 years younger.

 

[MarcelNL]

the good news is that great sound does not necessarily require much over 15Khz anyway ;-)

HiFi in the end was as much a marketing phrase as anything else, like MQA (which is all but dead now, just as it should). There are far more important aspects in audio reproduction than a frequency sweep.

 

[mengwong]

I still haven’t figured out if my speakers are in phase…

 

[MarcelNL]

I still haven’t figured out if my speakers are in phase…

now that is really easy to figure out....start with identifying absolute polarity by connecting a 1.5V battery to the speaker wire, when the woofer/midrange cone pops out the battery + is connected to the speaker +
If you connect + and -wire left (same for right) to the + and - of the relevant channels of your power amp you should be set.

relative phase is then easy even when the speaker wire is not marked positive and negative, if you doubt relative phase just switch the + and - of one speaker wire around and listen..put it back and compare.

tweeters and midranges should be taken care of after filtering already, as some filter stages invert phase

 

[Michi]

I still haven’t figured out if my speakers are in phase…

Very simple test here: https://www.audiocheck.net/audiotests_polaritycheck.php

No batteries required

 

[MarcelNL]

Very simple test here: https://www.audiocheck.net/audiotests_polaritycheck.php

No batteries required

I read up on this website, I call Bollocks on this section....

As long as a single speaker is concerned, this direction has no influence on the perceived sound. Our ears are simply not sensitive to the absolute phase (please refer to our Absolute Polarity Blind Test if you don't believe us).

Our ears are definitely sensitive to absolute phase but it takes a little more effort to spot it, once you heard it once it's easy/easier to spot.

Just try it for yourself....sounds are more sucked in, SS-es and FF's are slightly different and the flow of music is just better in absolute phase. Cost is zero, but for some effort swapping speaker cables around....if you care for it try have someone do it and try spotting it 'blind' (but not deaf).

 

[MarcelNL]

I just finally installed the new GaN active rectifier in the unregulated PSU for the music server (replacing the Taiko active rectifier which was no slouch either), and this one too makes me say that digital sound quality lives by virtue of instant (lean) power capability.

Mind you, this is powering a computer only used to put out digital format I2S...and still vast improvements in ultimate sound quality can be made.