New to the forum some info! 56k warning lots of pics.

[Dougie085]

Hello just thought I should make a thread introducing my self and some of my projects. I'm 23 I live in Pittsburgh, PA. My big thing is DIY everything. Currently in my system I have a DIY amp that I've built its a Chipamp does about 54wpc and we recently put it up against a Rotel RB-995 and it absolutely killed it in sound quality although that doesn't say much to me never been a huge Rotel fan . I also have a pair of DIY speakers they are MTMWWWW's and they are pretty darn nice I love them. The goal of the design was slim and small footprint without compromising sound quality much. I just ordered some parts for a DIY DAC from Twistedpear Audio. It will use a single Wolfson WM8741 DAC for the time being but will probably be adding a second DAC and run them dual mono before too long. Some new projects I'm planning are of course the DAC, an audiophile grade TT which I'm not sure when that will happen for certain it will probably be a slow long process, and new speakers as well as a new amp. Currently my system is fed from my computer which 90% of my collection is in Lossless FLAC. Below I will post some pictures of my current gear as well as some renderings of my plans for my TT.

It's a bit messy as these pics were taken right after I finished them and it was a bit dusty and what not.



This is the inside of my computer I built. Core 2 duo 3.0ghz 4gb DDR2 800, 120 gig OS hard drive 500 gig file hard drive going to add quite a bit more space before long.

This is the amp


This is the TT design the first is a curvature view. The platter is going to be levitated by magnets so it will use a sort of air bearing. The tone arm I'm building as well and is going to be a linear tracking tone arm with air bearing. Still unsure about the motor and speed control I plan on using they are still being thought out. The platter will be made of solid core Bamboo Plywood. It's not just veneered with bamboo veneer the whole structure is bamboo and its extremely rigid and rather flat in its stock form.

[Carlman]

Nice! Welcome, Dougie!
Looks like some really hard work has gone into your system.  Looking forward to hearing more about your projects.... the TT looks sweet!
-Carl

[bpape]

Welcome Doug.

I gotta say, dual mono DACs is pretty hardcore 

Bryan

[Dougie085]

They are pretty simple. The modules are already built you just get the ones you need and put them together. I'm not sure if I'm gonna go with dual WM8741's or wait for them to release the Sabre dacs. The Sabre definitely performs better but not sure its something I'd actually notice. For now I just have a USB receiver module for it. Whenever I place my next order it will be more then likely a second DAC board their Metronome board which is a jitter reduction module and reclock and a SPDIF receiver. Possibly some other things. Here are a few links to pictures from the DAC they built for Burning AMP.

http://www.twistedpearaudio.com/user_gallery/_burning_dac/DSCN8943.JPG
http://www.twistedpearaudio.com/user_gallery/_burning_dac/DSCN8961.JPG
http://www.twistedpearaudio.com/user_gallery/_burning_dac/DSCN8969.JPG

I'm more then likely just going to copy this setup except mine will only have one set of outputs which will be Balanced and Single ended. The chassis is from Par-Metal and the front and rear panels are custom made.

Info on these is at http://twistedpearaudio.com/opus/opus.aspx not sure if many of you know about the company but they originally started out setting up some group buys and were looking for a better way to do it and came up with Twistedpear Audio. They make little to nothing and just do it for fun and for the community. Regardless they make some awesome kits The only reason the Opus comes pre assembled is because its almost completely SMT parts.

[Brian Bunge]

Hey Carl, watch out for this one!  He's a real trouble-maker!   Good to see you here, Doug!

BTW, should he cause any trouble, please, please, forget that I'm the one who sent him this way!   

[Dougie085]

Yes very unfortunate I know Brian Bunge.....

[Carlman]

Well, we've sort of realized we're all nuts... so, glad to see you've jumped in the can with us.

As to 'trouble' we only have a couple of rules... keep politics and religion out of the discussions... I think that may be the only one at the moment, actually. This forum is dedicated to sharing honest pursuits of audio refinement without fear of censorship.  Enjoy.

-Carl

[Dougie085]

My DAC parts have been delayed a few days not a huge deal but still wish they would just get here! I'm moving so won't have net for a few days be nice to have something to do until the internet gets switched over.

[Bill O'Connell]

How did you DIY that nice tv?

Welcome Doug

[Dougie085]

HAH! You know a long time ago I was into DIY front projectors. But projectors started coming down in price and its just pointless now. A lot of people still build them but I honestly don't know why you can't get near the performance of current projectors that are like ~900 bucks.

[TomS]

Doug,

Really nice looking stuff.  Lots of hard work there!

Just wondering - I've not seen those XLR housings like on the TP DAC that have inserts(?) for RCA, USB, etc.  Who makes those?

Tom

[Dougie085]

Neutrik.

[Dougie085]

Well I got the DAC up and running but there is some noise issue. There doesn't seem to be anything wrong so they are suggesting that its because I'm running SE connections off a Balanced DAC. So I either need to build a Bal to SE converter or buy the one from them which I plan to do just haven't had the time yet. I decided I'm going to build an amp my self. In the next week or 2 I'm going to be purchasing a Samsung laser printer, and a drill press and I'll be etching the PCB's my self. The amp will have a power rating of 129wpc @8ohms and 230wpc @4ohms. I'll post more info once I get started and what not.