Some of us remember Heathkit and Hafler build-it-yourself audio kits. Others have designed and built their own stuff from scratch, with the pride in ownership that follows. Have you ever built a piece of audio gear? What was it?
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In 1960, my family moved to a new house that had a built-in intercom system. No one ever used it, so I robbed all the speakers and hooked them up to my GE radio in my bedroom. It sounded great to me. Surround sound in mono on AM and stereo on FM.
While I admire someone’s ability to put a bunch a pieces together to make a piece of equipment that is capable of producing good sound and I like to have some idea of the basics of what goes into such an effort, I never had the desire to really get involved in doing it myself. About as close as I have come to “equipment building,” actually modification, was when I overloaded and blew out the crossovers (which were mounted in separate boxes) for my KLH Model 12 speakers. After making a futile effort to try to figure out just which parts inside the boxes were bad, I simply ripped out all of the parts and replaced them with three-way crossover networks purchased as complete units at Radio Shack. The result sounded so good I kept the 12s for many years after that.
I've built a switch box, to increase the number of line-level inputs for a preamp with not enough inputs. I've also replaced a volume pot on an integrated amp. The original, a carbon track type, was replaced with a conductive plastic one, and I changed the value of the pot to give larger range of operation, as the old one went from silence to too loud over about 15 degrees of turn. I'm also considering a Marchand crossover kit.
Built countless Heathkits during the '60s and '70s. It was too bad they succombed to the Japanese during the late '70s and '80s. I still have a Hafler 220 that was built from a kit from the mid-'80s. Kits were a hands-on and affordable way to get better sound and made audio a less passive activity. I gave up on audio once the build-it-yourself era passed. The high-end has degenerated into a boutique hobby for people with more money than common sense.
In the '60s there was so much fun to be had with hi-fi and the advent of multiplex stereo. I built many "mono" components from Allied Radio's Knight-Kits and Heathkit's first stereo transistor amplifier. With the advent of stereo I built Dynakits and some kits from Scott and Fisher. When FM Multiplex stereo came along I built the stereo converters for the mono tuners. Of course they didn't work very well or had to be adjusted by a shop tech. I will never forget when I built the Dynakit FM stereo tuner. I put on headphones and adjusted it according to the instruction manual. All of a sudden the sound just bloomed into full stereo on the phones and sounded amazing. I was in the San Francisco bay area then and the stations all were fighting for the most power and best quality sound. Today, well, it seems the quality of the signal just doesn't matter in most markets.
It was two Hafler kits. The first was a DH101 preamp. Didn't route the wiring very well so it had great microphonics. The second was a DH220. That turned out to be a great amp I had for six years before I bought a Sumo. Both Haflers were a lot of fun to build and the amp was one of my favorites. I have a Sunfire now and it sounds great, but the DH220 will always be remembered.
Hafler stuff was and is so superior. They are a bargain on eBay, then ya get them tranformed into sonic bliss at www.avahifi.com. Great stock units, turned into 21st century marvels. The basic Haflers, DH500, Pro 500, XL-600, Pro 505 are so good, they deserve to be used forever. AVA updates them into fast works of sonic art.
I built all of my speakers (mains,surrounds,sub) from my own designs. The surrounds were not based on any actual research or specs, but I like the way they look. They sound okay, but use cheap Radio Shack drivers. The mains were well researched and inspired by the Liquid Acoustics louspeakers that feature angled mid-base drivers with a top mounted tweeter. I used Morel drivers all around, and am most pleased with the results. The subwoofer is a Dayton Titanic 15", originally powered by the Dayton 1000 Watt sub-amp. The amp blew out twice, so I now use my old Yamaha receiver as the sub amp, which is more than enough for music (maybe a little weak for action movies).
Yes, and I was so excited and impatient with the first one that a repair man who asked to see inside couldn't help himself and ended up cleaning up my solder joints and re-dressed all the wires, tsk tsking the whole time. I built from kits a Dynamco FM tuner and a SCA-80Q integrated amp, and a Hafler DH(?)-100 amp. All worked very well for me and for the people I sold them to.
;) (prepare for Rant) I don't think I like the tone of your question...."with the pride of ownership..."...Ha! That's what you people have with your multi-thousand dollar amplifiers, speakers..., etc. DIYers have pride in accomplishment;...that they've built, say an amplifer, for a few hundred dollars that are in many cases as good any of your precious amplifier costing thousands! Death to pretentious overpriced condeit-inducing equipment! [insert Howard Dean picture in your mind] YYYEEEEEEEEEAAAAHHHHHH!!! I feel better now...built a Nelson Pass Zen amp. And I am considering a chipamp from Chipamp.com that is similar to the Class B rated 47 Laboratory Gaincard Power amplifier: http://stereophile.com/solidpoweramps/120147/ But...if you don't have the time/patience/motivation...go ahead spend the money and buy the amplifer you want and make yourself happy...and your dealer.
I've built several DIY components during the last few years... An S&B transformer preamp, a bridged 3886 chip amp, a 3886 integrated amp, four modified UcD 400 amps with battery power supplies configured as two 300w monoblocks, several home brew balanced power supplies and several cmc and capacitor type power supply filters ala Audience.
Latest project: pair of 15W triode single-ended amps: 300B-XLS output(500v, 110ma)/paralleled ecc99 mu-follower (190v, 38 mA) /Electra-Print output (3K) and power iron/choke input B+ and filament supplies/Hexfred rectified/ common-mode chokes in various spots (they kill grunge fast), all Solen PS caps/ Mundorf silver & oil coupling cap. I love to tune the circuit for the sound I want. Listening to these guys play is even more fun.
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