The HiFi chat, build and modification thread!

[xerxes]

Re:

The main danger is ending up with the copper pad/track parting from the pcb.

Yes, I've had that happen with cheaper, low quality PCBs. I had to put the lead of the new component through, then scratch a bit of the lacquer off the trace with a scalpel further away from the now missing solder pad, bend the lead over and solder it to the newly exposed trace away from the hole.

With better quality PCBs the traces are much thicker copper and pad goes through the board:

Another thing to bear in mind is the age of the item. You should be all right with older stuff as they used decent lead solder, which has a lower melting point than modern ROHS compliant lead free solder. With newer stuff I've had trouble melting the solder and I could really do with a hotter soldering iron. When re-soldering I use some WBT silver solder, which is lead based, has a low melting point, flows really well, is easy to work with and leaves nice smooth, shiny joints.

 

[integerspin]

I replaced the elcaps in the psu of my new CD player, it's 30 year old CD player
and one of the elcaps had some bulginess. I bought it with the tray opening very slowly,
so I was prepared to dig around inside it a bit. After replacing the caps the draw opened
as it should. I stuck a disc in it, it read it and I hit play and it played[it said it was playing, it
wasn't connected to anything].

So I took the CD player in to the house and left it on top of the rack, I walked by it
the next day-it's not plugged in or been used, and I can smell the magic smoke; I
haven't put the top back on yet so I tried sniffing out the culprit, seems a bit of tube
doesn't work as a nose stethoscope.
i double checked all caps are the right voltages and polarity.

So do I plug it in and use the temperature sensing finger to find the hot bit?
Or is there some posh way of doing this?

 

[xerxes]

Re:

Or is there some posh way of doing this?

There is; take it to an electronics engineer.

Seriously though, be careful. Have a good look at all your soldering and make sure you haven't got any whiskers of solder causing a short. You could also try cleaning the PCB: http://www.instructables.com/id/Cleaning-up-your-PCB/, it may be that it's dusty, or there is some other contaminant, and that's causing the "hot" smell.

 

[integerspin]

There is; take it to an electronics engineer.

Where's the fun in that;-)

All seems OK.
I took it out today, and it's been on since midday. With no sign of anything getting
hot. So I bought it back in and it's been playing for an hour or so.

 

[cce]

Sorry but physics says otherwise regarding cables and interconnects. Especially over the distances used in the average set-up. Next it'll balanced interconnects...

Digital interconnects need certain aspects so that they can physically work. Analogue video can be disrupted by the dye in the insulation, audio cables do not work like that.

As for the Linn, it was released as a budget deck. By 1975 it was £131 with lid/ arm etc with the Ariston around £90, already getting expensive for what was then a single speed deck. A Garrard 401 being £36 at the same time.

'Hifi' was one of the worst industries for bullshit and snake oil. Stupid prices for fuses and power leads, CD pens, etc etc.

If you believe in that sort of thing, I have some £9000 retail Nordost interconnects in the loft somewhere ( I was given them) that I might dig out one day.

Look for original component retail prices of around £800 - £1500 new when buying second hand. Current s/h can be as little as £50 for some equipment. Dont ignore old home cinema surround processors either. These were ferociously expensive for a short time whilst in fashion and have some very good quality electronics in them. They make great stereo pre-amps.

Bi-amping gives a 10% db gain etc etc if you want to scream and go louder. If you can find specs on the internet, look for low THD figures for amps. Speakers with low db figures will be hard on an amplifer to run at high volumes 88db or above is ok - again, if you want to scream and go louder..

Now there's lots of computer stuff in hi-fi they've started doing it to Ethernet cables. I've seen 3 and 4 figure cost network cables marked with directionality, which is stupid even compared to the analogue audio cables

 

[integerspin]

Just spent half an hour trying to get the cd tray draw open[?] wire in my cd player, to stop trying to wrap itself into a figure of eight and catch on the steel plate above, or the wires to the PSU below.
I ended up with a big tie wrap tied to the cable sleeve to make it stiffer. When isn't stiff good.
The sleeve would hold a nice curve and look OK, but aftyer the draw has been opened a few times the cable is twisted around into a loop. Once the cable is in a loop it catches and holds the tray half open! I have had the top off the CD player since I got it, so I can free the cable.

Hopefully it's cured now.

No need to tell me I should have replaced the sleeving.

 

[The History Man]

I've just taken delivery of a Cyrus 7 Amp. Astonishing.

 

[xerxes]

Re:

I had a whole Cyrus set-up a while back, an 8x CD player, 8vs amp each with the additional PSX-R power supply. It looked the absolute business on the dedicated Hark rack:

However, sonically, my current mix and match set-up, including some DIY amps, knocks it into a cocked hat.

 

[The History Man]

What do you have now then? I'm all ears.

I'm not going any further though.

Famous last words. I do need a decent cd.

 

[xerxes]

Re:

I no longer have a CD player, I have ripped all my CDs to a hard drive as uncompressed WAV files and use a PC with JRiver to play them: https://www.jriver.com/.

I have USB DAC: http://www.hirestech.com/product/?pid=128, which despite it's modest price, I reckon is a match for the Cyrus CD player I had previously.

I have an MM Audio pre amp, which are no longer available, and some DIY power amps I built from kits, a pair of Hypex mono amps and a Gainclone: http://www.tdsf.co.uk/Audio/Hypex.shtml

My current speakers are a pair of Dynaudio 52SE.

I'd like a better DAC, the music streamer was only supposed to be a stop gap, currently looking at this one: https://mytekdigital.com/hifi/products/brooklyn/, but by the time I've saved enough pennies, it may well be something else.