Pars

Too bad, though it sounded as if she was in bad shape. A gorgeous woman, even at 65. Too young. It sounds like she was quite kind and well liked as well.

Bought a pair of the Vampire RCAs (ebay) and measured them. I've attached an Eagle library with these in them as well as a board layout using these and Neutrik jacks and NKK switch. I haven't verified any of the board <-> panel spacings yet, but they seem reasonable, with some soldering slop. Change the file extensions from zip to lbr for the library file. con-audio.zip

Apparently she is still alive? https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/04/entertainment/tanya-roberts-update/index.html

RIP Tanya Roberts... https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/04/entertainment/tanya-roberts-death-trnd/index.html

Those caps should run from V+ or V- to ground. The boards have a ground plane (top side of board). Check for continuity to ground on those; if not, jumper them to ground. Sometimes if you use PCB drills and only enlarge slightly, they will still be good.

Happy Birthday Dan!

1) This isn't a headphone site 2) As an engineer, you should already know that nothing is perfect...

I hope this isn't a trick like last year!

RIP Mary Ann

Dealing with aliexpress sellers... I ordered a replacement DSL-710A DVD drive for my Resolution Audio Opus 21 CD player from an aliexpress seller. The pictures were of a new unit with the correct LT7.9 firmware and a 2005 date code. The item I received (after a month of waiting) was a used unit, 2002 date code, and LT7.3 firmware. Original ad: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001399857825.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.17444c4dXcOvvp What I got is pictured below. It does work, and solves the problem I was having, at least for awhile. I filed a dispute, asking for $20 back. I don't know if this is a translation/language problem, but the seller kept insisting that the laser is new, so I guess in his mind this is a new unit? Messages: Seller: 里面激光头是全新的 The laser head inside is brand new Me: New means the entire unit, not just the laser. More than the laser can and does go wrong with these. I have filed a dispute for a partial refund. I had also sent a message before I purchased regarding the firmware revision. As pictured, it was LT7.9. The unit you shipped is LT7.3. Also, as pictured, it was a 2005 build date. Item shipped is 2002. Seller: 你好出了什么问题，不能改的，现在改了价格就收不到货 Hello, what's wrong with you? You can't change it. Now you can't receive the goods after changing the price. Seller: 你好我把钱全退给你你给个好评吧！ Hello, I will return all the money to you, please give a good comment! At any rate, it looks like I will be getting a refund and can keep what he shipped. Ordering another one from a different seller, this one having good feedback for this drive from this seller. I had paid for the unit, including upgraded shipping, and get a message from him saying that the price has changed, and I owe an additional $24. WTF? This is the current ad: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32793959385.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.2aa74c4dp0pBzd I had paid $65 plus $32 for shipping. This whole experience is souring me on dealing with aliexpress, but finding these drives here in the US is problematic. Jeff Kait with Resolution Audio will sell me one for $250, which I may wind up doing.

Thinking about this, just bypassing the wiper may work the best. The input would see the same resistance whether the pot was switched in or not (pot R || input impedance). Plus I could do balanced with a 4PDT (or 2 dual relays). Let me know what you think.

Happy Merry Birthday Ric!

Happy Birthday Ken!

Has any one of you done something like this, accommodating a pair of RCAs and a pair of XLRs, with the appropriate switching for these? I know I'll get told to just use the Neutrik or whatever RCA->XLR adapters for this, but I was thinking about doing up a PCB with a pair of something like the Neutrik NC3MAV/FAV and a pair of RCAs. Has anyone ever used the vertical Vampire RCAs (pcb2f/s)? They don't list any dimensions or PCB layout for these, but just wondering height-wise if these could work well? I had thought I would probably use relay switching instead of a mechanical switch, as the 4PDT are a PITA to wire up, but I suppose just going into a board with connectorization could make things more palatable. Thanks for your thoughts, or if you have seen anything like this around.

Oh, it will have to sound more "open"

For the Carbon I am building, the user would like to be able to bypass the volume pot, but would like it switchable for when the source doesn't have a volume control. I had initially told him no problem, this will be easy. The more I thought about it, I realized it isn't quite as easy as I had surmised. Simply shorting the input to the output (wiper) would still result in potentially bad things depending upon where the pot was in its rotation. Since I had already done the pot adapter boards for the gb awhile ago, I started with one of those for pcb layout (the pot I am going to use is a TKD CP2500 4 channel). My initial thought was to take the pot completely out of the circuit by switching both the input and the output (wiper) out? Or would it be sufficient to only switch the output (wiper) out? I had decided to use a relay approach since switching both out would require an 8PDT switch which would be a nightmare to wire up, and the cheapest one that Mouser stocks is $600.

Happy Birthday!

Sorry, was thinking GRHV...

Isn't the use of 450V caps pushing it with respect to your voltages? Your inputs are 493Vac, and your output is 453Vdc? I would think that 550V caps would be mandatory for your use case.

I had identified Hirose and a TE/AMP parts that were high voltage and used keyed connectors. I haven't installed these yet (and haven't tested the amp or PSUs), but one of these would definitely fit the board. The other seems too big. I'll recheck and let you know which one fits. 571-1-178128-5 TE/AMP 798-DF5A-5S-5C Hirose

Since this thread has kinda morphed into a finishing thread, I thought I would ask this here. I wanted to finish a piece of mdf similarly to audio equipment shelving that you see, such as the shelved in my Salamander Synergy. Black, satin preferably. Would I just use paint (enamel? or?) to do that, or is there something better to use? Non-spray preferable, but if spray is the best way, I could perhaps deal with it.

What Phoenix connectors are those you are using? They look nice (though I'm still not a fan of the screw down terminal blocks). However, what is the voltage rating on those?

10K pot on that amp, even with the JFET input, is fine. With JFET, yes you could go higher, though I would never use 100K. As for bypassing the pot, I would just jumper it and leave it alone. No need for the 10K resistors in place of the pot.

RIP Chuck... though I agree (and hadn't been aware) that discrimination as above always taints things

Happy Birthday Todd!