n_maher

Another all-to-brief update. I finally got around to doing some preliminary layout work this weekend. Good grief this is going to be a pretty tight layout. Not 100% sure which of the two I'll go with, both have advantages and disadvantages. I'm leaning towards the latter so far, it's better as far as the caps are concerned so I may start drilling tomorrow based on this.

In some respects yes, but the more that I thought about it the more it's a bit fuzzier in this case. See the load plays a big role and in this case I have to believe that the load that is seen by those output caps is probably pretty large, as in several thousands ohms or more. If that's the case then most if not all the signal is going through the small cap and the big cap isn't doing much. Maybe there's something I'm missing.

Do you have a Mac?

Your house, yes, still not your choice. At least not in my neck of the woods. Ha! Favorite quote from my favorite book, The Stand. As Dan correctly said, I'm a structural engineer and spend my days making buildings stand up.

It's pretty easily seen in the frequency roll off calculations that you can do on output caps. For example, on the Menace the 200uF output caps roll off low frequencies into Grado headphones. If I use a larger cap in parallel with those caps I can lower the roll off point so it stands to reason that those lower frequencies are going through the larger cap, doesn't it? And this isn't something I'm making up, Pete Millett and I had several conversations about how to configure the output caps for the Menace during construction. Pete's not much for bullshit.

Technically speaking, an 8" step is illegal. At least all residential codes that I'm aware of cap steps at 7-3/4", there's also a minimum I think but I can't recall what it is off the top of my head. I know, nit picking, but it'd be a pisser to have someone (code official) stop by the house and check and make you rebuild them. And just a quick add to Steve's excellent instructions, a 2x8 is actually 1.5" x 7.25" so if you use a 2x8 + 3/4" plywood you'll end up with an 8" step. If it were me I'd rip all of the 2x8's to be exactly 7" deep since you're likely to find that they vary between boards by an 1/8" or more which is easy to lose in a floor but harder in a small platform like that.

I think it's well established that if you have two caps of varying sizes (capacitance wise) that part of the audio signal will go through one and part through the other. The way it's been explained to me is that the larger cap will see the lowest frequency and the smaller the higher. That's a very simplistic explanation but I think there is at least a shred of truth to what he's saying and it's certainly born out by looking at how the size of an output cap can greatly affect the frequency response of a device. I'm sure one of the more technically minded folks around here can give a more in depth explanation.

I've had a few (3 or more) and none of them have worked in way that I would say listening to music over them would be acceptable, they've all pretty much sucked. Recently I'd been listening to audio books in the truck while commuting and the reception got to the point where it was annoying enough to invest the $30 in the hard line adapter.

Furutech speaker cable, banana plugs, spades, neotech wire and about $75 worth of fasteners from McMaster Carr. It. Never. Ends.

Sounds like someone broke into his wife's car.

Started last night, finished this morning. I installed a USA SPEC DF-TOY module in my Tacoma which allows me to use the CD changer control as an Aux input so that I can directly connect the Ipod to the radio without the use of annoying things like FM transmitters.

Congrats on taking 27 hours to notice.

Not surprising from a really stupid movie.

Sitting at that desk how could you ever view anything meaningful on the top row of monitors without severe neck pain?

It's been widely reported how bad an idea it is to carry a wallet in your back pocket. I stopped 10 years or more ago. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/17/health/17real.html?_r=1&oref=slogin BBC NEWS | Health | Is your wallet a pain in the back?

Just for you Peter.

I'm nummy's voice of reason.

No doubt, but I can think of a lot better ways to spend $500 than a niche headphone, regardless of its magix.

Nah, nummy has stats which put the VTG's to shame. The only reason to get these cans is if you're going to use them unamped. Otherwise I think they're a pretty bad value at $500+.

I have seen those and honestly, given their country of origin I have concerns about how they'd hold up. Also, in this case they don't make a 63mm bit which is what I needed. I'm once again using a steel chassis (not by choice) which means I'll probably be posting about buying another bit before too long. At least there are only two of the giant caps this time around.

That makes much more sense.

That would make some sense generally but in this case where one of the caps is a .1uF/400V cap it doesn't make any sense to me. The other cap is probably on the order of 10 to 20uF and you can't tell me that whatever it is that they were doing needed exactly 20.1uF instead of 20. It's more likely that they are the output caps and that they simply followed the "convention" of bypassing the larger cap with a smaller cap. Of course usually you do this so that you can use a higher quality small value cap and a cheaper large value but in this instance where both caps are the same fracken thing it's just confusing.

It all depends on the application really, my problem with steppers has always been that they've been on headphone amps designed to drive vastly different loads. That's a bad application in my opinion. In a speaker amp I suppose it would be possible to tailor the gain (assuming it's adjustable in the design) such that you'd have plenty of adjustment. But again with some tube speaker amps (highish gain) I'd be hesitant to invest in one prior to testing the amp with a traditional pot to see where the listening sweet spot was.

They would appear to be 3db steps for the pictured unit and also only have 24 steps (using the typical elma switch). And my experience with 3db steps leads me to believe I'd be rather unhappy with the level of choice provided regardless of how good it sounded.