Who are you??

[tomchr]

I'm curious for how many ASR members design and/or build their own audio gear (i.e., audio electronics and speakers/headphones). I hope you'll satisfy my curiosity by responding to the poll here.

I've chosen to limit the poll to audio gear. If you build your own furniture for housing your audio gear or build your own home theatre, I think that's really cool, but - to me - that's more in the realm of carpentry and home construction. Both honourable professions, but not so much what I'm curious about.

I realize that some may fit in multiple "yes" categories, e.g., both build gear they've designed as well as that designed by others. In that case, please choose the option that's the best fit or what you do the most of.

Thanks in advance.

Tom

 

[tomchr]

Thanks to all who've responded so far. It would be nice with a few more respondents. Ya know... Statistical validity and that.

Thanks,

Tom

 

[maverickronin]

I usually buy ready made electronics and transducers.

I used to be very big on modding headphones before I was able to get my hands on some good hardware EQ.

I'm likely to DIY my own cables.

 

[Berwhale]

I buy retail electronics products, but I'm handy enough* with a soldering iron so make my own cables (headphones, interconnects) and a simple amp/speaker switch.

*not so handy that last night, I didn't have to re-solder a dry joint on the 4.4mm connector on the cables I made for my HD 660S

 

[egellings]

I home brew only amplifiers & preamps. Don't do speakers or signal sources. I buy those. I have a predilection for vacuum tube designs, but did do a phono stage using JFETs & high performance monolithic op amps, as well as a tube-MOSFET hybrid power amp. I could not get a high level of small signal performance out of tubes in a phono stage due to noise inherent in tubes, so line stages and power amps is where I go with tubes. Why tubes? They're fun and I like the look; plus, I'm an old fart, and in my youth, they were what's for dinner. Still have a taste in my mouth (oops! ears) for them, I 'spoze.

 

[dfuller]

I repair guitar amps and build DIY pro audio processors. Don't mess with hi-fi amps or what have you.

 

[Martin]

I voted I design and build my own gear. I have "built" two pairs of monoblock amplifiers using ICEpower modules. I bought cases from Galaxy Maggiorato and used Front Panel Express to machine the cases. I've also built diyAudio amplifiers, modded components, built cables and tried my hand at designing and manufacturing component racks. I bought and still have everything including the wood to build a pair of Henkjan TL desktop speakers but never got around to it. I no longer have my wood working tools so who knows if I'll ever complete them... I would love to buy a plywood CNC machine and try my hand at designing and building speakers but simply do not have the space to do so at present.

Martin

 

[egellings]

Speakers are difficult to get right, more so than, say, an amplifier.

 

[Wes]

Thanks to all who've responded so far. It would be nice with a few more respondents. Ya know... Statistical validity and that.

Thanks,

Tom

more votes will not give you Statistical validity - you will need to read up on polling techniques for that

 

[Jimbob54]

I fear for my safety and that of those around me if I have to do much more than unbox and plug gear in.

 

[BrianP]

Well, I've been building speakers for about 30 years, both other folks' designs and my own, because I didn't care for the sound of most commercial designs I could afford. Along the way have put lots of study into the subject, read all the main authors, and tried to incorporate the best established design principles (ie. Toole school rules) into my own projects. Learned early on how to choose appropriate drivers for a project based on response and impedance curves (avoiding anything too challenging to work with), how to build heavy non-resonant cabinets (restrained layer construction with heavy internal bracing), and got better at crossover design as I learned to model responses and correlate specific types of measurements with specific sonic characteristics. Also learned about my own sonic preferences and how to build for them: I prefer sealed cabinets with a somewhat overdamped bass response, flat response through the midrange, and an ever-so-slightly shelved down treble. This to me sounds the most natural with well-recorded voices and acoustic instruments. I definitely DON'T like the underdamped boomy bass, sizzling goosed-up treble, shouty peaks in the midrange, and intrusive cabinet resonances of far too many commercial speakers, including some very pricey ones.

 

[voodooless]

Only a single option possible? I’d like to select the top 3..

 

[LTig]

I built:

• a 2-way speaker based on a KEF DIY kit (similar to LS 3/5)
• a 3-way speaker based on a KEF DIY kit (AFAIR the CS5)

I designed and built:

• an analog preamplifier with an MC phono stage
• a digital patchbay for SPDIF coax, Toslink and AES/EBU (no format conversion)
• an MM phono stage which I put into a commercial integrated amplifier that lacked one (Rotel RA 935BX mk2), for a friend
• a cheap small 2-way speaker for our bath room

This was between the 1980s and begin of the 2000s, so at least 20 years ago. I sold the KEF based speakers later, the other stuff is still in use.

 

[MenloBob]

I picked design and build, but the only thing I’ve designed myself are the bass bins for my 2 way active horn speakers. I guess I also “designed” the crossover filters if you count using REW for driver correction and rePhase for linear phase FIR generation and a custom Reaper DAW config to turn an 8 channel audio interface into an an active crossover..

I have built a number of hypex and icepower amps, but I consider that more assembly than building. But being a software guy who forgot most of the math I learned 30 years ago this is where I’m at

 

[tomchr]

more votes will not give you Statistical validity - you will need to read up on polling techniques for that

That's entirely possible. I'm open to constructive criticism.

Tom

 

[Wes]

https://www.aapor.org/Education-Res...s/Sampling-Methods-for-Political-Polling.aspx

they have graduate courses on the issue too - a good addition for the Statistics PhD

 

[tomchr]

Interesting, but probably a bit overkill for what I'm trying to do here. I was mostly just curious about how many of ASR members build their own gear. Naturally I only get responses from those who choose to respond, which may/may not be a representative sample of ASR members.

Tom

 

[morpheusX]

I've "designed" a pair of 18" subwoofers, and i'm completing a L/R speakers set using TPL-150H and AE TD12M.
The actual build is done by a wood worker as i don't have the tools or the skills

I wouldn't be able to do it without the help of so many users in some of the usual forums

I would love to build my own amplifiers but i don't have the knowledge to do it, and currently i don't have time to acquire that knowledge.
I'm hopping to have time for that in the next few years ...

 

[Jim Matthews]

I've built a couple kits, mostly in Dynaco chassis and loads of loudspeakers.

Mainly this was due to the cost of gear I wanted.

Only recently has (what I consider) cutting edge gear become affordable.

For the first time ever, I'm selling off more than buying.

 

[Vini darko]

I enjoy modifying headphones , speakers and amplifiers. Haven't crossed into full diy yet but inevitably will. So I guess I'll vote first option.