Getting Started in DIY HiFi

My humble efforts in DIY hifi have spanned the last three years or so, and I have no specialist skills in electronics. My total training was to make a crystal set in high school, 35 years ago. However as my trusty, 25 year-old stereo started to fall apart (a lot like me really), I thought, "Maybe I can do it myself cheaper, with assitance from the now-ubiquitous internet.

My hand was forced to try some DIY a few years ago, because my daughter was finishing High School and was playing in the School Orchestra, which I thought sounded pretty good, and I wanted to use a nice microphone attached to my video camera to record their efforts. A nice low noise microphone pre-amp which WORKED first time round was the result of my efforts. The design came from Rod Elliott's site.

And at about the same time my hi-fi gave up, and I thought, "Why not go DIY?" I strongly encourage anyone to try out this route, because it really is quite easy, affordable and it has the potential for extraordinarily high quality results.

Into Home HiFi: Do It Yourself

Much earlier I had bought a 300W subwoofer amplifer kit with active crossover which was first published in Electronics Australia in 1994, from Dick Smith Electronics. (This is no longer available as a kit, but still easily DIY). Inspired, I set about building that kit, and using WinISD I designed and made my subwoofer enclosure. That box serves as a reminder that big is NOT really beautiful, but even my wife admits that the volcano scenes from the Lord of the Rings "Return of the King" are wonderfully atmospheric with a nice subwoofer. Now Rock'n'Roll and full orchestras have a palpable substance.

I strongly recommend that a subwoofer box should be an early project to improve a lack-lustre hifi. (It also appeals to rev-heads who like big things with big numbers.) It is probably easiest to get a reasonable result from your first speaker design project with a subwoofer. Of course, your subwoofer can be quite small (well, smallish) if you want to keep your wife happy.

WARNING: Do NOT let your wife or significant other view the above photograph. There are lots of naked surfaces!

The interim product which sounds MUCH better than it looks.
Obviously I still need to make it look pretty.

Research and Getting Started

I started the hunt for a replacement stereo, and found for the first time a stereo system I could truly love: a pair of B&W 802 speakers driven by Electrocompaniet or Macintosh amplifiers. If you know the equipment you will know that the trouble was the price (best price $19 000AUD for the speakers alone). I balked a little, but was comfortable that my wife would never allow me to spend so much money, so there would not be much stress - the decision would not be mine. But surprisingly she AGREED to the speakers ... and then I balked a LOT (due to the price). The stress of such a large purchase had become mine! So I went on a hunt for speaker and amplifier kits (which was not that successful), and finally proceeded to a search for a DIY solution.

After a year of reading the internet assiduously, I finalized a plan - make the DIY Linkwitz Orion speakers with completely Do-It-Yourself chip amplifiers. Soon, I had finished my first ever stereo power amplifier, using a chip amp design from www.diyaudio.com, which I then expanded to eight channels for the Orions.

Of course, I then needed a pre-amplifer, the design for which I got from the Nelson Pass thread also from www.diyaudio.com. I literally "knocked up" an pre-amp loosely based on the Threshold NS10in a weekend (using the items described above), all with totally wrong specification parts, all purchased locally with no hi-fi components at all, and the combination sounds magic.

Why is it possible now?

Simply, the introduction of the home computers, the internet and global marketing.

The intenet provided me with essential PROGRAMMES:
1. Design circuit boards with Holophase's Circad 98,
2. Design speakers boxes with Linear Team's freeware WinISD
3. Make your own circuit boards with your boss's laser printer and NO CHEMICALS using a home-grown Toner Transfer system.
4. Wonderful sites such as Nelson Pass's Do-It-Yourself Hi-Fi and DIY Audio for extra information and excellent assistance for all DIY electronic audio projects. Here were DIY projects of all types, from simple through to complex, all providing excellent sound for the home.
5. Global marketing means that once-expensive tools, such as computers and items such as Chinese-made routers (I use an Ozito ... 'cuz I like the humourous name - Ozzie company, made in China) and bench drill presses (Rexon, also Australian company made in China) have become VERY affordable.

Later I will put up a list of "useful" websites, but the ones I have quoted above have enough to keep you soldering for years to come.

Is it worth it?

Well, my stereo is not complete, and I am not sure that it ever will be, because exploring all the possible options is fun.

My prototype stereo version of the LM3886 chip-amp with the NS10 quickie clone sounds MUCH better than my old Denon Amp. The Denon cost $1000 AUD back in 1986 (and just remember, Sonny, they were "real" dollars back then). But it is not just me that agrees: my eldest son sat with me or a while and slowly started to grin that Green Day and Gorillaz sounded quite special. My wife could hear a significant improvement too, and my Denon is sitting, neglected, on the top of the wardrobe in the back room awaiting an indeterminate fate.

The cost of Chip amp and pre-amplifier, depending on how you add it up, INCLUDING lots of parts for future projects and most of the cost of the new tools, approximately: $600 AUD, and yet, as I have said, the sound is much better with my little home-made system.

I have "sort of" finished my Linkwitz Orions, and I am happy. To power them, I built six more channels of the ChipAmp, bringing the total cost of pre-amp and amplification to about $680AUD ... in other words, very little more - but more importantly, the whole project would not have been affordable without making amplifiers and pre-amp myself.

I have recently been auditioning speakers in Sydney: B&W 802D with Krell CDplayer, pre-amp and 400W amps, Monitor Audio Platinum L300 (powered by something I cannot remember), and Martin Logan Summits with Gryphon CD player and PassLabs X350.5 amplifiers. All the demos were in "satisfactory" rooms, and I must say that none of these systems had me bursting to buy them. It is certain that the demo of "my" B&W802D's was not optimally set up. There is no doubt that the Linkwitz/ChipAmp combination is at least as satisfying as this really expensive equipment. (Some of the prices were tropospheric, be assured.)

To those of you thinking about investigating the Linkwitz stuff, you might want to first investigate his Pluto, which is much cheaper than the Orion, and also comes with a design for DIY LM3886 chip amps, with printed circuit boards included.

Where to from here?

My wife hates my subwoofer. (I don't know why!) One reason to change speakers might be that the B&W's don't really need a subwoofer, and my recollection (now getting hazy as time goes by) of the first demonstration was wonderful to me. I re-listened to the B&W 803D (with Electrocompaniets - I suspect some special synergy between these two brands) not too long ago. It has certainly improved a lot over its predecessor, and it inspired me to aim for improvements in my home system.

.........

Just this weekend I put the CarlosFM's snubbers on my ChipAmps and they sound about "10-15%" better already. I have nearly all the parts to make some Babelfish-JX 30W Class A amps (go toward the end of the thread for the JX versions) for the tweeters and mid-range speakers of the Orion, and certainly improve the pre-amp from the bodgy job I have already done. Oh, and there is an upgrade on the Orion too, which I will also be doing. Oh, of course I could add a pair of the Linkwitz Thor sub-woofers, which will certainly outperform my first humble effort.

All of these things will make it harder for the Orions to be outdone.

Wishing each of us luck in our adventures!

My First Amplifier Project - LM3886 Chip Amp
Live Recording page
Subwoofer - My First Project

More to come soon ...
Updated 12th May, 2008