Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[BU508A]

Anybody want to start a sweepstake on what frequency BD's new headphone oscillator will start up at? 

20th harmonics: 2.4GHz   

[Saskia]

Yes, Zucca, you may call me an audiophool ... I don't care.

Don't tell anyone I burned about 2K5€ for a (even new) Ayre QB-9 only to find out my speakers are as good as RIFA caps...
(PS: The day I opened it up I wanted to cry... BOM was about 400USD max!!!!)
Don't tell anyone I still have one RCA Audio cable with directional signal with some magic oxigen copper...
Yes I was a stupid audiophool, please guys insult me as well.

Saskia, respect it looks like you are a smart audiophool. I enjoyed every letter of your post. I can imagine you with an Amarone glass listening to Mozart Ave Verum. 

Zucca, if you want decent speakers for little money, look for Quadral Montan Mk3 (Mk2 if you cannot find Mk3), if they are too big, Quadral Amun Mk3 (or earlier).
Alternative: B&W Matrix 803 / 805 or T+A TMR 120 / 160. You will need a decent amp for this, I would suggest looking for a Nakamichi Stasis power amp such as the PA-5. If you need stuff like that, let me know. I may have a pair of T+As (TMR 80) that I might upgrade (they are in my other flat, and they are very decent speakers for the money and reasonably sized rooms. Also have a PA-5E that I may part with, and might even have a streaming server for you where you can hook up your DAC.

[tggzzz]

Anybody want to start a sweepstake on what frequency BD's new headphone oscillator will start up at? 

I doubt it will be much use for this thread: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/projects/challenge-thread-the-fastest-breadboard-oscillator-on-the-mudball/

[tonyalbus]

Okey...just needed to catch-up 10 pages... i am sorry i did... could you please never do that again....
the old wire-stripper was enought, did not need that old stripper...
now i need to skip lunch....

[tonyalbus]

Yes...recoverd a bit... mailman brought something nice...

[ Specified attachment is not available ]

this one 'only' does 6Ghz...
but its okey for me..and the budget..

[Specmaster]

Anybody want to start a sweepstake on what frequency BD's new headphone oscillator will start up at? 

20th harmonics: 2.4GHz   

Nailed it!

[Zucca]

Zucca, if you want decent speakers for little money, look for Quadral Montan Mk3 (Mk2 if you cannot find Mk3), if they are too big, Quadral Amun Mk3 (or earlier).

you are tempting me

[Robert763]

So went and picked up my 99p 40W Nd-YAG laser system this morning. I'd looked more closely at the listing photos and could just see the mirrors of galvo scanners in the output aperture. Arrived at the pick-up location (garage NE London. and chatting to the guy I mentioned the scanners. Sez he "it hasen't got scanners" me, "I did in the listing photos" Seller "bugger, I just took them out, what do you want for 99p?" he then went over to a box and handed me two Eye Magic EWS - 4000 galvos and EMA-1200 drivers. These seem to run about £200 a set used 
So I've got a 6 kW liquid cooling system, Arc lamp power supply (each in a flight case with leads) and giant laser head. Reported fault is corroded Nd-YAD rod clips. I'v not looked inside the head yet to see what is going on. Got to be a bargain though.

[bd139]

LOL nothing dodgy about a laser in a garage in North East London  .

[mnementh]

That's about right     Today's project: turn minions into engineers. Kill me.

Today's project: Turn 12-yr-old boi into useful minion.

I'll trade ya. 

mnem
tik-tok old man...

[Saskia]

Zucca, if you want decent speakers for little money, look for Quadral Montan Mk3 (Mk2 if you cannot find Mk3), if they are too big, Quadral Amun Mk3 (or earlier).

you are tempting me

Zucca, NOOOOOO!!!!!

MK2 or MK3, NOT the MK4 ...

look for the one with the Ribbon Tweeter (Bändchenhochtöner).

[Robert763]

So just had a best offer of £35 (cheap P&P - £10) on a Wavetek 275 AWG accepted. Listed as no output so will need some work but it will look nice sat on top of my 278 function generator.
/www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Wavetek-275-12-MHz-Programmable-Arbitrary-Function-Generator-FAULTY-No-Output/274440678309

[mnementh]

Yes, Zucca, you may call me an audiophool ... I don't care.

Don't tell anyone I burned about 2K5€ for a (even new) Ayre QB-9 only to find out my speakers are as good as RIFA caps...
(PS: The day I opened it up I wanted to cry... BOM was about 400USD max!!!!)
Don't tell anyone I still have one RCA Audio cable with directional signal with some magic oxigen copper...
Yes I was a stupid audiophool, please guys insult me as well.

Saskia, respect it looks like you are a smart audiophool. I enjoyed every letter of your post. I can imagine you with an Amarone glass listening to Mozart Ave Verum. 

Zucca, if you want decent speakers for little money, look for Quadral Montan Mk3 (Mk2 if you cannot find Mk3), if they are too big, Quadral Amun Mk3 (or earlier).
Alternative: B&W Matrix 803 / 805 or T+A TMR 120 / 160. You will need a decent amp for this, I would suggest looking for a Nakamichi Stasis power amp such as the PA-5. If you need stuff like that, let me know. I may have a pair of T+As (TMR 80) that I might upgrade (they are in my other flat, and they are very decent speakers for the money and reasonably sized rooms. Also have a PA-5E that I may part with, and might even have a streaming server for you where you can hook up your DAC.

You make me sad... as a youth, I could easily tell the difference be tween CD quality and live or even pressed; I did as Zucca (well, I never did the OFC cables thing; I just bought fatter zip cord  ) but I DID spend way too much on some questionable audio tech; speakers especially. I learned the hard way that if you weren't going to build your own, the best way to decide if a speaker was good or crap was to just listen to your favorite music through it.

However... 4 decades of too many live concerts too up close and too many dB drag races and too many years driving boom box cars have reduced my auditory canal to a juddering clump of furry sausage meat inside my skull. I can barely tell the difference between CD and FLAC/ALAC content my wife buys from iTunes. But I STILL CAN tell the difference... so if you lived anywhere near me you would still probably very quickly become my pusher. 

mnem
Admitting you have a problem...

[tonyalbus]

Running a simple setup myself just  Jamo S606 HCS5 speakers with Onkyo MOSFET power... resonable prized and fir sure more then above avarage sound..
just can turn it up asloud you can handle it and it sound good...Onkyo and Jamo go very well together... i like its warm sound.

[edit]

yes i realize its like parking your little volkswagen beside a masarati and saying you have also a car...

[Saskia]

just won a bid on a threshold FET Nine Preamp to have a spare while I fix my second TA-E 86. Would love to have gotten a TA-E 88, but those have become insanely expensive.

[med6753]

........snip......

Yes, Zucca, you may call me an audiophool ... I don't care. But I won't slaughter nice test instruments to steal the tubes. The ones I need are readily available.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with being an audiophile. I admire their desire for sonic perfection as long as they don't go down the road of silly snake oil contraptions.

My beef is with the tube hounds. Those hounds drive the profiteers who in turn become tube rapists. Those are the ones I want to string up by their family jewels. Case in point...

The Type 3A6 plug-in uses two of these 10 watt E55L/8233 tubes. I don't have any spares and I'd like to have at least one on hand. Have you checked Ebay prices? I have and the prices are nuts. All for a 10 watt Pentode that sez's Amperex on it. 



I attached the spec sheet.

 

[Saskia]

I fully see your point. Seems that I should get a couple of spare tubes for my amps as well. Those hounds are crazy.
230€ for a PL519 ?
WTF ?

[med6753]

I fully see your point. Seems that I should get a couple of spare tubes for my amps as well. Those hounds are crazy.
230€ for a PL519 ?
WTF ?

I just did some quick reading on the PL519 because I'm not familiar with it. Are you aware that it can be troublesome? Loss of vacuum and sagging grid structures. Suggest you read some audio forums.

[Saskia]

thanks for the hint. TBH I had that stuff serviced by a professional repair tech and would expect the tubes to be ok.
Also did not want to mess around with these power amps as I don't have schematics, have zero experience with tubes, and would not know what I would be doing.
Given the fact, that those amps are 5k apiece, the expense to risk ratio did not seem to be worth it.

[bd139]

Anybody want to start a sweepstake on what frequency BD's new headphone oscillator will start up at? 

I doubt it will be much use for this thread: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/projects/challenge-thread-the-fastest-breadboard-oscillator-on-the-mudball/

The answer is a surprisingly low 12Hz (!). Never seen anything oscillate that slowly before!

[tonyalbus]

PL519, are also nice for HF right?... i think i still have one somewhere... does about 100Watts on CB/HF if i am correct from a color tv
never tried that one..to scared for KVs

[Saskia]

don't toss it ...
100W seems to be about right, my monos do 100W apiece.

[tonyalbus]

if i trust my handwriting from 25 years ago... i found it....
no qlue if it works or not... with all those KV's it runs on, its prob. not staic sensetive or is it?

[Saskia]

don't know, we would have to test it.

[Cerebus]

Anybody want to start a sweepstake on what frequency BD's new headphone oscillator will start up at? 

I doubt it will be much use for this thread: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/projects/challenge-thread-the-fastest-breadboard-oscillator-on-the-mudball/

The answer is a surprisingly low 12Hz (!). Never seen anything oscillate that slowly before!

Genuinely surprising. If I'd had to pick a number I'd have been upwards of the 70MHz that my last effort scored at about 0.5 F_t of the output trannies. As you'd mentioned arrays, and the trannies that come in arrays (and are still available new) go from an F_t of 300 MHz up to the Gigahertz region, I'd have punted at least 200 MHz.