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A Big DIY Bang for Your Buck?

I believe in getting the biggest bang out of my audio buck that I can. I don't know about you but my audio budget is actually limited. I find it interesting when I hear about folks spending a zillion on the best magnetic cables and then someone comes along with some new cable technology like new liquid-infused cables that equal or best the magnetic cables at a fraction of the price. Some makers of magnetic and other cables may want you to believe that a patent pending means there must be something there that ordinary Joe Audio could never make himself. My experience leads me to say -- don't believe it.

I have been using neodymium magnets for years in my cables and around my system to improve SQ -- at a fraction of the cost that makers of magnet-containing products charge. OK, mine may not be at the very top of the performance chain when compared to those expensive products, but who cares? I have managed to get stunning returns for a pittance. It would have cost thousands, or tens of thousands, to obtain similar results from various makers.

The same applies to audio makers with a patent pending (or an actual patent) who market little aluminum audio resonators the size of pimples. I make my own resonator pimples for about a buck apiece -- with stunning results. I saved over $4,000 making 70 of my own. Maybe they are not at the very top of the performance chain compared to those expensive products, but who cares? I am very happy with results that are far beyond what I expected when I started out.

I am having a lot of fun doing DIY projects at home that reap wonderful results at a small fraction of the cost charged by audio makers for their similar products. Have others had similar experiences making their own audio products at home? Can you share your DIY experiences with us?
sabai
toddverrone's avatar
toddverrone
840 posts
 
@czarivey your post made no sense until I looked at the title of the thread. Ha! DIY indeed. Well done and enjoy!
sabai OP
2,027 posts
 
toddverrone,

Thanks for letting me know.

czarivey,

Congratulations!
halvis
15 posts
 
Best bang for your buck in audio?
1. A better than decent preamp.
2. A better then decent amp.
3. A better than decent cartridge, tonearm, turntable.
4. QUALITY SPEAKERS. No other piece or component can make up for less than decent motors.
5. DECENT interconnects and speaker cables. NO, I am not talking about those uber expensive crazy cables, just what is better than the usual $9.99 crap. Hell, you can construct decent stuff if you are handy with a soldering iron that smokes more than half what you can buy for 10 times as many $'s. jmho.
sabai OP
2,027 posts
 
halvis,

Please note that the OP is about DIY.
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
toddverrone
Geoff- I will say that I’d try little bowls if there was a believable explanation for how they work and what they do.. I’m not a total reductionist, so I don’t shoot things down if they aren’t ideas in the mainstream, but my mind does need something to go on, so I can figure out how to implement. Though I suppose it would be pointless since I can’t imagine decorating my house with copper bowls.. My lovely wife let’s me do what I want with the music room, but she wants input on the rest of the house.

The tiny little bowls are acoustic resonators and work much like small Helmholtz resonators by dissipating energy when placed in locations of very high sound pressure, such as on the wall at first reflection point or in a room corner. Anywhere there is a SPL peak much higher than the average SPL in the room. As I’ve mentioned on this thread at least twice the best way to determine locations in the room for the tiny little bowls is by using a SPL meter and a test tone. I find a test tone of 315 Hz to work fine but other frequencies will work too. You can also use Franck Tchang’s diagram which will be fine but not as accurate as my method.

The tiny little bowls also dissipate RFI/EMI. This is because not only is the diameter of the tiny bowl equal to an acoustic wavelength but also equal to an electromagnetic wave length, I.e., RF wavelength. Thus the tiny little bowls are two, TWO tweaks in one! That’s why I hear an improvement in the sound on my headphones - not because of the acoustic resonator function but because of the RFI/EMI dissipation function. Since there is no diagram for where the RFI/EMI peaks are in the room you have to either make a reasonable guess or obtain an EMI/RFI meter. I have so far chosen to place my tiny little bowls in upper and lower corners, one per surface, figuring that all waves behave similarly so will bunch up in room corners.

If you have a speaker system the improvement to the sound will be due to BOTH functions. The reason the sound improves when the tiny little bowls are placed in rooms beyond the listening room, kitchen bathroom, bedrooms, etc. is because RF doesn’t attenuate over distances involved in the house so that reducing RFI/EMI in other rooms reduces RFI/EMI in the listening room and in the house wiring. Whereas acoustic interference from other rooms would be very secondary. But if a room is directly adjoining the listening room then acoustic interference might be expected. I use bowls of several diameters to spread out the operating bandwidth. Better safe than sorry.

Geoff Kait
Machina Dynamica



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