iPod Mini alive again!

Last year sometime in November we got lightning strike at home, just when my daughter sat in front of her (and our family) PC..She told me blue light appears accross the main board. The PC is dead, so does the cable modem, the printer and my daughters iPod Nano..sigh..but thank God she is OK.

The Nano got so hot she put it in the freezer!.I wasn't at home. Alas it was over then with it. So with no budget after buying new motherboard-second hand-Phenom X4-cable modem, her dead iPod mini is my target operation. Thought that only the battery needs replacement.

Spend a half afternoon to read how to open the thing-and finally have luck to change the battery after admiring the Wolfson DAC-Phillips chips-no wonder people like the sound of this 1st gen mini. Apple just wants only  the best for their products that time. But the display shows discouraging message..a frowning face appears then followed by an URL..bah..., must be the mini drive that gives up..so did I..throw a towel.

But with luck and persistence of a DIYer-I found this link..of the late Mark Hoekstra, who back then in 2007 have already done it!..replacing the venerable minidrive with 4GB compact flash memory card. A couple month later and it's just yesterday I found a 4GB Transcend CF card that known to be working well with iPod. I've spent a couple of hours and yes..it works, here are the pics. Veel dank Mark..you've leave us wonderful knowledge..

The mini drive-new batt-and  CF card

This thing makes the old iPod mini to a cult status..(Wolfson 8711 DAC) and yes there are people out there tweaking this little guy !

after restoring with iTunes....

With backlit ON & the busted Nano..Apple proprietary chip in there and a korean memory chip..:(

This morning I've made my daughter happy, also my son who got new iPod shuffle for his birthday to day..not to mention my wife who otherwise will spent more money!..So, please throw away then your iPod 1st gen...to me :).

Sony CDP950 hardware mod-wooden transport

After modding this Sony CDP950 heavily, these are the results.
Electronic wise, well never ending tweak that is :). Found during a recent blind test with a poor result ha ha..It turns out that the R value for current to voltage is very important, and you need really second-third even fifth opinion to judge the sound when you're constantly modding and didn't know anymore of 'correct' sound. So it was my take for another lesson.

Hardware wise I consider it finished..yihaaa!. Acrylic plates does wonder and also a quite difficult task in taking care of the old transport. It's all wood now :)..not the famous Phillips VAM or something like that , I dubbed it Sony WAM :), short for Wood Augmented Mechanism..just kidding :). here is the tranny cover

The 'new' Sony CDP950 'Lampized'..thanks again for your mail Mr. Fikus..
A broken beam of my workshop roof, or a part of it :) & a design drawing
Made some noises..
Fitting & mating plastic, wood & the CD player..

Adding a nice old teak top layer
underside of the 'WAM'..
Nice gold plated springs..(guess where the h**** I've got it..)
Fits well..
fastened & adding brackets..
Well..more pictures this time. As February was a really busy times. Also recently this CDP yet again showing another sickness. The CD just turns very fast counter clock wise. After cannibalizing my 'spare' Pioneer LD player for few chips, particularly the spindle motor driver chip. this old guy just runs well again. Now back to that never ending tweak again...thanks.

Sony CDP950 TDA 1541 NOS ed and Tubed

I have to confess. I'm really excited with my Sony CDP950 with 20years old TDA1541 DAC. Several tweaks & heavy modifications resulting upgrades in sound each and every time. I always set my mind towards the final tweak-a tubed CD player- since last year and starting to spare my money for collecting tubes, HV transformer and other component. And of course continuing learning how tubes works.

Last tweaks were the opamp change, the bypass operation here and the non-oversampling things.

At the end of last year I've heard that a Blind Test for CDP and/or DAC going to be held in January 2010, so it's time to put the effort. Top cover is cut for tube base plate and top loading system. Also 2 left over 8mm thick acrylic plates for beauty and tube protection were made with my own hand :).

Schematic is as always..from Mr. Lampizator himself, a SRPP with 2x 6N2P-EV, for this I thanks Pak Dino. I plan to use hybrid tube rectifier - AC heaters all the way and 6X4 tube-USA origin I got as a gift from Pak Ado. HV tranny, sockets and resistors were from Pak Alex. Thanks to these good people! I can keep the mods at low cost, in term of materials that is :).

Socket, components & wiring were planned, sketched & routed. Keeping with my Reuse-Reduce habit, wiring and, diodes and the capacitors are all used ones.

The simple plan is you tap the Iout signal from the TDA1541, route them to the 6N2P grids. There is a 60-100R from grid to ground which convert the current to voltage. Here is the I out wire, doesn't have to come out of PCB bottom this time :)

Piggy bagging the HV tranny..

Refinished top covers & tube base
Now the messy, tiring & fun parts...no..not that fun anyway..
I blew my cheap compo speakers-I think the tweeter just gave up-they got 75VDC for a second or so..sigh...stupid me. Also I've got 255VAC on my right hand fingers..boy..felt the jolt up to my arm pit..the hairs there felt smoother now :). How about the sound?...there is music..very low level..even I have cranked up the volume..lots and loud hum, check and recheck everything..no result, de solder & resolder the R's..also not helping. changed the AC heaters to DC with 7812 regulator..even worst..I gave up, just pull out the tubes- de solder the 220VAC from HV tranny and get ready for the next day Blind Test just with Non Oversampling tweak.

I have said the NOS tweak is a leapfrog compare to Bypass tweak. The blind test result confirmed this..at least the for Jury, session 3 got number 3 out of 5 players. This old CDP-loses to would be winner-CDP333esd nosed-reclocked-BGed and external tube buffered CD960..interestingly 4 out of 5 players using TDA1541 !. The non Jury said other way..last position for my old CDP..so..I have to make my CDP really sings or else...

In order to understand what is going on, I've made a simulation in orcad, yes there is 6N2P Spice model out there. Simulating the SRPP with Iout of 1kHz at 0.4mA (TDA1541 datasheet) shows nice high Vout :0... So what might happen? Searching the Lampizator site for (hidden) clue..no result--Mr Fikusz hiding something? nhaaa!... My tubed CDP very low Iout-Vout signal indicates that the Iout from DAC is being corrupted a great deal, like everything here in Indonesia :).

I can only point that the BB OPA2134 as the I corruptor !. Gothca...the opamp pair on temporary detention now. Turn on the CDP next the HV switch...yes..a big YES...Ingram Washington sings loud and clear!..almost no hint of hum..this AC heater tubes!..

Ingram Washington sings :"...What the difference a day make...." this day for me was 1 week after the blind test. The OPA2134 now permanently out of my CDP..too bad though as I can not directly comparing NOS-OPA2134 and SRPP. Or is it necessary?..No it is not necessary.

The difference is very clear right away. I will spare my comments for later :)..my wife just shortly said.."empuk"..means (maybe) "smooth" in English..that with up to now unbearable to hear CD from David Foster & Friends..

Wiring & sound testing this way :) with Gainclone amp and 2 samsung small speakers.
Bunch of resistors to try. And finally testing in my system..with a C out coupling rig for finding the right caps. I'm tired but fully satisfied. There are some minor tweaks must be done on the HV PSU, R values & types, Cout and last but not least the CD transport itself..maybe a Phillips CDpro2 transport Clone..:). Thanks for reading my DIY audio adventure.

Rice Cooker, Good ones?

Last year I have started this blog with a design case. Inline with 'tradition' here we go again. This time you may ask, what the h*** is that stone doing on top of my rice cooker?. Are we (God forbid) so poor that we eat stone?. No..please no..

The answer is here, no stone-the cooker cover won't close, I eat no rice, so does my wife & kids, o yeah..the cats as well :), what has happened?

I've seen too many cases of plastic products used in the wrong way. Plastic and heat do not go together see here . The same goes here. The blue hook is intended for locking the cooker cover to the lower part. After few months, yup, it just lost the grip and hence come the stone. I have once broken a plate full of rice because of my slippery hand :(.

Maybe, just maybe, the designer have calculated the hook well, but the maker just want to have cut the cost by using recycled plastic. Or its just another bad design..gosh..

My wife has learned, she bought a new cooker..no..not the same brand..ever!, see here the good solution? Yes..a steel hook, you can go very very far with steel in 110 centigrade..lets just hope it will not corrode too fast, as the hook is galvanized..bravo C*****S

LM3886 Gainclone, My Fisrt DIY Amp

Exactly this month last year in 2008 was my first step into DIY Audio. Full of doubt I've started with the popular LM3886 chipamp a.k.a. Gainclone which gained enormous popularity among do it your selfer around the globe. Never good in electronics, don't understand a thing, but out of love for my daughter I've tried it anyway. So first I made 2 'bird nests' and I'm surprised with the sound. I have decided since then never to buy branded amp anymore, make them yourself. Its cheaper, educating, fun with many friends and most importantly much better price to quality ratio.



2 proper casings was designed & crafted in our workshop, for power supply and the amp itself. Here is the 2 PCB's and a solid aluminium heatsink.

A 'see-through' amp casing, to date contains different and better components.

The pairs behind and front.


Wonders happen when you love your family and friends..long live DIY audio.

MP3 USB-MMC Reader

This is my recent DIY audio thing. I found this USD 7,- little handy MP3 player that fits me and my family needs. My car audio head unit, a Sony cdxGT700d has lost its CD mechanism for quite a while, so no CD or MP3 anymore.

I'm also tired of using my old Sony discman as source in car. Sounds quite ok though, after some blue- tack tweak, but I have to put it on my lap when driving or the player just sputter, cough and more when I hit road bumps. Here is the 'replacement', a simple cheap USB-MMC reader, feed with 5VDC. Add a 5Volt regulator such as 7805 off you go.


There is an Aux in, it can only reads MP3's put on the root directory of your MMC/USB. Read the file in sequence only, no shuffle thing, its ok for me and many motorcycles rider who use it. At the beginning of each track the volume increased to full level in a second or so and gradually soften when track skipped, one at a time. It also memorized the last track it plays after shutdown.

For my kids, there is another version, bit more expensive but still below USD10 :). Provided with a remote control, FM tuner, display, EQ function, maybe shuffle thing as well...

Some tweaks are needed after listening familiar MP3 ed tracks. Four very small electrolyte caps, 10V, 100uF replaced by good Elna Cerafine, 16V, 100uF I have on hand. Boom...the sound goes to higher level!. Add blue tacks on top of the chip, the crystal and the sounds settles in orderly manner. Definitely it sounds better than my brother stock Simbadda MP3 player.
I have learned though, that how you rip the CD is very important for the sound quality. My first test rip is using Cowon Jet-audio. The result is quite OK, but after comparing with the original CD you missed quite a lot, especially in staging. Even I have ripped in dual stereo. Then a friend told me about EAC, Exact Audio Copy. I have read it in 6moons some month back..I'll try this for sure..

After a few days of use, I decided to give this cute player a cute casing, a beautiful solid teak one!, finished just with..teak oil...hmmm..

Analogue Volt Meter, Revived

Sometime, we in our workshop just throw away damaged things into a drawer. The same goes with this cheap Heles AVM, after a few use it's just don't swing anymore, goes into one drawer some years back. When I bought old capacitors recently, I need to see needle swing on the meter, Digital Volt Meter is no swinger :). So, in line with my principle 'use whatever you have' , old Heles is my operation target.

The problem turns to be a loose copper wiper and wobbly shaft of the disk. Thewiper was just fastened by 2 plastic pins that was melted by a solder to clamp the wiper down. Well, this is a good plastic design practice for non moving part, for moving part you need larger pins or a long rib.

So here are the fix, add a screws to the shaft and wiper. Now the needle swings !.

But the fix brings new problem..as always, a solution creates new problems :(. There is no room for the screws, so a 30 minutes fix became 1.5 hours... Bottom of the casing is drilled, then cut a jelly cup bottom (remember..use whatever on hand..), epoxy-ed them..voila!..


Another problem, the meter just does not want to stay put , so add 4 rubber pads, cut from black foam I have in my garage-double tapes them..


finito..and still fit in the old box ..., mother earth and my wallet is saved again, just 2 things I have to throw away..the casing cut out and a jelly cup with no bottom..now lets swing!