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£100 DIY system challenge

df_genius

Solder slinger
If you had to build/mod a complete system of source,amp and speakers, what would you pick and how would you do it on a £100 total budget? If it's a vinyl front-end I think the cost of the cartridge should be excluded.

I will start with speakers and work back for my theoretical system. I'd build Frugal Horn speakers with these Mark Audio drivers:

http://www.kjfaudio.com/product/chn-70-2/

I have the CHR's which cost me about £50 a couple of years ago

For an amp I'd use a TP3116 or TP3118 off ebay with a 24V PSU, or I'd get a non-working integrated locally, re-use the case/transformer/heatsink and add these:

I would aim to find an amp with 35-40V DC rails if possible

http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/710-5...0001&campid=5338728743&icep_item=361905839037

Pre-amplifier would be:

http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/710-5...0001&campid=5338728743&icep_item=361905839037

Using an RCRC network to drop voltage down for the 7812/7912 regs if the main rails were over 35V.

Sources, one of the following:

CD - Find a local CD player for sale that works, TDA1541/A if possible and add a new clock, like this:
http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-5...0001&campid=5338728743&icep_item=291547954929
Add some os-cons and LM317 TPR regs for the main IC's

Hi-res - Raspberry PI running say VolumIO with a PCM5102 DAC like this:
http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-5...0001&campid=5338728743&icep_item=131945348326

Vinyl - Buy a Rega Planar 2, Goldring GR1/2 with no arm and re-use the motor/bearing/platters and put it in a 3 or 4 layer plywood plinth (I bought one for £15 I think it was). Tonearm will be similar to one of Nanook's on DIYAudio - a carbon fibre arrow shaft for an arm wand, a Parker pen refill point in the end of a pointed fuse as a unipivot bearing. Insert a threaded rod in one end of the arrow shaft and use nuts and washers for a counterweight. The head-shell is made from a scrap piece of hardwood.

Phono stage would be a Salas simplistic 2SK170 phono made on veroboard.

Cables will be remnants/leftovers or Van Damme if they need to be bought.
 
This site contains affiliate links for which pink fish media may be compensated.
Good call. Was it me who sold you the GR1 at Blyth services last year?

I like the sound of the speakers. For amplifier duties at a budget I doubt you can better the eBay special choip amps, I have one in the garage and it's superb.

I don't know anything about digital audio but I've just bought a Chromecast Audio for £20 and it's unbelievably good. DIYing something better at a budget will be a tough call.
 
Yes I did get your GR1 thanks, I'm tempted to put my money where my mouth is and put a system together to show at Scalford next year
 
Good list, obviously I'm a bit biased being the Mark Audio dealer and Frugel horn purveyor in these parts though. If you've got the ply already you can easily stick to your budget, otherwise a sheet of ply would be about £60 which would not leave much in the pot for your amp etc.

Nothing wrong with those other choices, although I'd be inclined to go with the Pi and forget the other front ends and with the money saved go with one of the PiAmp shields that are available. That way you've got everything you need for audio built into a tiny plastic box.

https://www.hifiberry.com/shop/bundles/hifiberry-amp-bundle/
 
I found a complete system on Ebay.
Complete systems can be real bargains
Broke the £100 bank with £110 if I remember right.
Arcam Amp and CD, Sony Cassette deck, record deck (will check), TDL speakers
Works, sounds good
 
Built this today for my workshop sounds really good

it started as an Cambridge 640T V2 DAB/FM tuner with a blown toroidal transformer off ebay
couldn't find the right transformer so i have fitted 2 small block transformers from cpc to replace the original .
also dropped in a B&O ice power 2x 50w amp and small preamp of the bay
the amplifier and dab are separate connected by phono leads so they can be used as a source / amplifier to test in my workshop .
the dab cost me £20
transformers ,vero, binding posts, rca connectors £10 (cpc bargain bin )
b&o amp £17.50
preamp £7

so thats £54.50
leaves me with £45.50 for speakers !
36691077995_577d43fd08_k.jpg
[/url]20170820_154346 by glenn jarrett, on Flickr[/IMG]
36295926140_5394a5c586_k.jpg
[/url]12 by glenn jarrett, on Flickr[/IMG]
36295978540_e57cb0c5ac_k.jpg
[/url]10 by glenn jarrett, on Flickr[/IMG]
35881647873_91f166d5de_k.jpg
[/url]11 by glenn jarrett, on Flickr[/IMG]
 
If you had to build/mod a complete system of source,amp and speakers, what would you pick and how would you do it on a £100 total budget? If it's a vinyl front-end I think the cost of the cartridge should be excluded.

I will start with speakers and work back for my theoretical system. I'd build Frugal Horn speakers with these Mark Audio drivers:

http://www.kjfaudio.com/product/chn-70-2/

I have the CHR's which cost me about £50 a couple of years ago

For an amp I'd use a TP3116 or TP3118 off ebay with a 24V PSU, or I'd get a non-working integrated locally, re-use the case/transformer/heatsink and add these:

I would aim to find an amp with 35-40V DC rails if possible

http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/710-5...0001&campid=5338728743&icep_item=361905839037

Pre-amplifier would be:

http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/710-5...0001&campid=5338728743&icep_item=361905839037

Using an RCRC network to drop voltage down for the 7812/7912 regs if the main rails were over 35V.

Sources, one of the following:

CD - Find a local CD player for sale that works, TDA1541/A if possible and add a new clock, like this:
http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-5...0001&campid=5338728743&icep_item=291547954929
Add some os-cons and LM317 TPR regs for the main IC's

Hi-res - Raspberry PI running say VolumIO with a PCM5102 DAC like this:
http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-5...0001&campid=5338728743&icep_item=131945348326

Vinyl - Buy a Rega Planar 2, Goldring GR1/2 with no arm and re-use the motor/bearing/platters and put it in a 3 or 4 layer plywood plinth (I bought one for £15 I think it was). Tonearm will be similar to one of Nanook's on DIYAudio - a carbon fibre arrow shaft for an arm wand, a Parker pen refill point in the end of a pointed fuse as a unipivot bearing. Insert a threaded rod in one end of the arrow shaft and use nuts and washers for a counterweight. The head-shell is made from a scrap piece of hardwood.

Phono stage would be a Salas simplistic 2SK170 phono made on veroboard.

Cables will be remnants/leftovers or Van Damme if they need to be bought.


As your last line made the whole thing meaningless I'll use leftovers in my loft.
 
This site contains affiliate links for which pink fish media may be compensated.
The Van Damme cables are decent and cheap, it's possible to cable a single-source system for around a tenner using them. I like the amp Glenn, I hate to see boxes with loads of unused space in them.
 
I'd start with a class D amp from eBay. There are heaps. I have a couple of the incredibly TDA7492P ones which are surprisingly good for under a tenner, I'm sure there are better ones too.

Add a psu - an old printer or laptop one works fine. Dig one out at home or visit a charity shop.

The rest goes on speakers. Big and efficient is my choice here. Add some speaker wire and the job is done. Feed tunes from phone via Bluetooth or plug in.

Technically it's cheating because I'm not including the price of my phone but if you don't have one, pick up an mp3 player from the charity shop when you get the psu.

If I got a bargain on speakers i'd spend a bit more and get a Raspberry pi and DAC to feed the amp.
 

Perfect, thanks for that.

Quite liking the look of the Karlsonator, but thats a subject for a different thread.



My bargain bucket build would be a RaspberryPi + PiDac with Kodi loaded (so it can do Film/TV duties as well as music), LM3886 amp build with Teddys PowerReg (still sounds amazing considering the tiny cost!) and a pair of bargain DIY speakers of some sort (see above) or some ebay/gumtree bargain speakers.
 
Sam, look up foamboard speakers. Alternatively XPS floor insulation board. Dirt cheap, cut with knife, assemble with hot melt glue or acrylic sealant from Poundland. People build speakers for $20 each, with new drivers, ready to go.
 
The Vifa TC9FD gives you alot of performance for very little cost:

https://www.parts-express.com/peerl...-3-1-2-full-range-paper-cone-woofer--264-1062

I also have a few 2.5" square BMR speakers that worked out to around £4 each that I got on ebay, I will try a 2-way active with a couple of these per side and a bass speaker.

These look promising, I bought these and am building a pair of compact enclosures for them:

http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/710-5...0001&campid=5338728743&icep_item=252048409033

I also have these in use in my conservatory:

http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/710-5...0001&campid=5338728743&icep_item=271953312159

This is along the lines of what I am planning for a tonearm:

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/analogue-source/173861-iteration-nanooks-219-tonearm.html
 
This site contains affiliate links for which pink fish media may be compensated.
one of my nephews wanted a vinyl system, so we fixed him up with the following. He had already bought himself a Garrard DD record player (£35), complete with arm and cartridge, so we bought him a new stylus for his birthday. My partner let him have the Ditton 15's (£10 car boot sale), and I donated a NAD3020 amplifier (£60). Total spend was £105, not including the stylus, so a fiver over budget. The sound was enjoyable, plenty of bounce on old pop records!
 
Well chosen second hand stuff is hard to beat, as you are finding. DIY is great but it's not easy to make for the price of second hand kit. Certain items, sure, if the item has a following (eg Naim), but less known items are near impossible. I recently bought a Crown amp for under £300. That's the price of a case and transformer for a similar DIY offering. You can get a Thorens 150, with arm, for £100. No DIY item comes close at the price. I can build better (possibly) and I can find cheaper, but not the 2 together.
 


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