DIY Speakers cabinet

I was impressed by the RCA full range speakers which reproduces excellent vocal !

This has prompted me to find a pair of 1950s full range 8 inch Telefuken spekares units and try to DIY a open baffle speakers cabinet.

I was fotunate to be able to find a open baffle plan from a fellow R33 audiophiles.

Next is to serach for the materials and cutting the wood according to the plan size.

After several days of hard work, it was finally completed. Tonight, the last bit was to paint them with wood colour.

Finally, everything was done and the satisfaction is beyond words can describe.

The muisc from the speakers in the open baffle cabinet is nice and the speakers are standing in front of the Tannoy!

Next target is to look for WE 755a?

Resistors as spares for Leal 12.1

As part of my learning of DIY , I have stocked up some vintage Allen Bradley resistors for future usage in addition to the NOS TCC capacitors.

The serach for these are time consuming but I am glad I have the help of a fellow audiophiles JK, who is helpful in teaching as well as sharing his expperiences.

The hifi journey has been an exciting. one There are some audiophiles who are very helpful and nice while there are those who are out to make money...

Leak 12.1 : Changing of capacitors & resistors

After listening to my 12.1 for a while, I began to realize that there are some hum sound coming from my Tannoy Canterbury, a pair of sensitive speakers, when the muisc CD stopped playing. Some has said that it was due to the nature of the sensitive speakers. When used with the LS3/5a, the hum sound dissappeared.

Being a perfectionist, this "hum" sound has promted me to to try to "fix" the issues. I have tried sending these to the hifi repair shops at Ap Liu street Sifu but after adding an extra capacitor (quite an ugly site), and paying much $$$ the hum sound still exists.

Next, I have tried another Sifu to fix the hum sound, which resulted in changing of 3 resistors. The Sifu has managed to get rid of the hum sound which was quite a joyful thing. When I invited my friend JK to my house for audition, he has realised that even though the set was very quiet, the sound from the 12.1 has been modified and musch details has been surpressed. Upon checking, we realized that the 3 resistors replaced were not excatly according to the values set by the schematics. Thus, a third round of restoration process has started again. Lessons learnt the hard way.. My body must be getting fitter after carrying more than 30kg of hifi equipments up and down the apartments...

Finally, with all the 3 resistors being replaced with the correct values, the leak 12.1 is back to its original sound with much more warmness, soundstage and details.

From then on, I have bought the neccessary meters and tools for DIY. I was able to find 4 units of NOS 25uf TCC capacitors and this time, I have managed to change the capacitors myself.

Now the 12.1 is singing beautifully! I have recently found 3 more 0.25 uf TCC super metal packs capacitoirs and 7 more is on its way. I hope they could arrive soon as I would love to use the 1st May holiday to DIY both my set of 12.1...

The joy of listening to the music is nice and the DIY restoration process is also a nice way of relax and de-stress after a hard days work!

Pye HF S20 Mozart Pre amplifier

The Pys Mozart amplifier comes with its own pre amplifier.

The pre amplifier has a very attractive bronze mirror like front plate. It uses the 2 ECC83 tubes and is very small in size.

Set up is easy as it has two code which connect the pre-amplifier and the ppwer amplifier.

The next step is to DIY the woden boxes this week end!

Pye HF S20 Mozart EL34 single-ended amp

April 2006:

To find a suitable amplifier for my new RCA full range speakers, I have started the search once again.

I was told that the full range RCA speakers will be best driven by a 300B amplifier or a 2A3. Unforunatley, the vintage Western electric 300B amplifiers are expensive and the 2A3 amplifiers are hard to find.

Without much option, I have decided to try a single ended amplifier - the HF S20. It is a stereo version of the HF10M, using one power transformer to power both the left and right channels. The amplifier looks odd, as the EL34s are mounted horizontally rather than the normal vertical arrangement. This is the firts time I am using the single ended amplifiers as my previous amsp were push-pull.

The amplifier is in its original condition which needs a thorough cleaning... This will be my project for the night....

RCA full range speakers

March 2006:

I have recently bought a pair of 1950s RCA vintage full range speakers. The shape of the speakers has captured my attention as it has very nice curve.

The sound from the 6 inch full range speakers is limited but it is excellent for vocal repoduction. I was using my Leak 12.1 to push the speakers but I was told that smaller amp is much better for it.

So I have bought a Pilot 232 and the sound is excellent.

Does anybody has more history on the speakers as I could not find much information on the net?