69CamaroSS396

My first experience where I realized there was something special going on in listening to music was in 1965, when I was 10 years of age. My parents had friends whom we went to visit on occasion. The gentleman of the house had a dedicated listening room and throughout the entire house everywhere there was space he had vinyl LPs stored. I remember him telling my Dad that he had over 1000 records, as they were commonly called in those days. In his listening room there were vacuum tubes aglow, although I surely didn't know what they were at the time. The only piece of equipment I remember specifically was a Thorens turntable. He said he ordered it from Chicago, which seemed impressive for someone living in the hills of rural Kentucky, USA. The other thing I remember from our visits was some kind of really cool feeling I had from seeing and hearing all this. I think I realized right then and there that music and listening to music would be very important to me. I was correct. I've always had pretty nice gear but always try to never let the equipment, or analyzing equipment get in the way of enjoying the music, even my old recordings that sound horrible.

I've been listening to my son's metal band. At first I felt obliged to listen because of the obvious reasons. Went to a few shows. I couldn't believe it the first time my son began this "screamo" metal wail. The most important thing to me is he absolutely loves what he's doing. And they are becoming quite good for their genre. Especially considering 2 years ago none of the five of them had ever played an instrument, other than the drummer playing the snare in high school band. He had never played a kit. http://www.myspace.com/sourblood Check out "Dead Like Me"

Any of you fellow DIYers who desire to try the Millett Hybrid, I would be willing to help you acquire the tubes if you have access to the pcbs, or can make your own. The tubes are rather easy to get here in the USA. I would send the tubes at my cost as long as someone would be willing to pay the actual shipping charges.

Very fortunate to own some "old school" JBL floorstanding speakers. Amplified by Denon. My headphone set-up cannot match the impact of those, of course, but headphone listening has its place. I currently am using a Millett Hybrid on the night stand with Grado60s and a vintage Sony D-5 PCDP. Very nice. I'm looking to upgrade the Grados, as I'm growing a bit tired of them. Very uncomfortable for one thing, and quite harsh with anything besides the Millett. AKG K501s may be in my future.

Rockhopper has stopped building amps for personal reasons, and I agree with fongalv on Shellbrook. The owner has an entire sticky devoted to him on another forum to which almost all responses are of the negative variety.

I constructed a Millett Hybrid using mostly default parts from the documentation on the DIYForums.org site. I did buy Elna Cerafine caps for all positions. 470uF for C1 and C7 L/R, 220uF for C2 L/R, and 100uF for all others. BUF634s. It is powered with a TREAD/wall wart combo. It sounds fantastic. It makes my harsh Grados sound surprisingly smooth and less edgy and annoying. I have several different tubes I've been trying and my favorites without a doubt are RCA 12FM6s. Very open, crisp, in-your-face soundstage. Sylvania 12AE6s gave a very laid back, "veiled" feel, as though something was blocking part of the music from getting through. GE 12AE6s were no different. Sylvania 12FK6s are a close second on my favorites list. I just purchased some GE 12FM6s. Anxious to see how those are, as I have 4 more Millett pcbs to use. I'm very pleased with this little amp overall. I'm thinking it is very dependent on the phones and tubes as to how the results may please each builder.

Heady, Yes, I understand it's counterproductive to use the headphone output if anything approaching quality sound while using a dedicated amp is the objective. That's what I'm going for.

Thanks Mackie! That's 2 recommendations I received for the same exact 2 models from Panasonic. I will definitely look into those. I am getting into DIY headphone amp building and have quickly discovered the drawbacks of the cheap headphone outputs. When I use my amps with my nice component CD player, WOW! With the portable, YUK! Such a huge difference in quality. Thanks again.

Forgive me if this has been answered over and over. I want a portable CD player with true line level outputs. I hate using the headphone output on my cheap Philips. Any recommendations of something someone has actually used would be appreciated.

Just completed my first CMoy2 yesterday. I was so disappointed and frustrated when I tried it out and had severe distortion and/or oscillation. Read through this thread and found out that maybe my power supply was lacking. I am using the LM6171 and was testing with 2 AA batteries. After changing to fresh 9V, sweet music to my ears. I used default values for every position on the pcb. Input caps are Vishay/Roederstein, resistors are Vishay/Dale RN55s, Nichicon Electrolytics. I ended up using the switched Alps RK097 because of the pcb mountable version being unavailable. Now to get it cased up. In USD I have less than $30 invested. First impression is very favorable. With Grado SR60s and a very nice CD transport with true line level outputs, it is very loud and clean. Not so great on the headphone output of my cheap portable player. Need to upgrade my portable source unit. Any recommendations would be appreciated.

Anyone know if there would be any problem with using the RK097 Alps that is switched? I have a few of those I bought from Tangent. I was thinking the tabs for the switch could be snipped off. It looks as though the pot is otherwise identical to the one recommended for the pcb. Someone correct me on that if I'm wrong. Or I could just use one of those and panel mount AND use the switch. Just tossing around some ideas.

Thanks neutralzz. I'll give that a try. Greg

I've ordered 2 pcbs from Jason and I'm getting my parts together. I have encountered a problem with getting the specific Alps pot. Mouser currently has it listed as a "non-stock" item which, if I understand correctly, requires a purchase minimum of 1000 pieces. I realize I can use other pots, but sure would like to take advantage of mounting it on the board. Anyone know of another Alps "drop in" replacement, or perhaps another source for the RK09L12B0A31 in the USA? I've done an exhaustive search on the www, with no luck. I apologize if this has been covered already. I haven't completed reading through the entire 30 pages of this thread just yet. Thanks, Greg