My DIY Audio Project!

I decided not to write about my Canon 1000D camera anymore since the new Canon 500D is out. I will now write about my new DIY Audio Project which came so suddenly and was finished in a short amount of time. I am not an audio person, I enjoy watching movies more, and even if I want to hear music, I don't only listen to it but also watch it via my home theater through all the concert videos that is readily available. So having a dedicated audio set up never cross my mind, until....


The picture above is a pair of bookshelf speakers that I bought from a DIY Master I met in Pinoy DVD, he had a chance to make this speaker that he copied from the specification of ProAc Response 1SC. This British brand is known to sound very natural and neutral, which suits audiophiles just right, but the damn thing costs around $1,700 a pair!!! Luckily with this "clones" I paid roughly 10-12% of the original's cost!!! It was an impulse purchase, I could not believe that it would sound so close to the original. But now, I am left with speakers that I don't need for the moment.

I went back to my favorite place on the Net to ask what's next in this audio journey that I just undertaken. In Pinoy DVD, I was advised to go hybrid with regards to getting my pre-amp and amp source, meaning, the pre-amp front end should be tube based, to get the renowned tube openness, warmness and details, then solid state for the amp end for more efficient power handling. But since the price for admission was a bit steep in going separates, I was lucky that another DIY Master of amps in Pinoy DVD offered to make me a Hybrid Tube Gainclone Integrated Amplifier, with its dual 6922 tubes as its front end and a solid state 75 watts per channel RMS driving power, which is more than enough to power the ProAc "clones".


And to round up the entry level system. I also got some other DIY stuff from some other Pinoy DVD DIYers. From powercords, to interconnects and bi-wire speaker cables. So the only stuff that is not DIY will be my sources. For my Ipod dock, I just utilized our old Teac Ipod dock that sounds terrible on its own, but using it with the set-up not only gave me a dock but also a radio tuner! Then for CD listening, since I ran out of moolah, I resurrected my extra Pioneer DV515 DVD player as my cd playing source, not ideal, but will do for the mean time. But a new dedicated entry level CD player in the near future will help complete the set-up.

I set these all up in our bedroom, and the sound that came out was surprisingly pleasing, mids was very clear and natural, highs was not screeching and bass.... bass was admittedly a mixed bag. For instrumentals, jazz and light rock, bass was just right, but for rock and heavy bass music, I felt bass was lacking. Although we can't expect much from bookshelves, I again admittedly still have to break-in the speakers and my placement was less than ideal (atop my cabinet, 7 feet high). But overall, I am very satisfied, I think with some tweaking, breaking in and new source, the set-up should sound wonderful. The sound of music will never be the same again.