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Thanks for that. Jriver looks interesting. How large a drive for about 500 cds?
Using my current cd as transport to dac.
Using my current cd as transport to dac.
The HiFi chat, build and modification thread!
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Anyone playing around with RaspberryPi/Amp/DAC set ups?
Just put one together running Spotify, Dirble and connected to the server (nearly up to 10000 tracks on there, another 100-120 CDs to rip yet).
Just so i can have a headless player outside on the deck.
Cheaper than getting 30-40m of cable and speakers for the "proper" hifi....... (i already had a spare Pi)
Also need to pull the old rotel amp out of the attic and find out what was causing the buzzzzzzzzzzzzzz on the left channel.......
Just put one together running Spotify, Dirble and connected to the server (nearly up to 10000 tracks on there, another 100-120 CDs to rip yet).
Just so i can have a headless player outside on the deck.
Cheaper than getting 30-40m of cable and speakers for the "proper" hifi....... (i already had a spare Pi)
Also need to pull the old rotel amp out of the attic and find out what was causing the buzzzzzzzzzzzzzz on the left channel.......
Re:
JRiver, is pretty good. There's a IOS and Android app that connects to it via WiFi, so you can browse and select tracks with your phone or tablet. You can even play tracks stored on your PC on your phone/tablet.
The secret with JRiver is to set it up for "bit perfect" playback. This bypasses the operating systems audio system, be it Windows or Mac, and provides the DAC the data unadulterated. In addition, when you play a CD in a player, any errors have to corrected on the fly so that there are no gaps in the music. When you rip a CD, the rip software can re-try, to get an exact copy of the file; essential when copying data, software etc., or programs may not work if sections were "guessed" by the CD drives error correction.
Similarly when playing a music file from hard drive, there are no read error "guesses", the output is buffered, so they can be re-read without interrupting the music. In theory, a ripped CD played from a hard drive can potentially have less errors and sound better than it will from a CD player.
I think the most you can get on a CD is about 800Mb and many CDs come in well under that. I have roughly 900 CDs and they take up around 420GB, so you'd fit 500 on a 500GB drive easily. You can pick up a 1TB drive for around £40, or a 2TB for £60, 4TB for £120.
Large capacity physical drives have become pretty cheap these days, so storage cost isn't that much of issue. To the extent that crappy sounding, highly compressed, music files don't make sense any more. It irks me that its costs more to buy an album as a set of compressed MP3 files than it does to buy a physical CD. :roll:
You can get higher resolution files than CD standard too, these will take up more space on a drive. However, illogically, high res files costs more. Recordings are made in the studio at high resolution, then down sampled to create lower resolution and compressed versions, so the price differential is entirely artificial.
Probably a dodgy pot (potentiometer), they work by a slider contact running on a carbon track, so they do wear out eventually; easy enough to replace: http://uk.rs-online.com/web/c/passive-c ... tiometers/
JRiver, is pretty good. There's a IOS and Android app that connects to it via WiFi, so you can browse and select tracks with your phone or tablet. You can even play tracks stored on your PC on your phone/tablet.
The secret with JRiver is to set it up for "bit perfect" playback. This bypasses the operating systems audio system, be it Windows or Mac, and provides the DAC the data unadulterated. In addition, when you play a CD in a player, any errors have to corrected on the fly so that there are no gaps in the music. When you rip a CD, the rip software can re-try, to get an exact copy of the file; essential when copying data, software etc., or programs may not work if sections were "guessed" by the CD drives error correction.
Similarly when playing a music file from hard drive, there are no read error "guesses", the output is buffered, so they can be re-read without interrupting the music. In theory, a ripped CD played from a hard drive can potentially have less errors and sound better than it will from a CD player.
I think the most you can get on a CD is about 800Mb and many CDs come in well under that. I have roughly 900 CDs and they take up around 420GB, so you'd fit 500 on a 500GB drive easily. You can pick up a 1TB drive for around £40, or a 2TB for £60, 4TB for £120.
Large capacity physical drives have become pretty cheap these days, so storage cost isn't that much of issue. To the extent that crappy sounding, highly compressed, music files don't make sense any more. It irks me that its costs more to buy an album as a set of compressed MP3 files than it does to buy a physical CD. :roll:
You can get higher resolution files than CD standard too, these will take up more space on a drive. However, illogically, high res files costs more. Recordings are made in the studio at high resolution, then down sampled to create lower resolution and compressed versions, so the price differential is entirely artificial.
Probably a dodgy pot (potentiometer), they work by a slider contact running on a carbon track, so they do wear out eventually; easy enough to replace: http://uk.rs-online.com/web/c/passive-c ... tiometers/
TBH, it's easier to just buy the biggest drive you can afford. I made that mistake and started off with a couple of 2TB drives. Amazing how fast they fill up once you realise what you can put on there (Plex media server and all it's contents). Have ended up with 2x4TB drives on a NAS and 2x3TB + 2x2TB in a miniserver........ and it's all getting a bit crowded now! Should have just started with the biggest i could get and sucked up the cost.
And i'll have a look at the potentiometers one day. See what the issue is. It's not like it isn't the set up i bought with my first paycheck......... (did 17 or 18 years before failure, so it doesn't owe me anything!)
And i'll have a look at the potentiometers one day. See what the issue is. It's not like it isn't the set up i bought with my first paycheck......... (did 17 or 18 years before failure, so it doesn't owe me anything!)
Re:
If you open up the amp, you'll probably find a part number on the existing pot, if so, chances are you'll be able to find an exact match and do a straight swap. If not, you should be able to find it's type, linear or log, and it's value 10K ohm, 50K ohm, etc..
If the pot is directly soldered directly to the PCB (Through Hole), you'll also need to match the solder pin spacing and the distance from the base, when mounted, to the shaft, so that it fits through the hole on the front of the amp. Some have splined shafts, onto which the volume knob is push fit, others have a shaft with a flat for fixing the knob with a grub screw; commercial stuff mainly use a splined shaft and a push fit knob.
If you open up the amp, you'll probably find a part number on the existing pot, if so, chances are you'll be able to find an exact match and do a straight swap. If not, you should be able to find it's type, linear or log, and it's value 10K ohm, 50K ohm, etc..
If the pot is directly soldered directly to the PCB (Through Hole), you'll also need to match the solder pin spacing and the distance from the base, when mounted, to the shaft, so that it fits through the hole on the front of the amp. Some have splined shafts, onto which the volume knob is push fit, others have a shaft with a flat for fixing the knob with a grub screw; commercial stuff mainly use a splined shaft and a push fit knob.
onegoodbike
Merlin Fan
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Morning all,
I've had the good fortune to have a valve power amp drop into my lap (not literally, it's heavy, so would probably be considered unfortunate) it's unlikely that i'll keep it, not the sort of thing that swmbo likes to see on the sideboard!
.
However I am interested to know if it's functioning, it appears to be in good order visually, with modern valves and updated componentry within. I think that I could use my cd player to test it as it has a volume control and the amp has been fitted with phono plug inputs, then just plug in my speakers to the amps outputs and see what happens.
I haven't gone for this option yet as I realise there may be electrical safety issues, so I'm seeking any advice on safely awakening the beast without popping: a) the other components / b) the house wiring / c) me! .
Any advice/anecdotes will be gratefully received.
Cheers Matt
Morning all,
I've had the good fortune to have a valve power amp drop into my lap (not literally, it's heavy, so would probably be considered unfortunate) it's unlikely that i'll keep it, not the sort of thing that swmbo likes to see on the sideboard!
.However I am interested to know if it's functioning, it appears to be in good order visually, with modern valves and updated componentry within. I think that I could use my cd player to test it as it has a volume control and the amp has been fitted with phono plug inputs, then just plug in my speakers to the amps outputs and see what happens.
I haven't gone for this option yet as I realise there may be electrical safety issues, so I'm seeking any advice on safely awakening the beast without popping: a) the other components / b) the house wiring / c) me!
.Any advice/anecdotes will be gratefully received.
Cheers Matt
Re:
Which model is it?
The real issues are making sure the output transformers are taped for the speakers. I.e. 4 ohm or 8 ohm. Not many have a 16 ohm tap.
You shouldn't run it without speakers or a least some resistance across th output.
What valves does it have. This will tell more about the circuit and output. It is usually coupling capacitors that fail. Al this is of curse on the basis it is not a single ended amp!
Most amps aren't.
Which model is it?
The real issues are making sure the output transformers are taped for the speakers. I.e. 4 ohm or 8 ohm. Not many have a 16 ohm tap.
You shouldn't run it without speakers or a least some resistance across th output.
What valves does it have. This will tell more about the circuit and output. It is usually coupling capacitors that fail. Al this is of curse on the basis it is not a single ended amp!
Most amps aren't.
onegoodbike
Merlin Fan
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Hi Gerard,
Thanks for the quick response, the amp is a Leak Stereo 20, it has links to set both sides to 8 ohms, so I should be ok there, I was more concerned if the valves were likely to pop or the casing go live when I plug it in, and perhaps how to mitigate against these issues.
Cheers Matt
Hi Gerard,
Thanks for the quick response, the amp is a Leak Stereo 20, it has links to set both sides to 8 ohms, so I should be ok there, I was more concerned if the valves were likely to pop or the casing go live when I plug it in, and perhaps how to mitigate against these issues.
Cheers Matt
Matt
Lovely amp. Real classic and very sought after. Don't through it away!!!
EL84 out valves which are so sweet. Love them. Only pushes a few watts, but they are glorious watts when the amp has been fettled and with the right speakers.
They are nice an easy to work on (if you can hold a soldering iron) and there is plenty of info on repair and upgrading out there. Here is a link to someone who has refurbed their own. https://hifiwigwam.com/forum/topic/7037 ... 0-rebuild/
If it hasn't been used in a while best to just check some of the key components first to make sure they are within their specified parameters.
Lots of forums and help out there if you want it.
Schematic:
Lovely amp. Real classic and very sought after. Don't through it away!!!
EL84 out valves which are so sweet. Love them. Only pushes a few watts, but they are glorious watts when the amp has been fettled and with the right speakers.
They are nice an easy to work on (if you can hold a soldering iron) and there is plenty of info on repair and upgrading out there. Here is a link to someone who has refurbed their own. https://hifiwigwam.com/forum/topic/7037 ... 0-rebuild/
If it hasn't been used in a while best to just check some of the key components first to make sure they are within their specified parameters.
Lots of forums and help out there if you want it.
Schematic:
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