justinsweber

Here was what I spent the better part of the afternoon building. I refuse to take my nicer gear out for a walk in the park. I was considering building a PA Rig and left with some spare wood and free time this wis what became of it... what better way to make use of the spare parts bin. The idea is that I have a park right next to where I live and would like to build PA rig to help with moves at the park. In addition, this work kick but as a DJ rig. Only 2 downsides to split cabs are their size and need for extra binding posts... time for a parts express run.

Hey everyone... ampsandsound is a hobby/ startup for me. I work a full time job and a part time job. That said, there is very little exotic about what I build with. I use to punch my chassis, but I was prone to small mistakes. Additionally punching and drilling is labor intensive, and produces a great sounding amp that looks like it might have been built in a garage… My amps are built in my garage, but are made with parts leveraged but other people’s strengths. CNC top-plates are pretty, repeatable and allow for optimized placement. The circuit is well proven. My passive parts come from mouser for a few reasons, repeatable/ dependable purchasing, high tolerance parts and nothing super exotic. The wonderful thing is that 1% and 2% resister are super common, and significant capacitance is can be sourced. I believe in big caps, tight tolerances on resistors and big iron… None of this breaks the bank, but is also not free. When you add parts cost plus build time my prices are reasonable. I don’t build the very best you can own… I can’t afford to, but I build quite tube amps that of modest power that are very very reliable. Modern manufacturing makes this possible. If someone purchases an amp from ampsandsound and is not happy within 1st 2 weeks we will accept it back. I rather a happy customer than a sale… I do believe most vender no matter what they produce feel the same. As an aside, I don’t comment on other companies’ products. I’ve owned and been proud of amps I’ve had from various sources. Ive owned home built kits and custom p2p units, and more than a few McIntosh units bought new. My McIntosh amps (MA2275 was $7500 and my MC275 was $4200, had I not used my tax refund to buy them and planed years in advance it wouldn’t have happened. I remember listening to my brand new MC275 on my Magnepans and then my La Scala’s and comparing it to my home built Dynaco MKIII I built from a kit and did a WTF… Now that was a learning experience. The MC275 provide the better more stable amp, but for a $3200 premium? The MKIII were dam close. That said, most companies price their products with significantly higher profit margin then we do. We chose parts first, not profit.

Dave shoehorned the Eliptrac and B&C DE85 into a stock cornwall I owned.. had 3/4-1" of clearance. With the eliptrac you wil need to add a brace to inside... will help stiffed the cab... super easy 3 pieces of wood. Mid horns to be considered woud be: the Faital 1.4" (Most 1.4" drivers are more expensive then 2") (eliptical design, better imaging and sweet spot) the JBL M2380 clone... (2" driver, fits inside a cornwall, CD horn great sound all over but less imaging) the Eliptrac 400. (2" driver, Most dense horn... extremly inert, the proven choice for many) Dave's new HF horn will allow a simple upgrade without any can mods to make it happen... a real possitive! The Eminence Kappa 15C 4ohm massive magnet... monster bass...

If it were my money or that of a customers.... Here would be my upgrade path. This is one I’ve personally used and 1 have recommended. Daves Fastlane Audio Hobby Site Eliptrac 400 exposed finish - $625 Per pair From ALK Eliptrac HF horn with B&C DE10 driver ....... $158.00 The "CornScala-Wall" Universal Crossover (Finished) ... $320.00 B&C DE85TN-8 2" Titanium Horn Driver 8 Ohm 4-Bolt $250 each ($500 pair) The total is $1605.00 The rational is this… The eliptrac is well known and accepted for its incredible results. The B&C DE85 is what ALK and Dave suggest… there are cheaper and more expensive units. I have heard JBL 2446H 2" vs the B&C DE85 and could tell them apart. ALK will pair Daves newest horn with the drive and test it prior to you receiving… seems a steal then. Lastly… the Cornscala wall does not just attenuate the mids but the HF freq too. These tweeters are hot… I have to choke my D220Ti tweeters all the way back. The ability to adjust the attenuation makes these crossovers a real game changer in my book. With the remaining $400… new woofers? The Eminence 15C is simply incredible. Then sell all your parts and youll have a speaker which will be hard to beat commercially without throwing money at it.

Earlier this week on the way to work I received my third speeding ticket this year. Rather than blame the distance or my lack of time management. I'm choosing to lay sole blame on Paul Simon and his Graceland album. I have an incredibly large music collection but seem to really enjoy driving to 10 or 15 albums that I've ripped onto a jump drive to be played in my car. All three speeding tickets of occurred in San Diego County and listening to Graceland; obviously a bad combination! Driving home tonight at 12:45 in the morning on rocking out to Graceland, I decided to turn it off. With the silence, I dropped the speed down a bit. Now that I'm back home and fiddling with a gremlin in my 1 of personal systems, Graceland is lulling me to sleep. Oh my Klipsch and holiday brethren, beware of the power Graceland or any other music that gets your moving! Happy Holidays!

ER work is funny... can be so bussy you dont eat or so dead that youre left with your rubix... Most of the time I keep audiokarma, klipsch forum and DIYaudio as tabbs in the background.

Thanks Paul. To be honest it’s a massive distraction from my work life, which is why my wife allows for it. I work in 2 of the highest acuity settings for mental health and am a front life/line staff provider of mental health services. (The two setting are a prison in California and a large community hospitals emergency department). Over the course of my life, Id drank too much and worked too much and I find the later to be a vastly more healthy behavior. The company idea is a way of my not continuously loosing money to support my hobby. I really enjoy the learning building and trying. Each time Id build a tube amp, Id generally only change 1 part at a time and Id copy ideas of the best builders I could find. I brought on a business partner to help shoulder some of the workload and to have a comrade in arms. Transforming a hobby which lost money into a business is difficult. Adding a partner with equal voice, a bit harder. Documenting everything for transparency and figuring out how to make it scalable harder still. All that said… there is a super big pride of ownership I have. I aspire to have ampsandsound know for some musical reliable amps and speakers. Many of us can only afford 1 system. I’ve been there a few times and Id hope Id be the 1 someone wanted to keep. I’d like to sell 20 amps next year… 2 a month would be great. Parts for each amp are around $700-1000 before any labor. Hard to believe that 15%-20% of parts cost is shipping. The chassis is about 3 hours of woodwork. The mechanical assembly is 1.5-2 hours. Soldering the PCB about 1-2 hours. Final wiring is 2-3 hours and 1 hour of bench testing. The amps get played for about 10 hours on a set of speakers for good measure. Once a final listen is done, we ready for shipping. Shipping is another unknown that we are working to grasp better. Anyway, long and short is I like building and love the idea of others using. After some reflecting during my 2+ hour drive to work… I’d like 1 other thing. A small where house600Sq. with enough room for some boxes with amps and speakers and an amazing listening space… 15ft tall ceiling and 20x15 with 2 cigar chairs, 1 a cooler for soda.

DeanG. The SE84 is built around DIYtubes Budgie... Ive made some personal build choices that give it a house sound. After you try it... you might want to give Big Ben or Kenzie... Kenzie is like whole milk for sweetness. Big Ben is the very best of SE sound plus deep bass without the price shock. Id be happy to send you either after you give Dave's a turn around the track.

Michael The Kenzie should too.... Scratch that... you're right! So many details... PM me and Ill share. Ill also take $50 for finding a F up. With all the amps... I do 100% refund minus shipping if not happy within 2 weeks of delivery. Sometimes we all make bad choices when buying something... not trying to burn people. That said, SE amps are lower power... perfect for Klipsch heritage speakers but probably not well suited for inefficient speakers with crap designs :-).

The same Darling. My amps are not 100% my designs. I am working on a new platform that will be only mine... Like most things in audio... rare to find a truly new idea, but hopefully I have clever implementation. Ive shown some of my wiring before... I keep everything truly tidy and always over specd... it how we all would want it.

Im trying these woofers as they can be placed in big or small cabs. Dave figured they perform well even in 4cu cabs... So instead of 6.2-6.8cu ft cabs... 4cu ft gets it to be a much smaller cab.

I really cant disucss indiv. prodcuts on here... its more about DIY and support of Klipsch I really cant discuss individual products on here... its more about DIY and support of Klipsch products... that said... PM or my site lists great ways to contact me. My personal fav amp is based on the 1626... I call it Kenzie after my daughter but most know it as the Darling. 3/4watt per ch, but my how does it sound. I have 4 designs currently all in the 3/4watt to 15watt power levels. I love SE amps OK amps I love or just after: Lust: McIntosh 2301s... someday they will be mine... I hope :-). Want: McIntosh New MC75s. Come on, Its a MC75 with the new sentry circuit. Miss: McIntosh MC275 MKV… sold when I had turned it on in 4 months and was using other gear. (Loved the sound, but really needed 2 ). (Just cuase) Current: MA2275 currently my daily rig Mac mini and Emotive DAC DIYtube SUT and VPI Classic (Denon 103R) Cornscalas by Dave Harris (Eminence 15C, B&C DE85TN/ Eliptrac 400, Sp circletrac DE10) ALK APT12-500/ES5800 (The hybrid crossover makes a significant impact on why they are the reference. Current: C. Chong based pre… 2 PCBS 1 for power sec, 1 for signal. 12AX7/ 6DJ8 / 12AX7 pre… Gain of 20 (2v 14v out). Dynaco ST25 in DIY enclosure with Choke filtering. (Stocker) 1626/12SL7/1626 SE Amp (ampsandound product but my fav.) 2nd DAC output from Emotiva in other room 2way Cornscala… Split cabs we build now. (Eminence 15C B&C DE85TN/Eliptrac 400, ALK Apt12-500. Current: Rogue Tempest II bought used for a screaming deal. Olive 4HD server Airport Express Econowaves (Cabs from Fastlane audio) Current: CHIPAMP.COM Kit. More than a stand by... incredibly sweet sounding... only SS amp I own or use.

I actually started mounting things up and building the wiring harness. It always surprises me how long the little stuff takes. I end up using 12-14ft of silver plated copper with Teflon. Really nice stuff and completely over the top but why not. I did heat shrink each wire to keep them twisted, but didn’t take it the level of heat shrinking each connector. Ill post pics of my handy work late tonight. Last night ended with me flying home from visiting my Dad and getting the house back in order. I visited a friend and ended up taking a surplus chip amp home as a book end. From 12am-2am I was wiring and dressing the speaker. (Up at 6:00 and at work by 8:00am. I’ll be here in Adseg till 4pm and then off to the ER for another shift till 12am. On the way home I’ll do a bit more handy work, probably drop in a woofer. I’m missing some thread on adapters, compression drivers for the tweeters… guess I could use the eminence I have on hand and 1 15” woofer… Seems a bit like Franken speaker but when done will sing like no other… Fatial HF200, eliptrac 400, Eliptical tweeter with D220ti and the debut of the Dayton DC380 15” 8ohm. I’m trying my luck with a 8ohm woofer with my set of DIY universals. The Cabs are 1” MDF that will need veneer at some point but should be a great road/ demo speaker for my amps.

Hey there everyone! I wanted to bring some attention to the work I’ve being doing for the past 6 months. Ive been a bit more absent here, though have been moding and building at an even faster rate. At the gentle and not so gentle prodding of a few forum members I started an audio company. The support of the many DIY forums I’m a member of including Klipsch forum here has been instrumental in shaping both my technical understanding, values and principals I have sought in my love of music and attention to detail. I’ve only owned 3 true Klipsch products Gen I Heresy’s, Gen 1 Cornwalls and 1 industrial La Scala but have in love with the company the the ideas it embodies. What Klipsch heritage speakers have shown me is that horns allow for great sound with small power and that a good concept can is timeless regardless of the level of implementation. How all this relates to my own company includes: 1: build American if at all possible. 2. I can build lower powered tube amps which provide a quality of sound that is truly meaningful at a price most can afford. 3. Always build as though your product will be passed down. Klipsch products are bought and sold and more impressively handed down. I don’t know that anyone who buys my amps or speakers will own them for life but I certainly hope they do. 4. The Cornscala is the everyman’s speaker. Though I don’t post my own version of “the secret sauce”, I’m happy to help others in the process of building or modifying Klipsch speakers. Klipsch is the embodiment of from mild to wild and I believe this forum represents the most active seekers of that dynamic. Hope you guys can give me a look. If there is any feedback please feel free to email or call me. ampsandsound.com BTW: I asked Amy about posting prior to his message. Justin Weber

Single Cab Cornscalas Internally depth is 13 3/8" Internally width his 25 1/2" Internally height is 35 1/2 Internal length of shelf is 9 1/2" Internal Volume is ~7.0cu ft.