Official 33609 builder's tread. See 1st page for updates.

[Igor]

It works!   

After a few hiccups, I have everything calibrated and the 33609 sounds fantastic

HURRAY!!!!!!!
Happy! Waiting for photos!!!!

Which trunny's are you used, BTW?

BC441's should be matched within 10%, to get same ratio in both channels.
I bought from surplus store used PEAK semiconductor analyzer, what nice thing for 20NIS ($5)!!!!

 

[rob_gould]

As you can see, I used Carnhill throughout.

Here are the pics.  A bit low quality I'm afraid as it was a very grey day this morning when I took them.  I bumped up brightness and contrast just to get a bit of definition...

Front:

Innards

I have friends visiting this weekend to write music, and the compressor is really going to get put through its paces.  Should be a good test of how it sounds and what it can do.

Thanks again Igor

 

[Igor]

Very nice built!!! I luv it.
If you can put some audio samples, will be great.

 

[Tasa]

W O W!!!

BEAUTY!!!


And now at the end...
How long did the project take to finish?
How much $$$???

GREAT WORK ALL !!!

 

[Igor]

It took me to finnish first unit (pcb design, evaluating, testing) about a month and half.
Second was done for less than a week.

 

[rob_gould]

How long did the project take to finish?
How much $$$???

From a builder's perspective:

It took me a long time to buy all the parts for this project as they are expensive and I bought them over several months.  I'd say:

Boards / case:                    Can't remember.  However much Purusha is now charging
Transformers:                    Around £280 for the Carnhill reissues
Meters: Around:                  £40 - £50 each
Other components:              £100ish
Other bits (knobs etc):        £40 - £50

So - this is not a cheap project at all if you go for the Carnhill iron.  It would be around half the price if you went for OEP or something.

In terms of build complexity, actually stuffing the boards was easy.  Wiring the switch boards etc is time consuming but straightforward if you're patient.

The thing that took me a while at the end was calibration.  This was due to my inexperience rather than any actual problems with the unit.  Now I' know what I learned doing this, calibrating any future DIY projects will be much more straightforward.

Hope this helps

Rob

 

[Igor]

In addition, it is possible to save some money if you can find TF10015/16.
Way better than OEP.

 

[Igor]

Hmmm....no good for first project. Try to get working G1176 or GSSL first.
Anyway...with a lot of patience, possible.

 

[Igor]

People, I am here for hardcore troubleshooting.
Questions like "where can I source x or y" please search google.

 

[RedNoise]

Ultra Alex : you have Farnell references in Igor's bom ... see first page.

 

[ultra-alex]

thank you, RedNoise!

 

[ultra-alex]

a short question for the diy pros. what type of resistors do you use (or shall i use)?
carbon, metal film, metal oxide. there are tons of different resistor types. what are the best for audio (i.e. the elma switches on the 33609). are there sonical differences? or is that like comparing mogami and vovox cables?
and how do i know about the power of the resistors? in the 33609 bom i only find R-EU-0207/10 descriptions. that means model/type 207 and 10% tolerance, right? but what about the watts?
thanks in advance, alex

 

[rob_gould]

Hi Alex,

There's loads of info on the different sounds of different resistor materials.  Just google and you'll turn up loads of hits.

On the subject of values / power / tolerances, it depends on the situation.  For the switches on the 33609, you'll find you need 1% tolerance because of how specific some of the values are.  1/4 watt are fine for this application.

Generally speaking, 1% 1/4 watt metal oxide are what I use, and this seems to be common for a lot of people too, unless the BOM specifies a higher power rating.

Often a BOM will call for 5% tolerance for resistors, but they're so cheap it's probably better to build up a collection of 1% anyway...

It may also be useful for you to read this articale about the standard resistor values:

http://www.logwell.com/tech/components/resistor_values.html

Hope this helps,

Rob

 

[guavatone]

The thing that took me a while at the end was calibration.  This was due to my inexperience rather than any actual problems with the unit.  Now I' know what I learned doing this, calibrating any future DIY projects will be much more straightforward.

The word inexperience does not come to mind, looking at the finished job.  Great work Rob, very clean.

 

[Igor]

Yes, Rob, I still drooling....experience???? Patience and good LP on turntable is the thing!!!!!

 

[rob_gould]

Haha thanks  ;D

Anyway, it was you who was the patient one with all the questions I asked Igor

My electronics experience is not that great, but the bit I was particularly new to was the calibration stage.  Stuff I learned doing that will be immensly useful for future builds as I mentioned.

In terms of making things look neat, I have learned a lot just from looking at the pictures of other people's DIY projects on this forum. Generally speaking the standard is really high, so there's plenty to learn looking at photos

 

[Igor]

Yup. Bender luv **** for robots!!!!!

 

[bradbivens]

Just got my kit today and I am excited to start.  All looks really nice.

Some questions though, as I am only somewhat experienced building but lack the know-how for ordering the right parts.  Anyone in the US who has successfully built could really help me out on where to find some of the hard to find items like Caps and Semiconductors.  Some of it is me not understanding what some of the values should be.  If you could send me a pdf of an order receipt, I can at least make sure I'm getting the right parts.

These are questions about the BA340 BOM, the values aren't as clear to me as the other BOM's:

1.  what does R-EU_0204/5 stand for and how does that differ from ...0204/7 ?

2.  does 220p mean 220pf?  10n?  what would the proper voltage rating be for these?  same thing with the 10uf and 22uf electrolytics, are they supposed to be 25v?

3.  just to verify 1R5 is 1.5 ohms, correct?

thanks,
Brad

 

[Igor]

Hi Brad,
BOM appears as qty-symbol-package, etc. 0204/5 is r, 1/4w, 5mm pitch, 0204/7 is 7mm pitch..
sorry, it is bit messy... please roll some posts back, IIRC it was already discussed.
220p=220pf; 10n=10nf; 63v or more is ok, use type as suggested in bom, yes, 'lythics are 25v.
1r5 is 1.5 ohm. See schematic, all part numbers are same; there's BOM in manual IIRC.
Brad, please read this thread, it is boring a bit, but use my time for hardcore troubleshooting

 

[keithcamilleri]

hey igor .... i completed the project about 3 months ago and just cannot believe this comp, its amazing it brings the mix together really well and its warm and tight especially mids just burst out with carnhills... i though i calibrated the unit correctly but i am doubting myself ...i am putting through a 1khz 0 db from my daw ...logic's test oscillator to be exact but as soon as it hits the input the compressor starts compressing 4db ( the meter shows 4 db) is that something wrong or u think i need o review my calibration?

thanks
keith