Termites prefer hard wood?
In the Oct 2008 edition of Hifi World, there was a mention of us as Noel Keywood visited our room during the recent KL International AV 2008 show.
Hey! It’s nice to see our mug shots there! I believe this lends this mag a bit more of a “GQ” appeal? 
I thought of hanging around the newsstand and autographing buyers of the mag… Narcissus would have been proud!
Err, humbly allow me to point out 2 problems though.
Noel got our domain name wrong. It’s diyparadise.com, not diyparadise.com.my. When I first started the site, I never thought of restricting to a .my domain name. I was thinking who knows where will I be based in the future? Anyway, this is a minor gripe.
Noel remarked that he was worried whether termites will attack our speakers since we build with tropical hard wood here. He mentioned he saw some termite attacks at some hotel lobby in this country.
Hmm… Termites attacking our speakers? Being curious, I went all out to catch a few termites. Phew! Tok me some effort here! And finally caught some of these dirt burrowing insects. There was this piece of rotten wood on the ground and if you kick it, it’ll come apart due to the extreme efforts of these little gremlins.
I started my interview. There was a worker, a soldier and one fat looking ‘”queen” I believe.
I asked them, what’s their favourite food? Why, it’s wood of course!
Dang, have to be more specific. So given a choice of solid wood, fiberboard and chipboard, which would you prefer?
In order of preference, it’s chipboard and fiberboard first, then solid wood.
Huh? Why so? Why not go for solid wood first? Well, apparently solid wood is “denser”, “tougher to chew” while fiberboard and chipboard, being man made and processed, it’s a lot easier to their mandibles.
Among solid wood, then their preference is of course the softer variety, followed by the medium and they totally dislike hard wood.
Hey! So this means that our speakers, being constructed of a mixture of medium hard and hard wood will be a turn off to them!
And speakers constructed of fiberboard and chipboard are favourites of termites!
Which points to roughly 99.99% of speakers made in the world! Chances are the speakers that’s playing in your room now is most likely made of Medium Density Fiberboard (termite food!). Don’t let the veneer fool you ok? It’s still not solid wood.
Phew! Am I glad to hear that! So happily I released them termites.
If they said they prefer solid wood, I would most certainly squash them…
10 October 2008 | diyparadise | No Comments
Buffer Tweak on all Monicas
One of the highest recommend tweak for all versions of Monica is the JFET buffer tweak. This tweak has been described on this page using 2N3819 JFETs.
Since I finally got the 2SK170s, thought it’ll be beneficial to show how it’s done to your Monica. Note that the tweak on the main site uses 2N3819 and had the output caps soldered out. This tweak here does not remove the output caps but involves cutting PCB traces.
FIrst off, solder your 2SK170s like this.
You then need to cut the trace linking the I/V resistor to the output Black Gates caps. Shown here is for one channel. Confirm with a multimeter the trace is open before proceeding with the next steps.
Installed the pair of 2SK170s. VCC (24VDC) could be tapped from upper most end of the trim pot.
Another view with both channels installed.
This view shows the cut trace for both channels.
After everything’s soldered. Power her up. All LEDs should light up as before and confirm voltage across I/V resistor measures about half of your power supply. Then play music!
If there’s no sound, you have made a mistake somewhere. Don’t blame me. 
As usual, with all mods, you are on your own. So be careful!
19 September 2008 | diyparadise | No Comments
KL International AV Show 2008 – 2nd & 3rd days
The second and third day, we were expecting the crowd and yes, there they were!
Printed out 2000 flyers and gave out the last one at almost the last few minutes of the show. And I was so close to printing just 1000 pieces.
My thoughts? Here’s a few thoughts. First the minus.
1. I find that many Malaysians do not even give their countrymen a chance. They passed by, had a look, and when they realized it’s all locally made, quickly walked away. Nary a listen. Sad…
2. Didn’t know there are so many speaker designers in Malaysia! Well, that’s what they claimed. Each gave interesting comments. Some were a bit strange like… where is your speaker driver? They couldn’t even locate the speaker driver!
3. Many did not bother to stay long enough. I believe we were the only room to play such a huge variety of music but in order to listen to different types of music and the different virtues of the system, you got to sit down for a while. I guess they weren’t keen to give us a chance after all.
4. Room acoustic simply sucks. Despite the room treatment we did, it still wasn’t enough. If we had more time to tame the room, we could certainly do more. The listening hall in my home has more width but less depth. The resultant sound is more open and “lighter”. Light as in being “more agile”. We don’t get this in the hotel room.
5. Some folks commented not enough bass. This being horns, we advised them to sit further behind as the bass waves would be thrown further. They wouldn’t and preferred to sit in front. Then complain not enough bass. Oh well…
Okay, the plusses.
1. Met many interesting folks! Made many new friends!
2. Interestingly, we had many listeners coming to our room for 2 consecutive days. Some even for all 3 days! I guess we must have done something right!
3. We received many positive feedback. Some say that they are proud to know that Malaysians can do something like this! Hey, after all, we are the ONLY one with a full 100% Malaysian designed and built system.
4. It’s refreshing to have folks ask for different types of music. It’s sickening to hear only of “audiophile approved recordings”. It’s refreshing to hear requests for AC/DC, Led Zep etc. And I believe we are the only room to play such music!
5. Many just love the speakers! Simply couldn’t believe their eyes. Gabriel’s craftsmanship is evident here.
6. The most important impression we made was to a close friend of ours. Just days before the show he called me up and asked me whether I’m sure I wanted to bring the horns there. “No highs, no lows” were his exact words. When he came on Saturday, he stayed the longest. He left and then came back again and stayed till the end of the day! And he admitted that all this while perhaps he has not had the chance to listen to properly designed horns. Well, late Saturday evening, we had a rock concert there. It was loud, it dynamic and it was alive! And our friend is not a convert!
Overall, we are glad to showcase our capabilities. We are glad to come out of our homes and meet people.
If you visited us at the show, many thanks for your support! Write to us and send us some pics!
28 July 2008 | diyparadise | 11 Comments
KL International AV Show 2008 – First day
Boy, after all the hard work… the show is on!
The past few weeks of soldering, prototyping, trying out new circuits, tidying up existing mess, resolving logistic issues etc is now over! And we are finally making our debut at an audio show, after these years of operation.
And even though it’s just the first day, it is an awesome ride!
First thing first, met so many interesting characters. Many just couldn’t accept the sound of a single driver in horn enclosures. Some wouldn’t even give a chance but those that do, were mostly seen leaving with smiles on their faces! Quite a number left, then came back, left again, then came back again. Hey, if they left and came back, then spent even more time listening, I bet there’s something going on between their ears!
Most, as expected, never had a chance to listen to such a system before. More so a 100% designed and built in Malaysia system. I mean where else can you listen to such a system? Ha ha!
More so a vintage (>30 years) Coral Beta 6 in Hedlund horn enclosure? Being driven by a modified Squeezebox 3 (or a CDPRO2 based transport), then via Whitesnake! to Monica3, to Maggie2 (our new remote controlled volume control), to the 6GM8 tube preamp with output transformers, then lastly to Charlize2?
And all power supplies with the exception of Charlize2 is running off individual balanced isolation transformers. Charlize2 runs on a huge 12V 7Ah Hitachi battery.
And, to make things even more interesting, we don’t just play “girl and guitar” simple stuff. We play, among others, Carmina Burana, Joan Baez, Tom Waits, Empire Brass, the Apocalypto soundtrack…Â In short, we had blues, jazz, rock and lots of lots of heavy stuff!
So who said single drivers can’t rock? At one point, when playing Jennifer Warnes’ “Way Down Deep”, the bass could be felt several rooms away!
Incidentally, we found that we have the most visitors flocking into the room whenever we play a heavy bass stuff. Seems like most folks just couldn’t believe all this energey could be projected so far and all from a 12V 10W class T amp! Way to go Charlize!
However, to me, the best part of the day is definitely at the last. At around 7.30pm, when the show is supposed to have ended, we blasted B52’s “Rock Lobster”, just for fun, when this music attracted the attention of an Italian couple.
After finding out they are Italian, I then told them about our lovely DAC is named after the even lovelier Monica and… guess what? They were suprised to have finally found us! It seems that they have been in Kuala Lumpur for 4 years and have been trying to find us, and they finally found us! Just when they were going to leave the show at the very very end.
Talk about destiny…
Will call it a day here. The weekend (Sat & Sun) is supposed to be the busy time so we’ll have to have a good night’s rest here. The stout should help.
I’ll update the blog with pics later. My digicam is with my wife, who is holidaying in Bangkok…
25 July 2008 | diyparadise | 3 Comments
Just days to go before our debut in audio shows…
days to go before KLAV 08!
Our very first time at an audio show!
We promise you, it’ll be worth your time. We have something new, something special in store…
KL AV 2008. JW Marriott Hotel, Kuala Lumpur. 25-27 July 2008.
See you there!
13 July 2008 | Uncategorized, diyparadise | No Comments
1800+ email messages in your Inbox?
Do you have this problem? Too many emails in your Inbox? I have 1800+ in mine!
Zero email in your Inbox is like Zero items on your Desktop. Clean, efficient and effective, not to mention easy on the eye too.
These days with so many email messages flying in from all direction (legit or spam), it could be really tough to organize our Inbox.
Well, July 2008’s issue of MacWorld has this wonderful tips for organizing your Inbox. Though it’s Mac oriented, the tips work on Microsoft Outlook, Thunderbird etc.
Keep your existing folders and create 3 new folders : Filed, Action and Later.
“Filed is for everything you have finished with but want to keep for reference.”
“Action is for messages that require you to do something with them.”
“Later is for low priority messages you want to look at only when you have free time.”
Once you sort this out quickly, you are prioritizing them. If you are short of time, just work on those in the Action folder first. Can always come back to the Later folder when you have time.
In addition, try to automate as much as possible. On my Mac’s Mail, I set Rules which automatically moves certain email away from my Inbox to its respective folders. For example, some friends only forward stuffs to me. I set a Rule on my Mail program that whenever so-and-so sends me email, move this message to the “Forwarded stuffs” folder.
Thus, whenever new order notification emails come in, they are automatically routed to the “To Ship” folder.
If you send me an email using forms on my site, the subject header usually says “Message from diyparadise”. This goes straight to the Action folder.
Paypal payment received notification emails go straight to the Paypal folder.
And so on.
Once you automate the tasks and just concentrate on those in the Action folder, then sort out the rest, then the 1800+ email messages become a lot more manageable.
In less than an hour, I have sorted out my Inbox. Now have only 14 messages.
15 June 2008 | Computer stuffs | No Comments
Geez, I work so Hard to get an email into your Inbox…
On May 20, I sent out this newsletter to my err, newsletter subscribers.
Some “bright” folks don’t treat email marketing seriously and send out conspicuous emails to their customer list, like every other day.
Well, it’s alright if you have all the powerful high value information for them but even then, it’s wise to give them time to digest all the info.
On the other hand, over a one year period, I have only sent out 4 (FOUR!) newsletter emails. Because if it doesn’t bring much value, then no point sending them.
Visit the links below and see for yourself how much work I have to do just to justify sending an email into your Inbox!
If you haven’t subscribed yet, go to the e-store, create an account and opt to subscribe the newsletter.
Oh yeah, did I mention these tweaks are mega powerful?
Enjoy!
yeo
—- newsletter email ——-
hi diyers
i believe by now you should have read this article on how to improve your diyparadise products? and thus your sonics?
http://diyparadise.com/improve.html
if you haven’t… what are you waiting for?!
if you have, there is a follow-up article.
http://diyparadise.com/improve2.html
whereby i continue the theme with bnc connectors for spdif input at your monica.
and, building THE recommended power supply for monica.
have tested against 3 types of regulators and it seems that no regulator sounds as good as what we have now.
go ahead. read it.
try it in your system and let me know how it goes.
discuss this on the forum too.
best of all, have fun!
yeo
2 June 2008 | Internet marketing, diyparadise | No Comments
Oh no! I’ve been called a bastard again!
Got this mail one Sunday morning… Names omitted to protect the innocent from the tube mafia.
Hello Yeo,
Very nice horns! If only I lived closer to Malaysia…. I never had the chance to audition a Hedlund, must be like missing some form in education…
Another thing: This morning I got Monica3 to sing… I hooked up a SLA (18Volt – 12V and 6V in series), settled the I/V for 7.5Volts and put het in hte system… Thank you very much… I could not believe my ears… This is not Monica, atleast, not Monica2.. She is another person, more like she has learned to pronounce English perfect, loosing her dialect…
The difference is amazing!
Next I put Charlize2 beside her, on her own 12Volt SLA. This is the part where I got mixed feelings… You must know that they are separated by an inductive volume control…
..how to explain… Okay: Are you interested in my Gm70 SE amplifiers? Or my SE 300B with Western Electrics? Maybe my Pass Labs Aleph M?
I must give you credits for premature ending my oddyssee….;-)
O, my friend CP was also here, my guess is that he will contact you shortly… guess what about..
Yeo, you really are a bastard!
BR
R
On Sat, May 31, 2008 at 1:47 AM, yeo wrote:
hi r
pics of my setup. the most current.
http://diyparadise.com/blogs/2007/12/23/looking-back-at-2007-and-holiday-greetings/
my hedlund horn. built in march 06.
http://diyparadise.com/mar06/hedlund.html
more speakers, and some horns.
http://diyparadise.com/fetish/fetish.html
more horns!
http://diyparadise.com/jordan_cabs.html
and guess what? i have the skeleton of another horn in my store room! ha ha!
yeo
2 June 2008 | diyparadise | No Comments
A Joke : Never Laugh at a Chinese
A friend forwarded this to me. Could have been some other nationality though…
A Chinese man walks into a bank in New York City
and asks for the loan officer. He tells the loan officer that he is going to
China on business for two weeks and needs to borrow $5,000.
The bank officer tells him that the bank will need
some form of security for the loan, so the Chinese man hands over the
keys to a new Ferrari parked on the street in front of the bank. He
produces the title and everything checks out.
The Loan officer agrees to accept the car as collateral for the loan.
The bank’s president and its officers all enjoy a good laugh at
the Chinese for using a $250,000 Ferrari as collateral against
a $5,000 loan.
An employee of the bank then drives the Ferrari into the bank’s
underground garage and parks it there. Two weeks later, the
Chinese returns, repays the $5,000 and the interest, which comes to
$15.41.
The loan officer says, “Sir, we are very happy to
have had your business, and this transaction has worked out very nicely,
but we are a little puzzled. While you were away, we checked
you out and found that you are a multi-millionaire. What puzzles us is why
you would bother to borrow $5,000.
The Chinese replies: “Where else in New York City can I park my car for
two weeks for only $15.41 and expect it to be there safely when I return.”
6 May 2008 | Uncategorized | No Comments
I assembled a tube amp and speakers in 20 minutes!
The best part of running diyparadise is getting to know all kinds of folks all over the world. Making friends all over the net so to speak!
Recently, a diyparadise newbie, Andrew, was interested in Monica3 so he wrote to enquire about her. He then casually mentioned, “hey since I’m in Japan, if there’s anything you would like me to get for you over here, let me know!”.
I don’t know about him but if I were him, I would have regretted saying that!
Immediately, this site came to mind. Hover around the link to have a sneak view of the site. The company is called Gakken and their niche seems to be all this awesome educational electronic projects. Hey, I’m an OLD adult and still had so much fun with it!
The snag is, like most Japanese companies, they are very happy to do business just in Japan, and not to the outside world. Hence very few such wonderful products are sold overseas. Thanks to the Internet, I learned about this amp kit from the hktubeaudio yahoo group.
Without further ado, arrangements were made and very quickly, the boxes arrived at my place.
Well, it’s a pretty small box! BlackBerry beside it for size reference.
Contents of the box.
All you need is a screwdriver to assemble everything. No soldering at all! Within minutes, the horn speakers are ready.
The manual is really detailed. So what you can’t read Japanese? Neither can I. It’s so simple that if you just study the diagrams, construction is a breeze. Bottom view of the single-sided PCB as I mount it on the chassis.
Top view. I removed the top 3 covers to show the tiny output transformers and the center compartment for a pair of D size batteries.
Why, they even include a tube pin straightener!
With tubes mounted and batts installed. Ready to fire!
Alright! With an Ipod Shuffle as source, this has to be the most compact tube amp + speaker, entirely battery powered system!
It is so compact, the whole system sits on top of my notebook and look, there’s still so much space around.
Okay, this kit I believe is meant for the education market. The manual even describes the operation of the vacuum tube, as long as how to improve its performance! Shown are steps on how to convert the pentode operation to triode mode, as well as increasing the loading on the horn speakers for better sonics.
The serious diyer would nitpick on the part quality, but hey, this is soooo simple. You could easily swap in any part you like. The schematic is provided.
My oh my! What a wonderful kit! So detailed, so simple, and sooooooo satisfying!
I built the whole caboodle in less than 20 minutes. For the first time in my audio life, even my wife helped me to assemble it. It’s so cute she just got to participate.
Well, thanks a lot Andrew! Owe you one on this!
29 March 2008 | diyparadise | 1 Comment
