NYD eq finished! ## PICS ##

Well, IT IS DONE! :grin: Almost a year ago I promised myself this thing would be built by May-05, but then a lot of things came up that left no time for building stuff for myself only.

I can tell you that this is one kickass sounding EQ. I am extremely thrilled! I couldn't even wait to write about it until I had the pics for you, I just had to start the thread already! :wink:

Dave,

THANK YOU!

:thumb: :thumb: :thumb: :thumb: :thumb: :thumb:

Now I do the labeling (Dymo hell!) and take the pics.. :green:

Can't wait for them pics ..

How does it compare to your Sontec EQ?

Show us pics!!!

What inductors did you use?

/Anders

And here she is!



The power supply is in its own box, supplying regulated 24 volts. Dymo labels all the way, suits this kind of gear perfectly! :wink: The panel and box is actually recycled from my old, Pultec-ish EQ I decided to disassemble (visible in this pic at the bottom of the rack:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v240/virtalahde/rakki2.jpg)

I filled all the 17 10mm holes of the panel and painted it with a better color.



And the innards. I'm using Fabio's BA283 outpt driver boards with Lynx AT600/600G output iron.

Very nice sound! The bottom is really solid and there's a nice sheen on the midrange that "draws borders" around instruments and makes them a bit more forward. Not an EQ for a really deep acoustical recording but for digging the high end from a rock mix.. :thumb:

The inductors are Wilco inductors (both toroidal & axial) and the L/C combinations are calculated in a manner where the low-mid band has tighter Q values and the upper band has broader values. Both bands also go broader with the frequency.

No need for any "Q" switching here because of the well-calculated L/C combinations I made. :green: The result is exactly what I wanted: A simple, good-sounding EQ that suits the task "needs more high end" etc. perfectly without too much thinking. Very flexible. You can get the Pultec bass boost, too. Just boost at 140Hz and dip at 135. :thumb:



The inductors and capacitors are soldered directly to the switches and secured against nuclear attacks with hot glue. :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: Completely un-repairable, but it'll be an easy job to replace these filters when the time comes in ~30 years.

How does it compare to my Sontec?

Well, if my Sontec is Mr. Poindexter then the NYD-EQ is Brigitte Bardot. :razz: Both have their uses, the Sontec is for little tweaks and general transparency (I'd call it laid back straight wire with EQ) and this one is definately more colored, though the Lynx iron is probably not as colored compared to St.Ives/Marinair iron. And that's good.

Once again a thank you for NewYorkDave! :guinness:

Oh, I still need a top lid for this thing. I probably have butchered it because I can't find the damn thing. :?

Ghetto-riffic.... Very cool. Sound like a very useful EQ to make

wow !!! that's awesome...

did you exactly build it from daves schematic ??
http://groupdiy.twin-x.com/albums/userpics/10031/passiveEQ1.pdf

what was wrong with your pultec ??
that box also looked damn nice..

[quote author="matthias"]did you exactly build it from daves schematic ??[/quote]

Nope, I calculated my own L/C values and I also have 1dB steps there. Even 1 additional resistor for the -1dB selection. I don't think that .pdf was available some 1,5 years ago..?

I wasn't pleased with the mechanical build quality of the Pultec, so I diassembled it. I just sat down one evening with big cutters and started destroying it. :twisted:

[quote author="Viitalahde"]The panel and box is actually recycled from my old, Pultec-ish EQ I decided to disassemble
I filled all the 17 10mm holes of the panel and painted it with a better color. [/quote]

So, how many hours did you spend to avoid paying $5 for a new piece of aluminum?

Very cool, got to love that "hot glue".

Maybe you could have improved the mechanical build quality of your Pultec with some more "hot glue".....?

[quote author="ulysses"]So, how many hours did you spend to avoid paying $5 for a new piece of aluminum?[/quote]

If you count it that way.. :roll: It's just one piece of crap away from the landfill. Recycling rocks! :thumb: And I'd count max 2 hours for that.

[quote author="Viitalahde"]If you count it that way.. It's just one piece of crap away from the landfill. Recycling rocks! :thumb: And I'd count max 2 hours for that.[/quote]
Dude, it's aluminum. It is actually recyclable. You can throw it in the bin with the beer cans.

I'm not trying to be a dick, but do the math. What is your time worth?

[quote author="ulysses"]Dude, it's aluminum. It is actually recyclable. You can throw it in the bin with the beer cans.[/quote]

What if I enjoy utilizing old crap in my gear?

I'm not trying to be a dick, but do the math. What is your time worth?

Click to expand...

Well, I quess I could have spent that 2 hours scratching my balls. I wouldn't pay more than 20?/h for that. :razz:

[quote author="Viitalahde"]What if I enjoy utilizing old crap in my gear?[/quote]

I think that's great, and I don't mean to beat you up about it (especially when there's that hot glue to discuss...) :shock:
I just kind of assume that we all have the ability, when we're not tinkering on the mad scientist bench, to perform some kind of gainful employment that will establish a threshold for the kinds of things that are worth our time and the kinds of things that aren't.

I heard a story one time from a construction worker about this woman he was working for. She was too cheap to go buy some more nails when they ran out one day, so she told them to straighten out a bunch of bent ones and re-use them. It was her money, so who were they to argue about paying a crew all day to save a few cents worth of trash.

As for conserving the world's resources and keeping the place green and clean... well, what did you fill the holes with?

I'm sorry. I'll leave you alone now.

Jaakko, I feel like a proud uncle. That is so much cooler than the one I'm building. Well done! :guinness:

I promised myself this thing would be built by May-05

Click to expand...

Hey, May 5th is my birthday! Or did you mean "May 2005?"

did you exactly build it from daves schematic ??

Nope, I calculated my own L/C values and I also have 1dB steps there. Even 1 additional resistor for the -1dB selection. I don't think that .pdf was available some 1,5 years ago..?

Click to expand...

To confuse matters even further, the one I'm building doesn't even follow that schematic to the letter. I never seem to really finish a design because I'm always thinking of new tweaks to make. :wink:

Since I drew that schematic--which was only a few days ago--I decided to make some minor revisions, to make the best use of the cheap inductors and three-way switches I had on hand. The "ghetto prototype" I'm working on now has:
LOW: 40Hz shelving, 100Hz shelving, 300Hz peaking
MID: 400Hz, 1kHz and 3kHz (all peaking)
HIGH: 5kHz peaking, 10kHz peaking, 15kHz peaking boost/shelving cut.
Completely passive, no built-in amplifiers.
More details later...

Jaakko, does "Brigitte" use stepdown transformers on the input? As you know, the circuit is sensitive to source impedance--the lower, the better.

come on, justin, quit busting the guys balls. :roll:

nice eq, viitalahde! :thumb:

[quote author="ulysses"]what did you fill the holes with? [/quote]

With some filling stuff I've had for ages.

Don't get me wrong either, I just didn't understand what was the big deal about this. Filling the old panel just seemed like less trouble than going out and ordering (no panels in this city) a new one, which would anyway had needed paint on it. And I feel proud every time I use a part out of the junk pile.

[quote author="NewYorkDave"]Or did you mean "May 2005?"[/quote]

:grin:

May 2005.

stepdown transformers on the input?

Click to expand...

Yeah. I tried a 5:1 Lundahl at first, didn't like it. Then I tried with no transformer, liked it much better. Then I ended up putting a 2:1 Sowter (model 9545A if I remember correctly), which works perfectly.

:guinness:

:thumb:

Good job. I have to come down to Tampere to listen to it some day. I'm going to build one of these myself.

/Anders

those switches look like they have piercings on them... :thumb:

[quote author="kvintus"]I have to come down to Tampere to listen to it some day. [/quote]

Any day! Welcome!

good work?
how do you calculate resistor values to make a +15 -15db CUT BOOST?
Also do you guys recommend the UTC inductors - VIC variable style?