DIY Audio Articles

  IMPORTANT!
A Few Words Of Caution And Essential Disclaimers.

Note: After seven years of articles and reviews, we will no longer be updating this section. Please note we also offer articles from partner magazine Sound Practices at this link.

Spring 2015

  SiebeNCore DIY Stereo Amplifier
In short, yep, it's a rave.
Review By Jeff Poth

  Bottlehead Quicksand Battery Powered Amplifier Kit
A great starter amp kit with plenty of room to build upon.
Review By Jeff Poth

Fall / Winter 2014

  Bottlehead The Quickie Vacuum Tube Preamplifier
A $99 battery powered directly heated triode preamplifier kit.
Review By Jeff Poth

  Dayton OmniMic V2 Precision Measurement System
Speaker measurement made easy.
Article By Jeff Poth

  Thar She Blows!
A glimpse into my current system.
Article By Jeff Poth

  Motorola DCP-501
All-In-One Home Theater Receiver Mods Part 1
Article By Jeff Poth

Summer 2014

  Hypex NCore 400 Amplifier
Enter a great Class D amplifier from the Netherlands.
Review By Jeff Poth

Spring 2014

  Jupiter Copper Foil Paper & Wax Capacitor
Article By By Jonathan Lo

  Quick and Dirty DIY Dipole Surround Speakers
Article By Jeff Poth

  Sony VFETs In Push-Pull Class A Part 1
Common Source Mode, Transformer Coupled.
Article By Nelson Pass

  Vacuum Tube Valley Magazine
Get the entire 20 magazine set for free!
Article By Steven R. Rochlin

  The Beasts In The Wall
The 'piranha' aspect of electricity.
Article By Grey Rollins

  Duelund Cast Pio (Paper In Oil) Copper Capacitor
Review By Jonathan Lo

Fall / Winter 2013

  Vacuum Tubes Part 6
Exploring Cathode Followers As An Output Stage
Article By Grey Rollins

  Vacuum Tubes Part 5
Current Source Topology
Article By Grey Rollins

  Of Broken Mirrors...
And Building Your Own Sound Diffuser Device.
Article By Jeff Poth

  Vacuum Tubes Part 4
Differential: A more elegant solution.
Article By Grey Rollins

Summer 2013

  Vacuum Tubes
Article By Grey Rollins

  Vacuum Tubes Part 2
Grey Rollins takes a closer look at various tubes.
Article By Grey Rollins

  Vacuum Tubes Part 3
Continuing Grey Rollins's vacuum tube analysis.
Article By Grey Rollins

Winter 2012  /  Spring 2013

  Capacitors And Inductors
Article By Grey Rollins

  Bent Audio AVC-1 Modular Remote Control Autoformer Preamplifier
Oodles of resolution, excellent imaging and spatial effects!
Review By Clive Meakins

  Resistors
Article By Grey Rollins

  The Beasts In The Wall
The 'piranha' aspect of electricity.
Article By Grey Rollins

  Sweet DIY Audio Rack Using The Ikea Lack Tables
Article By Vince Di Nenna

Fall 2012

  Bucking Transformer
Reduce line voltage to achieve happy circuits :-)
Article By Jeff Poth

  On Loudspeaker Directivity Part 2
Article By Jeff Poth

Summer 2012

  The Herniator Amplifier
Build your very own high quality Class D amp.
Article By Jeff Poth

  On Loudspeaker Directivity: Part 1
Article By Jeff Poth

  Distributed Bass
A simple execution for the distributed bass concept.
Article By Jeff Poth

Spring 2012

  The Kaboominator!!!
Big bass in your place.
Article By Jeff Poth

  Foaming At The Mouth
Article By Jeff Poth

  Sensory Management Headphones
JUST UPDATED! Ghost of J. Gordon Holt Seen!!!
Article By Jeff Poth

  The Silencer
Article By Grey Rollins

  Passive Radiator Subwoofer Systems
Article By Jeff Poth

  Ultimate Bass Cabinets
Article By Jeff Poth

Winter 2011 / 2012

  15” Woofer Survey…
A Tale Of Three Woofers
Article By Jeff Poth

  Heil AMT1 And The Heil Horn
Article By Jeff Poth

  Rollin’s Twin-T Notch Filter
Taming those devious evil lower frequencies.
Article By Grey Rollins

Fall 2011

  Subwoofer Lowpass II Filter
Using OpAmps and other parts for best results.
Article By Grey Rollins

  Merrill DCA5.5 (Almost) Full Range Driver
Review By Tom Dooling

Summer 2011

  Charge Coupled Crossovers
Article By Jeff Poth

  The Slot Loaded Open Baffle Project
Article By Nelson Pass

Spring 2011

  The Slagle Autoformer Volume Control Modules
Flawless reproduction of ambient clues and amazing spatial impression.
Review By Dick Olsher

  Going the Extra Mile With Coupling Capacitors
Article By Clive Meakins

  Capacitor Musings Part 3
Article By Jon L DIY Audio Kits Reviews

  Single Ended eXperimenter's Kit for Headphones And Efficient Speakers Enjoying superb S.E.X.!
Article By Jeff Poth

Winter 2010

  Aikido Amplifier...
Or how to twist your electron's wrist.
Article By Jeff Poth

  Crossovers: The Short Version
The pros and cons of crossing over.
Article By Jeff Poth

  Building A Budget (Super?) Tweeter
Reaching the stratosphere!
Article By Jeff Poth

Fall 2010

  The Blue Velvet Line Preamplifier
An update to an already great design!
Article By Dick Olsher

  Inigo Phono Stage 1.0
Article By Grey Rollins

  Building Oblate Spheroid Waveguides
Far and away the most difficult project I've done to date.
Article By Jeff Poth

Summer 2010

  Pass The Bofu
Building a transmission line cabinet for the Pioneer 8-inch full range driver.
Article By Jeff Poth

  Creative Sound Trio12
Reworking surplus cabinets to create a new subwoofer.
Article By Jeff Poth

  Regulated Power Supplies
A very important part of every audio project.
Article By Grey Rollins

Spring 2010

  DIY Open Baffle With Widerange Drivers
A.K.A. The third ugliest amazing speaker you'll ever see.
Article By Jeff Poth

  Modifying A Marantz CD-80 CD Player
Taking a CD player and giving it a new lease of life.
Article By Thorsten Loesch

  Modifying Speaker Drivers And The FF85KeN
Article By Jeff Poth

  The Xenover: Part II
Article And Design By Grey Rollins

  The Core Issues
Choosing A Power Transformer
Article By Michael S. LaFevre Of MagneQuest

  A One-Tube Regulator
Article By Mike Vans Evers

Fall 2009

  Repairing Damaged Speakers / Drivers
Article By Jeff Poth

  Merrill DCA 4 And The Zigmahornet
Article By Jeff Poth

  Xenover Ver. 2.0
Article By Grey Rollins

  DIY Room Treatment Devices
Article By Bob Jackson (aka Bob In St. Louis)

  MONOphono Preamplifier
Article By Diego Nardi, Audio Note Italia

  A Homebrew Horn For Dual Concentric Loudspeakers
Article By Roy Hilsley

  The Feral Eye 2A3 Amplifier
Article By Herb Reichert
Schematic By New York Triode Mafia

Summer 2009

  P-amp Ver. 1.0 Headphone Amplifier
Article By Grey Rollins

  Introduction To The Art And Science Of Open Baffle Speaker Building
Article By Darrel Hawthorne Of Hawthorne Audio

  Flesh And Blood The Reichert 300B
Article By Herb Reichert

  Sound Practices Magazine
The Feral Eye 2A3 Amplifier Article By Herb Reichert Schematic By New York Triode Mafia

  VALVE Magazine
The Venerable Dynaco Stereo 70 By Dan Schmalle

Spring 2009

  GedLee Abbey 12 Loudspeaker Kit
Immediately appealing with lifelike dynamics and great clarity.
Article By Mike Galusha

  The Difference Engine Preamp Version 1.0
Exploring a 'secret' circuit called a differential.
Article By Grey Rollins

  DIY Record Cleaning Machine
With bonus DIY cleaning fluid formulas.
Article By Frank Gales

  The T-Rex SET Amplifier: A DIY Project
Article By Dick Olsher And John Broskie

Fall 2008

  My Brief History And Why D.I.Y?
Editor Steven Rochlin's father chimes in!
Article By Eli Rochlin

  Manufacturer Article
A Hybrid Tube-MOSFET Headphone Amplifier
Article By Erno Borbely

  Dayton WT3 Woofer Tester
A fantastic device that delivers everything it promises!
Article By Jeff Poth

  Hawthorne Audio Sterling Silver Iris Duet Loudspeaker
A hand-crafted easy DIY speaker project... or assembled!
Article By Clarke Robinson

  Occam Audio MTM4 (Kit B option)
A fantastic small speaker!
Article by Jeff Poth

  The SSTART Preamplifier
Why on earth would anyone do such a thing?
Article By Grey Rollins

  Capacitor Musings Part 2
Article By Jon L

Summer 2008

  Welcome To Our First Issue!
Editorial By Steven R. Rochlin

  The First Watt B1 Buffer Preamp
Article Written By Nelson Pass Of First Watt

  Capacitor Musings Part 1
Article By Jon L

  Classic DIY!
Max Rochlin Memorial Digital And Video Signal Cable.
Article By Steven R. Rochlin