New toy: Spanking new ultra portable notebook!

Oh yeah! Got a new toy today, an ACER Aspire 1810TZ ultraportable notebook. There're 3 colours to choose from; a boring/usual black, superclean white and a groovy cool RED and I picked RED! ;)

My last notebook was bought more than 5 years ago and it's still serviceable except that by today's standard, it's too 'slow'..

Nice, isn't it?

I have been doing a lot of reading and research before decising on this. This is currently the 'Best value for money' for ultra portables.. Best part; It came with licensed Windows 7 Home Premium! Way to go ACER!

http://www.trustedreviews.com/laptops/review/2009/11/25/Acer-Aspire-Timeline-1810TZ---11-6in-Intel-CULV-Laptop/p1

Click the above link for a review..

Don't know if there would be any DIY projects before the year ends... we'll see.   

Finally, an oscilloscope!

Thats right! After searching around managed to get one, a 20Mz oscilloscope albeit an analogue one. Should suffice to cater my need for the time being and learning how to use one.. Digital would be good but I could not afford one just yet... BTW, its a secondhand unit..found through mudah.com.my
I have forgotten to mentioned that sometime last week,I got myself an audio generator. Also through mudah.com.my hence the need to get an oscilloscope! ;) 

Shown here the oscilloscope connected to the audio generator. Functional test for both units! This is the first time I fire up the audio generator to check for serviceability. Looks good, yes? :D

Close up of my latest 'toy'. It has two channels!

BTW, it did not came with any manuals.. but its easy enough to operate ;)

Deep cleaning the vinyls/LPs.. yes those black thin disc thingy!

I have been reading with interest a thread at audiokarma with regards to the above..
To cut a long reading short, some wood glue is applied over the vinyl surface.Once hardened, the flexi woodglue 'skin' is peeled off the vinyl leaving the surface spanking clean as all the gunks, gooey stuffs and what nots is lifted off by the hardened wood glue!
Over the weekend feeling experimental.. I did exactly that!
First, I head to the nearest and favourite hardware store and found this:

I picked this because it has to be applied manually.. other are tubed and need to use a pressurised applicator.. this is only a 'small job'. The word 'LATEX' somehow should serve the purpose as I did not want a hardened glue that I cannot peel off.. so far so good.. and it's affordable(read cheap!)

Reading the instructions, should served my intents and purposes.. Magic word here is 'WATER SOLUBLE'.. If things do go wrong.. I know its washable and would not damage my treasured vinyls...!
So far so good... 

To be continued... hang on!

More spending spree... on equipments/tools!

I can't simple refuse good bargains especially if it's in my wanted list.. over the weekend I got two items.
A Weller soldering station and a bench power supply with variable voltage and current with digital display!

Looks pretty good isn't it for RM100? Connected to my DMM, my DMM is showing 24.01V, good enough for me!

This was initially offered for RM100 but with together the above PSU, RM180! Thats RM90 each..

Tested, it works like a charm.. What great buy for the week.. !

Ortofon Super OM20 phono cartridge "Editors' Choice, Highly Recommended"

I just got to know the above just now!
Looks like it was a worthwile investment when I bought the Ortofon Super OM10 years ago! Will need to upgrade by just changing the stylus! ;)
Here's the extract that I want to brag:
"A summary of the review of the Ortofon OM20 Super:
According to The Absolute Sound, the Ortofon Super OM20 has an elusive quality of relaxed, easy listenability that makes it among the most appealing of all pickups. The Ortofon Super OM30 is fractionally more transparent, lively, and dynamic... Both are superb trackers and achieve a level of sonic/musical performance quite disproportionate to their bargain-basement price. Highly Recommended.
At the time of its review, the Ortofon Super OM20 was rated in the same performance category as the Shure V15VxMR."
Read all about it here.

New Project : 5687 tube preamplifier from diyparadise.

I have been fascinated by tube amp for a long time. What prohibits me from owning one is the PRICE! Had a chance to own one tubed headphone amplifier(Made In China product). It was 'okay' and I sold it soon afterwards as it runs too bloody HOT, could surely cook and egg (or two!)

A recent 'groupbuy' was initiated in one of the threads in lowyat.net forum and that rekindled the 'burning' fascination for tube amps that I ordered 2 sets of 5687 and 6X4 for the project! I read about a simple 5687 preamplifier awhile back. Link at the end of the page.

This is the 6X4 rectifier tubes made by National. Was on sale for USD9.95 at tubedepot.

The 5687 preamp tube made by Tung Sol, also on sale for USD9.95 from tubedepot.

Now I got to get the rest of the components.. The bulk of it will the the power transformer.. Will be going to Jalan Pasar this saturday to order a custom made tranny, having 350-0-350 and 6.3 secondary voltages...

my other worry would be the chokes which is part of the power supply.. 

Details of the project is here.

More later...

Tools - Pneumatic!

All these while I have been using  tools, either they're manually operated or electrically powered. A (long) while back I bought a used pneumatic compressor (cheap, I think) so that I can use it to power my future pneumatic tools. Looks like that day has finally come!
Yesterday a hardware outlet near my office, started their annual sale. Most stuffs are between 20%-30% off displayed price and seeing a pretty good offer, I grab myself my very first pneumatic tool; a HEAVY DUTY, reversible air drill made by HASAKI!

This is the label at the side of the box.

The hardware in the box, wrapping plastic removed. Beautiful, ain't it? Can't wait to use it..

The chuck capacity dia. is 10mm.. sufficient for my DIY needs.. I hope!

Saw a Hasaki grinder at a 'good' price too.. may be I'll grab it before it's gone...the sale ends this saturday!

BTW, no progress on the CD transport casing.. yet. I need 'something' which I could not figure out for the time being...

The CD transport casing project

 As I earlier mention, this is what the project is all about:

The CDROM is placed to show the relative size of the boards...

On the left is the perspex/acrylic sheet,on the right a wooden HD chipboard.. I think! :D 

This is the CD transport current temporary housing.. made of cheap/thin plywood.. about 1/8" thickness..

The back of the transport housing showing the connections, etc..

 

This is the PSU for the above. An SMPS(12VDC) and a small 5VDC regulator.

Will definitely need to housed this together in the intended casing/housing..

It's been awhile...

Yeah.. I know.. my apologies for not only updating this blog, but I haven't any much time lately for any DIY!
Finishing up my work for the final month before moving on to a new place, job, position. Hopefully more time is in store for DIY ;)

Have bought an clear acrylic and a 'high' density chip board for the intentions of making a 'proper' casing for my CD transport.. current installed in a wooden casing for testing purposes... testing period has long gone, performance was exemplary for the amount of money paid.. time to give it a real 'DIY' look... errr what ever it is... LOL.

Stay tune folks.. have a great week ahead...

3 Dollar Battery Charger!

Found this project via a link at diyaudioproject forum.
Self explanatory, quite similar to the one I did earlier except this one is only using a single diode hence a 1/2 wave rectification which I think is good to remedy the sulphation problem. Cheapest charger indeed! Come to think of it, this charger can charge other batteries too like Ni-Cd and Ni-Mh... just watch the current.

So, what are you waiting for? Just becareful of LETHAL mains voltage! Enough said.

Extract from the posting:

The advantages of this circuit are:

1. Did I mention it’s cheap?

2. It’s very easy to build.

3. It can charge about any voltage of battery, it doesn’t care.

4. It helps prevent sulfation in the battery.

5. Charge current is adjustable.

6. As a side effect, it provides good light

$3 battery charger! Thank you gogetumnow for sharing!

3 kits in a day!

Shown here the 3 digit counter being powered by the PSU kit.. Everything works the first time! What a day...!


Finally, the timer. Shown here powered and the timer started by pressing the 'START' button. The LED is powered and after a certain time, will go off. The relay during this time will also be energized and deenergized when the timer ends. There's a small pot on the board for small timing adjustments and a switch for Low or High timing schedules.


The completed digital counter. Should be of use in the future projects. For 5 bucks I ain't complaining!


I started with the PSU. A switchable between 9V and 12V. It had a PP3 battery clip terminal which is good as I can use it to replace the PP3 9V battery, which coincidentally is required to power the other 2 kits!
No big deal straight forward construction.


I bought 3 electronic kits last friday because it was on sale and its dirt cheap at RM5! Not that I really need them but heck, the parts alone cost more than that! The 3 kits were; 9V/12V PSU with transformer, 0-100 sec/min timer and 3 digit counter. I am always fascinated by digital circuits with seven segment displays so I'm kinda glad to have bought one.

I finished the first 2 kits within the hour on saturday morning. The last kit was finished in the afternoon..

3 kits in a day! A first!

My headphone - the Sennheiser HD201

Naturally the previous headphone amp was purposely built to drive this, the HD201.
I'd say the HD201 would be the best bang per buck headphone. Of course there are 'better' headphones out there.. and obviously more expensive. I paid RM120 (equiv. to USD36, early figureof 54 was wrong..)
I do not use headphones all the times, rather occasionally when I need the privacy and this is where the HD201 shines.. mostly it is used with my Sony's S7000 DVD player which being the flagship model during it's heyday, has the best built-in headphone amp…
To really enjoy the dynamics and the potential of the HD201, a headphone amp is really recommended, DIY or otherwise!

Here's a review of the HD201, and here.
More info here. Very interesting read.

Pros:
Light weight. You can wear them for hours at length!
Very neutral sounding with slightly bright overall but not too 'fatiguing'..
Very good sound esp. the bass.
Cheap. Best bang per buck

Cons:
The cable can be a tad too long and can tangle things..
May required amplification to realize full potential if your puny little mp3 player don't have enough juice.. but that’s being critical. ;)

Headphone amplifier using TDA2822M

The kit with all components installed.. 'standard' stuffs without any exotic components.. we'll 'see' how it performs later.. Have checked the datasheet. Not bad data and performance figures... if you check ebay, there's a headphone amp kit using the same IC!


The amp powered by a 9V PP3 battery, powering up the first time and using a SONY's PCDP as the sound source. The trimmer pot is shown there installed on the board.. more like a preset to me than volume control! Have to check if I have a spare dual/stereo 10K pot to be used as a volume control (checked, I have!)...


Was on leave today.. and feeling a little 'bored' and nothing interesting to watch on TV, went through my spare parts stuffs and I found a 1W stereo amplifier kit that I have bought 'eons' ago but not built for unknown reasons.. well one reason actually, I have no use of it, yet! Meant for 'bench amp' I decided if it's good enough to drive my Sennheiser's HD201.

Conclusions

I have been listening to it now (housed in a proper casing), which took about an hour to do. Total listening sessions is about 5 hours... just the Sony's CDP as the source (did connect to my notebook for a while). Will update with the finished product soon.

After using a shielded cable for the input connections, a slight hiss which was noticeable earlier during testing has somewhat gone.. very good bass, imaging and depth.. midrange(voice) was breathtaking (Diana Krall CDs) and highs were very well reproduced without overboosting too much.. which should minimized fatigue on extended listening session. At the time of writing I am still listening to it.

All in all.. this would be the best bang per buck headamp! The kit is cheap and listening satisfaction is fantabulous! Two thumbs up. I had a great monday this week... ;)

LDR attenuator, the passive preamp update.

This is actually version one of the project! I was using a multitude of LEDs with different colors and burnt several due to overvoltage! I had a bunch of light green colored ones and it works without much noticeable difference! This version 1 prototype did not last long enough... ;)

This is the two excellent DC voltage controllers(using MOSFET) that I acquired. Working voltage is from 6VDC to 15VDC.. I see a multtude of applications here ;) Suffice to say, it works beautifully in this project!


This is my second prototype I have built to investigate the performance of the LDR preamp. Suffice to say, the initial sound quality that I got was really promising! It had all the SQ that was mentioned. The only quirks that I encountered was the non-linearity of the LDR itself. Evenhough I managed to control the intensity of the light proper but the LDR did not response as linear as I want it to be.. something for me to look into.. The shroud used to isolate the LDRs is not shown here for clarity of the unit.

As earlier mentioned, I was thinking of using alternate source of light instead of the LED which I think did not give linear light control as per original circuit.
After much thinking and hunting.. I found a DC controller based on PWM(Pulse Width Modulation) which would work better than linear control eg. variable voltage control.

Conclusion?
The LDR preamp works great. No wonder diyparadise resorted to digital volume control on their LDR volume control to properly managed the attenuation.
If you don't have any preamp and itching to build one.. go for this one. It is cheap and simple!

VSPS - Quick Update!

Have been burning in the 'new' VSPS for a couple of hours now.. A slightly better and more 'round' sound now as it's using better caps at the power supply side (the Nichicon MUSE).
Major surprise at few hours ago when junior suggested me to replace the current stock opamp, the NE5532, to LT1361 which he 'wrongly' bought..

Initial listening, I did detect some improvements in the low end(bass) department. After few hours has lapse it is apparent now that the bass especially mid and lower bass is much more tighter! Gone now are the 'woolly' bass of the NE5532... and the mid and treble are much more clearer as in more details are being heard. It is now as if I have a different/new set of LPs that I am playing!
Listening now at wee hours past midnight(0130 hrs to be exact) it is apparent to me now that this opamp has improved the VSPS SQ in leaps and bounds!
The imaging is more vivid with an equally improved depth and ambience.. The overall PRaT is totally awesome! I simply could not believe that it's the same vinyl that I have spinning for 25 years!

Conclusion:

Swapping the NE5532 with the LT1361 is making the difference to the sound like day and night!
The best part is, the LT1361 can be acquired for FREE!
Best bang per buck upgrade ever..
Excuse me now.. gotta get more vinyls for tonite.. looks like I'm gonna loose some sleep this weekend.. ;)

VSPS -Version 2

All laid out, ready to roll!

Start with the resistors.. all installed about to be soldered...

The completely populated board..

Close up of the VSPS in the casing minus the cover...

Pic shows where the VSPS is. Beside my beloved SL-2000, 'burning' it in for the first time...

Since I sold off the original VSPS board, I am missing my LPs/vinyls very much.. and a sudden urge drove me to grab my soldering gun and build the kit that I bought months ag..! :D
This so called version 2 has Nichicon MUSE electrolytics 100%!
Pics shows the progress of the built..
Was spinning few LPs moments ago... again and again, it's pretty obvious that nothing beats LPs/vinyls sounds..
More detailed review later...
Enjoy the pics..

Desulfation project-preliminary report

Had some time to spare so I decided to wireup the desulfation circuit..

I had some 'success' for about 3 seconds when something went 'ccrrraaack!'

I jumped but no tripped CBs or blackout house! LOL..

Here's the pic of the damaged electrolytic capacitor, which is now replaced with the right 'working voltage' cap.. hehe..

Now leaving the battery for several hours.. maybe teh whole night tonite before attempting to charge it tomorrow... God willing...

Not in the mood, again...

Last week bought some stuffs to build a lead acid battery 'desulfation' circuit. I have one 'maintenance free' lead acid that was left depleted for awhile and I was unable to get it fully charged. My charger goes hot with the voltmeter flicking vigorously after awhile. Since the battery is quite new, I guessed the battery has been a 'sulfation' victim. There is still hope yet (I think!)
This is from one of the threads in diyaudio.. still nothing has been done on top of my ldr attenuator among the few DIY that I have 'kiv-ed'..
This week someone close had passed away(no not MJ, but a someone in the family) hence more 'not in the mood' syndrome!

Will try to do something this week as there's gonna be a gathering planned on the 18th. ..

History of my speakers - Part II

Next come the B&W DM23.
It was on sale at Peat's Electronics.. Having checked that it actually cheaper that the UK price equivalent, I grabbed the chance. Either it's on sale or wrong price tag placed(happened before on some other items). It was the only pair at the shop! Owning the B&W is like owning a BMW! I was kinda proud of achieving such a 'high' audio standard with this speakers.. Compared to the 'tiny' Ditton 100, this speaker is really monsterous! So is the sound!

I have heard and tested other British made speakers, not that they are not good, they somewhat did not satisfied my 'taste'... I did found another pair later but let's keep that for part III! ;)

The Ditton 100 was sold to a friend for a mere 40 Irish pounds.. (I got it for 80 pounds)
With 3 way crossover network and 'huge' bass driver and a bass reflex port, I could give the Celef Studio One a run for the money! (The Celef was only a 2 way speaker but with infinite baffle design) I would blast away on sundays until my amp was really hot that I could fry an egg on it.. well not fry but enough to warm my hands in winter...! :D
Still a 'bookshelf' albeit it's size, it needs a proper stand to realise it's full potential. I made my own DIY stand for it now it sings like never before.. the bass was 'delicious' with vocals and highs superb to my likings... I was in bliss for the time being.
By this time I have already upgraded by turntable to Dunlop Systemdek II, with an AT30e MC cartridge. The amp have been 'upgraded' to Technics SU-V4K bought 'cheaply' from a friend who got it from Singapore...

As happy as I am, still something is still 'missing' which I could not put my finger on.. I live on this setup for about a year until...

Note: again the pix is not of the actual speakers owned by me but from a website.. ;)

History of my speakers - Part I

Some update is better that no updates, right?

My very first speakers bought was the Celestion Ditton 100.
'Tiny' bookshelves that was driven by the infamous NAD3020. Who would not owned a NAD during that time? ;)
Source was a Technics SL-D2 direct drive TT and a Technics RS-M215 cassette deck.
Year: 1980-81

Quite serve the purpose being the low end range of the Ditton series. I was only a student back then and was living on a scholarship of an equivalent of 260 Irish pounds a month!
Definitely no earth shattering bass.. mid especially the vocals was okay. It suits the 'budget' system..
Since I am a 'bass head' this good set was soon replaced because I was 'upset'as my room mate was blasting away with his Celef Studio One.. the bass was really 'earth shattering' and I was terribly envious....

Note: The picture above is not the actual speakers owned by me. This one was taken from ebay.. ;)

VSPS - disassembly

Empty! Well almost. Ready for the next 'transplant'. Planning to work with the PSU today... Will update soon..

Close up of the blue LED power light arrangement.. This is going to stay put.

Out of the casing with signal cables desoldered...

Shown here, the cover removed. Kinda 'sad' to remove a good performing component but it's going to a new home. A forumer bought the board to replace his onboard phono preamp which was not 'working' properly...

Some work done awhile ago.

Removed the original VSPS version for a next board 'upgrade'.

Happened to have a spare T-Amp? An Ipod? A single phase motor? read on...

If you happened to have all the three of the above, you can actually do THIS!.
I am curious if this thing really work or not but heyyy, this is DIY! :D
It is good to know that someone's grey matter can be working 'outside the box'. Not an easy or usual thing to do but I guess we DIYers have this capability when we are short of 'things' if you know what I mean.. ;) We can be very resourceful !
For all intents and purposes, at least this might give us an idea to something else..
Who would believe a T-Amp to drive a motor! LOL.

DIY- The best so far...

DIY turntable and tonearm!
Have been thinking about this since my Systemdek II was out of action a long while back.
Buying new turntable, a really audiophile grade is financial suicide! LOL. Hard to explain to the missus too! ;)

I got this link from diyaudio.com

Have a look!

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread/t-35189.html

Man! If only I have the time, money and energy.. ;)

Safety - An interesting read.

I got the link from diyaudio.com
Eventhough the article was written with tubes application in mind, we can take a point or two about hazard and safety when working with mains operated equipments. I had a fair share of being shocked while doing my DIY stuffs. Safety is paramount, let's be safe and alive to enjoy the fruits of our passion and labour!

The link: http://www.justradios.com/safetytips.html

Ramblings and another T-Amp!

If you have noticed, I've put up a new flag counter. The old flag counter went 'kaput' some time last week. That link was from "webseomasters" and their server seems to be 'dead'.. there goes my data and I have to start all over..

Earlier I wanted to puchase a LEPAI amp.- a Tripath TA2020 chip based amp. You might be aware that I have the 'smaller' power TA2024. Currently the 'supplier' of the LEPAI amp is waiting for new stocks to arrive...

This is an interesting read from some LEPAI user that did some modifications to the unit.. There's also a thread at diyaudio.com..

Here's the link: http://ta2020.huuryuu.com/index_e.html

Despite all the stuffs I got last week, there were absolutely NO progress whatsoever either the VSPS or the LDR volume control.. I am in this 'not in the mood' mode for DIY for the time being.. I may start with the PSU for the VSPS. Building a PSU is always my favourite past time.. we'll see how it goes...

GALE3030 - Further listening impressions

The Gale was set up in another system consisting of a Technics SU-V7K (80W RMS per channel) amplifier. Source are lossless files played by a PC and digitally decoded by an external DIY DAC, PCM58.

Compared to the Monitor Audio R252 that was in the same position, the sound is much much more neutral with well controlled and defined and extended bass. No subwoofer was used as the earlier setup was using one. Details were excellent albeit a little laid back sound stage! With louder volume, the overall sound does not 'shriek/shout'like the R252.. Then again, its no comparo.. the R252 is a bookshelf!
The 3030 is just like a well behaved 'gentlemen'.. That much I can say. It takes the pounding without much resistance and hesitations. Honestly will NOT induce 'fatigue' with long hours of listening pleasure...

Picture shows the size comparisons between the two floorstanders.. BTW, I got the 3030 at almost half price I paid for the RTL3! In terms of overall performance, if the RTL3 is a BMW M5, the 3030 would be the 3 series equivalent..

The Gale is currently being evaluated by Junior.. wait for the final conclusions!

GALE3030 Listening Impressions

I just had about an hour worth of listening with the GALE.
I'd say it's a 'smaller' version of my RTL3. Nice and sweet midrange and top. Sound stage was excellent and a very vivid depth! The bass if compared to the RTL3 is not overwhelming and sufficient for the complete enjoyment of the music. However the lower end were a bit 'woolly' probably because it is not on the spikes. The spikes was not installed as I do not want to scratch my well polished broken marble flooring!
Picture shows the GALE taking the place of the RTL3 position. Source was from a DIY CD transport using an IMATION CDRW drive with drive controller digitally feeding an Audio Alchemy's Digital Decoding Engine v1.1(DAC) powered by my DIY STK hybrid amplifier with a buffer preamp. All interconnects are DIYed including speaker cables.
I would have agreed with the second reviewer on the speakers being suitable in a 'small' room. But do not be misled the term 'small' and the size of the speakers! For a small speakers it sure sound BIG/HUGE! Reminds me of the ProAc Tablet speakers...

More later... need to hear more music on this baby.. ;)

GALE3030 Speakers

The latest HiFi gadget I just bought, a pair of GALE3030 speakers! Not new but a very good condition used unit. Picked up from the owner's house this afternoon. A YAMAHA AV amp was thrown in for 'free'! This is the third pair of speakers in my possession after the Monitor Audio R252, and TDL Electronic's RTL3. All of these are british made speakers! They don't make speakers like they used to, eh? ;)

Some description from the Net:
These finely tuned floorstanders are designed to give a deep, punchy bass, without compromising the sparkling treble response. And, boy do they sound good.

Features of the Gale 3030 include:
Nominal Power - 100 Watt RMS
Frequency Reponse - 39 Hz-20,000 Hz
Sensitivity - 90 dB
Impedance - 8 Ohm
Magnetically Shielded
Bi-amping
Woofer Material - Paper
Woofer Size - 5.5"
Tweeter Size - .98"
Indoor
Mounting - Floorstanding
Exterior Color - Black, Brown

REVIEWS:
1. "Reviewed by gary gilbert on 26/01/2008
As every ones ears, like their taste in food differ! i think i have a great taste in speakers. so three years ago`ish i visited my favorite sweet shop for grown ups! and sampled their wares. i was looking for a slim pair of speakers to fit nicely in my bed room. listened to the gale 3030s and knew straight away they were just right. i paired them up with a pair of missions i also use and the sound is excellent! from jazz to classical even dance music. these speakers are powerful enough and smooth enough for anyones taste! i have owned quite a few pairs of speakers over the years and these are precise, tight and the base is just right. i admit the missions are a bit too bassy when the volumes up! but these gales are more refind and balance my system out quite nicely. i think these 3030 gales are well worth every penny the £150 i spent! but as i say we all have different taste!"
(4 STARS)

2. "Reviewed by Angryman on 24/06/2006
I've had these for over a year and i cannot get over at how good they sound. Bass, Trebble, Mids... these speakers can produce it all at an affordable price in a nice compact package perfect for Bedrooms or smaller rooms. Will not shatter your windows as they distort at loud volumes but for my liking they are loud enough and the sound quality allows me to appreciate every style of music. Highly Recommended, except for really large Rooms.
(5 STARS)



The 'soft dome' tweeter.. high frequencies sound good on this... ;)

The single woofer (as opposed to two on my current RTL3). Not a huge unit, but I guess it would be sufficient.. we'll know when I test it tonight!

The back showing the terminals for biwiring/biamping.. note the missing metal connectors. Need to 'manufacture' 2 pairs so that I can test/audition the speakers tonight!

Saturday's goodies...

5X 100ohm 1/2W resistors for the LDR project, 10x 1cm PCB supports, 2.6V bulbs and socket for the LDR project experiment...

15 pieces of RCA sockets. Got 10% discount if I buy more.. hence the quantity. I actually need 4. Good for future use.. hehe

This is a 'normal' version XLR type connectors.. (cheap)

On the left is an original(read expensive) Neutrik XLR female socket with a not so original XLR male plug...

The new casing bought beside my original VSPS... same casing,same quality but 'slightly' cheaper.. ;)

Seen here is the almost complete power supply to the VSPS. Minus the cover and wires and plugs...