Hello from Dubai...

[nickds1]

...where it hit 51.5C on Saturday

Another refugee from AT where I'm/was known as "Jack" to differentiate me from the other Nick. Long time member there. Been to Owston, had stalls at Audio Jumble, done stuff.

AT, IMHO, has spiraled into the abyss - sad really - I have closed my account. One day, may go back - I hope to (as I really like most of the other members), but not while the current toxic & petty environment continues.

I'm an engineer! Background as an EE (with physics & maths) - long time designer of SS kit, last few years have decided I rather like valves, so work with them too.

Most certainly not a purist - I pick whatever technology I feel best suits the aims of the current project in terms of solutions and sound. I design & build speakers, amps, line stages, whatever - I just like to design & build the whole signal chain myself. I also like to (try to) understand why something sounds the way it does and consequently will always question absolutist statements. I've carried this ethos into designing & building our own eco-house, and we'll shortly be building another.

Having said that, the main house's distributed audio is all Raspberry Pi 3s, Max2play, Vortexbox, IQaudIO DigiAMP+and only the uFonkens are from the workshops Oh, and rebuilt Quad 405-2s & ESL63s and other amps, speakers & stuff... lots & lots of... stuff.

Audio is a small part of what I do - mainly it's micro-power IoT environmental monitoring (mostly using TI MSP430s and similar), beekeeping, security & IT for serious financial organisations, and drive in the desert, hike in wadis, climb mountains when we can and travel. We travel a lot.

My far better half is a linguist who speaks many languages, including Arabic - she works with refugees in the UK & elsewhere - I work for a substantial (but below the radar) organisation that is the largest funder of anti-child slavery projects in the world and which is the third largest (after the USA and UK governments) funder of treatments for neglected tropical diseases - in the last 10 years we have treated over 280 million people. There are other massive projects too.

But I still like audio...

[walpurgis]

Hello Nick. Welcome to AOS.

Hmm, 51.5 Celsius? Definitely a bit too warm for me. I'd not cope with that!

Sounds like you have an interesting time. I do like your comment about questioning absolutist statements. Very little, if anything, is absolute.

Anyway, join in the fun and chat with members, this is a friendly place. And if you have any projects on the go, we'd like to see them.


Enjoy the forum,
Geoff.

[struth]

welcome to the site Nick. Hope you enjoy it. 51 is close to the record temp... nasty at that level.

[nickds1]

...And if you have any projects on the go, we'd like to see them...

Thanks for the welcome.

I'm not good at writing up projects, but I wrote up a couple of small ones on http://www.desmith.net/NMdS/Electronics - the Quad 405-2 rebuild is there and some other small stuff.

Most of the rest is in forum posts on AT or elsewhere - many other projects around the web - mostly HV stuff to do with solid-state Tesla coils & EM can-crushers etc.

Currently I'm working on an ultra-low-noise heater supply - there's a lot of tech in it and hopefully it'll sound good too - specs are 2-20V @ up to 10A, ideal bridge, SMPS pre-regulator, ultra-low-noise linear secondary regulator, current sourced (Hi-Z) floating output (can be biased +/- 1kV), programmable slow start and shutdown, opto-isolated power-good out and power on/off input.

Because of the use of the ideal bridge and pre-regulator, efficiency should be very high (c. 90%) and power dissipation very low - one of my pet hates with DHT and other purely linear supplies is the huge heat output, coupled with switching noise from the bridge and transformer ringing etc. (although that can be mitigated with suitable snubbing) - this is all well documented by Morgan Jones and others in Linear Audio and elsewhere. There are some cool features too, like true linear current increase during soft-start, not the usual simple RC model - much kinder on a cold filament...

Another advantage of an SMPS regulator is that I may make it a buck/boost, i.e. it could be possible to use a lower voltage xfrmr winding to drive a higher voltage heater... buck/boost is a more complex configuration requiring more real estate and adds to what is an already complex project - this is a nice to have, not must have.

There are a lot of engineering issues to work through, specifically with managing any EMI (not that big a deal), but I have a bunch of 6C33Cs and 13E1s etc. that need a good, compact, efficient heater supply... The prototypes are looking and sounding good but there is a bunch of work still to do.

As I'm mostly out of the UK and away from my workshops now, it's unlikely I'll have boards for others before the year end, but I'm always hopeful

[nickds1]

...should have mentioned that I'm heavily into cold-cathode stuff, specifically making neon signs (I also do glass blowing) and lots of nixies...

I run the Google! neonixie-l group (the main place for such things - been going for 17 years) which is very active.

Some of the stuff I've made:

GPS synched 6 x Z568 clock
20140218_145913_resized.jpg

Neon "LetterBox" present for SWMBO with reclaimed oak and zebrano box (had fun getting those joints right)
2014-12-26 13.33.23.jpg
attachment.jpg
2014-12-23 18.12.26.jpg

ITS1A Thyratron clock (rare tubes)
IMG_20151227_232313-1280x960.jpg

I have a huge collection of nixies (over 100 types), and used to trade in them...

[RobbieGong]

51.5 !! heck ! Me wife n teenage daughter's will be over next week.
Knew it would be hot but that's nuts even for us sun lovers.
Any tips for the hols greatly appreciated - apart from the obvious stay out of the mid day heat, cover up and so on

[nickds1]

It's cooled down a bit at the moment - days are mostly around the mid forties but it's nearly 10pm here ATM and still 39C.

Noone who lives here goes outside for any time during the day. It's really not good - the beaches etc. are just too hot.

Lots to do for visitors - what sort of ages are they and what do they like doing?

[RobbieGong]

It's cooled down a bit at the moment - days are mostly around the mid forties but it's nearly 10pm here ATM and still 39C.

Noone who lives here goes outside for any time during the day. It's really not good - the beaches etc. are just too hot.

Lots to do for visitors - what sort of ages are they and what do they like doing?

They're 14 and 18 like shopping. We all like nice food and drink that doesn't cost the earth.
I heard about the top of a mall or something where they do all sorts of food, pizza etc a lot cheaper than the hotel prices?

[nickds1]

There's two HUGE malls - Mall of the Emirates and Dubai Mall - both are massive, both have food halls with loads of restaurants.

I'd go to Dubai Mall and have your evening meal at Wafi Gourmet, a great Lebanese restaurant overlooking the fountains and the Burj khalifa - eat there about 6:30 or later and sit outside if you can - the fountains are amazing as is the Burj khalifa, plus the food is authentic and reasonably priced. Nice place.

Ps. You can't drink alcohol in many restaurants and never outside.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

[RobbieGong]

Nice one Nick, all noted