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Thread: Yamaha NS-1000M A Fresh Start

  1. #21
    Join Date: Jan 2013

    Location: Carlisle - UK

    Posts: 1,956
    I'm Ken.

    Default Update

    I purchased a case and got stuck in.



    I've used a case from HiFi2000 in Italy.
    I made holes for the connector sockets, then got a local engraver to do the lettering, some of which I then paint filled, to colour match the cable plugs I will be using. This makes it less confusing when plugging things in and I'm definitely in favour of that.

    I'm ready to start populating the boards now.

  2. #22
    Join Date: Jan 2013

    Location: Birmingham

    Posts: 6,772
    I'm James.

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Qwin View Post
    I purchased a case and got stuck in.



    I've used a case from HiFi2000 in Italy.
    I made holes for the connector sockets, then got a local engraver to do the lettering, some of which I then paint filled, to colour match the cable plugs I will be using. This makes it less confusing when plugging things in and I'm definitely in favour of that.

    I'm ready to start populating the boards now.
    Very nice job Ken.

  3. #23
    Join Date: Jan 2013

    Location: Carlisle - UK

    Posts: 1,956
    I'm Ken.

    Default

    Thanks James,
    I'm taking my time with this build, especially the little details.
    With the very encouraging results from the lash ups, this should be my end game speaker solution.
    It's certainly better than anything I've owned previously and hasn't any of the traits that interfered with my listening before.
    Just a question of building everything, so finding the time/cash to do it.
    It doesn't help that I just bought a new DAC half way through this build (NAD master Series M51).
    I needed to improve this link in the chain to hear what the speakers can really do.

  4. #24
    Join Date: Jan 2013

    Location: Carlisle - UK

    Posts: 1,956
    I'm Ken.

    Default Update

    .
    Most of the parts arrived, so I populated the main crossover board.



    One criticism I have of Rod Elliotts boards (Also KMTech for that matter) is he packs the components in tight.
    This leaves little room to use more exotic parts, which are usually bigger.

    Still, I persevered and used Polyprop output caps, instead of the Polyester listed on the BOM. I've omitted the output buffer stages and will be taking the filter outputs straight into balanced transmitter boards, this freed up sufficient space to keep the much larger output caps on board the PCB.
    For the filter elements, I replaced the x20 Polyester crossover caps with 1% LCR Polystyrene caps and used x20 1% Takman metal film resistors. I cherry picked both of these from larger batches, to have less than 0.5% total spread in value.

    I matched the resistors on the balanced inputs to be better than 0.1% to give good CMMR.
    The main bypass caps on the power rails were basic electrolytics, these were replaced with Elna Cerafines.
    The monolithic op-amp chips are replaced with discrete ones. The Sparkos Labs discrete device is in place as the input buffer and the Dip8 sockets for the others will allow some op-amp rolling.

    I was going to use sockets for the input/output connections, but when I took one apart and saw how small the contact area was, I decided against it. The leads will now be soldered direct to the boards.

    The trim pots on the HF outputs, will eventually be replaced with fixed value resistors, I may remove the Dip8 sockets and solder the x4 remaining discrete op-amps to the board while doing this. Until the fine tuning is done, I will leave these areas as adjustable.
    Last edited by Qwin; 26-04-2018 at 12:29.

  5. #25
    Join Date: Jan 2009

    Location: Deleted

    Posts: 6,585
    I'm Deleted.

    Default

    Great quality and a great build; I feel confident you will love the results .
    Account Deleted

  6. #26
    Join Date: Jan 2013

    Location: Carlisle - UK

    Posts: 1,956
    I'm Ken.

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by YNWaN View Post
    Great quality and a great build; I feel confident you will love the results .
    Thanks, I'm really just pulling together all the bits that I'm listening to at the moment.
    But doing it neatly in a presentable fashion, rather than the snake pit of cobbled together bits, with jumper leads, patched/repaired boards etc.

    I'm using better quality parts, that are closely matched, but I'm not expecting that to make a big difference, it's basically the right set up for what I've been trying to achieve.

    It wont be to everyone's taste, it still has a bit of the monitor accuracy over musicality, but I'm loving it.

    By the time its finished, this version of the active crossover will have cost more than I paid for the NS1000m's in the first place.
    I wouldn't be spending that amount on them unless I already new, from the prototype lash up, that the results would justify it, this is my end game.

    When I finally get them finished, posh new cabinets to make yet, I will do some bake offs and maybe the WAM show at Harrogate and people can make up their own minds. The folks that have heard my latest lash up have been impressed, time to give it all a new set of clothes

  7. #27
    Join Date: Aug 2009

    Location: Staffordshire, England

    Posts: 37,778
    I'm Martin.

    Default

    Looking forward to hearing these at some point, Ken.
    Current Lash Up:

    TEAC VRDS 701T > Sony TAE1000ESD > Krell KSA50S > JM Labs Focal Electra 926.

  8. #28
    Join Date: Jan 2013

    Location: Carlisle - UK

    Posts: 1,956
    I'm Ken.

    Default

    Macca - Still a lot of work to do, but getting there slowly.

    By the time they are ready I'm hoping to have 4 channels of class D to power them, 700w for each bass driver and 400w for each mid/twt pair. I wont be using anywhere near that, but it will be on tap.

    I have a kind of long term plan that includes the power amplification set up, if it all comes together, some of my current choices will make sense.

  9. #29
    Join Date: Jan 2013

    Location: Carlisle - UK

    Posts: 1,956
    I'm Ken.

    Default Update

    .
    Wires

    I have been using Klotz MC5000 for my balanced interconnects for some time and I have no issue with the sound quality.
    There are however a few drawbacks to using it.

    1. The jacket is one of the largest and too big for the stock Nuetrik XLR plugs, without a slight mod to the chuck that clamps it.
    2. The primary insulation on the conductors, shrinks back far too easily when you solder the wires.
    3. The conductors (0.5mm sq) are too thick to go through the holes in most of the PCB's I've come across.
    4. It's chunky jacket is quite flexible but still not the easiest to manage for short internal wiring runs.

    I made a decision early on, to use the same type of wire along the whole of the line-level signal path, this ruled out the Klotz.

    Instead I turned to the Van-damme cable range, their Microphone cable for balanced Interconnects, Pro-Patch for internal balanced runs and I will strip the conductors out of the Pro-Patch for any hook up or very short internal connections.

    The Classic XKE Microphone and Classic XKE Pro-Patch use exactly the same conductors, the only difference in their make up being the type of Copper shielding and jacket thickness. The 28 strands of conductor are 75% OFC and 25% Silver Plated OFC. The idea being this blend gives you the warmth and richness of copper for mids and a strong bass, with the detailed high frequency that Silver brings. I don't know how much of that is just marketing Hype, but the VD cables have a loyal professional following, so I'm guessing they must be pretty neutral. On the occasions where I've heard VD cable used as Interconnects, it didn't draw attention and just got on with the job, which is what I want. At less than £2/m this is about as exotic as I will be getting. The more experimenting I did on this project, the simpler my taste in cables became and the money saved has been used to better effect elsewhere.



    The Mic cable is a perfect fit for the Nuetrik XLR's, the conductors fit through the PCB holes and the insulation doesn't shrink back, unless you are really heavy handed with the soldering Iron. The Pro-Patch version is thin and flexible, ideal for inside an enclosure, so my choices are made and from a purely practical point of view, will be easier to work with than the Klotz.
    Last edited by Qwin; 29-04-2018 at 10:31.

  10. #30
    Join Date: Jan 2013

    Location: Carlisle - UK

    Posts: 1,956
    I'm Ken.

    Default Driver Appearance

    Some time ago, I made the choice of using the Scanspeak bass driver, due to its superior performance.
    However it doesn't sit well with the Yamaha mid or tweeter styling, so I needed to try and address this.



    As the before and after pictures show, the bass now looks as though it was meant to be mated with the other drivers. But this was not easy to achieve.

    I used paint stripper and carefully removed the paint from the driver frame, not the whole frame, just the top flange. But this revealed a textured finish to the alloy, almost like a fine sand casting. The frame is a high pressure die casting, in effect an injection molding. So the texture is most likely on the mold tool or bead blasting of the post molded part, to help with paint adhesion. Either way I needed the texture removing, so a bit of elbow grease with a sanding block and various grades of abrasive paper did the job. I normally would give a part like this a simulated brushed finish using wire wool, but you don't want that stuff anywhere near a magnet, so I resorted to using a plastic abrasive. I stripped the green plastic scourer off the back of a washing up sponge and that worked a treat.

    The Black screws were replaced with flange head stainless fasteners, I think the end result actually looks better than the featureless all Black original.

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