Sydney Audio Club Meeting - April 2023
Sunday 16th April 2023: Bill Louey (one of our members) will be presenting his home designed system, including DIY 350W MOSFET Class A-B mono-blocks and Rogers LS6 2a Speakers.
Sydney Audio Club meeting report for Sunday 16th April 2023
This month’s meeting is a part DIY ‘home grown’ system from Bill Louey, one of our members.
Bill is very passionate about his Music and HiFi, and its truest reproduction. Bill’s DIY customised/re-designed and built Amplifier is a 350 Watt Class A/B symmetric dual Mono Block configuration - the main circuit was originally designed by Randy Slone, and it was called the Optimos. The under-the-covers view reflects meticulous wiring and placement, with full cast heatsinks and copious quantities of Electrolytic Caps managing the power filtration, and the requisite Soft Start circuit to allow powering-up without overloading domestic power circuits.
Bill’s only source for the presentation was a Dell Inspiron Laptop and portable CD drive, with Foobar 2000 software providing (DSP) Digital Signal Processing, then feeding through a Topping D90se DAC.
Two different sets of Speakers were demonstrated, being Paradigm Reference Series Studio 20v5 stand-mounts, and some older Rogers LS6 2a’s. The Paradigm’s were demonstrated without any DSP influence but Bill preferred to introduce an element of DSP for the Rogers, to mildly correct the frequency response. Bill had also fabricated a set of DIY twisted-pair speaker cables in-play.
Both speakers filled the room, probably somewhat due to the 350 Watts on-tap. Bill’s sample music included some Classic, Irish Folk and Trad Jazz arrangements.
Bill was also offering some of his equipment for sale.
Before moving to the break John McEvoy presented Ruth Wilson with an Honorary Life Member award, for her continued meeting services with home-cooked treats – Afternoon Tea was (naturally) accompanied with a bevy of Ruth’s home cooked slices and brownies. Congratulations to Ruth.
The Members Section continued with some similar genres but also a notable comedy feature (from John McEvoy), in recognition of Doug Mulray’s recent passing, was Doug’s rendition of Bimbos Pizza and Gloria. The meeting concluded with a DSP In / Out comparison with Dire Straits – Money for Nothing.
Thanks to Bill for sharing his equipment and passion with us.
Also noted; The Sydney Audio Club is being represented at the upcoming Australian HiFi Show at the Sydney Novotel Central from Friday 28th through Sunday 30th April.
Picture: Bertrand Braganca (President) and Ruth Wilson (new Life Member) presenting Bill Louey with the Sydney Audio Club Certificate of Appreciation.
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This month’s meeting is a part DIY ‘home grown’ system from Bill Louey, one of our members.
Bill is very passionate about his Music and HiFi, and its truest reproduction. Bill’s DIY customised/re-designed and built Amplifier is a 350 Watt Class A/B symmetric dual Mono Block configuration - the main circuit was originally designed by Randy Slone, and it was called the Optimos. The under-the-covers view reflects meticulous wiring and placement, with full cast heatsinks and copious quantities of Electrolytic Caps managing the power filtration, and the requisite Soft Start circuit to allow powering-up without overloading domestic power circuits.
Bill’s only source for the presentation was a Dell Inspiron Laptop and portable CD drive, with Foobar 2000 software providing (DSP) Digital Signal Processing, then feeding through a Topping D90se DAC.
Two different sets of Speakers were demonstrated, being Paradigm Reference Series Studio 20v5 stand-mounts, and some older Rogers LS6 2a’s. The Paradigm’s were demonstrated without any DSP influence but Bill preferred to introduce an element of DSP for the Rogers, to mildly correct the frequency response. Bill had also fabricated a set of DIY twisted-pair speaker cables in-play.
Both speakers filled the room, probably somewhat due to the 350 Watts on-tap. Bill’s sample music included some Classic, Irish Folk and Trad Jazz arrangements.
Bill was also offering some of his equipment for sale.
Before moving to the break John McEvoy presented Ruth Wilson with an Honorary Life Member award, for her continued meeting services with home-cooked treats – Afternoon Tea was (naturally) accompanied with a bevy of Ruth’s home cooked slices and brownies. Congratulations to Ruth.
The Members Section continued with some similar genres but also a notable comedy feature (from John McEvoy), in recognition of Doug Mulray’s recent passing, was Doug’s rendition of Bimbos Pizza and Gloria. The meeting concluded with a DSP In / Out comparison with Dire Straits – Money for Nothing.
Thanks to Bill for sharing his equipment and passion with us.
Also noted; The Sydney Audio Club is being represented at the upcoming Australian HiFi Show at the Sydney Novotel Central from Friday 28th through Sunday 30th April.
Picture: Bertrand Braganca (President) and Ruth Wilson (new Life Member) presenting Bill Louey with the Sydney Audio Club Certificate of Appreciation.
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Dear members and friends of Sydney Audio Club,
The next Club meeting for 2023 will be held on Sunday 16th April with products showcased from member Bill Louey's home built system.
System Description:
Source: Dell Inspiron 15 running Windows 11 and foobar2000 with a portable USB CD drive.
DAC: Topping D90se. This was bought from Melbourne Chi-Fi at the best price offered online or at eBay.
This has been the best measured DAC on earth! For RCA, Dynamic range is 127dB@1kHz. THD+N is 0.0008% @20-20kHz. For XLR it is even better by about 6dB. Subjectively, the sound of the Topping D90se has little colourations, is very detailed, accurate, airy and musical. There are numerous measurement reports and reviews online, and this has been one of the most talk-about, highly raved DACs in recent times, at an amazing price fixed by the manufacturer at USD$899.
Power Amplifier: DIY 350W MOSFET Class AB mono-blocks. The main circuit was originally designed by Randy Slone and it was called the Optimos. Bill Louey customized it and made enhancements in a number of areas using some of the lesser known and rarely implemented techniques discussed in DIYAudio forum from many enthusiastic audio electronic engineers. Bill also designed all circuit boards and the amplifier's power supplies after extensive spice simulation. The amplifier chassis was built by Ray Moncay. The amplifier has been compared to a number of commercial amplifiers valued at $10,000 and the sound of this amplifier was immediately preferred each time. Subjectively, the sound of the amplifier has little colourations, is very detailed, accurate, airy and musical.
Loudspeakers: Rogers LS6 2a
Rogers speakers were famous and extremely popular a few decades back when Rogers produced a series of monitors, including the legendary LS3/5a, used by the British Broadcast Corporation (BBC) as studio monitors. The Rogers LS6 2a sit at the lower price range but was considered the best sounding speakers for budget speakers those days. IN 1990, Bill bought the pair when the 3 main hifi houses in Sydney: Len Wallis, Audio Connection, and Audio Excellence, all recommended buying this pair of speakers as the first audiophile speakers. However, Bill bought a pair of Rogers Studio 1A from Joseph / Audio Connection not long after, so the Rogers LS6 2a were rarely used. They now still have a condition like new, which is very rare. The RRP in 1990 was $1600. From an inflation calculator, in today's money the price would be $3889.
Cables:
USB cable: Supra USB cable 2.0. $119 from A1-Future Shop, Sydney
RCA cable: DIY cable using Belden 1694F and $8 WES Components RCA connectors.
Speaker cable: DIY cable using 12 awg tinted copper industrial electrical cable, twisted. eBay $5 screw-on connectors.
Formats supported: Up to 64bit audio files DSD, flac, WAV, etc. Standard CDs in 44kHz. For hybrid SACDs it will play only the standard CD layer.
For people who would like to play files, please bring in a memory stick and arrive 10-15 minutes before the meeting and help copy the files into a temporary folder in the laptop to save valuable meeting time.
The second half of the music sessions will be our popular BYO. Members and guests are welcome to offer music to share with us all. So bring along your favourite music on CD, SACD or USB thumb/flash drive can also be played.
All we ask is that the music and recordings be interesting. We'll ask you to tell us a little about the artist/recording before it is played. Tracks over 6 minutes will be faded out, to give everyone a fair go.
Whether you are a novice or a seasoned veteran, you will have the opportunity to listen, learn and share your experiences with others. Feel free to come and hear the capabilities of the system, or to just share the experience with like-minded music lovers in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere.
Guests are welcome – we are a very friendly club so you don't need to know anyone to join us for an afternoon of fine music and sound.
Venue: Epping Creative Centre, Dence Park
Address: 26 Stanley Road, Epping
When: Sunday 16th April 2023.
Doors open from 1.45 pm to meet and chat with members before the meeting.
Music Meeting starts at 2pm and finishes at 5pm.
Please sign-in in the visitors’ book. You are not required to wear a mask but you may wish to do so.
Hope to see you there on Sunday.
John McEvoy
Meeting Co-ordinator
Sydney Audio Club Inc.
W: http://www.sydneyaudioclub.org/
FB: <https://www.facebook.com/sydneyaudioclub>
The next Club meeting for 2023 will be held on Sunday 16th April with products showcased from member Bill Louey's home built system.
System Description:
Source: Dell Inspiron 15 running Windows 11 and foobar2000 with a portable USB CD drive.
DAC: Topping D90se. This was bought from Melbourne Chi-Fi at the best price offered online or at eBay.
This has been the best measured DAC on earth! For RCA, Dynamic range is 127dB@1kHz. THD+N is 0.0008% @20-20kHz. For XLR it is even better by about 6dB. Subjectively, the sound of the Topping D90se has little colourations, is very detailed, accurate, airy and musical. There are numerous measurement reports and reviews online, and this has been one of the most talk-about, highly raved DACs in recent times, at an amazing price fixed by the manufacturer at USD$899.
Power Amplifier: DIY 350W MOSFET Class AB mono-blocks. The main circuit was originally designed by Randy Slone and it was called the Optimos. Bill Louey customized it and made enhancements in a number of areas using some of the lesser known and rarely implemented techniques discussed in DIYAudio forum from many enthusiastic audio electronic engineers. Bill also designed all circuit boards and the amplifier's power supplies after extensive spice simulation. The amplifier chassis was built by Ray Moncay. The amplifier has been compared to a number of commercial amplifiers valued at $10,000 and the sound of this amplifier was immediately preferred each time. Subjectively, the sound of the amplifier has little colourations, is very detailed, accurate, airy and musical.
Loudspeakers: Rogers LS6 2a
Rogers speakers were famous and extremely popular a few decades back when Rogers produced a series of monitors, including the legendary LS3/5a, used by the British Broadcast Corporation (BBC) as studio monitors. The Rogers LS6 2a sit at the lower price range but was considered the best sounding speakers for budget speakers those days. IN 1990, Bill bought the pair when the 3 main hifi houses in Sydney: Len Wallis, Audio Connection, and Audio Excellence, all recommended buying this pair of speakers as the first audiophile speakers. However, Bill bought a pair of Rogers Studio 1A from Joseph / Audio Connection not long after, so the Rogers LS6 2a were rarely used. They now still have a condition like new, which is very rare. The RRP in 1990 was $1600. From an inflation calculator, in today's money the price would be $3889.
Cables:
USB cable: Supra USB cable 2.0. $119 from A1-Future Shop, Sydney
RCA cable: DIY cable using Belden 1694F and $8 WES Components RCA connectors.
Speaker cable: DIY cable using 12 awg tinted copper industrial electrical cable, twisted. eBay $5 screw-on connectors.
Formats supported: Up to 64bit audio files DSD, flac, WAV, etc. Standard CDs in 44kHz. For hybrid SACDs it will play only the standard CD layer.
For people who would like to play files, please bring in a memory stick and arrive 10-15 minutes before the meeting and help copy the files into a temporary folder in the laptop to save valuable meeting time.
The second half of the music sessions will be our popular BYO. Members and guests are welcome to offer music to share with us all. So bring along your favourite music on CD, SACD or USB thumb/flash drive can also be played.
All we ask is that the music and recordings be interesting. We'll ask you to tell us a little about the artist/recording before it is played. Tracks over 6 minutes will be faded out, to give everyone a fair go.
Whether you are a novice or a seasoned veteran, you will have the opportunity to listen, learn and share your experiences with others. Feel free to come and hear the capabilities of the system, or to just share the experience with like-minded music lovers in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere.
Guests are welcome – we are a very friendly club so you don't need to know anyone to join us for an afternoon of fine music and sound.
Venue: Epping Creative Centre, Dence Park
Address: 26 Stanley Road, Epping
When: Sunday 16th April 2023.
Doors open from 1.45 pm to meet and chat with members before the meeting.
Music Meeting starts at 2pm and finishes at 5pm.
Please sign-in in the visitors’ book. You are not required to wear a mask but you may wish to do so.
Hope to see you there on Sunday.
John McEvoy
Meeting Co-ordinator
Sydney Audio Club Inc.
W: http://www.sydneyaudioclub.org/
FB: <https://www.facebook.com/sydneyaudioclub>