Greetings from the Garden State

[Ray]

A few years back I notice a new product from an old manufacturer who's name I recognized immediately.

The manufacturer was Conrad-Johnson and the product was the Classic.
The cost was low enough, and, CJ had now moved to using a FET (low impedance) output driver.
..really just a pet peeve of mine..but I'd always shied away from preamps with upwards and over 1k output impedance.

So I replace what was in effect a home built, tube preamp that I'd tweaked, tweaked and re-tweaked over the years to what I at the time felt must have been perfection.

So I popped the Classic in, (not even the SE version) and right off I liked it...and I hate to sound like a CJ marketing shill, but it just sounded right.
hmmm, I thought, maybe I'd better leave building audio perfection to the experts. Fortunately I had not quit my day-job.

As they say, the rest is history, and I know find myself the proud owner of a GAT. ..all indications are that it sounds even more right.

[admin]

Welcome to the site Ray.

Wow, a fellow "DIY tweaker." I think your knowledge of electronics is way ahead of mine if you were building your own preamp. Nonetheless, I like to do some minor DIY projects as well. You can see some of my projects here. I would to see that preamp you build in the "DIY" section of the site. Once again, great to have you hear at CJO!

[Ray]

I'll have to dig around and see if I still have any pix laying around of some of these "creations"

I remember one of the oldest scratch built designs was a simple "buffer" preamp (no gain)
The thing had dual stepped volume controls that I paid a fortune for, a massively over-built power supply..and looking back it sounded pretty average.

Fortunately,early on I realized I'm no designer..and considering there are dozens of basic tube preamp designs floating around the internet, that was the way to go.

nowadays my DIY efforts are limited to things like power cords.... 'just built several "Crump" style cords. Main reason being that it's nice to have exact needed length power cords for that "neat and tidy" look.

[admin]

Ray,
You and I seem to share many hobbies. I recently started making RCA cables for myself as I couldn't find what I was looking for (in a reasonable price range that is). The next thing I wanted to do is make some custom power cables. I just ordered some more RCA plugs as I want to make another interconnect between two of my components as well.

In reference to the power cords, do you have a preference for the cable and connectors? I've been looking at supply stores but many of their higher end products are quite expensive. Ebay has some cheaper options but I haven't decided on which way to go yet. Any thoughts on where to look or on your experiences? Thanks.

[Ray]

I added a brief description of an option for a home-brew power cord in the DIY section.....