DCAudioDIY.com

I was told this forum is active and helpful, so here I am! I'm from Westminster, MD and was having trouble finding anybody in the area that was into DIY stuff—I can't believe I haven't stumbled here by accident at least once. I'm a 29 year old technical writer currently working for an electro/pneumatic/hydraulic engineering and manufacturing company in the area ... but would love to write for audio equipment manufacturer/magazine at some point. One day! I've loved music my whole life, play guitar and bass and record on the side for fun, just got into the vinyl revival that seems to be keeping aloft lately (got a Dual 1009 TT), and really look forward to building some cool designs.

I've built three proven designs (and one I "designed") which I've lightly documented over at the Parts-Express forum:

• Curt Campbell's Tritrix (3/4" Oak baffle with 3/4" Oak veneered plywood enclosure, DIY MDF stands) in ported bookshelves for the brother. High WAF, his fiancée loves the oak look, and they sound splendid. The kindle that allowed my DIY flame to grow.

• Paul Carmody's Overnight Sensations (3/4" MDF) in a ported bookshelf, which are absolutely spectacular given their size. I gifted them to my cousin for recording playback at the hobby level and he absolutely loves them.

• A boom box made to fit in the back of a Red Flyer wagon, including a Dayton SD215A-88 in a slot-ported partition—we called it the Sope Box, a play on the owner's last name. It's a hit at all the Ultimate Frisbee events he goes to. I've never designed an enclosure before, so this was an exercise using WinISD and some other programs to see what I got with minimal help. Goal achieved!

• Curt Campbell's AviaTrix (3/4" Purple Heart + 3/4" MDF baffle portions with MDF enclosure) in MLTL form, my current project, sidetracked by a flush-trim bit bearing explosion event (MLCS Woodworking came through and sent a new one) that left me with two Purple Heart port holes to finish up.

All in all, I hope to be able to visit some demos and admire some other (much more talented) DIYer's work, and enjoy contributing to the forum when I can.

Glad you found it Josh, Welcome!

Glad to meet you! I hope we can collaborate of coming projects and figure out how to do new things!
I'm just a little slow getting to things, that's all.

Welcome to the group. If you are interested in writing for an audio magazine you might try AudioXpress at www.audioxpress.com. I have been writing for them for about 20 years and they are looking for new material.

Tom

tomp wrote:Welcome to the group. If you are interested in writing for an audio magazine you might try AudioXpress at http://www.audioxpress.com. I have been writing for them for about 20 years and they are looking for new material.

Tom

Apparently not just any new material. One of our members, you may recall, wrote an excellent article, complete with lots of instructions, dimensions, material list, pictures, etc. on a home built turntable, one which we displayed at the Capital Audiofest, and they refused it since he used a manufactured tonearm, as I recall.

Perhaps an article on a Class D amp.....

Anyway, welcome to the group Josh!

Stuart:

I'm surprised they did not publish it because one of the components was commercial. I have used at least one commercial piece in each of the articles I have done such as the Behringer EQs, crossovers and many commercial amps. They have published everyhing I have submitted the whole time. I have always been careful not to turn it into an ad for the component but rather to stress the performance characteristics of whatever piece was in use and why they were important to the project. I have also done articles that were not construction related which they published. You can submit an idea or rough manuscript and they will reply.

Tom

Thanks for the welcome, guys. I'm pretty pumped to get my current project into the aurally active category soon and give them a few weeks to settle in until I decide on how to finish everything cosmetically.

One huge thing I've learned this time around: don't expect a flush-trim bit to be able to handle 180° worth of material in a single pass, especially Purple Heart. My plan was to measure out and cut the holes on the underlying MDF baffle layer first so they were placed correctly, laminate the Purple Heart baffle portion over the holes, and use the flush-trim bit along the MDF driver holes as a guide to cut the holes out of the PH. Now, I'll just make sure I have a long enough spiraled straight bit with the Jasper jig to go through all the baffle layers at once, one pass at a time. That will also allow me to chamfer the backside of the driver holes for air movement in a more efficient manner.

Tom, thanks for the heads-up on audioXpress—I'll check it out and see if I'm confident enough to submit. I haven't explored enough to see if their audience would be interested in any piece originating from a cheap, basement woodshop-dwelling DIYer that hasn't been enveloped or enticed by the ... I guess I'd call it the CEO bonus-driven? ... category of stereophilism. I look and observe from the outside in, with a 20 year old router in tow, trying to hear what the store glass window can resonate, hoping to catch a few exciting notes from the equipment buzzing inside.

Hope to be able to attend CAF next year and put some faces to screennames.

- Josh

Check out this link for AudioXpress:

http://audioxpress.com/article/audioXpr ... igns-.html

Tom

Tomp,

You can submit all you like, but they turned down my turntable article because it was combining two major manufactured components (tonearm and bearing/platter) and as such was not considered DIY. I could submit an article about comparing the products with others, which I didn't want to do.

So, indeed, the editors rejected my submission and you can see a similar article on this BB under Project Discussions\Guy's Turntable.

...If they can't take a joke.

Guy:

If you would like to try again I can put you in contact with my editor. Stuff does not have to be DIY. The article I did for the March issue was on reamping and had no DIY at all. Let me know what you would like to do.

Tom