Another disgarded battery box project completed.

This will be used on the CXNv2 balanced outputs to supply the Zkit1 in the office. Trying to figure out how to route the wires now. The easiest would also be the longest route. There is 50' of 22 gauge signal cable connected now all sprawled out on the charoit's floor. It measured a resistance of .9 ohms. The sound is strained during transients with the pre out on streamer volume set at 85%. At 50% it is better but shows signs of conflict at times. The streamers preamp is also used to feed the whole house system using unbalanced rca outs. So, it's going to be the hardest way as usual 😪. That will cut the cable length to about 20 feet. But, there is 4 conductors in the jacket. Tying those together will effectively up the gauge to 19. I think in the interest of CXNv2 preservation a short route with 19 gauge will have to be.

The birds are singing the spring song of new life. Time to get out in the great outdoors. A lot was accomplished over the past months. Some pics of those and unique views follow:














































































John

Man, JBZ! That place, pizza and your beverage of choice on speed dial - what else do you need?

How do you like those ESS bookshelf speakers? I’ve been looking for a large bookshelf for my office setup. Currently I’m using Omega Outlaw Open Back, which are great for music, not so great for dialogue on videos. Your opinion, please?

Thanks, Randy

That’s OK, JBZ. I quite often have multiple projects going at a time, and not enough energy to keep at them. I was mainly interested in the ESS speaker, as I have a pair of Heil AMT that I want to do something with eventually. Most of the ESS speakers are too big for my purpose. I’m mainly looking for a large bookshelf for home theater. I think that I’ll start a topic - maybe some of the wizards on here have good experience with such an animal.

Thanks,
Randy

Thanks guys for the comments; you too Tony .

I'll try to post a video sometime Geno.

If any of the forum members are in the Pittsburgh PA area for a visit, there is an open invitation to have a listening session in the Chariot. Just give me a heads up and we can work something out.

Winter will not let go of its grip. It is 21 degrees here this morning! The good news is it gives more time to progress with the vision of a finished listening room. Ha! Really::)

In that cold time the Otari was fixed tracing the evasive 24v DC capstan motor supply to a circuit board switch. Deoxit fixed it.

Also, the Decware system extension to the whole house/tech shop is complete with full control by phone. The sound has been improved dramatically with Zenhead help! Some pics of my implementation:

16v transformer energized with a switch outlet from the JVC receiver for the whole house system. Had the tranny in the bins and needed to make a cover for the 4x4 box saving me a trip to the hardware store.


Another battery box attached to the bottom of the Zenhead box. Moved the 9 volt card to it along with a 12 volt ac relay energized with the 16 volt tranny. The 47 ohm resistor in series dropped the voltage to within 10% of the relays coil voltage.



The Zenhead.


The shop system fed from the other leg of the Y adaptor of the Zenhead. The CXNv2 is a powerhouse with all the inputs and outputs it provides. Unbalanced outputs are used for the Zenhead. Balanced outputs are used for the office system. Optical output is used for the Chariot.


The Decware flavor shows thru it all! Thank you Steve for your insatiable creativeness!

PM sent Dom.

As always….love the setup.  I enjoy going back and forth between my towers and my bookshelves.  My bookshelves do a great  job with club, rock, and EDM music…whereas my towers shine with classical, jazz, rock, blues, and vocals.  I think it’s because of the clarity I get out of the tweeters.  So I’m looking forward to your impressions on how the sound develops in your space.

Dom

Spun some David Sanborn last night. His Backstreet album is a high energy hot recording. With the Ortophon 5mv output into the ZP3 followed by the CSP's input and output level controls set at 3 o'clock and main volume at 9 o'clock fed to a wide open SE84 with 25th mods, one would find it hard to believe that only 2.5 watts was driving the 87db ESSs! David's album does not particularly showcase finer detail but is well recorded and powerful.

There was some noticeable comb filtering during a couple complex passages. The Crystals behind the ESSs are acoustically coupled with the ESS placed about 2" directly in front. The bass is solid forming well defined notes. I'm not really impressed with the mids which seem a bit hard. This might be cured with a crossover upgrade. Highs are crystal clear; maybe a bit too much lacking finer delicacy.      

Moving along into the meat of things. Two of bobc's Zkit creations bridged powering the DJ subs, the Stoke DAC at over 60 hours with the Ocean caps, and 4Krow's upgraded C-9. Hearing some solid tunes from sub bass all the way up to shimmering highs. Captivating. Also foretelling of how important it is to boost the sub frequencies that inturn accentuate all of the above frequencies.

The grills came out ok with high gloss black. I tried to smooth out the dents from use and abuse over the years but there are still a few


The made up wire consists of (4) lengths of 16 gauge speaker wire held together with shipping tape for each leg. This assembly should work well slid between the carpet and thin felt pad. Found two 250' rolls of this wire at the local flea market over the summer. One was the 16 gauge; the other 18 gauge. It is true copper! Not the aluminum clad with copper that seems to be prevalent these days and sells for about the same price as copper 25 years ago. I have plans to use the 18 gauge to replace the bulkier 12 gauge under the carpet now for the HT subs. The 12 gauge runs result in a noticeable bump in the carpet.

The zwave devices are finally hooked up with inclusion complete and working fine with the covers installed. The sub speaker wires are installed under the carpet and DJ subs in place with refinish completed. The wire routing went surprisingly well - not so much for automation.
I installed the knee walls two days ago and everything checked out fine. Went down yesterday and found that one relay in the left Zooz Zen 16 Zwave device was not providing 120 volt when initiated. Had to regretfully open it up again and after some troubleshooting with failed attempts of fixing severed wire ends it was found that a 120v lug in the device had sheared off from over tightening. The device is not built with American standards and not really designed to be used with solid copper wire even though it appears that way. The lugs actually sever solid copper wire by design if tightened in a normal fashion required when doing house wiring. Doing it several times over the years this particular device was used in my adventures, caused one of the lugs to break away into pieces from the circuit board mounting. It was easily patched once figuring out how to open it!



More pics to come shortly. Hopefully get bobc amps seated and hooked up today.

I had a long day yesterday but managed to get a couple of hours of listening time in. It has been a couple of weeks of turmoil.
The sub system adds in-time sublimity to the system that was not present in the past. The power knee wall benches add 32 recepticals to the Charoit's system. That makes a total of 56 recepticals. Thirty nine recepticals are in use and seventeen are not. There are plans for five of the unused recepticals. A few lights and an actuator for the TV panels are in the works. The rest of the plugs will be there waiting for who knows what my mind conjures up!


The left DJ sub in place all nice and shiny. I purchased speaker paint for the subs but just decided to paint with flat black wall paint. The only issue is handling can leave white marks from dead skin


Bobc's Zkit1 inspired hard wired amp installed on the right bench. Glad to have those Bob!


The left bench with TV sound curtains in the listening position.

Moving to the next pile of stuff in the tech shop that was acquired this year, I finished another project with a profound effect to the texture of sound. During this past winter there was a thread that centered around ground boxes. Some of the folks here found a relatively inexpensive box that connected to an unused input of DACs. The conversation got my attention creating a thirst for knowledge of the workings of such a simple device that does not complete any normal electrical circuit but can change the character of my system. Oops, getting ahead of myself.

Forum member Will joined the conversation giving his experience with ground boxes when I questioned the validation of this box and compatibility in my system. I retained some of his experience and found some interesting reads and builds of ground boxes ending in the purchase of some rocks last spring along with basswood. That material sat on a tech shop shelf until a couple of days ago



It took a few hours to break the crystal rocks down to the size Will recommended. Most of the rocks were desirable for this project in a purchase found on Amazon. The crystallized structure which lends to the piezo effect are the ones used for this project. The other rocks with a more sandy dusty composition were not used and fortunately not plenty in this lot. A tack hammer and small anvil on a clamp mount vise was used. Some of the crystals shattered easily while most required hits at different angles. I found a good hit on the pointed areas worked well.



Basswood also displays piezo effect(more then most wood). A package of 6×4×1/16 inch was purchased for the box. I glued up two layers for strength. This made a workable box that held up well during assembly of the ground box complete. A finishing hardwood wood box to fit the basswood box would make it more durable. As is, it would most definitely break into a multitude of pieces if dropped. Also, a heavy copper cap was used to increase the contact with the crystals. It looks to be a 3" copper sweat cap. It was found for a quarter in one of my many visits to fleamarkets this summer.



Undoing the copper weaved sheath took some time. The braided wire was salvaged    from old high quailty video ICs. The ends that will be installed in the box are soaked in 5% vinegar to clean making  better contact with the crystals.



The finer spoils of the broken crystals was used at the bottom of the box to help seat the cap. A few strands of wire was soldered to the cap.



Strands of wire are worked into crystal rocks when filling.



The assembly resting on the left power bench. The lid will need sealed(glued) eventually. The box weights over 5 pounds. Lifting it with the garment peg is asking for a mess being it is just tightly fitted. I may add some different piezo material that has been ordered for future projects down this rabbit hole..



A plated crimp lug was used to connect the Stoke DAC to the box.



The sound difference was immediate. Texture in layers is a good choice for the difference it makes. It needs to settle in before any judgements can be made. Dead Can Dance was first up with striking drum skins that are more vivid then without the box. This seems to carry thru with all instruments and voices. 30 minutes into the album there was static discharge heard thru the speakers. A one two punch that only could be the result from breaking the crystals up. I think. It has not happen before or again in the 10 or so hours of listening since. A little better shot of the Charoit showing the box in place.



Less than $40 was the total cost of the project for crystals, wood, and copper cap
I had the rest of the materials laying around. So far a cheap mod that is paying off big. I was listening to Sarah McLachlan's Freedom Sessions CD last night while writing this post. It was an album that I've used over the years to judge systems. It became a total distraction forcing me to set the phone down. Chills developed. Never happened before in the many years, times, systems this album was spun(including the Charoit).