Alex's Hobbies

As I need to have a longer RCA interconnect cable for my HiFi. I had DIYed one using the Belden 1505F cable. This cable is suppose to be used for video signal. But, some of the audiophile has use it on audio. It is a highly flexible cable and it very suitable for my application. Below are the pictures of this fine finished product. In term of sound, it seem good enough as compare to my Nordost Blue Heaven. Enjoys.

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While listening to some of my favourite vinyl with my Thorens Turntable. I had noticed some distortion especially when playing the inner tracks.

After some research from the web, happen to come across this Cartridge Alignment Protractors as shown below. It was used for alignment of the cartridge to the turntable tonearm. This protractor could be downloaded for free from the web. However, after the cartridge setup using the downloaded protractor, the sound seem to improve without much distortion at the inner tracks. However, it depends on the vinyl itself, some of the vinyl still encountered slight distortion near to the inner groove. Continue to do some fine adjustment on the anti-skating and the tracking force does help a little but for some vinyl, it just cannot totally eliminated the distortion.  I guess I got to live with the slight distortion at the mean time and enjoys my newly found music.  Cheers!

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The next item which I need to purchase is the cartridge for my newly bought Thorens Turntable. After some research, decided to give Audio Technica AT95E cartridge a try. It came in about a week time.

This is my first time of setting up a cartridge on the turntable. The AT95E came with 2 sets of screws of different length. The screw thread size is 3mm I think. However, the Thorens headshell uses a 2mm threaded screw. So, it will not fit the Thorens headshell. Fortunately, I have a set of 2mm threaded screw on hand. So, installing the AT95E cartridge became not much of a problem. In the installation process, I learnt that I need to measure the resistance of the left/right channel using a multimeter. It reads 411 ohms and  418 ohms respectively for each channels. I presumed it was pretty chose and thus both channels should be balanced.

The sound produces by the Audio Technica AT95E is pretty good in my opinion. The tracking was not really good for the inner groove, but I think it could be due to my lack of experience as it was my first time installing cartridge. So some fine turning maybe needed. Anyway, I will read up more from the web to learn more so that I could improve the sound further. At the mean time, enjoys some of the pictures for the AT95E as below. Cheers!

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After the purchased of the Thorens TD-160 turntable. It is time to get a phono preamp. Happen to come across one of it kind in eBay. I was delightful to find this special TCC TC-754 which came with 4-way input extender and a build in phono preamp. Since I have CD player, FM radio and turntable. This TCC TC-754 is the best match for my use. With this device, I could switch to CD, FM or turntable anytime by just a press of a button. I was overjoyed to see such device in the market. Without further delay, I placed an order for one. Within 3 days it arrived and all was working fine as per planned. Below are some pictures of the TCC TC-754 phono preamp. Enjoys.

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After the success of the DIY HiFi rack. I started to look for more audio equipment to fill up the rack. The only item which I always wanted to try was the turntable. The music from the vinyl really brings back good moments and memories.  Thus, without much delay, I started hunting for a decent value for money turntable.

Initially, I started looking out for used turntable. Brands like Sony, Technics, Sansui, Kenwood etc were among some of the very common brands at the used HiFi shops. Nothing really catch my eyes. I nearly gave up and wanted to go for new turntable instead as the used ones were of very poor conditions. However, the decent new ones are very expensive. The high price forced me to hunt for the used again. After some search in the forum and managed to get the pretty decent one, the brand is Thorens and the model is TD160. This Thorens TD-160 is one of the popular turntable in the used market. However, it does not come with any cartridge and stylus. So, I need to get one for my newly purchased turntable. After some research, I end up purchased a Audio Technica AT95e cartridge for it. The sound is very awesome and I really enjoys every moment with it. Thanks for viewing. Cheers!

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As I am getting more HiFi equipment. My current 2 tiers rack are unable to fit them. Thus, I decided that it is time to hunt for a new HiFi rack.

After a few week of casual searching; those rack which suit for my use are really expensive. As usual, I am not ready to spend too much on a rack; thus I decided to DIY if possible. After some quick google search, I had managed to get hold of a design by the named TNT FleXy table from TNT-audio site. The first look at those FleXy table already make me confirm that this is the rack I will be making.

After some searching,  finally managed to sort out all the necessary material to assemble the whole rack as shown in the pictures as below. To date, this is one of the most flexible rack I had ever seen. I am sure it will last a long time to come. Thanks for viewing and Enjoys.

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