The Sanctuary of My 'Spare Room' System!

The Sanctuary of My 'Spare Room' System!

As I've mentioned elsewhere I have two 'main' vinyl listening systems, one in our lounge area which tends to be heard by all and sundry, including our near neighbours and my more intimate 'spare room' system that's been in place for a few years now. How it came together is interesting, a case of 'being in the right place at the right time', in a sense. I was visiting my favourite electronics parts store and they had a set of large three way kit speakers fully assembled for sale as part of a surplus sale at a great price. So I handed over my cash and bought them on the spot!

Now I had a slight problem! I already had a good stereo system but I guess I now had the beginnings of a new one! So slowly the seeds were sown for more DIY and things slowly came together in that spare room. I built a little stereo amplifier kit that used the LM1875 power op amp chips, good for around 15 watts per channel. I had already built one for the home studio in my Ham Radio shack so I knew I could build another one, so I did! I've since built another one as a 'spare back up' but I haven't needed it yet, but it's there anyway! That kit came with all driving electronics, but I opted to bypass the in built audio preamp and I built another one of improved quality, another excellent Elliott Sound Products P88 and power supply, along with a P06 phono preamp and later a P99 sub bass filter, when severe unwanted woofer cone 'pumping' was noted with the large 3 way ported 'bass reflex' speakers.

Thankfully my little 15 watt per channel DIY stereo amp had no problem driving the large three way speakers to 'loud' levels without any distortion or clipping. Visually the electronics look 'interesting', as I call the system my 'breadboard' system as that's exactly the way it's built on small strips of wood, except for the audio power amplifier. I was concerned about the possibility of 'hum' and / or noise with such open construction, but none has eventuated thanks to proper 'earthing'. I love the look of the big old fashioned knobs on the volume and balance controls. Maybe the whole thing looks 'ugly', but to me it sure looks beautiful.....and it works well too. My little 'chip' amp works well, typical of the modern breed. I'm not sure if I'd like to go much lower than 15 watts per channel, but that power level is quite adequate for the application.

I had originally envisaged additional inputs for CD etc, but in the end I opted for one input only, vinyl and that's the way it's remained. It is nice to slip into that room and lay on the bed (it was formerly a bed room/ storeroom and still is, I guess) but now it's also my sanctuary, and listen to nice music away from the 'craziness' of the world! I often have trouble getting good sleep due to some medical 'issues' I have (spinal cord injury), but I find very therapeutic rest in that room laying on the bed whilst nice music issues forth from the system. Mostly it's Classical music stuff like Chopin, Mozart or Rachmaninov played by Alfred Brendel and other fine pianists, but sometimes loud rock has been known to be heard, depending on my 'mood'! It's a nice place to be. More to come! Felix.