• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

Recent content by PM650

  1. P

    Using a capacitor for voltage smoothing

    Unless your measurements are deviating from the transformer specs significantly (11.6V +/-5% open-circuit), there's no problem. 'Loading' is a relative term - a 50mA load on a transformer rated for 500mA isn't going to affect output much, it will still be close to the no-load rating. What are...
  2. P

    Using a capacitor for voltage smoothing

    How are you measuring the AC voltage? Technically, a true-rms meter should read the same voltage before and after the bridge-rectifier (no smoothing cap), but you should measure it directly at the transformer winding to be sure. I'm not entirely sure what's happening here, even if it's below...
  3. P

    Using a capacitor for voltage smoothing

    Yes, you need a capacitor here, it needs to be rated for greater than the peak voltage you will encounter. If you have a 120V -> 10V transformer, 10V is actually the rms value of the waveform - when you rectify the 10Vrms, the actual DC peak voltage will be 14.1 - 2*(0.65) = 12.8V, which is the...
  4. P

    Upgrading from Z-5500s, need advice on receiver vs. powered speakers, etc.

    iQ10 in walnut ;) (if you don't mind open-box) http://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/KEFIQ10WLN/KEF/Iq10-Two-Way-5-Bookshelf-Speakers-In-Walnut-Pair/1.html Kef continues to make some great speakers to this day, but I don't think the C3s are one of them. Your money will be better...
  5. P

    home theatre setup

    Any sort of budget ranges here?
  6. P

    Upgrading from Z-5500s, need advice on receiver vs. powered speakers, etc.

    This is at the top end price-wise, but the Hsu HB-1s are available for $150 each. http://www.hometheatermag.com/compactspeakers/307hsu/index.html http://www.hsuresearch.com/products/hb-1.html Then there's also the kef iq10 at $289 (wall mounts available), which seem to be $450 elsewhere...
  7. P

    Upgrading from Z-5500s, need advice on receiver vs. powered speakers, etc.

    That HT-RC160 is a great receiver, but it gets very warm at idle - you don't want to be running it horizontally. Are the bookshelfs for fronts, rears, or both?
  8. P

    Am I being plagued by the Capacitor Plague here? (a few photos to show)

    The FJ/FL option came from recommendations in a thread on badcaps (2nd link in my last post). Evidently, those lines were only sold directly to OEMs, so availability will only be overstock being sold off in rare cases; I probably shouldn't have included those in retrospect (guess I should've...
  9. P

    Am I being plagued by the Capacitor Plague here? (a few photos to show)

    I've always used mouser myself, and digikey for anything mouser didn't have. I tend to stick with Rubycon MBZ caps for the VRM (>1000uF, 6.3/10/16V), and Rubycon YXG for the lower-priority/smaller filter capacitors dispersed around the board (typ. 1000uF 6.3/10V types) which I buy on ebay...
  10. P

    Am I being plagued by the Capacitor Plague here? (a few photos to show)

    Those are known defects from what I've read at badcaps over the last two years. http://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=2469 http://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=4654
  11. P

    Upgrading from Z-5500s, need advice on receiver vs. powered speakers, etc.

    Pioneer vsx-519 is a good starting point imo - $200 and will decode hdmi audio (useful for a future home-theater with a blu-ray or htpc), although only 5.1 as Jhalf said. If you can wait until April, the new vsx-520 coming out for $230 and will support decoding DTS-HD/Dolby TrueHD formats and...
  12. P

    Am I being plagued by the Capacitor Plague here? (a few photos to show)

    Now that's what I call a double-whammy :eek: Those caps are not part of the capacitor plague, per-se, which was caused by the flood of board makers moving to cheap taiwanese caps (Elite, OST, Tayeh, Fuhjyyu, Chhsi being some of the most well known brands). Most of those in the pics are Nichicon...
  13. P

    HDMI > TV, TV > Receiver?

    I was hesitant to initially recommend this receiver, but I think the pioneer VSX-519 could fit the bill for only $200 new. It will decode HDMI LPCM streams, so you can avoid having to run digital connections from each source, and still be able to take advantage of lossless formats (providing the...
  14. P

    HDMI > TV, TV > Receiver?

    Well that's unfortunate; does it still do the same if you try to bitstream plain DD/DTS via HDMI from the dvd/bdp? I read about a similar problem on anandtech with another user's tv only outputting stereo via the digital output from the HDMI inputs, guess this is more common than I thought. In...
  15. P

    HDMI > TV, TV > Receiver?

    Yeah, you'll be giving up lossless (and 7.1 capability in this case), but you'll end up with a much better sounding system in the end. If you're still open to going used, you could snag something like a Denon AVR-2307CI for $200-240 (ebay going rate) and get a better overall unit (beefier amp...
See more
Back
Top