audiomaniac
New member
First off, I have to say that I've never built a kit before. In fact, before this adventure, I've never even soldered before. OK so you get the picture...a Newbie, green as grass. But after reading and lurking for months, the Crack/Speedball special got the best of me and it was my Christmas present from my wife. I took my time assembling it and my questions were either promptly answered directly on the board or by researching previous threads. I finished it up the other night and it passed all testing. I plugged it, switched it on and....and............Oh Crap! No sound in the right channel, only a terrible HUMMMMMMM. I knew I could ask for help, but after doing some reading I re-flowed (re-soldered) what I thought might be the problem, i.e. the right RCA, ground, etc. Take two and what's this? Glorious sound! 
It's fantastic! I can't believe how good this thing sounds with my HD650s. It has been so much fun doing this project. Now I'm thinking about doing the Speedball upgrade. Also, I still need to stain it...I've tried already but it looked awful since I didn't pre-stain it....all blotchy. So I've stripped and sanded it to prepare for another try. I've certainly learned a lot doing this, mostly from my mistakes!
The main point I want to make is to encourage those of you who may have zero experience doing something like this. If you have the desire and patience, YOU CAN DO IT! Many thanks to Doc, and all of the Bottlehead crew and regulars. You gave me the confidence to do this. I'm also now thinking about building a Stereomour. This Crack sure is addictive. But you all probably knew that already! 8)
It's fantastic! I can't believe how good this thing sounds with my HD650s. It has been so much fun doing this project. Now I'm thinking about doing the Speedball upgrade. Also, I still need to stain it...I've tried already but it looked awful since I didn't pre-stain it....all blotchy. So I've stripped and sanded it to prepare for another try. I've certainly learned a lot doing this, mostly from my mistakes!The main point I want to make is to encourage those of you who may have zero experience doing something like this. If you have the desire and patience, YOU CAN DO IT! Many thanks to Doc, and all of the Bottlehead crew and regulars. You gave me the confidence to do this. I'm also now thinking about building a Stereomour. This Crack sure is addictive. But you all probably knew that already! 8)
