Audio Workbench Tour ~ Purpose Built ~ Novalux Streophonic 2024

[@danhorton6182]

You may not be having an issue with it, but I started a thread on audio analyzers on a forum there was discussion on the proper way of attaching the analyzer. Distortion increased a significant amount when you’re measuring at the load vs directly at the output of the amplifier of whatever you’re measuring. Ray Gianelli made a video after discussing showing the effects. He has the same Panasonic you have and has a similar setup using shielded BNC cables and when measuring at the load vs the output of the amp the distortion nearly decreased by a factor of 10. I found similar results when measuring with my QA403. That may not be that important to you, but just thought I’d mention it seeing as your BNC to the analyzer is coming directly off of the load.

[@NovaluxStereophonic]

Hi Dan, I am aware of this concern and plan to do some AB testing in a future video. Most of the amplifiers that I work on are rated at .03 - .05% THD + N. So far I have had no problem verifying specs and distortion curves but on occasion one channel will go wonky due to the banana connection at the panel. Thank you for pointing this out. It definitely warrants further investigation.

[@jim9930]

That is a really professional, dedicated audio repair bench. Nice touch with the patch bay (balanced/single ended)👍

[@Shuksanaudio]

This bench is a masterpiece. The most functional bench I've ever seen! Thanks for showing us under the hood.

[@Thechriskraft]

Ben, everything looks great. The standout shock moment was at 12:35!

[@vintageaudioreview]

Thanks for sharing your bench setup. So well-equipped, organized and well thought out. I have seen a lot of test benches, including ones at a very popular audio company in CO, and they can't hold a candle to yours except for Audio Precision Analyzers. I think The Sencore Powerite was mainly designed TV repair where 5amps is plenty. Though I don't really need one, I am going to be on the lookout for the PA 81 now. I was very surprised to hear you live in NYC.

[@SteveWalker101]

One bench tech to another, thanks for the detailed description and thoughtful design ideas. I also really liked your Accuphase 5 Part restoration series. Fixing em, blowing them up, fixing em again. Been there, done that. Keep up the good work!

[@NovaluxStereophonic]

Thank you very much for the support.

[@h7qvi]

Most organised bench i ever seen 😂

[@PrimeHiFi]

Fantastic bench, Ben! Even the rear side is squeaky clean. This is what I call a purpose built bench. I will definitely reference this video when I set up in the new lab in the future. I was thinking about doing a small lab tour of my own but I feel totally inadequate now 😂

[@drdyna]

Man I would love to have some of that, like the Sencore stuff. My workbench is a disaster of cheap barely working shit, lol.

[@garygranato9164]

100% he's got some nice stuff

[@FireandFrostHVAC]

Nice bench. I’m working on my new bench right now, there are some similarities between yours and mine. I’ve been fabricating the frame pieces from 1&1/2” 0.120 square tube, and everything bolts together. This is so it can be disassembled and flat packed if I have to move it. It is designed to be free standing and I am placing it in the middle of the room so that it is fully accessible from the rear to facilitate cable runs and easy gear change outs. The shelves are 18” deep. I have a dedicated spot for a PA81 and a SG80 and a Tek 7904 mainframe, but now I’m thinking I could put my (much smaller) Kikusui analog scope in another spot (for the octopus) and free up that space for a deluxe patch panel similar to yours… 😁 Very nice bench thank you for the tour!

[@astaltsev]

WOW! Love it! That is such an inspiration for lots of improvement at my bench. Thank you!

[@onesupremelife]

Very nice, well thought out bench set-up! I love it.

[@PatKauffman]

Great bench and channel!

[@RickyScott-q1w]

Nice set up

[@mariomionskowski6223]

Nice Audio Lab.

[@Edisson.]

WoW 😲 so this is one of the most thoughtful audio repair workplaces I've ever seen 🤔 PA81 and Panasonic, I really envy you (I'm an amateur from the Czech Republic and these devices are financially unaffordable for me). I made almost all the preparations myself, but we have the same Siglent source - it's absolutely great, I don't know how long you've had it, or whether you played the new FW - the new edition can activate OCP with this source and it works perfectly. You also talked about minimizing noise in the workplace, I dealt with that too and therefore I connected all the test cables as directional and it helped. But watch out for distorted distortion measurement results with your combined connection, the amplifier should be connected to the THD analyzer directly (I have a workplace in the same shape as yours including a group connection so that the cables at the workplace do not interfere, but I also have cables for direct measurement). Since I don't have a Panasonic that automatically switches the output for the oscilloscope, I made a 1:1 / 1:10 switch in the 2x300W audio load I made for switching the output for the oscilloscope. Since I have a Tektronix 2465 oscilloscope for audio testing, I also made special compensated cables and if I switch the range on the load, the oscilloscope setting switches to the x1 or x10 range. It must be a pleasure to work in a workplace like yours, so I wish you much success in your work and have a nice day 🙂 Tom Subscription added 😁

[@NovaluxStereophonic]

Thank you Tom! I will certainly be looking into direct measurement with the Panasonic instead of relying on the connections at the load. For my purposes so far it has been satisfactory but I am sure my results are slightly Skewed by the additional connection points. I will try to address this with some A/B testing in a future video.

[@R.AudioElectronics]

Very nice setup! Thanks for sharing.

[@Blueglow]

Nice bench setup, very well planned out. Mind sharing a link to the changeable temperature lighting overhead and under the bench? Always trying new lights myself, hard to find ones that work well and don't cause camera sync issues.

[@NovaluxStereophonic]

The lighting was customized just for this bench. I ordered the power supply and controller from different sources and a friend in the lighting business sourced me some high output tune-able white strips. Unfortunately I do not have access to all of the product details and specifications.

[@QamruddinKhanlove]

hi i am searching this kind of video for audio repair bench for last many years finally someone do this thanks and can you explain all the connection with schematic and please give us the pdf file link for download thanks again

[@paulhall5498]

nice setup

[@RickyScott-q1w]

So cool.

[@garygranato9164]

lol @ "my heat shrink stash" :)

[@kargausa553]

Very nice and well organized setup, I have a few questions since I'm building similar patch panel network. Don't need to re-invent the wheel :) - What kind of RCA plugs and cable did you use (red cable)? - Do you have the brand model information of the XLR patch panel? - What is the BNC panel brand and model? - Which RG-* cable did you use? Between BNC panel and the devices? I was thinking RF-142. Thank you! Great work!

[@NovaluxStereophonic]

The RCA cabling is from a brand called planet waves. It’s made for integrators so that they can field terminate coax quickly. The patch panel for XLR is a generic D style panel that has the correct dims to accept Neutrik D. The BNC patch panel was a generic BNC blank from Amazon, I needed to widen out the holes for the connectors that I used, cinch BNC I believe. I used RG316 and custom terminated most of the BNC cables.

[@Wil_Bloodworth]

Being in a small space in NYC, I'm sure you're limited as to how many 15-A dedicated outlets you have. Are you just mindful of when you use your soldering iron, desoldering iron, and possibly a hot air gun so that you don't trip a breaker? Are you splitting up all of your gear to separate breakers so your test equipment is on one circuit and your "power hungry" and DUT items are on another or are you just dealing with the possibility of blowing a breaker and everything turning off? Are you considering adding any power conditioners and/or UPS solutions to your setup?

[@kargausa553]

Could you please share how did you modify Tascam LA-40 you’re mentioning in the vid? Thank you.

[@kargausa553]

Any comment on this question? Thank you!

[@Wil_Bloodworth]

Love it. Patch panels... are they all generic or do you have some recommendations or "stay away from these" suggestions? Thanks!

[@NovaluxStereophonic]

This patch panel is made up of drop in keystone parts available from multiple manufactures. For the XLR I used a generic D panel populated with Neutrik connectors, BNC was a blank one populated with expensive BNC pass throughs. Basically I used generic metal and higher quality inserts if that makes sense. Keystone and D have the most flexibility and options.

[@Wil_Bloodworth]

Make sense. Thank you!@@NovaluxStereophonic

[@claytonkeltto3239]

Beautifully conceived and executed! Well done!! The patch panel is a masterpiece of organization and fuctionality. And, the sencore gear is excellent equipment. Ive been trying to find a SG80 (have the PA81 and agree, its fantastic, and love my LC77 but have LC102 envy). Were you able to purchase units that worked/were calibrated?

[@NovaluxStereophonic]

SG-80 was near mint, just has some dirty switches that I need to take care of. PR570 works well. PA81 I performed a bunch of maintenance and light cal. LC102 had some bugs but seem to be working themselves out after cleaning the in line fuse holder. SC3100 I just got and needs maintenance and cal.

[@claytonkeltto3239]

@@NovaluxStereophonic thanks for the feedback. Sounds similar. Forgot about pr570...I'm using a pr57...it's good but the 570's are great! Just a bit spendy.

[@jmqwert]

How do you handle shared ground connections on all the equipment? Is the signal gen grounded (siglent sdg1032x)

[@NovaluxStereophonic]

The Siglent equipment is all grounded and connected to the same power strip. If I need a floated signal I can use a cell phone or the VP-7725 but I have not found much need for that. The PA81 has isolated inputs so if so have BTL amplifiers I can load there.

[@GRAYnomad]

Can you post details of that soldering iron timer?

[@GRAYnomad]

@@NovaluxStereophonicThanks.

[@sw6188]

@@NovaluxStereophonic Link is dead - could you update please?

[@NovaluxStereophonic]

​@@sw6188 www.amazon.com/shop/novaluxstereophonic/photo/amzn1.shoppablemedia.v1.63c33591-7cbe-48fa-abb1-596fd6ac2815?ref_=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_aipsfphoto_aipsfnovaluxstereophonic_6EV177J6YMC3ZMSXEDH4

[@sw6188]

@@NovaluxStereophonic That's awesome, thank you. Amazed at the price as well. The only thing is I would need to modify it to work off 230 volts as that's our mains here (NZ).

[@ElectronicMechanic50]

Where do you get all the unobtainable sencore equipment? I've been looking for a while

[@NovaluxStereophonic]

I had saved searches on eBay and was willing to pay market price when the units came up for sale. It took me about 4 years to source all of the models that I wanted.

[@ElectronicMechanic50]

@@NovaluxStereophonic yea they are pricy but I'm sure worth it I really want a pa81

[@jimmewes5535]

Where can you buy the green plastic no mar deep socket set you have at the back of the bench?

[@NovaluxStereophonic]

Love My Switches Rocket Sockets