[chug]

Well the stretch seems to be getting bigger and bigger, first 3", then 4", now just under 5"

Decided I want the power supply to have its own air supply, wise move I think. Need a right angled main 3 pin psu plug. Hmmmm, thinking I can plug that in the psu which'll be at the front of the case, and dismantle the case feed it out of a cut hole and have a plug hanging out the case like a normal unit would.

PSU is here, and modular. Where to get short cables from though? My MB cable needs to be all of 4" ideally.

[chug]

Well I don't like the PSU, it's not quiet enough. It's not loud, just not silent at idle.

Here it is sat in the case. Should have put the drive in to show what I meant about it fouling, just imagine a laptop drive stick out the front an inch.



Floor is going to be stretched 120mm, give enough space to fit the psu on the top left giving it its own air supply.

The test bed, it runs at least.

[chug]

Well more arseache will this project. I should have read more/any reviews on the psu where everyone said idle was too loud. Think i'm going to send it back, it'll just **** me off. Only option is to mod the fan thus loosing the warranty. Plus side is my stretch can go back down to 70mm. Meaning it can actually fit in its unit (forgot to check that bit when adding 5")

Think of all the extra activities that can be had with this space.

Think I'll go fanless ATX external and modular. Then get a set of custom cables made up braided up to the case or similar, probably use extenders in the case so I can hide it all underneath. If only I could make up a modular type board to bolt to the case. Hmmm.

The noctua/thermalright combo is pretty much silent, idling at 28 degrees and 400rpm. It's autoclocked it at 4.2ghz. Not bad for an old Pentium.

Will be fitting some side usb ports. Disappointed with the board only coming with 6. Considering being real anal and making a box for the sound cards.

Need to do some research and start playing with the VFDs I have. Mainly trying to get that lcd smartie to work.

Wow asus just asked me if I'd like to change my bios picture. That's pretty kool. Now, do we go for the Sega, or a Teac logo?

[popenz]

Man, I really hope that you pull this one off. I wanted to do the exact same thing a few years ago, but I couldn't get hold of an empty Cyrus enclosure to match my amplifier, even though I was so close to getting one from the manufacturer!

Subscribed.

[m715]

Cool project, keep up the good work...
It's neat to see a computer retro fit into something like the Teac.

[chug]

Cheers! Glad it has interested someone at least. The cyrus stuff is also very nice. Would make a nice case! They do pop up broken on uk ebay quite often...

Really like the thermalright cooler though, you get alot of adjustment. I was about to throw my toys out the pram as the gpu suddenly didn't fit. Anyway adjusted everything and there is miles of room. Although I do quite fancy getting a double length thermalright so I can put 2x120mms on there. No one makes one so I'm looking at modding a gpu cooler. Could be a silly idea, but it'll get very hot in there when pushed.

[chug]

My fabricator is waiting for me to give them mesh, which turned up today, but I ordered the wrong sort, anyone starting to notice a pattern? Must pay more attention.

In the mean time, I picked up the remaining Teac AV-H500D which has multi channel analogue inputs for already decoded source, plan being to use the 500i for the front stage, and 500d for the remaining 5.1. Now this little lot came a DVD player, tuner, another cd player and some speakers. Picked up an ebay £1.20 Panasonic surround amp for downstairs, matched with the Mission speakers that came with the Teac setup. Sounds surprisingly good.

Anyway, now thinking I might as well use the DVD case, it is no different other than it says DVD on the drive and and Dolby/DTS stickers on it. More fitting I think.

Another bonus is one remote operates both Teac amps meaning they should work well in 7.1. I loose the time delay on the front speakers, but that is a sacrifice worth making for the Stereo peformance.

Quick comparison on the 500i vs 500d and the 500i wins hand down on Stereo peformance, night and day. The d still sounds good, but not up to par when compared to the i.

PSU has gone back, hopefully they'll refund me without any agg. Correct mesh has been ordered.

[chug]

Picked up a bargain Auzen hd which'll do for the moment untill an hdav1.3 turns up.

Left to buy is a gpu, psu and tv card.

Left to do is wait for my stretch, get the front panel modified with a vfd and get the original power button working.

Mounting everything should be relatively straight forward now the configuration has been worked out.

My only stumbling block is the bluray drive. Doesn't seem to be one thread on there to mount to, unless they use m2, which is possible I guess. Think I'll just make a bracket for it to sit in.

Rob Schneider, he's every-where.

[chug]

Tossers at scan refunded me £20 short on the psu, need to ring them.

My mate laughed when I threw him my slightly scrunched and scribbled "engineers diagrams" and sighed when I asked him to widen the case a few mm. I was sure those scythe slims were 10mm, not 12mm.

Typically a second hand hdav1.3 turns up on ebay the day after I buy the Auzen, don't really like the mini jack out idea. Have to replace my cable set as well.

I had a bid, but it went for a touch more than I wanted to give.

When I realise it's only the software which offers the bluray decoding right? These are all cards that have come out in 2009 and only offer the hd decoding via supplied software, no one seems to have released anything that'll do both the truehd and dtsma formats, 4 years later...

Which I guess opens the door to a better card like an essense or something and hopefully someone will release some decent software that'll play blurays in full hd and in the mean time they'll have to be ripped before played.

Soldered a pc power switch lead to the Teac switch, works. Did the LED, also works but its too bright, and on the actual Teac units they are only on when the units are on standby so I'll just leave that unplugged I think.

Can anyone recommend me a TV card? Blackgold seems to be popular. Doesn't seem to offer windows 8 support though, might just use 7.

[C4B]

As a Hifi-guy I love Teak. Really interesting project.

[chug]

Cheers, no progress really yet. Computer is built and in use in another case - a GMC Noblesse. I bought it because I get to say I'm playing with my noblesse, to everyone. The novelty wore off soon enough.

Just waiting on my fabricator for my case.

In the mean time, I was looking at my cupboard of bits and built a 500 Tuner mini itx PC to chuck on ebay. Same as that 300 unit, with more space, and I didn't break the front panel. Managed to get the original Teac power button to work, and fit a vfd.

Attachment 125613

Attachment 125614

[chug]

Got an HDAV1.3, seems ok, the Canadian $50 Dac destroyer sounds a touch better I have to admit. Considering sending the digital out from the Asus into a better DAC to get the best SQ in stereo. Sounds a bit better than the Auzen, but that had alot of noise so I got a refund on that. Still got it though, so will try removing the opamp, see if that is the issue.

Also been using my setup for films, which consists of a 500i Stereo amp, 500D 5.1 with analogue in, using the fronts on the 500i. Good enough, but after alot of reading 7.1 seems a waste on my setup as there isn't any space behind my seating position. I've only setup 5.1 and its good enough. Not yet come across a 7.1 film.

Anyway think I'll just use the 500d for films now, 2 volume nobs is a pain to deal with - setting up for every film. All in all very happy. £200's worth of old Teac amp and sound cards sounds 100 times better than a £600 full size apparent 5 star rated Sony HT receiver. Only downside is the lack time delay features, and having to use 2 knobs if you want 7.1.