Thanks for the comments folks. The enclosure is barely warm even after being on for 6hrs. I bought this enclosure from an ebay seller called sep-store, it's the third enclosure I have bought from him, and probably wont be the last.
I am feeding the DCB1 from an external passive pre which I built some time back. It has a miniature stepped attenuator (dact 21) and an Elma rotary selector switch fitted. It seems to work very well with this buffer and my JC-2 preamp clone.
I'll try connecting the switch LED to pads for the power on LED on the board, probably tomorrow. If that doesn't work well enough, i'll try tapping off the positive rail. I don't like them to be bright so i'll use whatever combination of feed & resistors gives me the best result.
I am feeding the DCB1 from an external passive pre which I built some time back. It has a miniature stepped attenuator (dact 21) and an Elma rotary selector switch fitted. It seems to work very well with this buffer and my JC-2 preamp clone.
I'll try connecting the switch LED to pads for the power on LED on the board, probably tomorrow. If that doesn't work well enough, i'll try tapping off the positive rail. I don't like them to be bright so i'll use whatever combination of feed & resistors gives me the best result.
Thanks freeman! I just connected the domestic supply earth to the enclosure to comply with the safety regulations.
The signal ground feeds are connected to the grounding on the DAC & phono stage through the passive preamp via the interconnects. The signal out grounds are connected to the power amp's signal grounds also through the interconnects.
It is quiet as a mouse when no music is playing so I don't think i'll bother with any further grounding.
The signal ground feeds are connected to the grounding on the DAC & phono stage through the passive preamp via the interconnects. The signal out grounds are connected to the power amp's signal grounds also through the interconnects.
It is quiet as a mouse when no music is playing so I don't think i'll bother with any further grounding.
Thanks Marra, I get good results with the DACT 21 attenuator so I think i'll pass - for now anyway 
I have not as yet been stung by customs, it's over two months now since I got the first enclosure. They are probably adding up a huge bill to send to me in time for Christmas knowing my luck
Hopefully they wont bother, the enclosures are quite cheap and I got them weeks apart so fingers crossed eh.
EDIT - I just checked my ebay purchase history and the purchase date for the first enclosure was the 5th of August so maybe they wont bother, time will tell I suppose.
I have not as yet been stung by customs, it's over two months now since I got the first enclosure. They are probably adding up a huge bill to send to me in time for Christmas knowing my luck
Hopefully they wont bother, the enclosures are quite cheap and I got them weeks apart so fingers crossed eh.
EDIT - I just checked my ebay purchase history and the purchase date for the first enclosure was the 5th of August so maybe they wont bother, time will tell I suppose.
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5.50 euro in Italy just for the clearance fee! + duty + VATThe annoying thing being that Royal Mail fees were double the custom duty!
Not so good Marra, it seems to be a game of chance.
Roughly 5 years ago, I got charged more by customs (for handling etc) for a vinyl lp I got sent from the US than the record cost me to buy. It's made me quite cautions about buying from the states ever since. They must loose a small fortune in sales every year because of this.
A guy I know once got a $30 shirt sent over from the US by a relative, it was a birthday gift but the sender forgot to mark it as a gift item.
The poor guy got a bill from customs weeks later for almost as much again for his own present, he had to pay it or go to court so no choice there.
Roughly 5 years ago, I got charged more by customs (for handling etc) for a vinyl lp I got sent from the US than the record cost me to buy. It's made me quite cautions about buying from the states ever since. They must loose a small fortune in sales every year because of this.
A guy I know once got a $30 shirt sent over from the US by a relative, it was a birthday gift but the sender forgot to mark it as a gift item.
The poor guy got a bill from customs weeks later for almost as much again for his own present, he had to pay it or go to court so no choice there.
5.50 euro in Italy just for the clearance fee! + duty + VAT
Not good! I suppose they want to protect local retailers somehow which kind of makes sense but only if you can get the item/s you need in your own country.
I spent several days looking for a supplier of suitable enclosures in the UK and had no luck. I did find the small extrusion type cases I used for my passive preamp and headphone amp in the UK. I always try local first before going to overseas suppliers.
That'll be rip-off Britain for you, greed turned up to 11
Anyway, to return to the topic of DCB1 land. Has anyone had grounding issues with their build?. I'm not keen on connecting PCB 0v to chasis ground if I don't have any noise issues but then I use a separate feed and return for each channel. The returns come together only at the molex connectors pin at the board. I found that with my JC-2 pre I got hum when I used a shared return for both channels. Rewiring it the way I just described sorted that problem totally.
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Thanks Shaun! working great and no hum or hiss at all.
Well pleased mate, ta very much indeed, glad I could do it justice.
I would like to thank Shaun (shoom) once again for his very kind gift of the board and the matching JFETS. I probably wouldn't have got around to building this without him.
Well pleased mate, ta very much indeed, glad I could do it justice.
I would like to thank Shaun (shoom) once again for his very kind gift of the board and the matching JFETS. I probably wouldn't have got around to building this without him.
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Some pictures of my DCB1 Black build. This was an easy build with an excellant quality board. First impressions are very good, it's open, transparent, dynamic and very quiet. Thanks to everyone involved
Nice job. Enjoy.
Cool
BTW I am designing a different layout that would hopefully allow me to close the case and consider the project closed. So I am trying some different stuff as final touches.
I am considering a Hammond split bobin transformer in place of the toroid, but I can find one only on 14 or 18V. 18V should be too much taking into consideration the extreme hotrodding.
Will 14V be ok? Or should I try something like Giatras?
BTW I am designing a different layout that would hopefully allow me to close the case and consider the project closed. So I am trying some different stuff as final touches.
I am considering a Hammond split bobin transformer in place of the toroid, but I can find one only on 14 or 18V. 18V should be too much taking into consideration the extreme hotrodding.
Will 14V be ok? Or should I try something like Giatras?