DIY 3 way active crossover: as Christmas Holiday Project

[csom]

Hi Bibin,
I faced a problem as I posted earlier. Here, as you know, no PCB makers are interested in printing a single pcb for a hobbyist like me. They are only interested in the bulk orders from companies and they are right from their stand point.

After a brief and cordial conversation with him, I was finally able to convince him to make this one during his leisure with no time limit or dead-line.

I just had requested him to use the best quality Copper Board available in India for this board. And he kept his promise.

But before that, during the experimentation with PCB size, I had to print several copies of the layers before the final ones ( at INR 20 per sheet )with trial and error method to get them right ( blame it on my GIMP skill). Since I have no Laser Printer at home, I printed them in a local cyber cafe and gave the man for screen printing.

So here is the total cost for this PCB which is quite high for a hobbyist like me from the Indian perspective.

Laser printing charge = 180 INR.
CD = 10 INR
PCB Maker = 250 INR.
___________________________
Total = 440 INR or some 7.98 USD approx I guess.
( and at this price, 2 completely assembled "made in China or Delhi" low wattage audio amplifier pcbs are available here in the local electronics shop, LOL )

Anyways, I started populating the components and now, I found I have not enough stock of 1% metal film resistors and the 2.2nF box type caps. So the progress is slow for the time being. Perhaps it will take some two days more to obtain the remnant components.

I have one question. The vendor is charging me INR 1 per metal-film- resistor seeing my hobbyist-need. Do you think this is a fair price?
And according to you, what is expected price of the box caps ? ( I was charged @INR 4 to 7 per piece earlier depending on the value)

Here is the photo of the progress of my work so far.

[csom]

Originally Posted by bibin3210

.........Which amps are you going to use with this?
thanks,
Bibin

I have 4 TDA2030A amps that I made earlier. And 4 TDA2050 Amps are being used in the system. ( note to self: "never ever use TDA2030A amps. They ARE evil. You will simply fall in love with their sound quality and straightaway discard all your discrete high end commercial music systems that you earned with your hard earned money and then you will upgrade to TDA2050 in need of greater power". :P). I bought 2 LM3886 ICs for the forthcoming project. ( Wow! Another audio fanatic has found home here in DIYAudio forum, it seems :P)

So at present I will play with them after the completion of this xover. .
But as Mooly, our respected and experienced moderator, suggested, after I asked the identical question, I will do a comeplete switch over to 6 LM3886 based amps. But that will take some time due to the cost factor involved.

[tabarddn]

Hi If anyone is interested in a small group buy, I have a source in NZ who is willing to make small runs of 10 boards.
Happy Christmass to you all
Tabarddn

[csom]

Originally Posted by tabarddn

Hi If anyone is interested in a small group buy, I have a source in NZ who is willing to make small runs of 10 boards.
Happy Christmass to you all
Tabarddn

Thank you for the information Tabarddn.
Merry Christmas.

[csom]

Okay, update time.

I somehow managed to find some more 1% metal film Resistors in a shop.
What a job!

I also have had a great difficulty in finding the 20K value.

For the rest, I'm going to use commonly available 5% rated ones.

And the twin RCA PCB mounting sockets are simply unavailable despite my level best effort by searching every nook and corner. Two shop owners emphatically told me that it is an obsolete part and not in production anymore. May be they are right as the design is some 10 years old, I am not sure.

So I will use an integrated 6 set connector set that is commonly used in the rear side of the DVD player and that may require some serious modding of the PCB.

I am also planning to change the X-over frequencies. If the PCB can't survive my torture I will make a new one with the conventional toner transfer method.

I now have a fairly comprehensive idea of the circuit. I studied the circuitry of the ESP site too and I found that they are very identical in many ways as rightly pointed out by sudhir at post 10.

Thank you all, once again, for your constant, kind help and pointing me towards the right direction.

Some rigorous working time now

P.S. Meanwhile, all of you....., kindly don't hesitate to post your experienced thoughts, tweaks, suggestion or guidance, if any.

[csom]

Hi all,

Could you please tell me if there is any PC based audio oscillator with the following features:

1. ranging from 20 Hz to 20K Hz

2. with level control

3. freeware ?

Thank you.

[sudhir kumar]

Originally Posted by csom

Hi Bibin,
I faced a problem as I posted earlier. Here, as you know, no PCB makers are interested in printing a single pcb for a hobbyist like me. They are only interested in the bulk orders from companies and they are right from their stand point.

After a brief and cordial conversation with him, I was finally able to convince him to make this one during his leisure with no time limit or dead-line.

I just had requested him to use the best quality Copper Board available in India for this board. And he kept his promise.

But before that, during the experimentation with PCB size, I had to print several copies of the layers before the final ones ( at INR 20 per sheet )with trial and error method to get them right ( blame it on my GIMP skill). Since I have no Laser Printer at home, I printed them in a local cyber cafe and gave the man for screen printing.

So here is the total cost for this PCB which is quite high for a hobbyist like me from the Indian perspective.

Laser printing charge = 180 INR.
CD = 10 INR
PCB Maker = 250 INR.
___________________________
Total = 440 INR or some 7.98 USD approx I guess.
( and at this price, 2 completely assembled "made in China or Delhi" low wattage audio amplifier pcbs are available here in the local electronics shop, LOL )

Anyways, I started populating the components and now, I found I have not enough stock of 1% metal film resistors and the 2.2nF box type caps. So the progress is slow for the time being. Perhaps it will take some two days more to obtain the remnant components.

I have one question. The vendor is charging me INR 1 per metal-film- resistor seeing my hobbyist-need. Do you think this is a fair price?
And according to you, what is expected price of the box caps ? ( I was charged @INR 4 to 7 per piece earlier depending on the value)

Here is the photo of the progress of my work so far.

That is waste of money dear...better if you had tried first the diy lasetoner transfer method..by the way..the pcb maker charged you very rational price..for components please contact to some whole sellers .
thanks
sudhir

[sudhir kumar]

Originally Posted by csom

I have 4 TDA2030A amps that I made earlier. And 4 TDA2050 Amps are being used in the system. ( note to self: "never ever use TDA2030A amps. They ARE evil. You will simply fall in love with their sound quality and straightaway discard all your discrete high end commercial music systems that you earned with your hard earned money and then you will upgrade to TDA2050 in need of greater power". :P). I bought 2 LM3886 ICs for the forthcoming project. ( Wow! Another audio fanatic has found home here in DIYAudio forum, it seems :P)

So at present I will play with them after the completion of this xover. .
But as Mooly, our respected and experienced moderator, suggested, after I asked the identical question, I will do a comeplete switch over to 6 LM3886 based amps. But that will take some time due to the cost factor involved.

Very correct I love the quality of tda2030.

[sudhir kumar]

Originally Posted by csom

Okay, update time.

I somehow managed to find some more 1% metal film Resistors in a shop.
What a job!

I also have had a great difficulty in finding the 20K value.

For the rest, I'm going to use commonly available 5% rated ones.

And the twin RCA PCB mounting sockets are simply unavailable despite my level best effort by searching every nook and corner. Two shop owners emphatically told me that it is an obsolete part and not in production anymore. May be they are right as the design is some 10 years old, I am not sure.

So I will use an integrated 6 set connector set that is commonly used in the rear side of the DVD player and that may require some serious modding of the PCB.

I am also planning to change the X-over frequencies. If the PCB can't survive my torture I will make a new one with the conventional toner transfer method.

I now have a fairly comprehensive idea of the circuit. I studied the circuitry of the ESP site too and I found that they are very identical in many ways as rightly pointed out by sudhir at post 10.

Thank you all, once again, for your constant, kind help and pointing me towards the right direction.

Some rigorous working time now

P.S. Meanwhile, all of you....., kindly don't hesitate to post your experienced thoughts, tweaks, suggestion or guidance, if any.

For RCA you can search MX Connectors dealers/website. for 20k resister use 2 10k in series.
thanks
sudhir

[sudhir kumar]

What is the cost of lm3886 and on which place ?