I guess I will stick with the Power-86 for my Mod-86 build. I could go with the mini-dissapante enclosures with the Power 86, I would be into a full size dissapante enclosure including max depth. While extra features are nice, I'm not sure I would use them. The Power-86 has an LED out so I should be good.
I guarantee you that the holes won't be on any sort of "standard" hole spacing. I optimize for performance and board size. The "standard" spacing is a nice thought, but I'd hate to lock myself into it and be depending on the manufacturer to maintain the "standard" spacing.
I can easily pull the holes 0.4" away from the rear board edge, though.
Hmmm... I'll look into those. I'd be a bit concerned about losing surge protection if the internal fuse blows, though. I'm not overly concerned about surges, but if I'm implementing the feature, it should work.
It's against the electrical code in both the EU and North America as far as I understand it. It's also not safe. There are many better solutions to ground loops. Using a differential input, for example.
Tom
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>>>Hmmm... I'll look into those. I'd be a bit concerned about losing surge protection if the internal fuse blows, though. I'm not overly concerned about surges, but if I'm implementing the feature, it should work.<<<
I've seen schematics showing an status LED or neon light. When the fuse isolating the MOV goes, the LED or neon light goes out. As I recall, some iTMOVs include a "status" pin to facilitate such an indicator.
>>>t's against the electrical code in both the EU and North America as far as I understand it. It's also not safe. There are many better solutions to ground loops. Using a differential input, for example.<<<
Ah, yes all your designs are set up for differential input. In the words of Emily Letilla, "Never mind."
I've seen schematics showing an status LED or neon light. When the fuse isolating the MOV goes, the LED or neon light goes out. As I recall, some iTMOVs include a "status" pin to facilitate such an indicator.
>>>t's against the electrical code in both the EU and North America as far as I understand it. It's also not safe. There are many better solutions to ground loops. Using a differential input, for example.<<<
Ah, yes all your designs are set up for differential input. In the words of Emily Letilla, "Never mind."
Someone mention oak, here is the front panel of my Mod 86 Par bridged amp..
Proper European pippy oak.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Proper European pippy oak.
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I like wood. We used maple for the house reno, a bit more expensive than oak in my locale. We did clear maple floors, cupboards, mouldings, trim.
Seems very few do maple veneer speakers, oak or walnut were the standards.
It is a shame I have to remove my center piece Ash tree on the front lawn. Planted when they built the house, now 60 years old, damn imported Asian Beetle. $1000+ just to drop it, no clean up, no stump = my job.
On too LM3886, I was looking though my parts the other day, I have some National samples from years back. I was thinking, this chip would be a perfect mod for my Pioneer QX-9900 quad receiver. But it would require a unique pcb for mechanical reasons. I have Bob Cordell's Gain Clone design in his book to work with, but this implementation would even be better. Almost have the design reversed in my head. maybe we can work on a new layout for the QX-9900 if you are interested. I'll do all the work, testing, the layout and schematic in orcad, might take a while (winter project). I'll start anyways with the design, mechanical stuff.
I guess it comes down to, do I have to buy a blank pcb to get the schematic/ layout/ BOM?
Seems very few do maple veneer speakers, oak or walnut were the standards.
It is a shame I have to remove my center piece Ash tree on the front lawn. Planted when they built the house, now 60 years old, damn imported Asian Beetle. $1000+ just to drop it, no clean up, no stump = my job.
On too LM3886, I was looking though my parts the other day, I have some National samples from years back. I was thinking, this chip would be a perfect mod for my Pioneer QX-9900 quad receiver. But it would require a unique pcb for mechanical reasons. I have Bob Cordell's Gain Clone design in his book to work with, but this implementation would even be better. Almost have the design reversed in my head. maybe we can work on a new layout for the QX-9900 if you are interested. I'll do all the work, testing, the layout and schematic in orcad, might take a while (winter project). I'll start anyways with the design, mechanical stuff.
I guess it comes down to, do I have to buy a blank pcb to get the schematic/ layout/ BOM?
I.e., if you buy a board you will receive extensive documentation, including a schematic.
I.e., if you buy a board you will receive extensive documentation, including a schematic.
I just received two boards and they look great. I have been studying the documentation and while extensive and very helpful for assembly it does not include a schematic. I can understand why on one hand but I am also concerned about trying to trouble shoot or repair the amp without a schematic if the need arises. Traditionally with "kits/ boards" a schematic is provided, I don't think paying customers are trying to steal anything so hopefully the schematic can be added at some point.
My only other comment is that the "Mouser Parts List" is great except when Mouser is back ordered or you don't want to use Mouser. Since the Parts List only has the Mouser number in order to figure out exactly what it is you have to look it up on Mouser, find the manufacturer number, then plug it into Digi-Key or where ever. According to the Mouser web sight you can use either the Mouser number or the manufacturer part number in the parts list. Providing the manufacturers part number would be more helpful I think.
My parts arrive tomorrow and I am looking forward to putting the amps together.
Definitely no schematic in the V2.3 documents (some nice block diagrams though).... V2.3 is new so maybe schematic not ready for the documents or more likely a new policy....
I did export the BOM into Excel and did the automatic import to Mouser but the new 2.3 Documents only provide the "Mouser Number" which is similar but different than the "Manufacturer Part Number". The Mouser numbers don't work any place but Mouser but Mouser can use the manufacturer number. It would have been much easier if the BOM had the manufacturer number rather than the proprietary Mouser number as about 6 items were back ordered and I had to go elsewhere to get them.... if you wanted to use any other supplier than Mouser for the entire BOM it would be a big project to look up and convert all of the numbers.
Assemble? Certainly. Repair? Probably not. In those cases I expect folks to toss me an email. It's been working out quite well thus far.
Tom
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Hi Tom,
It's a brave new world. As soon as you sell the first one the secret is out. One unit can be reverse engineered pretty easily. That's better than a schematic since now you have a working model with any production changes.
One of the reasons that Bryston published their diagrams (they were a deep dark secret) was that they wouldn't release a diagram to me to repair a 4B. I reversed engineered it and they went mental over that. It wasn't that long before their product appeared in schematic form on their web site. There must have been other factors too, but I know I was one of them.
It turned out that my diagram matched theirs bang-on. They should have hired me instead. This was when the original 4B was the current model - so a very long time ago.
Anyway, the IP is actually in the board, not the schematic. You know that to be true from your own development of the PC board.
-Chris
It's a brave new world. As soon as you sell the first one the secret is out. One unit can be reverse engineered pretty easily. That's better than a schematic since now you have a working model with any production changes.
One of the reasons that Bryston published their diagrams (they were a deep dark secret) was that they wouldn't release a diagram to me to repair a 4B. I reversed engineered it and they went mental over that. It wasn't that long before their product appeared in schematic form on their web site. There must have been other factors too, but I know I was one of them.
It turned out that my diagram matched theirs bang-on. They should have hired me instead.
This was when the original 4B was the current model - so a very long time ago.Anyway, the IP is actually in the board, not the schematic. You know that to be true from your own development of the PC board.
-Chris
Should you have trouble with your amp (either with assembly or repair) I'll be happy to help. Just toss me an email.
Traditionally kits don't provide world-leading performance. Mine do. 99.999% of customers are honest, but my design (and a complete carbon copy of the PCB) did end up on a Croatian forum. The copy was pixel by pixel. The only changes were to the copyright notice on the board where the copycat took out my name. There's no way for the copycat to create a copy like that without having a board on hand, which means the copycat bought one. Thankfully, the forum administrators were quick to remove the copy design at my request.
I also know of customers who have bought one board and made a few copies for their own use. One such customer was honest and asked me if it was OK. We agreed to a licensing agreement.
Copying my work is no different than copying a music CD. It may be easy but it is illegal.
I agree, however most request Mouser part numbers. They also tend to have the best prices. Unfortunately, they have a hard time keeping things in stock.
I normally provide manufacturer, manufacturer P/N, Mouser P/N on the BOM. The MOD86 project is old enough that I think I originally provided Digikey part numbers, but people wanted Mouser numbers. I can certainly update the BOM to include the manufacturer and manufacturer P/N as I do for all my other projects.
Good to hear. Have fun! Should you need help, just toss me an email. The level of service I provide is something you don't normally get when you buy a kit.
New policy. Rev. 2.1 was the last revision that included schematics.
Tom
I just pasted a couple 'Mouser part numbers' from one of Tom's .pdf BOMs into the search window at Digi-Key and it took me directly to the correct part. This is not difficult. As someone mentioned, you should be able to cut/paste the BOM into Excel and easily manipulate to get the list of manufacturer's part numbers.
In general, Mouser p/n's look like xy-<mfr p/n> or xyz-<mfr p/n>, where 'xy' or 'xyz' are Mouser's internal code for the particular manufacturer.
As to parts being backordered: Right now EVERYTHING in the world of electronic components is in short supply so backorders are very common. If a given part is not available at both Digi-Key and Mouser, check Newark/Farnell/element14 or Allied/RS, etc. Failing that, Tom could probably provide alternative parts from other manufacturers that are equivalent.
In general, Mouser p/n's look like xy-<mfr p/n> or xyz-<mfr p/n>, where 'xy' or 'xyz' are Mouser's internal code for the particular manufacturer.
As to parts being backordered: Right now EVERYTHING in the world of electronic components is in short supply so backorders are very common. If a given part is not available at both Digi-Key and Mouser, check Newark/Farnell/element14 or Allied/RS, etc. Failing that, Tom could probably provide alternative parts from other manufacturers that are equivalent.