enclosures..

[Keyoke]

So where's a good place to pickup enclosures? I know about par-metal and thlaudio.com.. I actually like some of the stuff that's at thlaudio, but I don't want to deal with the overseas ordering..

Anyplace local to the US that makes a decent enclosure? I thought about the hammond enclosures, but I'm not sure if they have the removable face-plate.. drilling the plate while it's already on the chassis isn't something I really want to deal with.

Ideally, I'd be able to have someone like 'front panel express' (http://www.frontpanelexpress.com/) make the front/back panels..

Thoughts?

[Nordic]

I don't think a chipamp, is worth that expense...

[DcibeL]

I do believe that the expense is worth it, if the end result is exactly what you want then cost is not such a major factor.

Any Hammond chassis I have used has had a removable front and back plate. Also check out ATI .

[SRMcGee]

Keyoke:

I built four gainclones in enclosures supplied by Horace Atkinson at iagaudio.com. I mapped out the holes that needed to be drilled (3 of various sizes on the front panel and far more on the rear) and sent him a diagram. The cost to have him do it was minimal -- quite a bargain, in fact.

Incidentally, his chassis are exceptional-looking and very well built. The photos on the website don't do them justice.

Regards,
Scott

[Nordic]

Some nice stuff there Scott, Although I'm a firm believer a case should not cost more than its contents...

I love that chromed base for a valve amp.

[lgreen]

I recommend either-
(a) par-metal ("Antek" on ebay sells them too)
(b) getting a broken or cheap hifi item on EBay and having frontpanelexpress create front and/or rear panels for you. You can discard the originals and no one will know that the case is a denon/pioneer/ whatever. My Gainclone is acually a Kyocera CD player with a new front panel. That said make sure you can flush mount a front panel on the old component, some are easier than others in how to do this. You can use black spraypaint like rust-o-leaum to "erase" the prior back panel if you want.

[Nordic]

Its pretty easy to apply a wood veneer over an old amp's face, and to spray the rest matt black...

[phn]

Originally posted by Nordic
I don't think a chipamp, is worth that expense...

I don't understand that reasoning at all. Lots of tube amps aren't worth the additional cost of potted transformers, yet people buy hem all the time.

Originally posted by Nordic
Some nice stuff there Scott, Although I'm a firm believer a case should not cost more than its contents...

That puts the T amp crowd in a very tight spot.

I think you shouldn't spend more than 10 pct of what you paid for your speakers on the amp. While I firmly believe that, it just doesn't work in practice. I sold a pair of speakers costing 3-4 times as much as the ones I have now. By that logic I should sell my current amp and by one costing 1/3 of the price.

You should buy and spend whatever you want. No more, no less.

[falcott]

I found this old 1960s-70s hi fi tuner on the roadside and gutted it. My VBIGC is being built into it right now. The front panel will be replaced with a piece of etched aluminium, and the battered veneered sides have been replaced with solid pieces of rosewood. It should end up to be a cool looking retro-inspired amp (I'm hoping )

[lgreen]

Originally posted by falcott
I found this old 1960s-70s hi fi tuner on the roadside and gutted it. My VBIGC is being built into it right now. The front panel will be replaced with a piece of etched aluminium, and the battered veneered sides have been replaced with solid pieces of rosewood. It should end up to be a cool looking retro-inspired amp (I'm hoping )

Very nice, its going to need some vent holes for cooling...good luck with that!