Gainclone Help!

[nelsondog]

Hi, I wonder if you could help me out...
I live in Canada and I'm having trouble finding the parts I need to build
an amp for myself. I see www.partsconnexion.com has Blackgate caps but are
quite expensive. I have read that some people are having good results with
the Panasonic FC series. I can't find them anywhere! I'm also having trouble
finding other parts as well. Is there a company who I can send a list of
parts to who will have what I need?

This seems to be a good site to guide me through the building process:
http://dogbreath.de/Chipamps/GainCar...nCardCopy.html

I have the LM 3886TF chips,
2 of these transformers:
http://www.plitron.com/shopping/shopexd.asp?id=145

and one of these to choose from:
http://www.toroid.com/standard_trans...ts/767.302.pdf Any suggestions are always gratefully accepted. Thank you very much. Brian

[Minion]

I have built a few of these Chipamps and have never used those "Audiophile" Grade electro caps like the Black Gates or Nichicon FC or Muse caps and never had problems with poor sound quality.....

Especially considering that the design in the Link you Posted has No large Filtering caps on the Power rails so in My opinion any Gains you would get by useing Black gates or FC Caps is going to be Lost because of the Lack of large Filtering Caps in the PSU.....

Large Filter caps in the PSU really help with the Low frequency responce on the Amp so I feel without those Filter caps you aren"t going to have a very defined Low end.....

Just my opinion......


Cheers

[AndrewT]

Hi,
we had a good old argument on this bass vs capacitance a few weeks back.
The two factions never reached agreement.

I put in smoothing capacitance of about +-2mF/Apk of maximum output into my minimum load.
A 50W into 8ohm chipamp has a peak output current of 3.5Apk and I consider +-7mF as the minimum capacitance for good bass.

The other lot say I am wrong and insist on fitting +-1mF to +-1.5mF per chipamp.

Make your choice.

[impsick]

YOU CAN GET FC'S OR HFQ'S FROM TAW ELECTRONICS. VERY GOOD PRICES AS WELL.

[G]

Originally posted by AndrewT
Hi,
we had a good old argument on this bass vs capacitance a few weeks back.
The two factions never reached agreement.

I put in smoothing capacitance of about +-2mF/Apk of maximum output into my minimum load.
A 50W into 8ohm chipamp has a peak output current of 3.5Apk and I consider +-7mF as the minimum capacitance for good bass.

The other lot say I am wrong and insist on fitting +-1mF to +-1.5mF per chipamp.

Make your choice.

I think a lot may have to do with the impedance curve of your load. If you are driving two or three way speakers I can see where the extra capacitance will help. The type of music you listen to has a impact on the capacitance also.

[MJL21193]

I buy all components from Digikey. They have everything, and are cheap for shipping. Also no cross border duty, as you order from Digikey Canada. Forget about high end caps, with middle of the road sound quality you get from chip amp you'll never hear the difference.

Quote:"This seems to be a good site to guide me through the building process:
http://dogbreath.de/Chipamps/GainCa...inCardCopy.html"

Hope you are not going to cobble it together like that guy did. Use a veroboard at least. That thing looks like a nightmare to troubleshoot, and a disaster waiting to happen.

[Fenris]

I've done point to point wiring on chipamps before, but mine is generally much cleaner than the one linked. If you search around, there are some genunely talented and artistic P2P implementations out there.

[MJL21193]

To each his own. I prefer my work to look a little neater, and besides, it makes it easier to track down problems - and there are always problems.

[nelsondog]

Thank you all for the replies!
This project is very exciting for me and I would love to complete it without a hitch if at all posible.
It would be great if you guys could send links to photos of these 'clean' layouts, or your own designs...
Thanks!
Brian

nelsondog@telus.net