Chipamp 4780 (1) Beta Build

[GloBug]

That's funny because I have way too much angle aluminum extrusions. lol.
I've been using it on projects for years, I'm sick of it.
Likely will find a chunk on my new build.

[UrSv]

One thing with these boards is that the holes for power supply are a wee bit too tiny as I can't fit anything over 1.0 mm2. Cables sometimes are a pain to source but 1.5 mm2 standard 7 or 27 strand mains installation wires are easy to source and cheap. Unfortunately they do not fit so I would suggest slightly bigger holes for power supply and output.

[Rodeodave]

Originally Posted by UrSv

One thing with these boards is that the holes for power supply are a wee bit too tiny as I can't fit anything over 1.0 mm2. Cables sometimes are a pain to source but 1.5 mm2 standard 7 or 27 strand mains installation wires are easy to source and cheap. Unfortunately they do not fit so I would suggest slightly bigger holes for power supply and output.

I fully agree. Should there ever be a new batch of boards made, larger diameter holes for power, grounds and output would be very beneficial.

[JL889]

Originally Posted by UrSv

One thing with these boards is that the holes for power supply are a wee bit too tiny as I can't fit anything over 1.0 mm2. Cables sometimes are a pain to source but 1.5 mm2 standard 7 or 27 strand mains installation wires are easy to source and cheap. Unfortunately they do not fit so I would suggest slightly bigger holes for power supply and output.

I will note this so next time we order boards we can adjust for that.

[UrSv]

Slowly working my way forward towards a working amp. Another weekend coming close so perhaps some progress in a few days. Anybody else?

As for feedback on the boards itself I would say that I would have been really pleased to find either some surface mount pads or holes for the standard 220 pF caps that protect against EMI/RFI as I suspect some people will use these amps connected to MiniDSP and similar which sometimes emit residual switching noise. The caps I suspect would make that problem a bit smaller. It could be omitted for the less is more crowd.

[UrSv]

The amps are finished. A big thanks to ChipAmp and Joe for the Beta Boards. My boards were incorporated into a three channel amp where the Beta boards are used for the bass channel and a normal two channel LM4780 board (from AudioSector) is used for the mids and highs. The filter used will be a MiniDSP 2x8.

My feedback is the following:

1. The power supply holes are two small as mentioned earlier. Nothing over 1 mm2 fits easily.
2. I'd love for normal size resistors (i.e. 10 mm pitch) to fit rather then the small profile (MRS16 et al).

Other than the above the boards are great and the quality exceptional. The amps sound great.

[Rodeodave]

I recently added two 4700uF 200V Nichicon NY caps I had laying around to my setup, and I must say I'm impressed by the improvements they brought. The chipamps are fed by a regulated supply through maybe 0.5m long braided wires, same as before.
After adding the caps not only the bass got tighter, but also the highs seemed to have cleared up, and the whole amp sounds snappier. My gf agrees.

[UrSv]

Here's a few more pics of the mirrored pair and the finished result.

[GloBug]

Looks great, I dig it. I'm still turning my wheels on a chassis. I finally got some decent power transformers though.

[JL889]

I love the photos guys. Thanks again for your hard work. This makes me wanna keep using diyaudio.com members as our beta testers.