newbie question - all-in-one d-class amp kits ?

[steamPunk]

Hi

I apologise in advance if this is too much of newbie question

My idea is to find a cool-looking cheap vintage amplifier on eBay or somewhere, and then put a d-class amplifier into it

I have seen that Hypex kits have good reviews are quite affordable but they are maybe too powerful for home use so are the kits at 41hz.com a good alternative ?

and, although the kit companies also sell the power supplies required, they don't have any way to change the sound - this might sound really stupid to audio experts but I really like the way that old amps (and maybe new ones too, I don't know) had just volume, bass and treble knobs to change the sound quality and i would like to do that here - so the amp would have just 4 knobs : volume, bass & treble and a sound source selector

so ... is there a kit of some sort that i could use with a class D kit to give me simple volume, bass and treble controls ? I've tried to find some info about this and it's all a bit confusing, so could someone point me in the right direction ? I suppose what i need is an all-in-one kit that contains everything i need to make a working amp

thanks for any help you can give me on this - I'm raring to go but i don't want to make any stupid mistakes

thanks

[toolkit]

Hi,

I've built two 41Hz kits, modded a couple of pre-builts and still consider myself a complete newb at this, but in all my googling and reading hither and thither I have never seen tone controls.

Volume and selector are fairly simple to implement however.

I recommend trying a 41Hz Amp6 Basic, add volume and selector and see how you get on with the sound, I'm certainly not missing my tone controls. I have used a Subline from www.audiomagus.com to give me a sub-out though.

Cheers
Chris

[e_fortier]

Hi,

The 41Hz Amp6 sounds very good and is well praised.

My recommendation would be to buy a kit from 41Hz and add the following IC from National Semiconductor;

LM1036 - Dual DC Operated Tone/Volume/Balance Circuit

I have tried both the Amp6 and LM1036 and both IC work very well.

Hope this helps,
Regards,
Eric

[mikje]

See if this is what you are looking for. I am using one and am very happy with it.
http://www.vellemanusa.com/us/enu/pr...iew/?id=523679

They can be purchased here.
http://store.tequipment.net/index.as...on=CARTDETAILS

[Workhorse]

I have seen that Hypex kits have good reviews are quite affordable but they are maybe too powerful for home use so are the kits at 41hz.com a good alternative ?

UCD700 is high power amplifier for you???

[steamPunk]

thanks for all your replies to my questions

Originally posted by Workhorse


UCD700 is high power amplifier for you???

well ..... I don't know. 700w seems to be a lot to me - on the 41hz site their Amp6 kit is 2x25W RMS - or maybe there's a big difference between these kits - is there something I haven't understood here ??


The Velleman preamp kit looks like just what i need. Would it be acceptable practice to not solder the potentiometers directly onto the board as the holes in the amplifier box probably won't be in the right place ??

thanks again

[mikje]

steamPunk,
As long as the pots are wired correctly, it shouldn't matter if they aren't wired to the board. I moved the LED off the board and it works fine. Have fun!
Mike

[steamPunk]

ok - if i get this rolling i'll probably be back with some more questions !!


thanks for your help

[Bane2871]

Bump.

I have a similar question to the OP, but since the since the forum software won't allow me to create a new thread (something about searching), I'll just tack it on to the end of this thread:

I've got sort of a two pronged question. I'm trying to put together some class-D kits, but these are a bit of a nightmare. First, what are some good quality class-d amps; second, what are some tried and true soldering techniques for soldering very small surface mount components.

I started with a Ramsey kit, but ruined it when I accidentally brushed the soldering iron along the pins of the amp chip, shorting out about 6 pins. I then started work on a kit from 47Hz, but that one required you to solder on the amp chip, unlike the Ramsey which already has the amp chip installed. I've basically made a mess of it.

The problem with the 47Hz kit is that the chip pins are so small and close together that it is near impossible to solder. I'm using a Weller WES51 with a very sharp ETS 0.01" x 0.4 mm tip and 0.15 dia. silver solder. The board is on a third-hand stand with a magnifying glass. The only way I could solder the pins of the chip (a TA2021B) is by getting a tiny bead of solder on the tip of the iron and applying it to the pins. However, the bead wants to sit halfway up the tip which is too far back from the end for effective application. Also, even the very sharp ETS tip is huge compared to the size of the pins. Getting solder on adjacent pins is very likely and difficult to fix. It is exceptionally difficult to get a good solder joint on the TA2021B.

The surface mount resistors and capacitors are harder than through hole mount components, but fairly easy if I take my time. So, those are not an issue. Its just the surface mount 2021 (or other similar chip amps).

Anyway, I'm looking for some good chip amp kits and any tips on soldering super small surface mount pins.

Any ideas?

Edit: I checked out Charlize. Too expensive and too temperamental for what I am doing.

[kristleifur]

Originally posted by Bane2871
I've got sort of a two pronged question. I'm trying to put together some class-D kits, but these are a bit of a nightmare. First, what are some good quality class-d amps; second, what are some tried and true soldering techniques for soldering very small surface mount components.

The Amp6-BASIC is an excellent piece of kit. Super easy, though not a 100% ideal absolute first kit. Edit: Excepting fully built boards, it's the esiest Class D kit you'll get.

Also, don't worry too much about surface mount. Once you get the hang of it, many find the surface mount to be less tedious than through-hole!

Here are some EXCELLENT videos, covering almost everything, from DIY guru Tangent:
http://tangentsoft.net/elec/movies/ - Tangent Tutorials