Its time one of you guys make some money!

[johnthedoctor]

The 41hz site suggests that Litz wire is easier to wind but needs sommat to keep it in place once the toroid is built. The extra cost might be offset by the reduced labour time.

Air cored inductors might lend themselves to be being formed on a jig. I'm still a noob so heed the warning on them from Panomaniac but Charlize customers don't seem to be complaining about them. Has got me wondering about having 2 x 'air cored' amps in the same box though.

The thing about buying these kits ready built is the labour costs. Not denying a lot of you guys deserve £30 an hour or more...but for winding toroids?

No idea what the potential market is for assembled boards but for now let's assume it keeps growing.

homeworker #1 winds toroids, earning an average of £3/hr. (That's excellent for most home workers, there'd be a long queue for such jobs in this city.)

homeworker #2 solders in the through hole components (including the toroids) and earns an average of £6/hrr.

smd soldering, final testing and marketing is done by the main builder. The extra responsibility giving them an average of £15 to £20/hr.

While all this 'building' is happening the original designer is doing what they do best, designing more projects. Good products, low prices and no-one gets ripped.

What could really make the boards move is having someone like Terry Cain offer 4 or 5 different speaker kits (just the machined and sanded Baltic Birch plywood maybe?) that look absolutely gorgeous and also have matching cases. If you saw his work in the high street with the amp casing done the same you'd be thinking £thousands. Mr. Prospect sees all the luverly wood and the £50 or so entry level price point for a class D amp board and is hooked.

I now have every intention of ending up with an audiophile grade class D system but it is going to be a kludge because, lets be honest, all diy systems are, I've no idea how it's going to end up. What I'd really really like is for you audio gurus to put the idea of the finished product (complete system) into my head. I look at the final system and for just a few quid I can start the journey towards owning it.

Sorry for the long post but I think it's good topic and whatever gets you designers earning more also gets me better gear at lower prices. Whatever our level of knowledge and skill sets, we are in it together.

[Yves Smolders]

The problem is not building the stuff...

Throwing together (for example) a stereo UCD180 with standard hypex stuff, and selling it with a (for audio) low margin of 10-15% could be very nice extra money... It'll at least outperform midfi amps at the same price... but...

...in Europe we have the CE approval you need for every electrical device you put on the market - what's gonna happen the first time someone gets a fire or something, and your beautiful audio amp isn't up to CE standards?

...what are you going to do with RMA's? For sure someone is going to blow a module, and you need to cover this...

I tried to make a buck or two with dusting off old components and sell cheap second hand PC's to friends - let me tell you, it was nice money at first... but then they start calling for a defective fan or something... or worse, scr*w*d up windows systems - i could say no warranty, but it isn't easy to do...

[kartino]

Labour cost? We have lot of unemployed here....
But we have problem with material supply...

[BWRX]

Originally posted by BWRX
I'll start another thread when I actually finish building the boards with more information, but as a preview these boards will feature output offset adjustment, input overload and fault status LEDs, a very configurable power supply section with the option of having a regulator for each of the 5 sections (inputs, analog driving stage, and outputs) and your choice of supply for each section (battery, linear, smps), a start-up delay circuit that keeps the outputs muted while the input caps charge so there's no pop when you turn it on, and configurable mute and sleep jumpers. Also the option for better output filter components. There should be enough room for polyprop output caps and aircore inductors should someone want to try those out.

The boards are in and they look beautiful! I'll post a couple pics when I get home from work. It's a shame that I found out a key piece of information about the TA2020 series chips after I ordered these boards that basically means this layout shouldn't be used, but I'm going to build one up anyway and see what happens

[Pano]

Originally posted by BWRX
that basically means this layout shouldn't be used, but I'm going to build one up anyway and see what happens

Burn 'em up, Brian!! Let us know.

[dcfis]

Guys just populate something, throw it in a case and sell it Just make sure it sounds great, looks impressive, and is given away for basicaly nothing! - Thats not too hars is it