The Wire LPUHP 16W Power Amp parts GB

[qusp]

Hi Guys, well this one snuck up on us didnt it? beat some people too it seems unfortunately.

So i'll just get the ball rolling; there are a few areas where banding together will definitely get the costs down. As discussed it will serve us best to have 1 or 2 reliable members to handle the purchase and distribution from a base in North America, to keep shipping costs to a minimum and Ed LaFontaine has generously volunteered to at least help with that. Also to further that cause, perhaps even some regional distribution points for Europe, Asia and Australasia, though that should be discussed and costed out when the time comes to see if its actually viable.

This Group Buy is Limited to current members of the PCB GB i.e. if you arent included in the list below youre out of luck, it is intended to be a manageable size, so that there is not too much work for anyone and thus can more reasonably be expected to be a volunteer effort, with costs covered for those who donate their time. it is NOT intended to be an open GB; especially as its so wide ranging it would turn into a nightmare. My apologies, but thats the way its got to be.

so here is the list of participants in the GB as it stands

1543 2
badabing 2
bcg27 2
Ed LaFontaine 2
enantra 2
exa065 4
hochopeper 2
HYPERTUNE 2
jacobthellamer 2
jazzm 2
maravedis 4
neb001 4
particleman14 2
qusp 2
randytsuch 2
regal 2
sharpi31 2
Wirewiggler 2
Wolfsin 2

________________
Total for GB = 44

* opc 6

* added for completeness as i plan to group out this list into regions at some point and note next to each member to use at the end for putting together orders. i.e. marking if a member is getting passives, actives, heatsink, transformer, extras etc. not a detailed list, but a number associated to each for quick reference.

_________
Grand Total = 50

so Key Parts are

• National LME49600 or LME49610 16 per set of PCBs (see note 1)
• National LME49990 6 per stereo set
• susumu thin film resistors in various values
• LT317/337 (see note 2)
• transformers (see note 3)
• power supply caps
• Kemet ceramic caps
• trimmers
• 16awg hookup wire
• Heatsinks (see note 4)
• Keratherm Red or white


also some optional ideas we might GB for those who havent done a lot of SMD

• hakko 2mm chisel tips
• good tweasers
• cardas flux
• good quality metric standoffs for those who have the sense to live somewhere that has a functional mode of measurement
• ??
• ??
we obviously dont want to get bogged down in the optional extras, but i think a few of these might be a good idea no?

notes

1) perhaps we should get 20 each, getting spares might not be a bad idea at this pricing; they wont make them forever

2) i really think we should get these, buying this number the price will be decent and the LT model is worth the extra cost in my experience

3) either the one opc recommends, or perhaps a custom spec potted unit from sumR

4) this is a bit up in the air, i like the enzotech copper units coz they look wicked!! but best wait and see what our man in Sydney with the CNC comes up with as far as a custom unit

if anyone else has other ideas, fire away, this is mainly just to get the ball rolling before everyone starts buying their own parts, because there is quite a bit of money to be saved. this will be a matter for discussion, i'm not putting my hand up to organize the whole thing, i simply dont have the time at the moment, but i'll chip in, so anyone who thinks they can help out with procurement or regional distribution step forward.

thanks for reading, i think this little amp is going to be quite the surprise. Owen has gathered himself quite a few groupies who snap up every project he releases, i'm one of them, anyone who hasn't bought one of his boards before is in for a treat; imo they are THE most professionally designed and made boards i have come across in GB's here

I can only say thanks mate!!

Modular GB efforts

Digikey GB (passives and/or actives)

qusp 2 pas + 2 act (paid)
hochopeper 2 pas + 2 act (paid)
HYPERTUNE 2 pas + 2 act (paid)
bcg27 2 pas + 2 act (passives paid)
jacobthellamer 2 pas + 2 act (actives paid)
maravedis 4 pas + 4 act (passives paid)
randytsuch 2 pas + 2 act (passives paid)
1543 2 pas + 2 act (passives paid)
neb001 2 pas + 2 act (passives paid)
Ed LaFontaine 2 pas (paid)
wirewiggler 2 pas (paid)

_______________________
Total
Passives 24
Actives 20

note: actives are being handled regionally, but the numbers remain to help anyone who is wishing to help with that. the Australasian crew have already got ours

Custom CNC Alloy Heatsinks, kindly machined by Hypertune

qusp 4
hochopeper 2
opc 6
bcg27 2
1543 2
Neb001 4
enantra 2
jazzm 2
regal 2
wirewiggler 2
Wolfsin 2
maravedis 4
_______
total 34

Fully custom Chassis: to be advised, please register interest to better indicate viability

Keratherm Red TIM 86/82 interest check

Keratherm Red TIM (thermal interface material) group
expressions of interest

qusp
opc
HYPERTUNE
bcg27
hochopeper
1543
Ed LaFontaine, who now wonders if "dual mono" is heresy...where's the smiley face?
randytsuch
enantra
wirewiggler
neb001
maravedis


Custom potted transformer group buy? Count me in!

qusp 2
hochopeper 2
HYPERTUNE 2
bcg27 2
neb001 4
1543 2
wirewiggler 2

______________
Total 16



Parts Procurement Volunteers

Ed LaFontaine: National IC's Passives and perhaps 16awg SPC in PTFE from Apex JR

Regional Distributor Volunteers

USA

Ed LaFontaine

Australasia

qusp
hochopeper

EU

volunteers?

Asia

volunteers?

 

[Ed LaFontaine]

Logging on...Thanks for taking the initiative, qusp, this will be fun.

I'll have some time this weekend to prepare my worksheet.

 

[qusp]

i'll put my hand up for helping with Australasia regional distro if noone else comes forward and we go that way, which i think would be wise for here especially given the expense of shipping from the US.

hey Ed, nice, no problem and i'm glad youre on it given you have quite a bit of experience with your neverending GB's, also for those quick off the mark, i misspelt susumu for the thin film resistors, i actually often do this. it was too late for me to edit.

for those keen on overkill as i am, i will be getting 2 sets of 3 x ASMP SMD zfoil resistors for the VAS stage to lower distortion and increase CMRR even further and just because sometimes i'm a silly audiophool and i think they sound excellent! Anyone who wants to throw in for those too let me know, we should be able to get them down to 7-8 each or possibly a little less. depending on the price i can get for bulk i might even get them for all the signal path given just about all are 1k0, or just save that for a tweak for when i decide whether the low or high voltage wire will be powering my tweets; but definitely the VAS

 

[qusp]

also and this is a maybe: i'm an OEM for Eichmann for my business, i would be in breach of my agreement to pass them on at cost, as it states they have to be part of a product as i'm not a distributor, but i'll probably be able to arrange a pretty good deal on the ETI phonopod binding posts (banana and spade compatible). if enough people are interested i'll see what i would need to do to make that happen

 

[hochopeper]

hey qusp nice post!

A lot of the items you've listed are on my shopping list already so happy to GB.

I'm mostly interested in the vanilla opc flavoured BOM I think with extras of the opamp, buffers, resistors and caps.

Doesn't worry me which way it goes with the extras but I will need a larger tip for soldering iron and some tweezers.

@qusp if you end up being australasian distribution point I will volunteer my time to lend a hand sorting and arranging parts to help with the workload.

 

[jazzm]

Also interested in the GB. I'm down for 2 PCBs... I think the only question mark that I have is in regards to the Transformer as I'd probably prefer to run an off-board higher VA unit and shared between the two boards.

Tom.

 

[mikejennens]

I might be jumping the gun, but has a price been determined yet? Will this GB have all the parts necessary to build the amp, other than switch, AC cord, volume pot (if so desired), etc.?
Thanks,
Mike

Edit: OK, I just found the original thread about these. The only question I still have is about the price. The price is $236 per cahnnel in the original post. Will it be the same in this GB?
Thanks again.

 

[qusp]

I might be jumping the gun, but has a price been determined yet? Will this GB have all the parts necessary to build the amp, other than switch, AC cord, volume pot (if so desired), etc.?
Thanks,
Mike

Edit: OK, I just found the original thread about these. The only question I still have is about the price. The price is $236 per cahnnel in the original post. Will it be the same in this GB?
Thanks again.

huh? you read my post right? if you havent already ordered your pcbs and since you only just found the thread i'm guessing you havent; i'm afraid you missed the boat on the GB as there are none left and i'm afraid i'm going to suggest that we also limit the GB to members of the PCB GB so it doesnt start growing too big and ungainly.


it is not aimed to be a kit service, i dont think we will lump any one person with organising and purchasing all the parts, its an expensive build relatively and thats a lot of money and not a small amount of time and the aim is to save money by banding together to buy parts, that is all.

the price has not been determined yet, as stated the contents havent even been decided yet. i also do not want to lock people into a full kit, as many like me will have some of the parts already; so perhaps a suggestion of breaking it up into semis, passives, transformers, heatsinks and extras. the semis and passives can probably be got at the same place so maybe the one person would handle that, but people should be able to choose to get one or the other, or both IMO.

anyway there is a ways to go before the final shape of this thing is decided

 

[qusp]

Also interested in the GB. I'm down for 2 PCBs... I think the only question mark that I have is in regards to the Transformer as I'd probably prefer to run an off-board higher VA unit and shared between the two boards.

Tom.

Hey Tom, cool so you actually made it onto the list, not the wait list? thats fine mate, like i said above, i would prefer this was a kind of modular GB so that noone is locked into buying a whole kit and the volunteers are not locked into a heap of work.

I would also suggest that we just keep conversation about what the kit will be for the moment, rather than people starting to post their orders right now. is that a good idea? not trying to be a tyrant, anyone should speak up

@ hochopeper: thanks man, that would be cool, we could probably knock it over in an afternoon or 2 over brewskies, spicy chicken wings and good music =)

 

[mikejennens]

huh? you read my post right? if you havent already ordered your pcbs and since you only just found the thread i'm guessing you havent; i'm afraid you missed the boat on the GB as there are none left and i'm afraid i'm going to suggest that we also limit the GB to members of the PCB GB so it doesnt start growing too big and ungainly.


it is not aimed to be a kit service, i dont think we will lump any one person with organising and purchasing all the parts, its an expensive build relatively and thats a lot of money and not a small amount of time and the aim is to save money by banding together to buy parts, that is all.

the price has not been determined yet, as stated the contents havent even been decided yet. i also do not want to lock people into a full kit, as many like me will have some of the parts already; so perhaps a suggestion of breaking it up into semis, passives, transformers, heatsinks and extras. the semis and passives can probably be got at the same place so maybe the one person would handle that, but people should be able to choose to get one or the other, or both IMO.

anyway there is a ways to go before the final shape of this thing is decided

Thanks. At least the decision is made for me as to whether I want to build this one. Maybe next time.

 

[bcg27]

I think the lt model regulators should definitely be used with a 15 volt secondary since it doesn't give us much headroom.

Interested in everything except hookup wire. I'd buy a chisel tip or two as well. Can never have too many tips! Definitely not interested in z foils, too rich for my blood. Also I think $100 is a little excessive for that copper heatsink.

Regarding a custom transformer from sumr, what do you guys think about the specs? Something like 80VA, dual 115V primaries, quad 15 volt secondaries sound reasonable? I was thinking if we go custom maybe we could do 16 volt secondaries since that gives us a bit more headroom in the power supply without having to up the capacitor ratings.

 

[qusp]

Thanks. At least the decision is made for me as to whether I want to build this one. Maybe next time.

hey man, look dont give up yet and for sure no need for the red face, it depends whether there is another run and it depends, if it doesnt get complicated and it looks like there will be more pcbs, then the GB will be widened, but as is i think we should limit to GB members or the GB thread could take longer to organise than the PCBs.

given the popularity i'm laying bets there will be another run

 

[qusp]

in a group i doubt the copper sinks would be that much, ive asked about bulk pricing direct from enzotech and while not cheap their other models are not that expensive. all the same; have you SEEN what copper costs now? i was unable to find the price for that one listed directly on a site in a rather brief search; as most of their resellers are PC tuning places and thus dont really need that model. where did you find it listed?

as for the TX if we went the custom route yes i think it would be silly to not take advantage of it by specifying an exact voltage. i would give Richard all the numbers and get him to load test. I double checked the LT317 vs LM317 and while they have 1/3 the noise.

zfoils are not for everyone, but the SMD are half the price of the more popular tx2575 for basically the same part. i dont think they are that rich TBH when you think of the fact they make them at any exact value you want, to order in short run, by laser etching them. remember these guys main market is Military, Aerospace and hitech; not audiophiles. no snake oil here, just overkill, there are times when using just a couple is one of the better value tweaks around imo and reduces distortion quite measurably, they are especially stable over temperature and frequency. buying direct is about 1/6 of the price as buying them at digikey and for a tighter standard tolerance

 

[bcg27]

Lol, I looked at the link OPC posted in the amp thread and thought weight was price hehe. So maybe it is more reasonable.

I'm sure the zfoils are very nice, and there is no question the technology to make them is pretty cool. I'm just not into paying 10 bucks for a resistor when I can get a perfectly fine one for 50 cents.

 

[qusp]

ah i didnt finish my sentence above

I double checked the LT317 vs LM317 and while they have 1/3 the noise.

the other specs are mostly exactly the same for the to220 package, they are designed as a drop in replacement, so i guess they have to be. the lt1085/1033 on the other hand are lower dropout, lower noise, better load line performance, but also more expensive and the 1033 is becoming hard to find.

haha yeah i didnt think that sounded right about the sinks.
the Zfoils are 8 singly, i have to check bulk numbers. still more than 50 cents, but in all honesty i'd spend the 48 on 6 of them before i spent the money for a custom transformer

 

[qusp]

anyway i'm guiltier than most, but this isnt a conversation thread, so please copy this post and add your name if you are prepared to help out:

possible regional distributors and parts procurement

US
Ed LaFontaine
who has also volunteered to help with the main US parts order and initial sort for regional packages

Australasia
qusp
hochopeper

EU
?

Asia
?

 

[MarkB1]

I've attached a pic of the heatsink I will be making for my amps.

Overall dimensions are the same as the heatsink shown on Owen's amp, but I have raised the height to match the other components on the board.

The dimensions of the cutout for the buffers is not final and will be updated when I hear from Owen.

Price for anyone interested would be $15 AUD + anodizing (about $2 I guess) Price is for a single heatsink.

 

[hochopeper]

HYPERTUNE, can you clarify if price is for single or stereo pair?

Either way put my down for a pair of those please!

 

[MarkB1]

Price is per heatsink. Material cost will be close to $4, and the rest is machine time. No design or toolpath costs are added as I'll be doing it for myself regardless.

 

[qusp]

well put me down for 4 please mate, thanks so much!!

so

Custom CNC Alloy Heatsinks, kindly machined by Hypertune

qusp 4
hochopeper 2
_______
total 6

any chance of paying extra for anodised? Blue perhaps? i know black is best for heat
I also encourage you to have a bit of fun with the profile for an original; i didnt press this through a die look, provided it doesnt impact too much on your time or costs. just a suggestion, what you have is already perfect and the price is definitely right!! we are so lucky on these boards to have so many skilled professionals and designers willing to donate their time. it makes me feel quite inadequate sometimes

i take back the anodising, its asking too much