A newbie from India says Namaste

[Dream King]

Hey there,

I'm from Mumbai, India and am a total newbie to the world of DIY (and by total newbie, I mean that; I've no experience with any sort of electrical/electronic work). For the past year, I've been wanting to build a good pair of headphones myself but never gotten around to starting it. I came across this forum a couple of days back and it seems like a fantastic place to learn.

My aim is to make a good earphones and amplifiers. Can u guys suggest a couple of simple projects to test the waters?

[Roushon]

Welcome to the forum!

I hope you meant headphone amplifier!!

As you said you have no experience with
electrical/electronic work it is best to start with
something very basic. Like, take a copy of
the magazine `Electronics For you' (you will find
it in any roadside bookstall in Mumbai) and see
the section `Circuit Ideas' and try some of the ideas.
Parts you will get in Lamington Road, Grant Road.
Shop like Visha Electronics will be good place for
beginners.

Building amplifier or any electrical/electronic job is not
easy (and could be dangerous if dealing with mains)...but
if you stick to this forum and read a lot then you can start
early....

Best wishes
Roushon.

[ashok]

Welcome to the forum.
You should go through the guidelines regarding electrical safety which you will find on this forum. Do a search. Since you say you are completely new to all this , you MUST read about safety first if you are going to use the mains for anything. Remember that it has the potential to kill if used improperly. This is not to frighten you but to tell you that you MUST treat the mains with great respect and follow safe practices.

You say you want to test the waters. The simplest thing would be to build an amplifier using a chip. Either for headphone use or for speakers. That way there are no active discrete parts to worry about except just one chip.
If it's for speakers then something like a TDA2030 or 2050 or LM1875 is a good place to start. Circuit details are there on this forum and in the chip application data sheets. Search on this forum and you will find several threads.

Before you start to buy any parts , you better read up a bit . EFY is a good place too. Giving you help via a forum if you know nothing about all this will result in a steep learning curve ( tough!). It helps tremendously if you have some local pals who know something about all this and if you do it jointly with some friends.

So search for the topics mentioned , read some threads and come back with questions. Someone might help out with some direct links.
Right now I can't pick them out. But searching here should be easy.

Have fun and be safe.
Cheers.

[ashok]

Here is one on electrical safety.

Safety Practices, General and Ultra-High Voltage

Just checked and found that you do not want anyone to know much about you. So we can't even guess your background knowledge base. I've noticed that more and more people like to stay in the shady background regarding their abilities. So I have also taken off some of my background information !