F5 power amplifier

thanks guys. i'm a 5 min. drive from http://www.discountsteel.com/. i've DIYed a few aluminum chassis now with cheap drop cuts and a nice Freud non-ferrous 10" circular blade. so buying a bulk length of aluminum U-channel shouldn't be a problem. McMaster Carr also has some: http://www.mcmaster.com/#aluminum/=3xqk2h. these could be mounted on the flat side of my new heatsinks. i have enogh thermal dope to last me a lifetime.

i suppose i could double up the heatsinks, flat to flat for a total of 8 heatsinks, but i'm building a bridged pair to power my piggy ATC SCM12 and would need x2 the heatsinks. the front-end will be a balanced B1 and Benchmark DAC1. i have CNC baltic birch lying around for a pair of uFonkens that still needs to be glued up as well for the FF85K 3" drivers. i was planning on partnering these with an active subwoofer. bridged would not be needed for the uFonkens though.
 
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So the sinks arrived today. I could find nothing bigger than this in the whole city, I'm really hoping these are enough for a stereo F5. They measure 10" x 7" and are 3" deep. The larger fins attached to the spines are 2" deep, and the mounting base and the spines are 1/2" thick, and they set me back $60 a pop. Anyway we'll take our chances with these guys and figure things out after that.

An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
 
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Thanks for the vote of confidence Uriah :)

I'm cooking one with a 30 watt soldering iron to try and figure out what the operating temp will be, Pushed the iron into one of those little round channels near the base. It'll not be totally accurate, but I guess it should be indicative.
 
Oscillation?

Hi

GOt the F5 working very nicely about a week ago with the generous help of members. The day before yesterday I was hearing a very slight buzz from one of the chassis. Last night it was a bit louder and I thought was coming from the transformer. I tightened down the screw and this morning after 1/2 hour warmup and then listening for 1/2 hour, I noticed it again. Is this oscillation? I don't have any filtering on the inputs. I can install that tonight. Is this coming from the transformer? Thanks

Jan
 
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I had the same problem recently, and I just loosened the mounting screw, and problem solved
Point is that even a very small and inaudible buzzing can set the whole box in vibration
And THAT can be very audible
Might not be good fore the electronics either

You could try and mount some soft rubbers underneath the trafo, and between trafo and mounting plate, and tighten it loosely
Actually I try to avoid using the metal mounting plate, and use brass screw, but thats a different story

Anyway, as far as I understand F5 may be sensitive to interconnects
 
Hi

GOt the F5 working very nicely about a week ago with the generous help of members. The day before yesterday I was hearing a very slight buzz from one of the chassis. Last night it was a bit louder and I thought was coming from the transformer. I tightened down the screw and this morning after 1/2 hour warmup and then listening for 1/2 hour, I noticed it again. Is this oscillation? I don't have any filtering on the inputs. I can install that tonight. Is this coming from the transformer? Thanks

Jan

Which transformer are you using?
 
Not too sure about the 'potting' of a Txformer after the fact. You need to uncover the winding cover sheets and somehow find the right potting compound. I have no idea what that stuff actually is, but it'd need to be something that can't attack the enamelling over a long period and also not become porous or affect the dielectric poroperties of the enamel.
I'm sure a transformer winding outfit could help you.