Hey Mathew, Did you read and understand the original article from Mr. Pass? Some of your questions have answers there. I think many are entering at the construction level without understanding the basics. That's a mistake I've made here more than once. 
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@bcmbob.
to honest, i did glance trough the article but i have yet to read it completely.
i thought building amps would be no problem for me, i worked in electronics for 7 years as a supervisor. only thing is, i did not have to know electronics, i only needed to know how to keep the men working and do some quality control.
so, now i found out that have a enormous amount of learning to do before i understand what is what.
but he, it is fun.
i'll read the article tonight, now i am reading the site zen mod linked us.
to honest, i did glance trough the article but i have yet to read it completely.
i thought building amps would be no problem for me, i worked in electronics for 7 years as a supervisor. only thing is, i did not have to know electronics, i only needed to know how to keep the men working and do some quality control.
so, now i found out that have a enormous amount of learning to do before i understand what is what.
but he, it is fun.
i'll read the article tonight, now i am reading the site zen mod linked us.
boatbuilder - We have all been where you are, interested, excited, happy to be doing this, but not knowing how any of it works... and hoping that if all the pieces are put together that when you power it up, it doesn't blow up!!
Then after a few projects, after reading certain things over and over (Any and all of the Nelson Pass Zen articles) having a few discussions with members on the forum, or better yet, talking about it when meeting up with other members, or via Phone or Skype, then things start to become clearer.
And all of a sudden , you start to understand how some of this stuff works... And that is a fantastic feeling.
Most of us here are not electronics engineers or designers. We come from different backgrounds, different educations, different places. Regardless where we are coming from we are all on a journey forward, and this forum helps us on our way, and keeps us from getting lost.
I'm glad you are here with us.
Then after a few projects, after reading certain things over and over (Any and all of the Nelson Pass Zen articles) having a few discussions with members on the forum, or better yet, talking about it when meeting up with other members, or via Phone or Skype, then things start to become clearer.
And all of a sudden , you start to understand how some of this stuff works... And that is a fantastic feeling.
Most of us here are not electronics engineers or designers. We come from different backgrounds, different educations, different places. Regardless where we are coming from we are all on a journey forward, and this forum helps us on our way, and keeps us from getting lost.
I'm glad you are here with us.
6L6. thnx, that makes me feel a lot less dumb.
but still, i should have taken the time to learn more when i was working in the electronics.
and you are absolutely right, it s a great feeling to power up your first build without it blowing up in your face. especially when you know up front that the transformer gives a to high voltage.
i learn a little every day on this site and i really love it.
who knows, maybe i'll be able to design a amp from scratch.
for now, i am happy building and learning.
to all
but still, i should have taken the time to learn more when i was working in the electronics.
and you are absolutely right, it s a great feeling to power up your first build without it blowing up in your face. especially when you know up front that the transformer gives a to high voltage.
i learn a little every day on this site and i really love it.
who knows, maybe i'll be able to design a amp from scratch.
for now, i am happy building and learning.
to all
So this evening i remembered I have this convoluted foam strip I wanted to replace in my CHR-70 pensil speakers. Did a few experiments, didn't like what I was hearing so ended up taking out half of my existing stuffing out, put everything back together. Fiddled a bit with itunes settings and found out that I had some funny normalising setting checked.
Checked off normalising in itunes, put a few of the normal reference songs, things started to look good!
And then, "Hated because of great qualities" by Blonde Redhead came up I turned it up a notch closed my eyes and goosebumps started to come up. I was suddenly transported in time to my teenage years when I used to play the electric guitar and life was good. Good feelings and good memories flooded my system for the entire 4.42 minutes of the song and it was priceless.
Thanks again for this wonderful piece of amp!
Gideon
Checked off normalising in itunes, put a few of the normal reference songs, things started to look good!
And then, "Hated because of great qualities" by Blonde Redhead came up I turned it up a notch closed my eyes and goosebumps started to come up. I was suddenly transported in time to my teenage years when I used to play the electric guitar and life was good. Good feelings and good memories flooded my system for the entire 4.42 minutes of the song and it was priceless.
Thanks again for this wonderful piece of amp!
Gideon
Pass DIY Addict
Joined 2000
Paid Member
Thanks Eric,
It was milled from a solid bloodwood plank, rounded on front and side edges with .5" radius, sanded w/ 120 followed by 220 and just a few quick passes of minwax wipe-on polyurethane.
The hardest part was the hardware in the back of the amp: many connection points on the inside of the back had to be drilled out a bit to reduce the 1" wood thickness to a thinner size in order to accommodate input and dc hardware.
The 5/8" holes we barely large enough to get needle-nose pliers in and amounted to a fair bit of frustration during assembly.....but it all worked out in the end! If I were to do it again, the chassis would be wider to afford more real estate in the back, allowing for larger holes.
Mario
It was milled from a solid bloodwood plank, rounded on front and side edges with .5" radius, sanded w/ 120 followed by 220 and just a few quick passes of minwax wipe-on polyurethane.
The hardest part was the hardware in the back of the amp: many connection points on the inside of the back had to be drilled out a bit to reduce the 1" wood thickness to a thinner size in order to accommodate input and dc hardware.
The 5/8" holes we barely large enough to get needle-nose pliers in and amounted to a fair bit of frustration during assembly.....but it all worked out in the end! If I were to do it again, the chassis would be wider to afford more real estate in the back, allowing for larger holes.
Mario
Pass DIY Addict
Joined 2000
Paid Member
Yep, that was the hardest part on the one my daughter and I built. That tiny little back panel got crowded VERY quickly. The biggest challenge was the 1" diam hole for the power switch, it chewed into the adjacent holes for the RCA inputs ;-)
Wow - just poly on raw wood?!? That is just a gorgeous little amp!
Wow - just poly on raw wood?!? That is just a gorgeous little amp!
Pass DIY Addict
Joined 2000
Paid Member
HA! A cedar closet is the next project on the to-do list. I just painted the upstairs hallway and put a nice chair rail on the wall. I was somewhere over the weekend when I found some items made from cedar and thought to myself that it would make for a nice looking chassis!
I've been accumulating a stack of PCBs over the past few months as projects to tuck away for another time or perhaps a gift and those Aleph-J boards look mighty tempting...
I've been accumulating a stack of PCBs over the past few months as projects to tuck away for another time or perhaps a gift and those Aleph-J boards look mighty tempting...
Pass DIY Addict
Joined 2000
Paid Member
Pass DIY Addict
Joined 2000
Paid Member
Good question. Now that you mention it, I see some leads twisted and some not....probably an error on my part. There is one wire, leading from DC input to power switch, that doesn't really have anything else to twist with. But I do see that speaker output leads aren't twisted and other wires only minimally twisted.
To those who know, should the untwisted become uniformly twisted? (wires that is) Thanks Bert for pointing this out and I too look forward to the response.
To those who know, should the untwisted become uniformly twisted? (wires that is
) Thanks Bert for pointing this out and I too look forward to the response.
Twisted wiring is is used to minimize EM radiation from the wire. I have seen it mostly with AC wiring, to prevent hum.
His output and LED wiring are twisted, so I'm not sure it's anything more than habit, or cosmetics (reduces the rats nest look). I have not seen much twisting in other ACA builds, so I wonder if hum was noticed in the wooden case, as opposed to a better shielded metal case. (Hum from outside source)
His output and LED wiring are twisted, so I'm not sure it's anything more than habit, or cosmetics (reduces the rats nest look). I have not seen much twisting in other ACA builds, so I wonder if hum was noticed in the wooden case, as opposed to a better shielded metal case. (Hum from outside source)