Hello all!
After two years of gathering parts, I’ve finally a working Aleph 5. As an electrical engineering student it’s hard to find the funding for all the parts. I chose to build both channels in one casing, mainly because of the transformer I could get for a couple of euro’s. It isn’t finished yet, but from now on there will be only cosmetical changes on chassis and connectors.
For the power supply I’ve used one transformer with two individual center tapped outputs of 28VAC. So both channels have separate windings. After the rectifier I used two 63V 47.000uF Panasonic GAA capacitors. The DC output of this supply under load is 32 Volt with 190mV ripple. No CRC or CLC filters at this time, because there is (almost) no hum on the output (20mV max).
Because I etch all my projects myself, I chose to use self-made circuit boards. Jaac (JaacTheMaster on DiyAudio) did the artwork for this circuit board. Only the low current section has been put on the circuit board, the power stage section is point2point connected and mounted on the heatsink.
The heatsinks are salvaged from a switching power supply. As you can read in my old topic (http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=20493) about them, they are approx. 0.29K/W. At the current bias level of 2 amps they get approximately 65 degrees Celsius (150 F) witch is quite hot, but still ok I think. Nobody will touch them, except me.
At this time, the chassis has been build of wood. Not very solid, nor nice to see but it holds the parts together. The next couple of weeks I’ll spend on a better looking chassis build of aluminium, so expect a new topic later.
As for the sound: just amazing! Compared to my Technics SU-8044K it’s like a whole new dimension has opened in my room. From flat, to nice dynamic and perfectly placed music. I’ll spare you from all the expressions usually found in audio reviews, but to me it’s a great amplifier worth all the work and costs. Until my pre-amp is build, I’ll use my Marantz 1060 (isn’t she a beauty?).
I would like to thank everyone on this forum for there help, especially Nelson! Without all the topics found on this forum I most likely would have seen a lot of smoke before the amp worked. I would also like to wish Jaac and Bob a lot of luck with the Aleph5 they are building. Hope to see your review soon.
Erik Hoogma, Enschede, The Netherlands.
PS: No Pass amplifier without a nice glass of Cabernet Sauvignon
After two years of gathering parts, I’ve finally a working Aleph 5. As an electrical engineering student it’s hard to find the funding for all the parts. I chose to build both channels in one casing, mainly because of the transformer I could get for a couple of euro’s. It isn’t finished yet, but from now on there will be only cosmetical changes on chassis and connectors.
For the power supply I’ve used one transformer with two individual center tapped outputs of 28VAC. So both channels have separate windings. After the rectifier I used two 63V 47.000uF Panasonic GAA capacitors. The DC output of this supply under load is 32 Volt with 190mV ripple. No CRC or CLC filters at this time, because there is (almost) no hum on the output (20mV max).
Because I etch all my projects myself, I chose to use self-made circuit boards. Jaac (JaacTheMaster on DiyAudio) did the artwork for this circuit board. Only the low current section has been put on the circuit board, the power stage section is point2point connected and mounted on the heatsink.
The heatsinks are salvaged from a switching power supply. As you can read in my old topic (http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=20493) about them, they are approx. 0.29K/W. At the current bias level of 2 amps they get approximately 65 degrees Celsius (150 F) witch is quite hot, but still ok I think. Nobody will touch them, except me.
At this time, the chassis has been build of wood. Not very solid, nor nice to see but it holds the parts together. The next couple of weeks I’ll spend on a better looking chassis build of aluminium, so expect a new topic later.
As for the sound: just amazing! Compared to my Technics SU-8044K it’s like a whole new dimension has opened in my room. From flat, to nice dynamic and perfectly placed music. I’ll spare you from all the expressions usually found in audio reviews, but to me it’s a great amplifier worth all the work and costs. Until my pre-amp is build, I’ll use my Marantz 1060 (isn’t she a beauty?).
I would like to thank everyone on this forum for there help, especially Nelson! Without all the topics found on this forum I most likely would have seen a lot of smoke before the amp worked.
I would also like to wish Jaac and Bob a lot of luck with the Aleph5 they are building. Hope to see your review soon.Erik Hoogma, Enschede, The Netherlands.
PS: No Pass amplifier without a nice glass of Cabernet Sauvignon
Attachments
Congratulations with your amplifier Erik.
A nice thing to hear you like the sound of it.
At this moment i have only a box of parts for my Aleph 2, so i can not comment on this.
But like bbakota2000 said, why dont you build your own speakers.
You could look at http://home.hetnet.nl/~geenius/ for some nice designs.
I am building the Hatt MKIII at this moment and according to the many positive comments they should be very good.
For Seas chassis and Intertechnik filter components you should look at http://www.schuro.de/.
You could definitely save some money.
Edwin.
A nice thing to hear you like the sound of it.
At this moment i have only a box of parts for my Aleph 2, so i can not comment on this.
But like bbakota2000 said, why dont you build your own speakers.
You could look at http://home.hetnet.nl/~geenius/ for some nice designs.
I am building the Hatt MKIII at this moment and according to the many positive comments they should be very good.
For Seas chassis and Intertechnik filter components you should look at http://www.schuro.de/.
You could definitely save some money.
Edwin.
Re: Congrats!
Hey Edwin, always nice to get a reply from another Dutch DIY'er. Perhaps I can indeed build my own speakers. Speakerland.nl has some nice kits availeble too. What are your experiences with Schuro?
Hey PJ! Thanks! Ofcource there is an Grolsch waiting in the fridge for you when you come by to listen. Hope to see you soon.
ErikH.
E. Pardaans said:Congratulations with your amplifier Erik.
A nice thing to hear you like the sound of it.
At this moment i have only a box of parts for my Aleph 2, so i can not comment on this.
But like bbakota2000 said, why dont you build your own speakers.
You could look at http://home.hetnet.nl/~geenius/ for some nice designs.
I am building the Hatt MKIII at this moment and according to the many positive comments they should be very good.
For Seas chassis and Intertechnik filter components you should look at http://www.schuro.de/.
You could definitely save some money.
Edwin.
Hey Edwin, always nice to get a reply from another Dutch DIY'er. Perhaps I can indeed build my own speakers. Speakerland.nl has some nice kits availeble too. What are your experiences with Schuro?
pj_Pjotr said:
Hey PJ! Thanks! Ofcource there is an Grolsch waiting in the fridge for you when you come by to listen.
Hope to see you soon. ErikH.
Erik,
I have bought the filtercomponents for my Hatt MKIII at Schuro and it saved me 100 Euro.
If i had known them earlier i would have bought my Seas chassis there and saved more money.
Capacitors for the powersupply (BC components) are cheaper then i have seen anywhere else.
Delivery is fast.
I have bought the filtercomponents for my Hatt MKIII at Schuro and it saved me 100 Euro.
If i had known them earlier i would have bought my Seas chassis there and saved more money.
Capacitors for the powersupply (BC components) are cheaper then i have seen anywhere else.
Delivery is fast.
Jaac TheMaster said:
I still suffer from spinal injuries because of bringing the parts with me in a backpack.
I'm afraid that the finisched amp will kill me. But maybe a listening session is worth the pain... E. Pardaans said:
I'll keep that in mind and check them before ordering somewhere else. Thanks for the info!
ErikH.
When I first saw the title of the thread I could not help wonder how many other Aleph:s this one must have cannibalised in order to survive =)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106246...0wfHE9YWxpdmV8aHRtbD0xfG5tPW9u;fc=1;ft=6;fm=1
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106246...0wfHE9YWxpdmV8aHRtbD0xfG5tPW9u;fc=1;ft=6;fm=1
Hello Erik,
Congrats on your amp!
With regard to your question about Schuro, I too saved quite some money by buying my Morel tweeters there (instead of at Speakerland), the service is good but communications are a bit "stiff". I ordered some Scanspeaks at Madisound (www.madisound.com) and especially with the exchange rate of the dollar at this moment, a lot of money can be saved (I think for two Scanspeak 21W/8555's I saved about 120Euro (this includes shipping)) the service is truly great and the communication is excellent!
Regards,
Jarno.
Congrats on your amp!
With regard to your question about Schuro, I too saved quite some money by buying my Morel tweeters there (instead of at Speakerland), the service is good but communications are a bit "stiff". I ordered some Scanspeaks at Madisound (www.madisound.com) and especially with the exchange rate of the dollar at this moment, a lot of money can be saved (I think for two Scanspeak 21W/8555's I saved about 120Euro (this includes shipping)) the service is truly great and the communication is excellent!
Regards,
Jarno.
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