An Aleph5: ALIVE!

[Cr3ator]

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 ([Aleph5] Heatsink burn-in test) 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

[Cr3ator]

Some of the used parts...

[Cr3ator]

This is where I did my testing and soldering...

[Cr3ator]

And this is my humble setup... If I only had enough money for some decent speakers...

[bbakota2000]

Congratulations on your new amp Erik!
Which preamp are you going to bulid? Aleph P is an excellent choice to go with your Aleph 5.

[Cr3ator]

And finaly a picture of the amp... not finished yet, but beautiful already!

[bbakota2000]

BTW. Why don't you build some new speakers. There is a lot of interesting projects on this forum (loudspeaker section)

[Cr3ator]

Originally posted by bbakota2000
Congratulations on your new amp Erik!
Which preamp are you going to bulid? Aleph P is an excellent choice to go with your Aleph 5.

Thank you! I have to think about that pre... But the Aleph P sure is one of the options.

I'm thinking of buying some B&W speakers. Just need a couple of months of saving money

Erik

[E. Pardaans]

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.

[pj_Pjotr]

Looking pretty nice already!! can't wait to hear the sound of that little beauty, i'll come and check it soon!
I'm also looking forward to see the casing you're promising, I'm sure it'll be great!
PJ, Steenwijk, The Netherlands