Yet another Zen4 completed

[jag]

A BIG thanks. To Nelson Pass for being so generous in an age obsessed with knowledge hoarding. To Peter Daniel for being to chassis, what NP is to the circuit - a Class A amp, especially, is nothing without a proper chassis. To everyone else on this forum for helping me out (either directly or indirectly): I really consider this as an achievement for this forum that even I could attempt and successfully complete this (this is my first ever DIY).

 

[jag]

Keeping in line with the Zen philosophy, the chassis is as simple as it can be - 2 heat sinks, and 2 wood planks - any simpler and it cannot be (at least in the 3 dimensional space that we inhabit).

 

[Peter Daniel]

I see you have a good taste. Very nice indeed.

 

[jag]

I was, initially, hoping to make the front and back black. But, after I found out about the effort involved with 'ebonizing' wood (think 'dyes and other nasty chemicals'), I decided to make it as light color as possible. The wood is poplar - no stain.

 

[UrSv]

Very, very nice...

Congrats
UrSv

 

[jag]

The top of the amp can be removed - to reveal a... treasure, well actually a handle that allows for easy lifting of this leviathan. I used to wonder, always, while browsing the Pass gallery about how to pick up those monsters (a very tight hug?!)

 

[stefanobilliani]

NICE! You give me good inspiration!

I have build the Zen around similar heat sinks , but until now I did not know how to complete the job.

Thanks

 

[Dennis Hui]

Very stylish amp....

Are those the heatshinks available on Meci? How
hot do they get?

Cheers,
Dennis

 

[jag]

Well, that is it. I think that I have done enough construction for a while, and am now going back to the original hobby (that got me into this in first place) - listening to music - for the rest of the year, atleast. Ah, music - very smooth and relaxed, although the bass does not seem as tight as the Adcom (first impressions, got a lot more listening to do). And the reason for great sound: the magic dust (manufactured at passlabs, and who knows what else: Nelson himself mentioned something about Astro-Lube once) sprinkled on PCBs and Q-pack. The power is more than enough for music, but seems a bit anemic for movies (DVDs). The sinks are running pretty hot (uncomfortable to touch), though not so hot that you cannot touch them. In order to increase bias, I will have to take one of the MOSFETS out of the PCB and farther from the others (to better spread heat on the sink - the bottom is a lot cooler than the top). Better option will be to do an active crossover and a subwoofer... Those will be the next projects then, hopefully the active crossover will be available early next year (please Nelson, oh please!).

 

[joensd]

Wow, been thinking about chassis and mounting heatsinks for a while now. This is really one of the simplest and best looking ideas I´v seen.
Congrats and thanks for another inspiration.

Jens

 

[promitheus]

It looks very very cool and stylish.
It should also sound good too.

 

[jag]

Thank you all, for kind words. It does look a lot better in real life - a 100K jpeg cannot do justice to richness and depth of a better quality wood grain.

Are those the heatshinks available on Meci?

Heatsinks are MECI surplus. PCBs and original Q-pack are from passdiy. Transformers are Plitron. Other electrical components as well as replacement Q-pack (for the one that blew up) are from digikey. Hardware from local HD.

 

[Magnetmaz]

can you post a closeup of the power supply, please? There's a piece of wood that obscures how you have the caps set up. I just want to see how you have everything laid out.

-Maz

 

[roddyama]

jag,

Super job

You have to get Karen to put your amp in the Passdiy Gallery.

Rodd Yamashita

 

[jleaman]

Great job ! looks awsome man. My amp boards shuold be here in a few days. : O ) Thanks to Karen at pass labs for getting my my boards. : O )

 

[Magnetmaz]

bah..double post..sorry

 

[MikeW]

I'm glad you you got it up and running. I hope it sounds as good as it looks, nice work. What did you have to do to fix it?

 

[jag]

can you post a closeup of the power supply, please? There's a piece of wood that obscures how you have the caps set up. I just want to see how you have everything laid out.

-Maz

Pl refer to this thread for closeup shots (I would hate to take up redundant space by posting duplicate pictures).

I'm glad you you got it up and running. I hope it sounds as good as it looks, nice work. What did you have to do to fix it?

I replaced Q1, Q2, Q5, R0 & R1. R0 was blown, and looks like all the Qs were blown. Why? I do not know, probably one of them was bad initially - but now the evidence has been destroyed.

 

[trigon]

Very nice

Trigon.

 

[Nelson Pass]

It's AAAARRRT, sez I.