| Making home stereo, cheap power + quality??? - Click HERE for Original Thread |
| da_madaxeman |
hey im planning to make/purchase a 240v Home hifi amp within a year or so
i havn't chosen components yet as there is currently a money issue... lol and i dont want to rush into things
i'm looking for about 300 watts rms/channel and would prefer it to be at 8 ohms, though if absolutely necessary i could probably drop to 4 ohms, it would just mean finding a different type / quantity of components. I want good quality, nothing weighing more than me (48kg or so, im 14) relatively user friendly, stereo (ie. without bridgeing of any L and R speakers) etc.
i am open to any suggestion as to what sort of amps to buy, or even to build, though i would prefer to buy as i have not attempted such a large and expensive project as yet. that said, i can solder, know basics, though not much more, willing to learn and could probably get some help.
If anyone could tell me or give me wiring plans for how to jam a 12v car amp into a power point, i am willing to do so and could possibly even get one for a decent price. That said, i would have to simulate the remote activation, or CD tuner power on, and like I said, i don't want something heavier than I am, and that includes transformers.
I say again that it has to be within a decent budget cos i'd be on a pretty basic wage and am currently still paying off my CAR subs :nod: lol.
the speakers would *probably* be something 3 way, with 8ohm tweeters, mids, and either one 300w rms 8ohm sub/channel or two 4ohms. Theres always the possibility of twin 8ohms wired in parallel circut if the load dropped to 4ohm, so its really quite flexible. any less than 4 ohm would not be convenient for the availability of quality tweeters and mids at that impedance and i dont want anything wierd or experimental with variable impedances in the speakers. Also wondering about crossover...They are expensive, do i really need one? could i wire the lot in series and hope for the best? any suggestions appreciated and sorry about the long post lol. cyaz cheers
-Eli:scratch: |
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| SkinnyBoy |
I suggest you DO NOT attempt to use a car amp...
Jaycar has a kit for a fairly high powered amp.... perhaps you could have a look into that... ;)
LOSER!!!! HAHAHAHA!!!! WHAT YA DOING MAN!!! hehe... now everyone thinks I am crazy.. lol |
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| Kongen |
You could go for an used NAD 218THX (www.nadelectronics.com) giving a massive 225W/8 ohms rms and almost doubling in 4 ohms. It should be possible to buy this one used for a nice price.
You could also look into building a kit from lcaudio denmark (www.lcaudio.com). They have a digital amp (ZAPpulse) giving 200w/8ohms and you can bridge these modules to get much more power. They are easy to build - almost nothing else than powersupply and input/output connections - and they dissipate almost no heat. They do have more intricate kits like the "The End" class a/b power amp, and the "ZAPsolute mk4" class a amp giving up to 118 watts/8 ohms pure class A :bigeyes: (drawing some 400 or 500 watts constantly!). They do also supply the amps as finished products. ;)
Jacob |
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| da_madaxeman |
5{ e suggestion, I'm checking out the sites now. I could probably build something if given clear wiring charts - and all the required bits ;) lol...
whatever skinnyboy, i know why you got banned from those chatrooms :clown: lol....
ahem anyway again thanks for your suggestion, NAD look pretty good, but I'd say those prices would double + postage if imported. I guess that's still not bad, really... Do you know of any sites with component speakers of about that power listed?
Cheers :cool:
-Eli |
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| SkinnyBoy |
Dude, you and I both know you can't afford those.. lol
Get the Kit from jaycar... has everything... you buy those things and you'll need a case and power transformers.. that means add atleast another $200 to the total cost... :S
Get the kit from Jaycar...
It'll give Continuous:
(Per channel with both channels driven)
185 RMS into 8 ohms
255 RMS into 4 ohms
IHF (short term)
(Per channel with both channels driven)
240 RMS into 8 ohms
380 RMS into 4 ohms
$599 Australian.... if ya buy 5 or more you get them for $539... lol
Amplifier, not sure if this will work...
www.jaycar.com.au
Catalog Number: KA-1760 |
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| Diode |
Hello,
I just finished 2 500W in 4 ohms amps. I measured at 8 ohms but I forget exactly what the output was.... I think around 266WRMS. Since my rail voltage is lower than the design called for, I only get 408WRMS into 4 ohms. It was from an August, Sept. and Oct. 1997 issues of Silicon Chip Magazine. Dick Smith Electronics doesn't carry the kit any more. I ordered the boards from RCS Radio. They are in Chester Hill NSW Austraila. (+61 2) 9738 0330 I suppose that's the phone number. RCS Radio is on the internet. Bob Barnes is the fellow to talk to. I bought 2 boards and shipping to USA for $50.00 US. Not bad at all.... I think that comes out to be $35 Aus. dollars. Look him up! The boards are fine quality. You will need to get a copy of the article though. There is no silkscreen on the boards. I took a fine, permanant marker and did my own silkscreen and made it very easy on myself. The amps are very quiet and no hiss or hum. I love it!!! I will be writing about them some more when I get my pictures developed. I have started a couple threads on them under "500W amp" look em up man!
Best wishes and good luck,
Chris |
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| da_madaxeman |
thanks a lot :) ! I'm not really up to date with things like what that thing u mentioned is, dust cover or something.... but if told what to do i could probably manage. sounds great, but how much wiring would i have to do?
-Eli |
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| Diode |
Hey,
Since I bought the boards, the only wiring I did was for the power supply parts. Other than that, just stuff the boards with parts. It would take a lot of time if I had to hardwire all the parts on proto board.;) If you do decide to do it, there are many smart people here that will help!
Chris |
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| SkinnyBoy |
| yeah... I'll gladly offer useless advice... ;) |
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| da_madaxeman |
hehhhheheheheh.. kewl thanx
i think i will go along with that, AWESOME price hey? so who do i call and what do i say? (sorry lack of sleep caused by school days amounts to lack of any real independant thinking and even a lack of proper interpretation of..............stupid english teacher.....)
anyway yeah so i think i will go along with it, but who do i call?
thanks heaps oh and cheers skinnyboy:cool:
-Eli |
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| Diode |
That skinney boy..... What a smart-***..... ;) Building 1.21 jigg-a-watt amps is serious business... LOL ROF Yeah skinney boy, try building a real mans amp for a change!!!!! just kidding.......
RCSRADIO@cia.com.au Mr. Bob Barnes The board number is SC01208971 500Watt Amplifier. Bob's a pretty cool and interesting dude. Tell him "The Okie from Muskogee" sent you. He'll get a kick out of that....... :)
I'll post pictures when I get them scanned in. I just got them developed today.........
Chris |
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| da_madaxeman |
hey hey
thanks for that, I tried calling but couldnt get through, will try again tomorrow... but my good friend skinnyboy here :) told me I would need to spend about $320 on transformers (4x 300VA) and 8 $10 transistors.... hmm.... Whilst this is still worth it it seems, is this true? is there an easier power option?
If it helps, our AC powerpoint power here is 240V 50Hz.
The board itself only costs $35 Australian :) I checked on their site, thanks again skinnyboy for the link. To see for yourself, go to http://www.cia.com.au/rcsradio/atozlist.txt its not far down.
Anyway must go. Any help would be appreciated. I'll try calling them again tomorrow to ask them for advice.
-Eli |
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| da_madaxeman |
hey,
It sounds pretty good, he said I could probably get transformers than a bit less than previously thought :)
I was wondering how much the voltage recommended to be put into it is (after transformers), so I could know just how juicy transformers I need....
I was also wondering how many other things need fixing, patching up or adopting to suit my needs. I would be running probably two of this amp (i know, gonna cost me) one per channel. I actually don't need it to be this powerful, so I could consider running at a maximum of 300-400 watts RMS if it would help from the transformer front. He did kind of scare me by saying something about treating it good, well of course, but how would this differ from any other amp?
I was also wondering if there was an alternative built more for my needs, that is to say 350, 400 watts rms x 2? Ah, this is probably pretty good. I dont know honestly, but if I can make this work for a decent price I will, to save complications of looking around more for another alternative.
Also, slightly off topic, how would I go about pursuing a career in speakers, amps and general sound equipment which will be sound and well paying?
heheh.... -Eli |
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| djk |
Maybe you should buy one of these for salvage:
http://www.djtronix.com/beeuep.html
For only $349 you would get a nice case, heatsink, fan, binding posts, transformer, etc.
You could gut it and then build your amp inside. |
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| da_madaxeman |
:scratch: i feel guilty gutting stuff... thanks heaps though... does leave me wondering, if they can build a whole amp for that much, couldnt i get bits for less? hmmm
also :idea: it says 1200w @ 2 ohms x 2, whilst im fairly sure that's PA equipment, it would most likely provide sufficient power at 4 ohms x 2, or even 8 ohms x 2, IF it can handle that load. (I am aware of the power drop at higher loads but... 1200 watts jeez...) hmmm any suggestions comments? i mean thats a pretty good price 350 :)
thanks heaps
-Eli |
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| SkinnyBoy |
| so.... what speakers are you planning to run from this amp? ;) hehe |
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| da_madaxeman |
heheheheh
you will be happy to know....
Peerless 12'' 400W rms home woofers... ;) your fave...well not quite but hey play along with it lol
Probably Peerless mids too, just works... they have a fairly wide selection of mids. about 120 watts rms, not that I'd go that loud regularly, i mean at 800Hz, 120 watts continuous is LOUD... well, fairly... I know the subs would well and truly drown out the mids, but hey you dont go up to 400w rms for rock/alternative.... well I probably wouldnt. That site you gave me with lots of price listings was helpful, i will check that too.
Tweeters? well... no idea. They arent really too expensive, something aroun 100 watts rms, again not that i'd use all of that too often.
All (of course) in a 25mm MDF box with a nice big bass port, maybe some damping inside (the squishy stuff) if recommended or neccesary. Mids independantly boxed and same for the tweeters, just to stop 400 watts worth of reverberations... Internally done or itll look queer.... :dodgy:
Per channel of course, possibly pine veneered if i really don't like the MDF look:o
And, I intend to get a decent paying job and save for a while to buy it as I know it will not be cheap.
-Eli |
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| djk |
" i feel guilty gutting stuff... thanks heaps though... does leave me wondering, if they can build a whole amp for that much, couldnt i get bits for less? hmmm"
Only if you build a bunch (like 10K) in China like they are.
"also it says 1200w @ 2 ohms x 2, whilst im fairly sure that's PA equipment, it would most likely provide sufficient power at 4 ohms x 2, or even 8 ohms x 2, IF it can handle that load. (I am aware of the power drop at higher loads but... 1200 watts jeez...) hmmm any suggestions comments? i mean thats a pretty good price 350 "
It's like 800W/4R and 500W/8R in stereo. I don't think I would run any low priced amp at 2R, even if they claim it's 'stable'.
You don't need 400W anyway.
http://db.audioasylum.com/cgi/m.pl?...djk&r=&session= |
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| da_madaxeman |
yeah, but I wouldnt be running it at 2 Ohms. I'd need 400 watts RMS to power the speakers properly, which would be preferable.
Good point with the making 1000's of them.... maybe i should start a factory... jk
hmmm, the only problem is I definitely don't have that money now nor in a hurry... |
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