| drfrink24 |
After a few days of planning, building and hooking everything up, I've finished my first GC. This also was my first electronics venture to date. I've got an active crossover thats next on my list.
Here are some pics: |
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| m0tion |
| Nice chassis and heatsinks. |
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| jleaman |
| Where did ya get that nice case ? |
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| dsavitsk |
| Looks like a par-metal? |
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| drfrink24 |
Yep, par metal.
Well, the pictures were taken BEFORE I knew if it worked or not.
It doesn't. :bawling:
Well, actually, the right channel works, I guess. At full volume from my CD players variable output, its 80db at most. This is into some Atlantic Technology MTMs (dual 6 1/2 I think).
The left channel... nada, nothing. Silence.
I will say, that when I first plugged it in, not hooked up to anything, there was a slight snapping sound, but, it didn't smell as if anything burned up.
I'm still rechecking my connections, but, its not like its that difficult, so far, the input is OK from a connectivity standpoint. Checking output now.
I'm also going to look into the troubleshooting section.
:( |
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| drfrink24 |
I think I found the problem... Cold solder joint, well, I found out whats popping, thats for sure!
Both vg+ to v+ and vg- to v- read 38.7 and 38.6 respectively. |
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| SQ Kid |
beautiful case and layout. only thing i would change would be the switch. some of the computer modding companies have some beautful led-lit buttons. a nice centered, silver w/ blue led light would make that thing perfect.
dont mind me, as your GC is hands down 10x better looking then any of mine. i need some spare cash for cases..... |
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| drfrink24 |
Yep. Fixed it.
2 channels of glory.
The only thing now that I'm wondering about is the low power output. I've got the gain all the way up, and I'm hitting 85 db. Maybe the Atlantics I'm using are super inneficient. |
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| drfrink24 |
| quote: | Originally posted by SQ Kid
beautiful case and layout. only thing i would change would be the switch. some of the computer modding companies have some beautful led-lit buttons. a nice centered, silver w/ blue led light would make that thing perfect.
dont mind me, as your GC is hands down 10x better looking then any of mine. i need some spare cash for cases..... |
Thanks man! Yeah, the switch does have a LED in it, I haven't gotten around to ordering a resitor for it though.
The case only cost $50 shipped from par-metal. I'm pleased.
Now, if I could just find out if the low power output is normal... |
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| motherone |
| What impeadence are the Atlantics? At the voltage you're running it at, it'll probably only handle 8 ohm loads effectively. You would probably need to lower it by 7-10 volts for better 4 ohm performance. |
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| motherone |
| Oh yeah, and before I forget, what resistor values are you using? |
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| drfrink24 |
| quote: | Originally posted by motherone
Oh yeah, and before I forget, what resistor values are you using? |
If you're asking for the amp, whatever came with BrianGTs kits, I don't remember off hand.
If you're asking for the LED, haven't figured out the number yet.
As for the lacking volume, I think it has to do with the CD players output. Maybe the default resistor values in the kit are on the conservative side?
I listened to music for about 1hr at full volume output, the chips were cool to the touch, so, they're aren't working hard at all. |
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| slackman |
Maybe you need some buffering in the powertree? I didn't see any regulation and filtering.
So, if power is needed (for bass ex.), it's better to buffer the powertree with elkos (1500 uF per Amp) to give the amp more power in pulses.
If you build the GC with lm3886 chips, 50-60 W is the limit. with parallel ones (or lm4780) you can achieve twice the power. |
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| rjon17469 |
| quote: | Originally posted by SQ Kid
beautiful case and layout. only thing i would change would be the switch. some of the computer modding companies have some beautful led-lit buttons. a nice centered, silver w/ blue led light would make that thing perfect.
dont mind me, as your GC is hands down 10x better looking then any of mine. i need some spare cash for cases..... |
Very nice looking GC indeed.
SQ, can you point me to a few links to find those nice LED-lit buttons? I'm looking for them, but am having no luck. |
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| chrish |
If you are running at full volume and still not getting enough volume, and the CD player works OK on another amp, then I am reasonably sure that your problem will be that you have mixed up the resistor values. Double check that you have placed the resistors in the right locations. If you mix up the placement, you may end up with a situation where the amp will still work, but the gain is not right. Someone had this same problem a few days ago...
There should be plenty of power with your kit for high volume levels in a domestic setup.
Cheers,
Chris |
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| drfrink24 |
| quote: | Originally posted by chrish
If you are running at full volume and still not getting enough volume, and the CD player works OK on another amp, then I am reasonably sure that your problem will be that you have mixed up the resistor values. Double check that you have placed the resistors in the right locations. If you mix up the placement, you may end up with a situation where the amp will still work, but the gain is not right. Someone had this same problem a few days ago...
There should be plenty of power with your kit for high volume levels in a domestic setup.
Cheers,
Chris |
Yes, if you read earlier on in this post, I discovered that I have Rnfb and R1 values reversed. Brian is sending me all new resistors. |
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