From a schematic to a PCB.

[beppe61]

Dear Friends,


first of all I have to state that I am very bad at English and electronics.
Then a kind question.
Many time I have been amazed by the beauty of PCBs designed by DIYAUDIO friends starting from schematics.
Is there any software that from a schematic can output a PCB design ?
Some of these PCBs seem to me even much better built that commercial ones !
Real pieces of art.
In particular my dream would be to design a PCB for a re-edition of the HK Citation 12 with a single pair of Sanken as outputs.
A very powerful and nice sounding 60 watter/channel.
I saw a wonderful PCB for the Mosfet 12 version, but I am afraid it would not work for the original Citation 12 schematic.
What I like of the Citation 12 is that it should have the minimum number of active components needed.
Very minimalist design. I like it greatly.
Any suggestion would be very appreciated.

Thank you very much indeed.
Kind regards,

beppe

[peranders]

If you want to fool around you could test Eagle for free, small pcb is the limitation.

www.cadsoft.de

It's not that hard to make a nice looking pcb (but make a good pcb may be a bit harder...).

[MikeBettinger]

You should take a look at ExpressPCB

They supply free schematic entry and PCB layout software with no significant limitations to the home builder. The catch is that it's their own proprietary format so you have to have them build the boards. I recently had some amplifier drive boards made and was pleased with the quality.

[beppe61]

Originally posted by peranders

If you want to fool around you could test Eagle for free, small pcb is the limitation.
www.cadsoft.de
It's not that hard to make a nice looking pcb (but make a good pcb may be a bit harder...).

Dear Mr. Peranders,

what a wonderful result ! My sincere congratulations !
I would start with something very basic first.
I will try the software.

Thank you very much.
Regards,
beppe

[beppe61]

Originally posted by MikeBettinger
You should take a look at ExpressPCB
They supply free schematic entry and PCB layout software with no significant limitations to the home builder. The catch is that it's their own proprietary format so you have to have them build the boards. I recently had some amplifier drive boards made and was pleased with the quality.

Dear Mr. Bettinger,

thank you so much for your very valuable advice.
Kind regards,

beppe

[bigpanda]

Like Mike said, you have to have someone work out your pcb if you are using PCBxpress. You could not print the traces out and do your own etching, drilling... etc. It's always difficult to find the right tools to do your work.

[Bazukaz]

Hi,
ExpressPCB allows you to print PCBs.

I am wondering if there is a good layout router program ?

Thanks,
Lukas.

[pinkmouse]

Not for audio. It's manual routing all the way!

[Leolabs]

Originally posted by pinkmouse
Not for audio. It's manual routing all the way!

Yes,manual routing is good for audio design

[peranders]

Originally posted by beppe61
I would start with something very basic first.

I'll recommend that you try some software with both schematic _and_ pcb layout. It's easier to have a correct schematic to start with. Eagle may be a good alternative.