I think bwater's front panel looks nice the way it is. 
It's more important now to enjoy the music with the Aleph J!
bwater, agree with you, a bigger chassis helps. Nowadays I prefer chassis with 400mm (approx 16 inches) depth. Your case looks like it is from Aliexpress / Ebay, and you can find a few models with 350 mm depth / 400 mm depth there. And of course there's 400mm deep Modushop cases from the diyAudio store also.
It's more important now to enjoy the music with the Aleph J!
bwater, agree with you, a bigger chassis helps. Nowadays I prefer chassis with 400mm (approx 16 inches) depth. Your case looks like it is from Aliexpress / Ebay, and you can find a few models with 350 mm depth / 400 mm depth there. And of course there's 400mm deep Modushop cases from the diyAudio store also.
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Another good suggestion! Yes, thought of that one too... it would put the top of the transformer about 10mm from the top of the enclosure, which I felt was a little close for comfort. Maybe it would be okay? Anyway, I'm actually quite taken with my upside down face plate. Who knows, maybe mine is the right way up, and Pass Labs got theirs all wrong? I like to imagine someone in the workshop showing Nelson Pass the new amplifiers and him replying "WHAT!? That's not what I said!"
OK, here's the inside of my M2x Build with Tucson daughterboards active (Burson opamps) and with the Austin and MountainView boards in the wings. Works great and there is plenty of space as long as the PSU is a separate box. Quiet too. Very quiet when the DC offset is dialed to "0" which requires a small resistor and trimpot revision. This is one impressive amp design and with the Burson opamps has enough slam to take you into another dimension.
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Pass DIY Addict
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Thanks, DIYers. Have been very active with DIY builds the last several months and have completed the ACA and M2x amps to go along with two retail amps. Since I like to switch back and forth between amps while listening, a process I term "active amp selection" have built two passive boxes for making this possible.
Attached are the line selection and speaker switch boxes that make active amp selection a 5-second chore. When it becomes this easy, you can choose one amp for a vinyl record then switch to another for a digital source. Have been thinking that a thread on this topic might be of interest. Let me know what you folks think.
Attached are the line selection and speaker switch boxes that make active amp selection a 5-second chore. When it becomes this easy, you can choose one amp for a vinyl record then switch to another for a digital source. Have been thinking that a thread on this topic might be of interest. Let me know what you folks think.
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What switches did you use for your passive switcher? The one under the org b1 preamp? Thanks!
Mike: Am using the 1U box right below the B1 for direct switching -- it is a 6 in, 6 out passive box with Uxcell rotary 2p6t switches (2) connected to lots of RCA inputs/outputs. This box routes incoming line level sources to the chosen amp. Easy to build and anyone here can produce one.
The amp to speaker box is below that and is a bit more interesting. Have produced a BoM and will try to add that here but am unsure of the new format. We will see. The importance to this box is that there can be no "choke" points where the signal would be degraded and, so, the switches, cables, and speaker terminals must all be able to handle the speaker current.
Again, am thinking that a thread devoted to the topic of active amp selection would be of interest. The idea is that you use amp selection for specific listening choices and the method shown above allows the selection of a new amp in under 5 seconds. We will see.
The amp to speaker box is below that and is a bit more interesting. Have produced a BoM and will try to add that here but am unsure of the new format. We will see. The importance to this box is that there can be no "choke" points where the signal would be degraded and, so, the switches, cables, and speaker terminals must all be able to handle the speaker current.
Again, am thinking that a thread devoted to the topic of active amp selection would be of interest. The idea is that you use amp selection for specific listening choices and the method shown above allows the selection of a new amp in under 5 seconds. We will see.
Thanks! I have been looking for a good channel switch for my preamp build. I bought a nice channel switch but it ended up being the size of a RCA jack. I didn't want to spend too much time messing around with soldering on something that small. Also, the shaft is about 1/8" on it.
The amp box you built does look like a very good idea. Right now I am down just using one amp primarily.
That switch you used will be at my house in a few days.
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