I really appreciate this thread! (and OPs' blog- thankew!) So I have a question about getting different voltages out of the PSU. I thought it was designed to supply 18v. Some my questions are:
1. How does this work with the Aleph J if the expected voltage is 24v?
2. How does one accommodate using a transformer with a 20v out of the secondary?
Thanks!
1. How does this work with the Aleph J if the expected voltage is 24v?
2. How does one accommodate using a transformer with a 20v out of the secondary?
Thanks!
Actually, yes it is. ( Apex Jr) You buy it by the foot. Copper price is copper price...if you find it elsewhere please post. Make sure its mil spec, which will be high quality copper, silver plated and teflon insulation. Easy to solder and insulation doesnt melt.
The only place that would be cheaper would be salvage. Soooooo, actually Apex Jr could not be more set up for the noob. Call on phone, order, receive. He won't bite, be brave!
He's even sent me sample pieces to gauge fit in PCB through holes! Not sure what else a noob needs, no one is going to pay for it and drive it to you that I know of anyway.....LOL.
He gives 100 ft pricing, but you can buy 1 foot if you want.
Russellc
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First, we should probably answer Fred’s question. ASSUMING, as we do for this project, that we are going bare-bones for a one-time builder of the Aleph J, not an investor in a life-long mortgage-threatening hobby, what sizes of wire are necessary? Can we get by with AWG 22 for everything, or do we need, 14 for power and 24 for small signal? We would like to make a declarative statement for the build (get this!) and then allow that, well if you have anything in this range, that should be fine.
Of course it is! I don't understand the difficulty?
In example, I like three different colors for power supply wiring, 16 gauge stranded will be fine. Two of the colors will be black and white, usually blue for third, but that's just me.
For signal, black and red in 22 gauge solid core. figure out how many feet, call apex and get price, order. Nothing could be easier!
Russellc
In example, I like three different colors for power supply wiring, 16 gauge stranded will be fine. Two of the colors will be black and white, usually blue for third, but that's just me.
For signal, black and red in 22 gauge solid core. figure out how many feet, call apex and get price, order. Nothing could be easier!
Russellc
For a one-time builder of the Aleph J, a suggestion could be
1. Find a local electrical junk yard,
2. Garbage bin of a local electrical company
There could be a lot of industrial control panels, computers, wires and cables with different colors and sizes with very good quality, even with PTFE jacket rated 600VAC.
I did both and rarely buy any cables.
.
1. Find a local electrical junk yard,
2. Garbage bin of a local electrical company
There could be a lot of industrial control panels, computers, wires and cables with different colors and sizes with very good quality, even with PTFE jacket rated 600VAC.
I did both and rarely buy any cables.
.
Here is a Digi-key link to a filtered search result for:
- hook-up wire
- copper, copper w/tin, or copper w/silver
- PTFE or PVC jacket
- 14, 16, 22, 24 AWG
- sold by foot
From here, a user could filter by color and specific gauge to get their desired result.
Digi-key
That said, Apex Jr would be just as easy, and probably a bit cheaper. And if I were making this amp and had only two gauges at my disposal, I'd pick 14AWG for power and speaker, and 24AWG for small signal
- hook-up wire
- copper, copper w/tin, or copper w/silver
- PTFE or PVC jacket
- 14, 16, 22, 24 AWG
- sold by foot
From here, a user could filter by color and specific gauge to get their desired result.
Digi-key
That said, Apex Jr would be just as easy, and probably a bit cheaper. And if I were making this amp and had only two gauges at my disposal, I'd pick 14AWG for power and speaker, and 24AWG for small signal
I like the idea of using 14 gauge for PS, but find often the through holes were a bit small for it, so started using 16. I doubt there is the tiniest bit of significance in the difference! Point is, decent wire can be bought by the foot in solid, stranded, choice of gauge and color. I don't have the patience for cheap hookup wire that turns green inside the insulation, which shrinks or melts off when soldering.
Cheers,
Russellc
Cheers,
Russellc
I typically use 16 for power. Honestly, I usually just hack up some old speaker wire I have around for output, though I try to make it around 14. Good point though, and 16awg might be an ideal choice if builder wants to keep it simple.
Per your last point, I know PVC can definitely start to melt and deform with too much heat, but I’ve never had much issue with it.
Per your last point, I know PVC can definitely start to melt and deform with too much heat, but I’ve never had much issue with it.
For sure. The stuff that I ‘salvage’ is old Canare or Mogami speaker cable, so still decent stuff.
Flohmann and Alanhuth - maybe you could talk to Apex Jr and convince him to create an Aleph J wire ‘kit.’ You guys determine the wire that goes into it, and then future builders can just contact Apex and ask for the Aleph ‘wire kit.’
Flohmann and Alanhuth - maybe you could talk to Apex Jr and convince him to create an Aleph J wire ‘kit.’ You guys determine the wire that goes into it, and then future builders can just contact Apex and ask for the Aleph ‘wire kit.’
No, it is designed to be roughly 24VDC output when using roughly 18VAC secondaries as input.
1. So, it will work just fine.
2. Put it in / use it. Within the context of this thread, no other changes.
A pair of these would be very nice if someone wanted to do dual-mono, or mono-blocks
Avel Lindberg Y236651 250VA 18V+18V Toroidal Transformer
Avel Lindberg Y236651 250VA 18V+18V Toroidal Transformer
1) 18v secondaries will give around 23V rails close enough to 24V
2) I wouldn't bother going with 20V secondaries unless you had 16 Ohm speakers.
Most people haven't even built an Aleph J cause what they have is an under-biased clone, adding more voltage is adding more heat to dissipate in an amp that is going to be hotter than the others.
Obviously if you plan to acount for all of that and scale the amp appropriately then that is a different story, but that's a little above noob level.
That's good wire and will be every bit as good as milspec, if not better. No problems there.
Russellc
Ohh nice I didn't know about these. I've been wishing Antek would make a 250VA line of toroids for a dual mono Aleph J. Now if only I could find these 250VA Avels for Antek prices.
A pair of 300VA, 20V Antek transformers are doing a fine job in my Aleph J. I built dual-mono CRCRC power supply boards, so the higher secondary voltage was put to good use. Bias is around 1.8A per rail. My chassis is 3.5U, 400mm deep and I leave the amp on 24/7. Bias could be set a little higher according to the heatsink temperature, but the amp sounds so good that I'm not messing with it anymore.
Wow a dual mono fits in a 3.5U chassis and you get enough cooling? What chassis are you using?
