Amp Chasis/Enclosures and Heatsinks

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fredlock

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Joined 2008
#1
I believe that most of the DIY Audio members had built a good sounding amplifiers. I'm just wondering where they bought their hardwares (Amp Chasis/enclosure & heatsinks) for their amps. I built a couple of DIY amplifiers and I've been looking on the internet for these hardwares, that is available in the US, but I have no luck. I found one in the internet but the store is located in Taipe Taiwan. Here's the link,

http://www.thlaudio.com/indexE.htm

A lot of choices and really nice looking chasis. The only problem is there's no prices posted but I'm sure it's pricy plus the shipping and handling, which will cost more money because of the weight. I haven't tried inquiring but I might try if I get a chance.

This is the reason why I'm asking if anybody knows of a store here in the US that sell these hardwares' which might be cheaper than buying it from other countries. Would somebody has a recommendation?
 
#2
Well, you are in Cali which is the bone-yard of used equipment -- you can quite often purchase a used Crown, SAE, Phase Linear amp used by some stoner-guitarist, gut the thing and you have a half decent chasis and power transformer. All you need is some sand paper and auto primer to get first rate stuff.

Also -- in the test equipment and medical equipment sections of EBay you have perfectly good cabinets and chasis for stuff made by defense contractors -- these are often "one-off" so there is no residual value save that of the aluminum. I have a couple of pieces of AIL equipment from their time on Long Island -- bought for next to nothing -- and it is better quality than anything you're gonna find in some distributor's catalog.
 
#5
Thanks for your suggestion Jackinnj, I did found some but its mangled and dented. Painting it will be a good idea but still it won't look nice, unless it cure with an automotive putty. I will probably try ebay as you suggested and see what I can find. Where do you buy your heatsinks by the way?

Moter, I already visited that site and I was planning to customize my front panel with an nice looking design and logo on it, once I get the chasis that I want to have the panel hooked up. Thanks.

I'll look up on tha eshop link. Are they selling chasis too?
 
#6
fredlock said:
Where do you buy your heatsinks by the way?
Click to expand...

For some of the smaller projects I have used surplus SCR heatsinks I purchased from Electronics Surplus in Cleveland. They have sinced moved to Mentor so I don't know how much of the inventory they took with them. The last several amplifiers I have built, however, have been carve-outs of Crown's, Audio Research, Hafler, Pioneer etc.

In your neck of the woods check out Apex JR -- they have a warehouse in La Crescenta, near Burbank: http://www.apexjr.com/Sinks.htm
 
#7
DIY club has several very nice boxes. Steel ones are around $50 - big power amp box is ~100, and some very nice aluminium ones are 150. Shipping to Australia by air is ~40 for pre-amp steel boxes, for big steel one is ~100.

They come with all connectors but these are not realy good quality. Also rear panel is pre drilled and front panels have minimalistic features and some of them are blank or just with a power switch hole. They also include knobs and an Alps push-on power sitch.

They are very reliable bunch of guys. I had three orders so far and all of them were delivered very fast and without any problems.
 
#8
ALso the boxes from thl audio are not expensive for the quality. Here are some of the quotes that I got of them:

1x PRAL-2 AL chasis, nt$2500/pc
1x PWAD-A40 Alum. Chassis for power amp, NT$3900/pc

shipping to Australia:

by EMS for PRAL-2 at NT$1130
also ems for PWAD-A40 at NT$1480

prices are in New Taiwan dollars 1USD=30NT$

so the price for A40 is $US180 with shipping.
 
#9
Thanks Jack for the info. La Cresenta is not that far from me, I'll try to visit Apex warehouse one of these days but appointment is needed, since it's a one man operation. There are also some good stuff that are on sale. I probably need the heatsinks for testing only. I still consider buying a chasis with builtin heatsink because its easier to work on and I can customize the front and back panel. I'm talking about the chasis without the predrilled holes.

DECK999, I visited the eshop.diyclub website that you suggested and it took a while to open the page. The website was very slow but I think they have good chasis in there too. I just didn't take my time looking for more because I'm so impatient. I took a snapshot of one of the chasis and I think it's for a preamp. See attached. Is this a Honkong based store?

I think there's a difference on the quotation they gave you at THL compared to what they emailed me on the first item.


PWAD-A40 Alum. Chassis for power amp. ......NT$4300/pc ..US $143.00

PRAL-1mo Pre-Amp Alum chassis case(modified 1 unit size) ....NT$2500/pc ....US $83. 00

PWAD-A40HS Alum. Alloy Heat Sink ......NT$900/pc ... $30.00

PWAD-01 Case for transistor power Amplifier....NT$5400/pc ...$180.00

The prices seems okay and I won't argue with it. I'm not sure if the shipping and handling would be the same for USA. Do you think this applies to all countries? or it depends on the distance from where to be shipped? What is EMS? Is this like UPS or Fedex?
 

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#10
I've built chassis out of old PC cases. The steel is just the right thickness and comes already painted. California has probably a million of these going into lanfills every day and if you're even anywhere near Silicon Valley, a quick dumpster dive in any industrial park will get you enough sheet metal to build a lifetime's worth of amps for free. Heck - you'd probably score enough resellable stuff to pay for all the amps you'll ever build in one night of diving.

I miss living there. 😀

Cheers,
- JJ
 
#11
@JJGross

I agree with you and I started going along you path but I quit when I realised how hard is to work on 1mm steel sheet metal (an old PC case that have in my garage). For my gainclone I ended buying half a sheet (1200x600) or 3mm AL and added woden sides and stick a shitload of copper tape on inside. The case is a real beauty. For my DIY CD player I am recycling an old Technics CD case by reusing front command panel.

@fredlock

My quote is probably 6 months old. They might have changed the prices in the meantime. No idea what is EMS - I guess their post service or similar. I would guess that shipping to US would be cheaper then to Aus. I might be wrong.

diyclub is Hong Kong based. The web site is very slow and very poor design but it works OK. The one on the pic is their newest preamp case. It was not available when I ordered mine. It is very nice looking case. I was amazed with their big power amp case and I was quoted only 40$ sea freight , by air it would be more then $100. But still, just look at the size of those heatsinks. Just heatsinks alone would cost more in Australia

http://eshop.diyclub.biz/product_info.php?cPath=1_115&products_id=211
 
#12
PC cases being dump now a days are very thin, knowing that PC's gets obsolete every six months because of the fast changing speed of , which the reason why they don't make durable cases anymore. Some of them are even plastics now. I wish I'm close to Silicon Valley but that's a heck of a drive for me. I'm in Los Angeles area.

DECK999, since you mention about buying a metal sheet, how did you bend the metal? Do you have a vender? This is a good idea but the problem is making vents on the top cover of the chasis is a problem. Drilling holes will do it but I think it won't be nice to look at.
I click on the link you attached and it really looks great. I just need to decide which one I need to order to fit the amp. At least I can put a chasis on one of the amp I built, which the best one that I like and the rest of the amp, I can just put on a wooden box. At least this one, I could display it on my living room that will look presentable that I can be proud of.

Even how good the sound of the amp without a nice chasis will still not be convincing for non-audiophile people. Would you agree?
:whazzat:
 
#13
I find heat sinks to be the single most difficult part to obtain for an amp build. Yes, heat sinks are everywhere, but finding the right heatsink for the job, at a decent price, and that fits your chassis, is always a challenge.

I have yet to find a good source for heat sinks.
 
#15
MJL21193 said:




Barrredboss on Ebay sells heatsinks.

Pretty cheap and very nice.
Click to expand...

i agree, i bought that same Heat sink from that seller on ebay, the heat sink is nice at L:12" x W:5,3/8" with a base at 3/8" for the 1" fins, for just $20 bucks, i may just get another one. i which i knew how much power in watts that sink is good for though, i my self am looking for an amp case, that will fit that sink or two, in the back for a single sink or the sides for two sinks. im planing on using it for a multichannel amp of 4 to 8 amplifiers that im building my self, may just end up build the case my self as well though, if i can figure out how. i wonder if there is a company that will build custom made cases to my specs for a reasonable price.
 
#16
I guess my problem was that I was trying to find a heat sink for the back of a 2U chassis, roughly 3" high by 7" wide and approx. 1" fin length.

I ended up finding one for free amongst some junk, but it needs lots of work. The base is going to have to be machined flat (it's a complete mess right now), the height cut down a bit, and the fins cut a little shorter since they are 3" long and I don't need that much cooling.
 
#17
Boricuaso, I think most of Audio DIY'ers have this problem and that includes me, finding the right case/chasis for the amp is very difficult. I'm just wondering nobody had thought of building "custom made chasis" here in US or Canada. He could have made a fortune from DIY'ers.
I can build my own amp chasis, but thinking about the time I spent finding the hardwares, drilling, painting and putting it together will end up be the same cost. Sometimes its worth it but sometimes not. :xeye:
 
#18
fredlock said:
Boricuaso, I think most of Audio DIY'ers have this problem and that includes me, finding the right case/chasis for the amp is very difficult. I'm just wondering nobody had thought of building "custom made chasis" here in US or Canada. He could have made a fortune from DIY'ers.
I can build my own amp chasis, but thinking about the time I spent finding the hardwares, drilling, painting and putting it together will end up be the same cost. Sometimes its worth it but sometimes not. :xeye:
Click to expand...

I have been looking at computer cases, for my amp enclosure, since there is such a large variety of them, the desktop case they sit horizontally , the Home Theater PC Case
Home Theater PC Case which look very nice and closer to an amp case , you can go from plain to a more fancier looking case like this
or a compact vehicle style case like this and of course you can also go with the regular stand up case if you like an modd it to your hearts content. most are pretty cheap, light weight, designed to keep the inside cool, are pretty roomy, and look good in the living room, at least you wont have a problem with the wife letting you set it up in plain eye view.
well thats one option that i have been looking at.
laters
 
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