I had a magic moment where I was spot on for both of them (2 meters): 300mv/11.5v. I took a picture for posterity.
@e_fortier I will look for the videos -- I watched one very helpful video on the basics of how to use the 2 pots to set the bias. It's the "@Nelson Pass told me that the bias (VB) should be between 350 and 390 mV" line I quoted above that caught me by surprise.
There is a spot in heaven, close to where Mozart hangs out, for the person who knows all 130 pages of this thread and creates a post pinned to the top that points to the especially helpful ones. I started thinking about trying to do this, but clearly my judgement about what is accurate / helpful info is askew.
Re the spectacular, bespoke gold cages @e_fortier pointed to yesterday, I wrote to the creator of that amp, Bruce Heran, and he was kind enough to reply with the name of the boutique craftspeople who supplied them:
"they came from either Lowes or Home Depot in the home storage area. They were a little larger and had handles when new that I cut off. You can fasten thenm with "mirror" clips to the chassis."
I clearly need to set my sights lower than Ikea...
"they came from either Lowes or Home Depot in the home storage area. They were a little larger and had handles when new that I cut off. You can fasten thenm with "mirror" clips to the chassis."
I clearly need to set my sights lower than Ikea...
Another completed ACA Mini in the world tonight. I'm running it out of the headphone output of my CD player, since that has a volume knob on it. It's got enough ommph that if I gave it the direct output, I would suffer hearing loss.
First sounds to come through it:
1. Bach/Glen Gould "The Art of the Fugue"
2. Mary Lou Lord "Martian Saints"
3. Sarah Vaughn
4. Clash "From Here to Eternity"
@6L6's build guide was very useful to me. If the login on the "completed" button was the same as here, I would click that, but it appears to be different.
First sounds to come through it:
1. Bach/Glen Gould "The Art of the Fugue"
2. Mary Lou Lord "Martian Saints"
3. Sarah Vaughn
4. Clash "From Here to Eternity"
@6L6's build guide was very useful to me. If the login on the "completed" button was the same as here, I would click that, but it appears to be different.
The link to Ikea in post 2591 (https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/diy-aca-mini.379037/post-7553018) does not work for me.
The product referenced is "DRÖNJÖNS Wastepaper basket"
Kind regards,
Drew
The product referenced is "DRÖNJÖNS Wastepaper basket"
Kind regards,
Drew
Winter bias setting day! 
Cold snap in the Mid Atlantic US calls for kicking it up a notch. I knew from taking ‘measurements’ that my Mini was running a bit cool in its spot.
Equilibrium in both channels now seeming to hover around 400mV for VB.
I know it’ll come down a bit in the place I use it where there is a little more air moving.
Cold snap in the Mid Atlantic US calls for kicking it up a notch. I knew from taking ‘measurements’ that my Mini was running a bit cool in its spot.
Equilibrium in both channels now seeming to hover around 400mV for VB.
I know it’ll come down a bit in the place I use it where there is a little more air moving.Attachments
I built an enclosure for the mini folks here coached me through, so I thought you might like to see it. Took a while to redo the wiring under the board, &c. &c. As when I first completed it, no joy: no LED, no nothing. Eventually I remembered that setting the bias might help. Hooray, it's alive and wonderful again. Thanks again for the help with this project: such a delightful sound and truly fun to build -- even when I was tearing out my last hair.
Attachments
That’s probably true.
I’m curious about this as well. I know there are a number of people who have installed them, myself included.
I'm using a mini for my desktop speakers (84db). Just a 25K pot between DAC and mini gets plenty loud.
