My fellow DIY fanatics....
I am proud to present my very own and finally finished Aleph Ono!
I have been working on my project for more than 1.5 years now, where most of my time went into debugging the PCB's. Especially the first version was a complete disaster, and people who have read the "ono group buy" thread, might remember the catastrofy...
Nevertheless, I picked up work about 3 months ago, first finalising the second prototype, and then, after a few more tweaks the final version.
Most of the cost went into the capacitors. About €300,- all together. Of that budget, more than half went in the power supply which really is fenomenal. NO ripple whatsoever... 😀. working deeper in de supply rails (further away from the rectifier), the caps have lower ESR, closer to the place where it is needed. With that in mind, I believe the PSU is really fast in response. The rest of the caps are really nice polypropylene and polystyrene caps.
Through Farnell, I was able to get a batch of fets, which all came off the same die (same batch numbers). I practically didn't need to match them... they were all the same 🙂
The case is MDF, cladded with copper foil on the inside for EMC shielding, and mahogany veneer on the outside.... 8 layers of lacquer were added.
The fronts were really special. I imprinted text on a piece of aluminium, then glued a piece of plexiglass (perspex) in front of it. The plexiglass has a groove milled in it, which is lit by the 7 (!) blue leds on top of the plexiglass. The leds themselves are invisible, there is just a nice blue glow over the aluminium and the plexiglass.
Then for the sound.... Unfortunately, my turntable is a real piece of crap. €5,- I once spent in a recycling store, and it sounds just like that. But nevertheless, listening through all distortion, it actually sounds really, really great...
Now for the promised pr0n 🙂
The front panels...
I am proud to present my very own and finally finished Aleph Ono!
I have been working on my project for more than 1.5 years now, where most of my time went into debugging the PCB's. Especially the first version was a complete disaster, and people who have read the "ono group buy" thread, might remember the catastrofy...
Nevertheless, I picked up work about 3 months ago, first finalising the second prototype, and then, after a few more tweaks the final version.
Most of the cost went into the capacitors. About €300,- all together. Of that budget, more than half went in the power supply which really is fenomenal. NO ripple whatsoever... 😀. working deeper in de supply rails (further away from the rectifier), the caps have lower ESR, closer to the place where it is needed. With that in mind, I believe the PSU is really fast in response. The rest of the caps are really nice polypropylene and polystyrene caps.
Through Farnell, I was able to get a batch of fets, which all came off the same die (same batch numbers). I practically didn't need to match them... they were all the same 🙂
The case is MDF, cladded with copper foil on the inside for EMC shielding, and mahogany veneer on the outside.... 8 layers of lacquer were added.
The fronts were really special. I imprinted text on a piece of aluminium, then glued a piece of plexiglass (perspex) in front of it. The plexiglass has a groove milled in it, which is lit by the 7 (!) blue leds on top of the plexiglass. The leds themselves are invisible, there is just a nice blue glow over the aluminium and the plexiglass.
Then for the sound.... Unfortunately, my turntable is a real piece of crap. €5,- I once spent in a recycling store, and it sounds just like that. But nevertheless, listening through all distortion, it actually sounds really, really great...
Now for the promised pr0n 🙂
The front panels...
Attachments
Once I heard a Rolls had 17 layers. 😉Bakmeel said:
Very nice amp. I particularly like the small black rectifier diodes surrounded by the red caps. What did you use as diodes?
Watch out!! The brown wire of the left trafo might come loose 😀
/Hugo 🙂
Re: Re: Some serious Aleph Ono pr0n
They are ordinary 1N4004 diodes, just like the schematics suggested. The red caps are wima mks 100nF / 100V
Netlist said:
They are ordinary 1N4004 diodes, just like the schematics suggested. The red caps are wima mks 100nF / 100V
wow!
beautiful work!
everyone keeps upping the stakes, giving better competition 😉
I'm really inspired to do a good job on my amp's cosmetics, and I've been trying to figure out how to use my blue LED's. I might use a distant variation of this. well done
beautiful work!
everyone keeps upping the stakes, giving better competition 😉
I'm really inspired to do a good job on my amp's cosmetics, and I've been trying to figure out how to use my blue LED's. I might use a distant variation of this. well done
Re: Re: Re: Some serious Aleph Ono pr0n
Now all we can wish you is a nice turntable. 😉
/Hugo 🙂
I imagine you saw Nelson's recent post about the high speed diodes. http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?postid=321830#post321830 That's why I asked. It could be a nice improvement but probably overkill.Bakmeel said:
Now all we can wish you is a nice turntable. 😉
/Hugo 🙂
That’s really nice, and original too. Makes me want to run out and buy a turntable so that I can build one too!
Effing A! that is some really nice work!
I love your blue diodes 🙂 🙂 🙂
submit your pics to PassDiy.
I love your blue diodes 🙂 🙂 🙂
submit your pics to PassDiy.
Today, I went to my hifi dealer for a listening session to compare my Ono with a Pro-Ject Black Cube (€ 600,- MM/MC phono pre).
The turntable used was a Pro-Ject 1.2 with a Surniko Oister MM element. The rest of the set was a NAD 3020 amplifier, and B&W Nautilus 802 speakers.
In general, I am pleased with the Ono's performance, but not satisfied. Compared to the Black Cube, the Ono featured a rich and firm bass, superior channel seperation and a very smooth and easy sound. Contrary to that, the tonal balance was totally off the scale. Really, really warm... more muffled I could say. Highs and mids were filtered off far too much.
For the rest, all information and detail was there.. It simply didn't get off the speakers. Whis is too bad, because you do hear it is there.
So... that is, heat up the soldering iron, because I won't rest until I get every single detail right... If there is someone with a similar experience, I'd like to know... Maybe the problem is solved easier than I'd might think...
Best,
Bouke
The turntable used was a Pro-Ject 1.2 with a Surniko Oister MM element. The rest of the set was a NAD 3020 amplifier, and B&W Nautilus 802 speakers.
In general, I am pleased with the Ono's performance, but not satisfied. Compared to the Black Cube, the Ono featured a rich and firm bass, superior channel seperation and a very smooth and easy sound. Contrary to that, the tonal balance was totally off the scale. Really, really warm... more muffled I could say. Highs and mids were filtered off far too much.
For the rest, all information and detail was there.. It simply didn't get off the speakers. Whis is too bad, because you do hear it is there.
So... that is, heat up the soldering iron, because I won't rest until I get every single detail right... If there is someone with a similar experience, I'd like to know... Maybe the problem is solved easier than I'd might think...
Best,
Bouke
I kept the settings the same as the Black Box had.... All extra input resistances and capacitances were switched off... I do assume that the default is all off?
Bouke
Bouke
I really don't know. It's just that if you say you found the sound to be "muffled", I think the mismatch in input capacitance could be the culprit (at least that's where I would start looking). Of course, double checking all the components and the soldering doesn't hurt.
Groeten,
Jarno.
Groeten,
Jarno.
RIAA values?
Hi Bouke,
First, beautiful work. Nice to see it's finally done.
Have you done bench tests of the RIAA equalization?
I had the opposite problem - too much high frequency.
This turned out to be due to C4, which were almost certainly
mislabeled by the manufacturer. After replacing them, the
balance was just right.
Maybe a DIY turntable next?
Best regards,
Ed
Hi Bouke,
First, beautiful work. Nice to see it's finally done.
Have you done bench tests of the RIAA equalization?
I had the opposite problem - too much high frequency.
This turned out to be due to C4, which were almost certainly
mislabeled by the manufacturer. After replacing them, the
balance was just right.
Maybe a DIY turntable next?
Best regards,
Ed
RIAA correction
Hello Bouke,
Nice Dutch work !
I could't wait for the a group buy so i made some ono boards myself. After some burn-in i connect it this evening and the sound is very nice(the foto's come when the case work is done).
You told us about a muffled sound...
Did you check the riaa-correction ?
For C5+C6 i use 15N+22N with 90k parallel.C4 is 10N and R8 is 68k//8k2. The curve is super flat within 0.1db.
I use a inverse riaa-filter for measuring.
The only thing a could't check well is the 50Khz(Allen Wright)point because my generator stops at 33Khz.
I have also some doubts about C8. I pulled it out because my roll off started to early.
Maybe other ono owners have experience at this point ???
Best regards,
Johan.
Hello Bouke,
Nice Dutch work !
I could't wait for the a group buy so i made some ono boards myself. After some burn-in i connect it this evening and the sound is very nice(the foto's come when the case work is done).
You told us about a muffled sound...
Did you check the riaa-correction ?
For C5+C6 i use 15N+22N with 90k parallel.C4 is 10N and R8 is 68k//8k2. The curve is super flat within 0.1db.
I use a inverse riaa-filter for measuring.
The only thing a could't check well is the 50Khz(Allen Wright)point because my generator stops at 33Khz.
I have also some doubts about C8. I pulled it out because my roll off started to early.
Maybe other ono owners have experience at this point ???
Best regards,
Johan.
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