Atten 858 on ebay is hardly an expensive option.
I used the atten hot air gun and a hakko fx888 to solder my bal-bal. I just jugled the hot air tool and the soldering iron at the same time to solder the heatsinks.
I have both actually, hot air (Atten 858D) and standard soldering station (up to 450°C).
Reading your comments make me think that the problem relies on my own hands... not to blame the tools indeed.
I'll give it another try 🙂
Thanks for the Toroidy link, it seems to be good products. I think I read Owen in this thread warning about not using transformers bigger than 25VA, is that correct ?
As Toroidy provide 20VA or 30VA... which one to choose ?
Reading your comments make me think that the problem relies on my own hands... not to blame the tools indeed.
I'll give it another try 🙂
Thanks for the Toroidy link, it seems to be good products. I think I read Owen in this thread warning about not using transformers bigger than 25VA, is that correct ?
As Toroidy provide 20VA or 30VA... which one to choose ?
That's the spirit!!
Yeah it takes a bit of practice, those heatsinks weren't easy for me either. When I tried doing it first I ended up pulling off some of the solder mask with the wide tip I was using. No one can see it, it changes nothing about the performance, but I have seriously thought about building it again just to do it properly.
Chris
😀 Just tried, put the heat up on the iron and done ! Pretty easy actually 🙂
Thanks again for your help, need to find the proper transformer now, hook everything up and try.
Thanks again for your help, need to find the proper transformer now, hook everything up and try.
I have Metcal that I bought from eBay and it was very easy for me to solder those heat sinks first go with a 1mm chisel tip and no problems at all. I probably used TRT wonder solder. May or may not have used the flux pen. Maybe had tinned one solder pad first, or one end, not sure now. Either way it really was so easy. Perhaps the Metcal is as good as they say. That TRT solder can make the job easier too, I've been using it for perhaps 20 years.
This kind of thing, though IIRC, I used the older version, which is about 40 Watts or so, for my Wire Bal-Bal.
Metcal Smartheat soldering station/iron MX-500P-21 | eBay
I have four PSU's actually, one is a MX-500 but it failed soon after I got it from eBay, as did one of the cheaper ones, so I have two working, one is for my DS-1 desolder gun. Metcal appear to have little or no service or repair. They seem to sell direct to industry via sales reps. Some of the main PSU parts are not available or are excessively priced. I could find no circuit diagrams so as to attempt a repair.
When they work though, they are very good to use and very easy to change between tip cartridges.
The latest: MX-5010 - METCAL - REWORK STATION, 80W, 240V | Farnell UK
There is no temperature to adjust, they use the Curie effect, 13.56MHz to carry the current, the heating element is in the tip itself. Switch on from cold to melting solder is about 6 seconds on mine.
Edit: I would add that the transformers in them can hum rather loudly and annoyingly. The MX-5000 apparently is a switched mode and works on 110 and 230 Volts and apparently doesn't hum.
Metcal Smartheat soldering station/iron MX-500P-21 | eBay
I have four PSU's actually, one is a MX-500 but it failed soon after I got it from eBay, as did one of the cheaper ones, so I have two working, one is for my DS-1 desolder gun. Metcal appear to have little or no service or repair. They seem to sell direct to industry via sales reps. Some of the main PSU parts are not available or are excessively priced. I could find no circuit diagrams so as to attempt a repair.
When they work though, they are very good to use and very easy to change between tip cartridges.
The latest: MX-5010 - METCAL - REWORK STATION, 80W, 240V | Farnell UK
There is no temperature to adjust, they use the Curie effect, 13.56MHz to carry the current, the heating element is in the tip itself. Switch on from cold to melting solder is about 6 seconds on mine.
Edit: I would add that the transformers in them can hum rather loudly and annoyingly. The MX-5000 apparently is a switched mode and works on 110 and 230 Volts and apparently doesn't hum.
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Personally i've used 20VA one. 30VA should be fine too, providing some extra reserve
No problem, wish it was affordable for me to get some Toroidy's, but I just settle for Anteks >< Lot's of interesting boutique electronic stuff coming out of Poland these days...
I don't believe there is a problem with going "larger" and can't remember Owen specifically saying anything about it - especially not an issue at these relatively low power levels and/or when deciding between 20 or 30 VA.
I'd go for the 30 VA if the price difference is minimal. MOAR is BETTAH!
Thanks for the feedback. I may have read this about the LPUHP (50VA max) and I do agree, 5VA more won't hurt anyway 🙂
Hi Neofeed,
My advice in terms of transformer sizing had more to do with suggesting people not go overboard with the transformer size. Using massive transformers provides no actual benefit at this power level, and presents a very real pitfall in terms of magnetic field and magnetically coupled noise. It also increases idle power losses needlessly.
Going to 30VA won't present any problems at all, and depending on your intended use, might even be a good idea.
The BAL-BAL can deliver upwards of 3.5W per channel into a 110 ohm load so a stereo BAL-BAL should be using at least a 20VA transformer. 30VA would also work perfectly well. Pushing above 30VA won't give you any additional performance, and you'll start getting into larger transformers with higher stray magnetic fields and higher magnetization currents, all of which are not great things to have in a small headphone amp chassis.
Butizzle definitely has the right idea with his chassis, as he used a nice big case that let him put plenty of room between the sensitive inputs and the power transformer which is way off in the far corner as it should be. I would imagine that if he got the grounding right, his setup would be more of less ideal.
Regards,
Owen
My advice in terms of transformer sizing had more to do with suggesting people not go overboard with the transformer size. Using massive transformers provides no actual benefit at this power level, and presents a very real pitfall in terms of magnetic field and magnetically coupled noise. It also increases idle power losses needlessly.
Going to 30VA won't present any problems at all, and depending on your intended use, might even be a good idea.
The BAL-BAL can deliver upwards of 3.5W per channel into a 110 ohm load so a stereo BAL-BAL should be using at least a 20VA transformer. 30VA would also work perfectly well. Pushing above 30VA won't give you any additional performance, and you'll start getting into larger transformers with higher stray magnetic fields and higher magnetization currents, all of which are not great things to have in a small headphone amp chassis.
Butizzle definitely has the right idea with his chassis, as he used a nice big case that let him put plenty of room between the sensitive inputs and the power transformer which is way off in the far corner as it should be. I would imagine that if he got the grounding right, his setup would be more of less ideal.
Regards,
Owen
Finally finished mine. I have only played a few albums through it so far , but my initial impressions are great though with one reservation. My DT 880's don't play with enough volume, but at 600 ohms, it was expected. My HD 600's are about perfect. AC comes from a wall wart I constructed which luckily works with The Wire and my CK2III.
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Yeah, unity gain won't cut it with 600 ohms of impedance and a "normal" source. You can easily up the gain by changing a few resistors though. Just make sure the input impedance doesn't get too low or else your volume control will behave differently (I think I'm already getting this problem with my 50k pot and default feedback resistors, I might change it to a 10k one).
Hi Owen,
Thanks for the detailed answer which is of good help, again 😉
I'll go for a 2x15V 30VA transformer then and post some pictures once everything done.
Regarding the chassis, it will be all-in-one type : amanero, dac, amp and power supplies. I'll do my best to isolate the different parts from each other.
Regards
Thanks for the detailed answer which is of good help, again 😉
I'll go for a 2x15V 30VA transformer then and post some pictures once everything done.
Regarding the chassis, it will be all-in-one type : amanero, dac, amp and power supplies. I'll do my best to isolate the different parts from each other.
Regards
