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Duder: The power supply is one from the DIYAudio store - its a laptop PS that provides 19V and 4A, so I just ran the power in jack to a switch and then split the power leads from there, one to each board.
Mark: Yeah, I suspect there may be more of these in our future! The girls also have a big brother - I think I'll need to get a few more boards... It was a bit of a challenge to decide how much of the work to do ahead of time. I wanted her to be able to help with everything, so it all needed to be ready to go, but I didn't want it to be too challenging so she'd lose interest. We spent about 2 hours populating the circuit boards. I had all of the woodworking done and the back panel pre-drilled. Things got a little slow when we started installing/soldering all of the signal in/out on the back. Perhaps I should have done just a bit more work ahead of time, but it worked out pretty well. It took us about 4 hours for the amp and about 1 hour for the speakers.
I was hoping that everything would work right away - trouble shooting would have reduced the thrill for sure! I had her stuff the board and cross parts off of the parts list as she installed them. I then double checked her work and we worked together to solder each part and then she did the trimming. She really got into it!
Mark: Yeah, I suspect there may be more of these in our future! The girls also have a big brother - I think I'll need to get a few more boards... It was a bit of a challenge to decide how much of the work to do ahead of time. I wanted her to be able to help with everything, so it all needed to be ready to go, but I didn't want it to be too challenging so she'd lose interest. We spent about 2 hours populating the circuit boards. I had all of the woodworking done and the back panel pre-drilled. Things got a little slow when we started installing/soldering all of the signal in/out on the back. Perhaps I should have done just a bit more work ahead of time, but it worked out pretty well. It took us about 4 hours for the amp and about 1 hour for the speakers.
I was hoping that everything would work right away - trouble shooting would have reduced the thrill for sure! I had her stuff the board and cross parts off of the parts list as she installed them. I then double checked her work and we worked together to solder each part and then she did the trimming. She really got into it!
Eric,
What an awesome post, and what an awesome dad you are! I am gathering parts for an ACA still and may try this with my daughter. Great idea. I really like the look of the maple chassis. Who says amps need to look like a metal box?! Like Bob said, if you are ever looking for an easy to build and great sounding speaker project to do with your kids, the Cornu is it.
What an awesome post, and what an awesome dad you are! I am gathering parts for an ACA still and may try this with my daughter. Great idea. I really like the look of the maple chassis. Who says amps need to look like a metal box?! Like Bob said, if you are ever looking for an easy to build and great sounding speaker project to do with your kids, the Cornu is it.
Eric,
....a beautiful amp indeed! I'm in the process of building an ACA and your post gave me the idea to mount the woodchassis itself to the heatsinks. I was originally thinking of metal brackets or braces for mounting but am now thankfully disabused of that notion. A gorgeous peice of 4/4 bloodwood will be used and should go well with silver heat sinks.
Thanks,
Mario
....a beautiful amp indeed! I'm in the process of building an ACA and your post gave me the idea to mount the woodchassis itself to the heatsinks. I was originally thinking of metal brackets or braces for mounting but am now thankfully disabused of that notion. A gorgeous peice of 4/4 bloodwood will be used and should go well with silver heat sinks.
Thanks,
Mario
Hi Eric,
Very nice amp, I'm sure you guys had a great time building it.
I have also just finished building one, it's a sweet sounding amp, very musical. This was the first time my son was using some power tool like the drill and he also cut some metal. Very nice bonding moments. I have attached some picture showing how easy it is to built this amp.
p.s. I will most probably change the silver screws for black ones.
Rgds,
Eric
Very nice amp, I'm sure you guys had a great time building it.
I have also just finished building one, it's a sweet sounding amp, very musical. This was the first time my son was using some power tool like the drill and he also cut some metal. Very nice bonding moments. I have attached some picture showing how easy it is to built this amp.
p.s. I will most probably change the silver screws for black ones.
Rgds,
Eric
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Mario: I look forward to seeing the blood wood chassis! I am planning another project with a DCB1 and an F4 and thinking of a matched wooden chassis set, so I'm scouting woods and chassis styles.
Eric: what a nice looking amp and a great time with your son - it must have been fun working with power tools together! I really like your implementation of the feet for the chassis. I see you used the very same high tech pcb mounting method that I did ;-) This is really an ideal first project given the small scale of the work and relative simplicity of the build. I'm thinking of picking up a few more boards to have on hand for projects for those that appreciate audio.
Eric: what a nice looking amp and a great time with your son - it must have been fun working with power tools together! I really like your implementation of the feet for the chassis. I see you used the very same high tech pcb mounting method that I did ;-) This is really an ideal first project given the small scale of the work and relative simplicity of the build. I'm thinking of picking up a few more boards to have on hand for projects for those that appreciate audio.
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This is a *really* dumb question but I need to ask it. If you mount both boards into one unit like many have shown here, do you need to have separate power supplies for each board or can you just have one jack for power in and split the 19V off from the power switch to each board? Are there potential problems with using one supply shared to each board?
Hi,
You can use one power supply for both channels. You just have to make sure that it can deliver sufficient current to run them both. The old power supply I am planning to use when my kit arrives can deliver up 5.5 A. More than sufficient for both channels, so I will use only one. Good luck!
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I originally planned on making separate monoblocks but a single-chassis looks more appealing. I had remembered reading (but just now refreshed my memory) this section:
Exactly what Eric said. I bought my power supplies from Marlin P Jones but, unfortunately, they're only rated 19V, 2.65 A. I'd rather not have to have two inputs as there are limited plugins available where I plan on putting this amp. Anyone have a source for a cheap, >4A, 19V power supply?
Exactly what Eric said. I bought my power supplies from Marlin P Jones but, unfortunately, they're only rated 19V, 2.65 A. I'd rather not have to have two inputs as there are limited plugins available where I plan on putting this amp. Anyone have a source for a cheap, >4A, 19V power supply?
Just Google ' 19v power supply' and you will be spoiled for choice. The 90W versions are more than 4A.