Amp Camp Amp Kit 1.6/1.8

Switches things on and off again
Joined 2000
Paid Member
I'm thinking of getting the new Amp Camp Amp which will ship July 31. I have a turntable which has its own preamp. I notice the A-C-A amp. does not have volume control and I see no way to adjust the volume without using an integrated amp with volume control. Therefore, it seems the A-C-A will not be what I'm looking for.

If it is suitable and I order two kets, how would I connect them to double the power or will instructions be included.

Edbog

The ACA is a power amp, and therefore has no volume control. You will need to attenuate the signal before it gets to the ACA, either using a potentiometer / "passive pre", or a pre-amp, or a volume control courtesy of your source.
 
Jason,
this suggestion is a bit naughty but very nice - I bought a Dark Voice 336SE via Massdrop and as it was coming from the USA I was fully expecting to pay the EU 20% tax (anything above €45 gets taxed) and the Customs inspection fee.

What Massdrop appears to do with EU orders is ship everything to Germany marked and correctly if the item is going to be shipped onward to another EU country as - in transit.

This means it is not inspected by Customs or taxed and of course once the item is 'inside the EU' n o further taxes or inspection fees are paid - voila, I received the h/amp free of all charges.

Maybe diyaudio could check this out. I stopped buying vinyl and other stuff from the USA because shipping and taxes are now so high.

The other alternative is that if buyers are prepared to wait then container shipping is way, way cheaper than by airmail.
 
Switches things on and off again
Joined 2000
Paid Member
I can't comment on what might have happened in your case, who knows how, or why that happened. Unless you get that information straight from the horses mouth (Massdrop) about how the did that, it's pointless to speculate. What I do know, because we in the past used to have an EU warehouse, and I run another business with EU interests, is that there is "no escape" from paying EU import taxes. You are going to have to pay them one way or another. You might have just gotten lucky, or you might be getting an invoice from the shipping company a few weeks after delivery. Often with express services they will deliver first, bill later. But who is to say.

As for our situation, we use a 3rd party warehouse which scales well and rarely makes mistakes. It's been good for us so far, but international shipping has always been on the high side. We're working on improving that in the future.

As for doing a mass shipment to the EU, in a container, by sea, that's certainly an option. We used to import chassis from Hifi2000 to the US by sea. It took 6 months (a month or two to manufacture, half a month to wait for a ship to turn up, 3 months at sea, a month in the US docks and dealing with customs fees and charges you wouldn't believe even existed, and then getting the items to the warehouse, sometimes the truck would forget to bring a hydraulic lift and everything would have to go back to the port... :)... so while "ship a container by sea" sounds simple enough, the reality is quite different.

Doing a pallet air shipment to the EU is an option too, but really requires a whole lot more effort to co-ordinate - find an EU company you trust to receive the goods and distribute them. Co-ordinate all the tracking numbers, follow up with customers, who is to blame when things go missing, etc. I have to say that keeping it simple is sometimes the best option. Despite that, there is merit in your ideas. When we're "big enough" and have enough EU sales to warrant doing a "pallet drop" (maybe next pre-order), this might be worth investigating.
 
That said, I just added the basic kit (not including PSU) to a shopping cart and entered a random address in Berlin (10785). The cheapest shipping method (USPS First class, which if it's > $100 in value, which this is, is tracked and insured) came to $30.03. USPS Priority (which is tracked and insured) was $54.66.
Unfortunately the cheapest price to Austria (just next to Germany - no island or anything special) is around 60$ just for the basic kit. And then we also have to pay customs (20% tax) on product price AND shipping cost.

What a pity :( - I understand that it is hard for such a small shop to offer alternatives ...
 
Hello there. I have some questions and hopefully you can help me.

Will the ACA 1.6 stereo move nicely 2 Magnat Supreme 2002 speakers in a small-medium sized room (about 7x8m by eye, being the listening position around ~2.5m far from them). They have a sensivity of 93db.

Still deciding the preamp, I can easily get a Carver C1 for ~160€ in nice condition that I would apply the BillD mod. Will it do a nice match with the ACA? Its costs is nearly the same as my budget for the preamp. I am also considering DIY options, but this will be a fast route since I don't really have too much time to DIY :S

Many thanks.
 

6L6

Moderator
Joined 2010
Paid Member
I was also wondering which rca input to use for mono block use.

You feed the amp to the left, and the RCA plug with the resistor is connected from the left red speaker jack to the right RCA input. Output taken from the two black speaker jacks. See the link below.

Or to use an rca jack “splitter” and plug into both jacks with identical split signal (left or right).

That doesn't work as paralleling the outputs is not a good idea.

Monoblock section of the html guide has been updated, see this post -

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/pass-labs/320867-aca-v1-5-illustrated-build-guide.html#post5390540
 
Wanted to order a kit but the shipping to Europe for two boards and and an handful components will cost several hundred USD. Ridicolous, it will all fit into a small jiffy as a letter.
Is there anyway to get the boards only from Europe or do anyone offer boards manufactured in Europe?
Hi,

I have the same problem because live in Italy.
I don't have problem with the chassis (Hifi 2000 is a best choice for some diy's in Europe).

It's possible have the aca 1.1. pcb design with the dimension?

From the photo into the illustrated build guide (very good photo) it's easy to copy the PCB of amp 1.1.
But it's important the distance between the two mosfet and mounting hole.
Where is the pcb design similar to indicate into the http://www.firstwatt.com/pdf/art_amp_camp_1.pdf file?

thank you for the attention
Rosario
 
I read that Nelson will post some updates measurements for the bridged version. Current system uses 8 ohm, 87 dB efficient speakers. Really is 5 ohms in the lower miss and upper bass.
Using a software crossover at 60 Hz. So amp will not see deep bass demands. Will the bridged ACA be able to handle a speaker like this?
 
Another "will it work" question here from a noob:) I plan to tri-amp these 92db @1m/2.83V Westlake speakers. I'm not too worried about the mid/high channels. The sealed dual 10" woofers for mid bass (55hz-600hz) should be ok too. What worries me is the 18" TAD woofer (26hz-55hz) and its 3 Nominal/2 Minimum impedance. Thanks
 

Attachments

  • bbsm10swp.jpg
    bbsm10swp.jpg
    31.5 KB · Views: 913
Depends on volume desired.

Another "will it work" question here from a noob:) I plan to tri-amp these 92db @1m/2.83V Westlake speakers. I'm not too worried about the mid/high channels. The sealed dual 10" woofers for mid bass (55hz-600hz) should be ok too. What worries me is the 18" TAD woofer (26hz-55hz) and its 3 Nominal/2 Minimum impedance. Thanks

I think you need a little more grunt. The 10” drivers may be okay. The 18” will require some dampening.
 
Jason - a ship doesn't spend 3 months at sea, an oil tanker maybe 'parked up' waiting for the price of crude to rise or refinery capacity to change but not ordinary container ships. Normal time for a container ship across the Atlantic - 10 days max.

There's actually a glut of container ships now and a fierce pricing war going on. As said I used to buy a lot of stuff in the USA up to about 8 years ago, now it's just stupid - normal shipping price via USPS for a single LP is around $23, crazy when the LP itself might only cost $10. I'd be quite happy to wait to get value for money.

Customs charges - when we lived in Spain, an American friend saved me loads of money - a Hakka solder station @$99,equivalent $ price in Spain @ $250, an AT 33EV cartridge, special deal with a New York store $399, UK price @ £543, at the time £1=$1.70. both of these arrived without paying taxes. However an order of Z foils from Texas Components did get taxed but still a damn sight cheaper than from the UK firm, reason being they are a 'preferred supplier' to the MOD.

In France - how can Collectors Choice, a US company that sells on discogs charge just $6.60 for an LP to me in France - it comes via Schiedam in the Netherlands, maybe they have a warehouse there but I've been buying US pressed LPs.

I've had the D/V for about 2 months now but some h/phones I bought s/hand arrived from the USA in 6 days and I had to pay La Poste immediately by cheque (the French love cheques).

Shipping/postal charges vary enormously within the EU - Germany is almost certainly the cheapest in Europe both within and to other EU countries by a margin, France and the Netherlands are expensive. Some people and companies I'm certain make more profit on ramping up shipping/postal charges than they do on a product - caveat emptor.

Postage within the USA can be really cheap and this involves thousands of miles of transit and yes I know fuel is far cheaper there. If some savvy young guys in the USA and Europe can get together I'm sure that a profitable business can be made.