Welcome to XRK Audio

Founder of XSA-Labs
Joined 2012
Paid Member
My Lab

Hi Folks,
Here is a view you may have seen before, the rack of amps at the front of the lab where the main system testing occurs. There is room for about 8 amps and an AB switch box. But this time with me in the shot holding a test baffle for the PS95-8 and SB29 variant of the FAST speaker.

Cheers,
xrk971
 

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Aha,
The man behind the X, I was wandering what you do with all of your amps. I have a closet full my wife would like to see gone. I was going to ask Vunce what he does with his as welll r. I can’t seem to sell them for cost of materials and when I give them to relatives the perceive no value and just trash them. Maybe if during burning amp event they had a yard sale day with proceeds going to a worthy event I would let some go.

Bill
 
Founder of XSA-Labs
Joined 2012
Paid Member
Hi WW,
Only a few select amps get a chassis, and even some of those the chassis is temporary. Most amps that get built and tested go into a plastic “shoebox” size container and get stored on a wall of shelves that I organize my stuff. I have only about 4 power amps that are actually cased in chassis. I build too many to make chassis for them all as that is painful slow work.

The current storage space is organized like this and each box is a BOM for a project or a collection of a similar type of already built amp PCB.
953318d1621521581-bench-tonight-obt-800f3300-09d7-4a83-a003-7f30dce03d07-jpeg


Vunce has a house that has a lot of nooks and crannies and all the amps are stuffed in every nook as far as I can tell. I have not personally seen his stash but it amazes me when he pulls out an old 800w amp he bought 10 years ago from some magic storage space in the house. :)
 
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Member
Joined 2014
Paid Member
Hi Bill,
All I can say is my wife is VERY understanding of my addiction, sometimes even contributing to the madness.
For dinner, my kids set us up a nice snack-tray table for two because the dining room table is full of projects in various states of completion :rofl:
 
Founder of XSA-Labs
Joined 2012
Paid Member
The case part of building really bogs me down, now that I have resolved building power supplies for every build I think I will come up with a case that will allow me to change the guts out and leave the case alone.
Bill

This was one reason why I like to use amps with flying leads outputs on Molex Minifit Jr connectors. The chassis, PSU, and heatsink with MOSFETs remain and a new amp is snapped in place. FH9HVX and Alpha Nirvana share same output and connectors.

I am thinking of a good universal PSU in its own box. Then use thick 14ga silicone RC wire with banana jacks or Neutrik PowerCon to connect PSU?

Or Deans wire-to-wire 100A connectors?
 
Deans connectors from the RC world is rated for 60A, but still more than enough for an audio power connector imo.

I'm busy assembling a PSU for my newly built M2 clone. Two 150W Meanwells are housed in a bespoke enclosure from 1.2mm steel with laser cut vent holes.

I chose to use 16mm connectors with 5 pins rated for 5A each. The 4-core DC cable going to the amp will be shorter than 0.5m to keep voltage drop to a minimum. Will soon see how it works out, but by my guestimate, it should be fine.
3vrYdeM.jpg
 
Hi X
I discovered this local sheet metal shop the other day quite by chance. They do amazingly accurate metalwork and it's quite affordable too. Powder coating, alu machining and anodizing is outsourced by them to offer a turn-key solution for enclosures of all kinds. And best of all is they do the Solidworks model for free - even for one-off designs. I only supplied a 2D CAD drawing for the PSU enclosure.
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Founder of XSA-Labs
Joined 2012
Paid Member
Wishing everyone in the U.S. (and abroad if you celebrate it) a happy and wonderful Thanksgiving day. I am spending time prepping the big meal today. Turkey marinated with black pepper, Kosher salt, fresh rosemary sprigs, EVOO. Stuffing made with bread crumbs, celery, mushrooms, drippings from turkey, and turmeric, salt, pepper, and EVOO. Baked mini gold Yukon potatoes, baked sweet potatoes, French green beans and steamed carrots. Cranberry sauce of course. For dessert we have pumpkin pie and chocolate strawberry cake from Paris Baguette (pastry chain based in Korea).

I hope everyone gets to spend some quality relaxing time with family today and safe travels if you had to go somewhere.

I have a lot to be grateful for - the community here on DIYA is great and like family in many ways!

:cheers: