*** The DIY Audio Thread ***

wooooooo! My millet starving student amp works finally! And it sounds great! the bass on my HD 580s has finally come alive, and the sound is so much more full than my CMOY.

Still have to finish off some casework and straighten up some wiring (it's sort of a nightmare at the moment as you can see)...but it works, this is my first time hearing anything with tubes in it and I love it.

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Some good looking work in this thread!

gurusan, leave those small capacitors in and locate them physically near to the regulator, they are required for stability! Usually higher values are used and for this application monolithic ceramic disc type capacitors are best, 0.1uf is more typical; or 1-2.2uf tantalum.

The power dissapated in the regulator is voltage dropped*current drawn. This will allow you to calculate a suitable heatsink if required (assume 25c ambient and absolute max temp of 60c).

stew007, those speakers look sweet :D ! Am planning to build with a dome midrange myself, the Dayton RS52 though, since it will match in with the rest of my design better (hard cones, planar tweet). How do you find the bass? Looks like a sealed design. I am using 2 HU631 drivers in a TL and they go nice and deep but don't have much Xmax, massive power handling but poor xmax. Sealed will work better in this respect.
 
After looking for a sonic t amp then seeing a t chip for sale then remembering this thread followed by the reading to this thread I've decided to have a go at building a CMOY!

HOpefully after getting some basic equipment like a solder iron and sourcing the parts I can start having some fun!!!
 
So I got my little PSU setup and the DAC works again! Now running it via optical from PC to DAC to my Starving student and it sounds VERY good through my HD 580s!

I am using a 12V DC linear regulated wallwart I had hanging around...So my little PSU has ~12V in, drops a few volts across a 1W 33R resistor...gets filtered a bit through a 4700uF Rubycon YK cap from the old PSU...then gets regulated to 5V with the l7805 from the old psu...then gets some final treatment with a 1500uF Sanyo WG I had from my old XFI project.

Here are some pics of it, to compare size with the old psu as well.
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Finally getting somewhere with my stereo LM1875 amp. Got the PCBs and tranformer mounted (although I think the PCBs need another support). Then finished the back panel last night. Got to start on the rectifier board now.

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Please forgive my ignorance here. Please could someone fill me in on the aims and benefits of DIY audio building, apart from the satisfaction of course!

I keep meaning to put a bit away so I can get a decent audio system however I can never be bothered. Can I expect better quality and value from a DIY amp than the mid range mini system I'm using now (with better speakers of course).

Also, is there the possibility to incorporate different phono inputs and the ability to switch via a remote?
 
Dup said:
Please forgive my ignorance here. Please could someone fill me in on the aims and benefits of DIY audio building, apart from the satisfaction of course!

I keep meaning to put a bit away so I can get a decent audio system however I can never be bothered. Can I expect better quality and value from a DIY amp than the mid range mini system I'm using now (with better speakers of course).

Also, is there the possibility to incorporate different phono inputs and the ability to switch via a remote?
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The satisfaction is probably the largest reward. There are not really any cost benefits, in fact your fist project will probably cost quite a lot in equipment and materials before you actually buy the parts for the project.

As for audio quality I cannot comment just yet as this is my first amp project, although my simple CMoy headphone amplifier sounds awsome!! Generally though if there wasn't benifits in audio quality then nobody would do this.

Another advantage of making your own amp is being able to tweek it to suit you. You could not open up a manufactured amp and add or remove components like you can with a DIY amp.

It is possible to add more inputs and use a rotorary switch to select them. A lot of people go for the passive pre-amp approach which is just a input switch and a volume knob. As for switching with a remote I don't know, it has got to be possible but might prove tricky.
 
Also, is there the possibility to incorporate different phono inputs and the ability to switch via a remote?
Click to expand...

If you are interested in remote kits, check out www.dantimax.dk

They sell some remote kits that can be used to control motorised pots or micro-chip controlled stepped attenuators. The kits are of a very high quality and the owner Mikkel is very helpful. I never did try and get the IR bit working (lacking a universal remote), but im pretty sure it would given the quality of the kits. Its perhaps not one for a complete novice (and if im honest, i smoked a board!), but definately worth checking out.
 
knowlesy said:
^ sounds all good anyone fancy making a official thread on how toos ??? for novices like myself ?
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It would be good to have a thread for this however there are already a quite a few tutorials and forums out their. Take a look at these to start with:

CMoy Headphone Amp Tutorial: http://tangentsoft.net/audio/cmoy-tutorial/

A tutorial thread by Peter Daniel over at diyaudio.com (worth registering to the forums) about building a Gainclone amp: http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=123003
 
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