ß22 + σ22 design complete ••• Opinions welcome  

After a long day of drawing this out in Adobe Illustrator, I finally have my design ready. The volume knobs and the power button will have the same color and machining but I haven't decided if I'm going to go with a brushed aluminum look or black anodized aluminum. The dark red circle in the center is the IR receiver for the motorized attenuator drive. CRM stands for Current Mode input. All the writing will be laser etched out of the black anodized layer on the chassis, so there won't be any debossing in the metal itself. I will do the back panels next week.

I'm including two versions of the picture because it seems that on certain monitors the detail in the original wasn't showing up.





It is based on the CODA CS amplifier chassis below. You can see the polished stainless steel endcaps:




Amplifier Chassis:

- 4 Beta22 boards (including Vishay/Dale resistors), no LEDs on them
- DACT CT2-4 50kOhm balanced attenuator
- Bent Audio remote control motorized volume drive
- Custom machined knobs, volume knob with LED inside
- multiple LEDs inside the chassis to form a lengthy light space for power indication
- custom PCB for all mounted jacks
- Neutrik XLR and SE jacks, recessed into front panel and mounted from behind
- Double Helix Cables Nucleotide wire

Power Supply Chassis:

- 2 Sigma22 Boards (including Vishay/Dale resistors), no LEDs on them
- Twisted Pear Audio low noise power supply for the LEDs and motorized drive
- 3 custom-made 50VA transformers from Plitron, electrostatically shielded and potted in steel cans (one for each Sigma 22, one for the other power supplies)
- custom machined power button
- 5 individually isolated umbilicals for L+, L-, R+, R-, and for motor drive and LED power supplies.
- power wire undecided at this point

FINAL REVISED DESIGN (updated mid-December):

Thanks guys. You know what? When I was at my office I was able to see the detail on all the jacks. Now that I'm home on my PC I can't see all of it.

I've updated the first post to include two versions.

Build time wouldn't be too long if I had the funds for it all, because my builder Steve ("Koyaan I. Sqatsi") is very fast. He's not doing the chassis work personally though. I'm hoping to have it done by Xmas. Money is the issue right now. The boards are basically completed. The chassis work will cost as much as all the parts. I'll probably have to sell the Phoenix to fund it.

Here's a rundown of what will be inside:

Amplifier Chassis:

- 4 Beta22 boards (including Vishay/Dale resistors), no LEDs on them
- DACT CT2-4 50kOhm balanced attenuator
- Bent Audio remote control motorized volume drive
- Custom machined knobs, volume knob with LED inside
- multiple LEDs inside the chassis to form a lengthy light space for power indication
- custom PCB for all mounted jacks
- Neutrik XLR and SE jacks, recessed into front panel and mounted from behind
- Double Helix Cables Nucleotide wire

Power Supply Chassis:

- 2 Sigma22 Boards (including Vishay/Dale resistors), no LEDs on them
- Twisted Pear Audio low noise power supply for the LEDs and motorized drive
- 3 custom-made 50VA transformers from Plitron, electrostatically shielded and potted in steel cans (one for each Sigma 22, one for the other power supplies)
- custom machined power button
- 5 individually isolated umbilicals for L+, L-, R+, R-, and for motor drive and LED power supplies.
- power wire undecided at this point

Yep! I want to keep the whole chain as quiet as possible. Whether or not that will translate into any real world difference, I have no idea.

That was a thought and I'm open to that as long as you guys go with the design that I've set-up. (Responses here and in e-mail have been extremely positive.) If we can get about 10 or 20 people to do that, we could save money on setup and machining. Let me find out first if it's even possible and if Coda is willing to do that. I can't see why they wouldn't.

Everyone would have to commit and I'd have to collect the money by November 15. I will find out what the cost on them will be in those quantities. But to give you an idea, right now it will cost me somewhere between $1000 - $1,200 for the chassis and the knobs. The set-up is expensive and each chassis without any machining is about $200. I'm not sure how many people would be willing to spend that, even if we were able to cut the price down to 2/3 or 1/2 of that. It is not a cheap build, but the end result will be "store-bought" quality.

You will have to do your own building though or find a builder to do it for you.