Mini^3 Parts

I think you will find lots of opinions, here are mine

i) For audio, I like Elna Silmic II as reasonable priced but nice caps

ii) Go with 1% metal film.  Opinions on brands vary.

iii) if you have metal end panels, you should go with isolated connectors (assuming you mean the 3.5mm jacks and dc wall wart jack)
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by psgarcha92 

Hey Guys
i'd be building a Mini^3 in some time (after all parts arrive), and here's all i have been wondering
i)the AMB shop doesnt provide any Capacitors.What caps should i be buying for better Sonic abilities (Nichicon is what i thought, BC VISHAY is what i get at the local store)

ii)should i be looking at precision resistors here?if yes, which ones?and only RS Components available to me.

iii)what connectors to use, as the parts supplied by AMB do not have these too.

Should solder wire matter here?

since the resistor paths in mini3 are really small, i think you can go with SMD resistors with 0.1% tolerance as well, it's better than the one recommended in amb website..

i've never tried to use SMD resistor, though..if you have the guts, then do it

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beftus 

Note: the Mini3 PCB is NOT designed to make use of SMD resistors.

i know

but since this is a DIY thread, why not try it yourself?

In many audio projects the precision of a resistor means very little.  Does it matter if your gain is 4.1 versus 4.2?

What matters more is that resistors would be matched channel to channel so that you reduce channel imbalances.  Precision resistors help here due to the accuracy, but you can save yourself money if you go the effort of matching yourself.

And then go look at the spec's on the pot and you'll realize that 1% resistors are fine.

For solder I would recommend plain old 63/37 with a rosin flux core, it's a popular choice which is easy to work with.

AMB provides a very comprehensive part listing with part codes for Mouser etc. I would go with AMB's recommendations. From reading through his site and the many forum threads he's contributed to, I get the impression he puts a lot of effort and careful thought into his part recommendations, and he doesn't recommend expensive parts unless it's necessary/proven to provide a benefit (there seems to be a lot of question marks about whether the highest grade caps. etc. actually result in an audible improvement).

I went with the high performance variant and went with AMB's part recommendations and the resulting amp sounds fantastic.

It appears RS Components India do not stock Xicon brand resistors - I was hoping you might be able to use manufacturer part numbers gleaned from Mouser.

See what people suggest as alternatives.

If the worst comes to the worst, and you can't source parts locally, I'm putting together an M³ and σ11 BOM at the moment and will be ordering parts probably this week/next. If you were to put together a simple BOM with Mouser codes and qtys I could add what you need to my order. You would just need to e-mail me the BOM and PayPal me the cost for components and shipping to India. I also have a number of resistors and caps left over from my Mini³ build which you're welcome to (I always buy spares in case I mess something up!) - I could detract what I have already from your BOM. It's an option for you to consider, should sourcing locally prove difficult (shipping costs from UK to India could be inhibitive though!)