Next DIY amp after minimax - Page 2

Casework should not be very expensive as the ehha rev a is pretty small and as long as you can drill the holes yourself it should be very cheap.

I would probably say it would cost about $50-70 for a decent case with some rca jacks, a 6.3mm jack and a power inlet.

Small is relative. I would not call the EHHA rev A a small build.

The perceived casework is also deceptive. There is far more involved than appears at first glance.

I do not mean to put you off of the build nor discourage you in any way. However, decent casework with all the associated hardware and I/O may be difficult to accomplish with acceptable results under $100USD. At least that is my experience, YMMV.

The ehha rev A is much smaller than a b22.

The case also only needs rca jacks, 6.3mm jack, power inlet, hole for volume control and a power switch.

I would personally call that fairly minimal casework, I actually spent about $100 on case work for a two box 2 ch b22 (hifi-2000)

Good point about casework on a project after something like a MiniMax which is the only amp I know of that has custom casework already available and matched prefectly to just this amp.  On basically any other project, you're drilling your own panels for input/output/power/switches/etc, attaching the PCB to the chassis, doing power wiring, mounting the transformer, etc.  For most solid-state, this is standard, with tubes you have the added options of how to mount the PCB (build on "bottom" of the board and mount PCB on or lifted to the roof with flush tube socket, air-wire tube sockets or have tube on PCB bottom-mounted with only a bit of the tube sticking out of the chassis - if at all).

 

For every project I've done, casework has generally been the most time-consuming task.

Yep, casework is the stumbling block for DIY projects. I've always spent much more time on the case than actually putting the amp together. Soldering is the easy part.

FallenAngel & others make good points... Casework takes planning & always takes longer than I think it will:)   BTW there are things called "socket savers" (e.g. off ebay) that can be used to raise tubes about 1" but in most cases this is not enough to level the tube base w/casetop (like it was in my "fancy" cth link in sig).  Socket savers have holes down the middle like most tube sockets so can be secured to PCB through a long screw from top to bottom.

 

Also, most of my amps have benefited from 2-case designs providing separation of any transformer(s) from input stages.  My up-coming EHHA will probably involve something like my "budget" b22 and CK²III did for this:

 

 

Edited by cfcubed - 5/21/11 at 8:06am

Another vote for the AMB M³. It's a fantastic sounding amp, very flexible in its ability to drive a range of headphones, and the case work is relatively easy and cheap if you go with the Hammond 1455 series enclosure.

double post

Edited by qusp - 5/23/11 at 1:41pm

there are literally hundreds of diy dacs, dont limit yourself to what gets big press around here. go check the other diy forum. if you are building the dac and avp to be used as a unit, consider using a dac that has digital volume available and case them together. that will save you money and time on casework, save you space, and provide a more direct connection between dac and amp. for your denons you really dont even need an amp to provide voltage gain, you need a follower to provide more current, this could easily be tacked onto the output of an iv stage. use proper grounding techniques and route your wiring well; there is no tradeoff as long as you think it through. if you really want you could still do a 2 box build, but have the one power supply for both and regulators for each section. the psu with raw dc supply need not be anything more than a box

 

Edited by qusp - 5/23/11 at 1:40pm