beginner help

Before starting on an amp I would suggest you become familiar with a soldering iron and practice first. Cut up some wires into smaller pieces and then practice by soldering them together. Once you get the hang of it then proceed.

 

As far as the electronics part of it, not everyone who build amps know exactly what each component does what in the circuit. You can find schematics everywhere, although if you feel more comfortable you can ask those on here who are trusted designers. That way you don't have to learn about everything before starting (which can take a long time). 

If you are seriously wanting to learn about circuits and components I can suggest a good book to you.

 

While at a local Barnes and Noble book store I found and thumbed through a very good book for beginners. The author writes the book assuming the reader knows nothing about electronics, it is very easy to understand. He is has a sense of humor as well so it makes it entertaining as well.

 

He also covers sound amplification in one of the sections, it might be useful to you.

 

 

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/make-charles-platt/1102090742?ean=9780596153748&itm=1&usri=make%2belectronics

 

Here's an ebook version as well:

http://books.google.com/books/about/Make_Electronics.html?id=PQzYdC3BtQkC

This is a good site too.

As recommended above, you can often find books on basic electronics theory at the book store or online.

Tangent has a great tutorial here.

And of course, you can ask questions here on Head-Fi.

 

Oh, I almost forgot...the Navy released their NEETS course to the public.

Edited by Avro_Arrow - 8/17/11 at 4:56pm

x2 on Tangent.  His videos are clear and the examples he shows makes it very simple to understand.  Even now I'll rewatch his videos and pick up small things he does and it strengthens up the basics.

Dont forget the curious inventor SMD soldering 101 video. There is also a dude on youtube who has a video of professional SMT Drag soldering.

look at AMB's website for some nice schematics. Theres a few basic components you should learn about: resistors, capacitors, and inductors. between those and various chips thats all there is to a circuit. You get the pinout for a chip and then mess around with the input/output current and voltage for those pins so that the chip knows how to handle it.

My tips for beginning:
1) buy a proper soldering workstation. I just finished my first projects using a weller sp40 pencil iron and it was an awful experience. Spend the money on something like a Weller WES51 soldering work station. you will seriously regret it if you use a crappy 20 dollar iron for any project more complicated than soldering wires together for your home.

2) get all the soldering equipment you need first and see how each thing works. make sure you learn how to take care of your soldering iron. My first tip became completely corroded into a hook shape and broke a couple of my pins. my second tip looks good as new even though the iron itself is corroding.

3) get the proper chemicals. Paste flux, desoldering wick, chipquick, liquid flux. and make sure all of it is approved by members who know what they are doing on here. My Y1 and y2 project is now completely ruined because i used acid flux instead of rosin flux because i didnt know there were different kinds of fluxes. now I need a new board and new parts.

Take your time, make yourself a macro lens for a crappy point and shoot camera. Simple magnifying glass in a cardboard tube will work wonders for taking close up shots of your projects.

Also, watch as much EEVBlog stuff as you can. MIT also has opencourseware for basic electronics stuff. Theres tons of online classes you can find that will go into the details of resistors, capacitors, inductors, and kirchoff's laws.

look at  and buy a Cmoy kit on ebay

http://stores.ebay.de/Electric-Sumo?_trksid=p4340.l2563

 

Serge

 

 

 

Seconded, I have that book as well, it's pretty entertaining and easy to pick up. 

You don't really need much knowledge in electronics to make an CMoy amp, it's pretty easy as long as you follow the instructions.

Tangent has great tutorials on soldering and other audio stuff (including the cmoy amp, check it out.

 

 

If you want to get into electronics,

get that book, it's pretty good. Alternatively you can also check out tutorials on google, there's aplenty.

 

Just start building a CMoy. Learn how to solder first. You'll pick up the electronics as you go along. If you get curious about what a resistor really does, look it up. You don't have to follow a formal course, you can fix most mistakes and you'll learn a lot along the way. Keep at it and ask questions, too.

I was thinking to get one of those too, is it a good choice ?