[xuan87]

I'm not a total newbie to diying, as I've made several interconnects (3.5mm, RCA, SE/Balanced adapters) so I have some decent soldering skills. I've some free time now, and I'm interested in trying to build a Minimax. I know a place where I can get all the parts but what I'm concerned with is if it is difficult matching the right parts to the right positions on the PCB board, soldering the right parts together.
 
I guess my question is, with someone of my experience, is it a steep learning curve to build a Minimax from scratch?

 

[stayfrosty]

Most definately If you can soldier well you can complete this project the pcb is clearly labeled essentially what you do is look at the parts list http://www.diyforums.org/MiniMAX/bom/MillettHybridMiniMAX.htm there and just match up the far left column to the text on the board, they will be identical it's kind of like a word search. Mine turned out great I love it and as always its really satisfying to say "I built that!" for reference here's the pic of the pcb http://www.diyforums.org/MiniMAX/board/MiniMAXoverlay.jpg if you see those part numbers are also on that
 

 

[xuan87]

Thanks for your reply! I just have one SIMPLE question before i rush out and buy everything: The lighter blue lines connecting each components found on the PCB board has wires or some kind of conductive pathway inside the board right? So you do not have to connect the components to one another using wires, but just solder the pieces in place. Am i correct in saying that?  

 

[stayfrosty]

yes exactly the pcb has internal wiring so all you do is poke the leads through the board and put the soldier on the back side and cut off the excess also make sure to pay attention to polarity on the caps and such sometimes its tricky if your new at that sort of thing.

 

[Gotez]

Perhaps it is good to start with a small and cheap amp (cmoy, Oatley K272) to practice soldering a PCB. I have no doubt that you can build the minimax, but I found it helpfull to get some experience with some cheap amps.

 

[xuan87]

That's exactly what I'm planning to do! Looking to see if the AMB M3 portable amp is a good first amp to diy.

 

[Lil' Knight]

You meant the Mini3. Remember that the Mini3 has 2 surface mounted opamps.

 

[HiGHFLYiN9]

You can absolutely build the MiniMAX. It was the first amplifier I built and was incredibly easy with all the great documentation on the Beezar site. If you want to get your feet wet on the cheap, the JDS labs CmoyBB costs $40-50 to build: http://www.jdslabs.com/products.php?page=cmoy