HeyWaj10
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Dec 29, 2010
- Posts
- 311
- Likes
- 116
Ok, so this took waaaaay longer than I expected it to - turns out holidays, 2 very young kids, work, and other life things can really slow a project down! But I have finally finished the transfer of the naked ACP+ to an aluminum chassis. I learned a ton, got plenty frustrated at times, made some dumb-*** mistakes, but ultimately ended up with a finished product that I'm truly happy with.
Special shoutout to @adydula who so graciously sold me his assembled ACP+...this thing singlehandedly put my headphone amp search and trials on ice!
I'd be happy to share a full BOM list if anyone is interested, but the bulk of this enclosure consists of a Modushop Galaxy 2U black anodized aluminum chassis (supplied by DIYAudioStore), internal wiring, switches and connectors from Digi-Key or Mouser, and a knurled aluminum volume knob from China. Brass 1" standoffs were used to raise the PCB to the height to center up the PCB-mounted components up front (input selector, volume pot, and HP jack). Items removed from the PCB and fly-wired were the LED, power switch, power connector, SMPS filter, and RCAs. All component holes were drilled by hand with a basic cordless hand drill.
I thought it would be pretty straight forward and easy, but boy did I underestimate the time and attention to detail it would take. The biggest time killer was painstakingly measuring, sizing, and planning the front faceplate holes for the PCB-mounted components. I ended up buying several purpose-specific tools/materials (like the drill bits) to precisely get things fitting correctly. I was fortunate to find a CAD template buried in the ACP+ thread on DIYAudio, but even that did not align perfectly and I had to improvise.
All in all, this was a great experience and I'm truly glad I did it. I love the look and feel of this thing (adding some Dynamat Xtreme I had on hand helped add some heft and dampened the top and bottom covers). Now I have that little sense of pride looking at it each time I listen, and this thing is as legit of a final product all-in around $350 as many production-grade solid state amps out there. I'm smitten with this thing!
FYI - this replaced my seriously loved Schiit Lyr3, which in all honesty just could not compete with the ACP+.
Special shoutout to @adydula who so graciously sold me his assembled ACP+...this thing singlehandedly put my headphone amp search and trials on ice!
I'd be happy to share a full BOM list if anyone is interested, but the bulk of this enclosure consists of a Modushop Galaxy 2U black anodized aluminum chassis (supplied by DIYAudioStore), internal wiring, switches and connectors from Digi-Key or Mouser, and a knurled aluminum volume knob from China. Brass 1" standoffs were used to raise the PCB to the height to center up the PCB-mounted components up front (input selector, volume pot, and HP jack). Items removed from the PCB and fly-wired were the LED, power switch, power connector, SMPS filter, and RCAs. All component holes were drilled by hand with a basic cordless hand drill.
I thought it would be pretty straight forward and easy, but boy did I underestimate the time and attention to detail it would take. The biggest time killer was painstakingly measuring, sizing, and planning the front faceplate holes for the PCB-mounted components. I ended up buying several purpose-specific tools/materials (like the drill bits) to precisely get things fitting correctly. I was fortunate to find a CAD template buried in the ACP+ thread on DIYAudio, but even that did not align perfectly and I had to improvise.
All in all, this was a great experience and I'm truly glad I did it. I love the look and feel of this thing (adding some Dynamat Xtreme I had on hand helped add some heft and dampened the top and bottom covers). Now I have that little sense of pride looking at it each time I listen, and this thing is as legit of a final product all-in around $350 as many production-grade solid state amps out there. I'm smitten with this thing!
FYI - this replaced my seriously loved Schiit Lyr3, which in all honesty just could not compete with the ACP+.
