[the_equalizer]

 
Quote:

Hey, I finally made an European shopping list for the 17EW8 version from The_Equalizer, but it's much expensive to what I anticipated (around 116$), if someone is kind enough to take a look I'll appreciate any feedback:
 
HTML:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1910765/millett.html
 
OpenOffice:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1910765/millett.ods
 
Cisco Adapter is from Asia.
 
I find the tubes a little expensive and I don't know if I can use other types, the 680uF 63V capacitor is also expensive in that shop.
It's hard to believe that the original BOM from Pete was only 36$.
I'm just wondering if it's still worth doing for this price.

 
Aside from Beftus' recommendation to check some other shop for parts, yes: you can use other tubes such as
 
12AU7
12AX7
12AT7
 
Only modification to the circuit is changing the value of a couple of resistors (R2 and R8), schematic here. Maybe you can find a couple of those tubes cheaper than the 17EW8.
 
You can also build a version using 12SR7 tubes (which are very very cheap), as posted by user 'Logistic' but that requires another type of tube socket (octal) and different values for several resistors. Check his post here.
 
Good luck and be sure to post some pics of your amp here when you're done building it.
 
cheers!
 

 

[Beftus]

 
Quote:

It's hard to believe that the original BOM from Pete was only 36$.
 
... the 680uF 63V capacitor is also expensive in that shop.

Simple, Pete didn't use boutique parts for his Starving Student...
 
Why bipolar caps for C1 and C6? Use a polar electrolytic, a 470uF or 680uF Panasonic FC is an excellent choice and doesn't cost a lot.
Where are C3 and C5 on your BOM?
 
The heatsink you found is a bit small IMO, a beefier one might be a better choice. Like this one: http://www.banzaimusic.com/Heat-Sink-FHS129-50-8STS.html

 

[Procession]

I've been looking for all the parts to build one of these and it seems that no place stocks everything, or even the tubes for that matter.
I'm in Australia and this is really annoying me, I'd love one of these amps to death, but honestly, It's getting really daunting trying to find the parts to build one of these.
 
So in a nutshell I want to know:
 
1. Is there an Australian retailer from which I can buy most of the parts?
 
2. Where can I find some tubes for these?
 
3. Are there PCB sold for this project?
 
4. How hard is it to wire in a DAC?

 

[Beftus]

 
Quote:

2. Where can I find some tubes for these?
 
3. Are there PCB sold for this project?
 
4. How hard is it to wire in a DAC?

2. The 19J6 tubes from the original Starving Student are very hard to find and if you do find them they're expensive. Easy to find are 12AU7 tubes. Current production tubes aren't very expensive.
 
3. No, not anymore. You'll have to do a point to point or make your own PCB.
 
4. The Starving Student has been known to cause damage to DACs. YMMV. Use the search function.

 

[Fred_fred2004]

Quote:

I've been looking for all the parts to build one of these and it seems that no place stocks everything, or even the tubes for that matter.
I'm in Australia and this is really annoying me, I'd love one of these amps to death, but honestly, It's getting really daunting trying to find the parts to build one of these.
 
So in a nutshell I want to know:
 
1. Is there an Australian retailer from which I can buy most of the parts?
 
2. Where can I find some tubes for these?
 

 
1. Farnells has virtually all the parts you need, free overnight delivery in Australia
 
2. Tubes and sockets checkout ebay
 
cheers
FRED

 

[Amatsu]

Thanks everyone for the recommendations, I will be buying from Conrad probably, I also managed to find the 17EW8 tubes for 3$ each, so the final price is at around 80$ right now (62€) which is certaintly better than before. I'm still going to wait a couple of days before pushing the button, I need to re-check some items I'm not sure about.
 
 
 
@Procession
Someone made an Australian BOM some pages ago, check it out, maybe you'll find something interesting: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1910765/BWr9.bom_thoward.xls

 

[Ikarios]

Quote:

 
Quote:

2. Where can I find some tubes for these?
 
3. Are there PCB sold for this project?
 
4. How hard is it to wire in a DAC?

2. The 19J6 tubes from the original Starving Student are very hard to find and if you do find them they're expensive. Easy to find are 12AU7 tubes. Current production tubes aren't very expensive.
 
3. No, not anymore. You'll have to do a point to point or make your own PCB.
 
4. The Starving Student has been known to cause damage to DACs. YMMV. Use the search function.

FWIW I haven't had any problems with my Grub hardwired into the SSMH (using a DPDT input selector switch). I've turned off the amp with the DAC on, vice versa, vice versa, etc etc. I don't think tehre've been any reports of Grubs dying from SSMHs either.

 

[Procession]

Thanks to everyone for the help, I'm going to make this my next project.

 

[Mr_Nibbles]

Hi guys I could really use some help finding a replacement potentiometer for my PCB board Starving Student. The one that I previously had fit right into the PCB that was sold at Beezar. I would love to replace it with another that will fit right it. Thanks

 

[tomb]

Quote:

Hi guys I could really use some help finding a replacement potentiometer for my PCB board Starving Student. The one that I previously had fit right into the PCB that was sold at Beezar. I would love to replace it with another that will fit right it. Thanks

The BOM is still available on the Starving Student website:
http://www.diyforums.org/SSMH
It lists the proper Alpha pot that you can order from Mouser:
313-1240F-50K
 

 

[revolink24]

I keep hearing about this "DAC damage" from the SSMH. Can anyone elaborate on what causes it? Is it just the DC offset? If so, would it be helped with an offset protection circuit (like the Epsilon 12)? Sorry, I'm kind of an electronics newb.
FWIW, I haven't had any issues with my 0404.

 

[rauschie]

Hi everybody!
If I am looking for help to find out what did i do wrong building my amp (it doesnt work, actually, it doesnt seem to do anything), is this the proper thread?

 

[Ikarios]

Quote:

I keep hearing about this "DAC damage" from the SSMH. Can anyone elaborate on what causes it? Is it just the DC offset? If so, would it be helped with an offset protection circuit (like the Epsilon 12)? Sorry, I'm kind of an electronics newb.
FWIW, I haven't had any issues with my 0404.

the SSMH has been known to kill some DIY DACs (Aliens, Bantams, and some Gamma1s). I believe it's basically caused by accidentally touching the signal from the DAC to the ground of the amp, but a cause was never definitively singled out. There's some info within the last 50 pages posted by TomB and some info on DIYforums too.

 

[tomb]

Quote:

Quote:

I keep hearing about this "DAC damage" from the SSMH. Can anyone elaborate on what causes it? Is it just the DC offset? If so, would it be helped with an offset protection circuit (like the Epsilon 12)? Sorry, I'm kind of an electronics newb.
FWIW, I haven't had any issues with my 0404.

the SSMH has been known to kill some DIY DACs (Aliens, Bantams, and some Gamma1s). I believe it's basically caused by accidentally touching the signal from the DAC to the ground of the amp, but a cause was never definitively singled out. There's some info within the last 50 pages posted by TomB and some info on DIYforums too.

The grounding on the Cisco power supply is not the best.  What happens is that a static charge can build up on the RCA jacks under certain scenarios.  That zaps the DAC.  You can test this yourself (without damaging anything) by disconnecting the RCA jacks while the amp is on.  Often, you'll get a huge hum until you ground the charge from the jacks.  (Don't ground them with a DAC.

)

 

[dsavitsk]

To elaborate a little: re the static charge.  The cisco PS is connected to safety earth at the wall.  However, the output ground is not connected to it, and there is a capacitance between them.  This charges, and when it discharges it can damage sensitive parts, like DAC chips.  As Tomb says, you can simply be careful to not let this happen. 
 
So, the Cisco is the culprit, and you can build a different PS to eliminate the issue.  One way to do this is with a power transformer like the 62065 (at Digikey), a rectifier, a cap, a pass transistor, and a zener to set the voltage.  Or, if you want to use a LM317 based PS, you can run the amp at a lower voltage by adjusting the bias resistors for the mosfet and replacing the tube's plate load with a CRD or other small CCS.