[bertp1]

Dear Head-Fi'ers,

a friend and I are going to build our first cmoy, using the excellent Tangentsoft Tutorial
We live in Europe (Belgium) however, and thus haven't got any good/cheap access to electronics stores like Radioshack and Digi-key. Tangent lists his parts also at a European company though, RS-components, from which I will be buying the cmoy parts. I have a few problems though:
 

1. The 0.1 µF polypropylene film cap doesn't seem to exist anymore. I searched for alternative 0.1µF / 100nF alternatives here, but only found caps with high voltage specification. Does anyone know a good alternative for the "regular" and/or "smallish" version?

 

1. The recommended circuit board is only available at Radioshack, and the listed alternative (T2 Retail) doesn't seem to send them to Belgium, so does anyone know a way to get this one in Europe?

 

1.  Are any of these a good alternative to this DC power jack?

Regards,
Bert

PS: for those who buy their parts at RScomponents too, and want to use the Serpac case, I have found the grey version which isn't listed in the Tangentsoft list.

 

[bertp1]

Anyone?

 

[jseaber]

Quote:

Anyone?

 
Tangent's guide was one of the better cMoy resources out there a few years ago, but as you've noticed, electronic component availability changes quickly. The community has changed dramatically in 10 years, so Tangent has little incentive to update his Bill of Materials. 
 
Circuit board: Not many people bother with perfboard now that excellent kits are available. If you really want to build the circuit by hand, search Farnell for "perfboard". I recommend reading through this story first. A real PCB makes the project more enjoyable.
 
Jacks: You can use any 3.5mm jacks and DC jacks you can find. It's a simple matter of wiring them to the case. Since you plan to use a plastic enclosure, you don't have to worry about the isolated DC jack requirements--any jack will suffice. Make sure you can find a matching power adapter for the jack. 2.1mm x 5.5mm is standard.
 
Capacitors: Any 0.1-1.0uF film type capacitors will work. There's little reason to use 0.1uF parts. For better low frequency response, at least bump that value to up to 0.22uF. We use 1.0uF in our kits.

 

[bertp1]

Quote:

 
Tangent's guide was one of the better cMoy resources out there a few years ago, but as you've noticed, electronic component availability changes quickly. The community has changed dramatically in 10 years, so Tangent has little incentive to update his Bill of Materials. 
 
Circuit board: Not many people bother with perfboard now that excellent kits are available. If you really want to build the circuit by hand, search Farnell for "perfboard". I recommend reading through this story first. A real PCB makes the project more enjoyable.
 
Jacks: You can use any 3.5mm jacks and DC jacks you can find. It's a simple matter of wiring them to the case. Since you plan to use a plastic enclosure, you don't have to worry about the isolated DC jack requirements--any jack will suffice. Make sure you can find a matching power adapter for the jack. 2.1mm x 5.5mm is standard.
 
Capacitors: Any 0.1-1.0uF film type capacitors will work. There's little reason to use 0.1uF parts. For better low frequency response, at least bump that value to up to 0.22uF. We use 1.0uF in our kits.

Thank you, your reply is really helpfull. One question about the caps though: in the Tangent tutorial the caps listed have low voltage specification, doesn't this affect the speed of decharging of the caps/does it matter for a cmoy project?

I have been thinking about making a cmoybb from the kit available at JDSlabs, but decided not to because it's a bit expensive for a first-time-project (here in Belgium you pay 21% import tax + handling cost if you import anything above €21 from outside the EU).

 

[jseaber]

Quote:

Thank you, your reply is really helpfull. One question about the caps though: in the Tangent tutorial the caps listed have low voltage specification, doesn't this affect the speed of decharging of the caps/does it matter for a cmoy project?

I have been thinking about making a cmoybb from the kit available at JDSlabs, but decided not to because it's a bit expensive for a first-time-project (here in Belgium you pay 21% import tax + handling cost if you import anything above €21 from outside the EU).

 
The type of capacitor affects its speed and linearity far more than its voltage rating (film, tantalum, ceramic, electrolytic, etc.). It's true that higher voltage ratings correspond to better ESR, but ESR isn't a concern in this part of the circuit. The goal is excellent linearity, so polypropylene or polyester film capacitors are the best choice.
 
To answer your question: Most film capacitors you'll find are rated 50V+. Even 25V would be acceptable, as most signals in this part of the circuit are well below 10V.