Chet_Summers
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- May 25, 2003
- Posts
- 28
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- 6
[size=medium] Basically all I want is to amp the headphone output because I don't want to bother with a line-out dock connector. I have some old Cmoy and Mint amps I made using a Pac-Tec enclosure and was trying to figure out how to make it as small as possible while still using a 9V battery for power. I got rid of the volume knob and just used the source for volume control, so I then soldered the input cable directly to the board (1/8" male jack) instead of mounting 1/8" female jacks on the enclosure. The on/off display LED also got the cut.
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I used the same Hammond enclosure as the AMB Mini^3 since it seemed the smallest one that could still hold a 9V, but still ran out of room. Had to move the caps for the input RC low-pass filter off the board as seen in the photo. The result is a not-very-rugged mess of heat-shrink tubing and zip ties.
The end product sounds fine, and it's more portable and less of a hassle than my other amps, but there's definitely room for improvement. Here's what I don't like about it:
- It's about 4 times bigger than I want it to be. What I really want is a higher quality Boosteroo, but the FiiO E3 and E5 don't seem to fit the bill (plus it's more fun to DIY).
- The paddle switch on the front is too big. I avoided the silver mini-toggle because I was going for a look that was less homemade, not sure if I succeeded. A mini slide switch would be ideal, but I don't know how to drill square holes and all the panel mount ones looked too big.
- I'd love for this to use a rechargeable 9V or something smaller. The CMoy schematic is dead simple, but I'm not sure if I'd have to switch op amps (and sacrifice sound quality) if I drop the voltage and current with a smaller rechargeable battery cell.
Any ideas/feedback would be much appreciated.
Many thanks to Tangent for the website with part numbers and assembly instructions, great for reference!