haveblue
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Feb 25, 2009
- Posts
- 245
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- 26
Let me state this first: I don't have any DIY amp experience. What I do have is an Aerospace Engineering degree, a pretty good idea of how stuff should be built, and decent soldering, wiring, and CAD software skill.
Today I randomly decided that I want to build a balanced B22 in the near future. But I want mine to be unique, and a one-box design. I hopped onto Solidworks and figured that I can manage to stuff all 6 boards and 2 toroids inside a pyramid-shaped chassis of 15.5" sides and 7.75" height. I don't plan to run speakers off of this thing. Headphones only. I want the exterior of this thing to be CLEAN. No ventilation holes if possible. That means running an off-board heatsink.
I found out a way to position the 6 boards (shown on cross section picture) so that their MOSFETS line up exactly with a band of 1/8" aluminum U-bracket that wraps around the entire pyramid about halfway up. 1/8" is the thickest that McMaster sells in my desired cross-section. This band also provides a visual break and provides mounting structure for the side panels. Will that provide enough heat dissipation to run HD800s? Do the transformers tend to get hot? (which would mean I probably shouldn't mount the S22's above them)
Other preliminary thoughts:
-Tinted transparent 1/8" acrylic sides
-3/16" aluminum (or acrylic?) base
-Band of 1/8" polished stainless steel above the aluminum U-bracket, flush with the plastic (I have its external surfaces as white instead of gray in the pictures). I realize that this is the only place where heat radiates out. It does conduct heat worse than aluminum or copper. But it's prettier when polished. If needed I can cut a valley into the entire thing and have heatsinks emerge, but I don't want them to stick out past flush with the sides.
-No single ended, just balanced. Only plugs that stick out of the entire thing (which will be in the back) are AC power, 2x XLR3 input, XLR4 output.
-Power switch in the back next to the AC plug.
-No other switches or input selectors.
-Crystal pyramid cap, although its hard to find one in the correct 2:2:1 aspect ratio
http://www.jatashop.com/crystal-pyramid-figurine-clear.html
-3W ~100 lumen Luxeon white LED beneath the crystal cap. Going for the Luxor hotel look.
http://blog.mapawatt.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/luxor_light.jpg
Here's the results of a few hours of initial brainstorming. Obviously I still need to add a lot of other stuff. The two S22's are in orange and the 4 B22's are in blue. I will be able to do all the metalworking at my university's machine shop, and I also have access to a laser cutter which can perfectly cut the acrylic. Thoughts or comments? And let me know roughly how much heat I need to dissipate when running HD800's.
Today I randomly decided that I want to build a balanced B22 in the near future. But I want mine to be unique, and a one-box design. I hopped onto Solidworks and figured that I can manage to stuff all 6 boards and 2 toroids inside a pyramid-shaped chassis of 15.5" sides and 7.75" height. I don't plan to run speakers off of this thing. Headphones only. I want the exterior of this thing to be CLEAN. No ventilation holes if possible. That means running an off-board heatsink.
I found out a way to position the 6 boards (shown on cross section picture) so that their MOSFETS line up exactly with a band of 1/8" aluminum U-bracket that wraps around the entire pyramid about halfway up. 1/8" is the thickest that McMaster sells in my desired cross-section. This band also provides a visual break and provides mounting structure for the side panels. Will that provide enough heat dissipation to run HD800s? Do the transformers tend to get hot? (which would mean I probably shouldn't mount the S22's above them)
Other preliminary thoughts:
-Tinted transparent 1/8" acrylic sides
-3/16" aluminum (or acrylic?) base
-Band of 1/8" polished stainless steel above the aluminum U-bracket, flush with the plastic (I have its external surfaces as white instead of gray in the pictures). I realize that this is the only place where heat radiates out. It does conduct heat worse than aluminum or copper. But it's prettier when polished. If needed I can cut a valley into the entire thing and have heatsinks emerge, but I don't want them to stick out past flush with the sides.
-No single ended, just balanced. Only plugs that stick out of the entire thing (which will be in the back) are AC power, 2x XLR3 input, XLR4 output.
-Power switch in the back next to the AC plug.
-No other switches or input selectors.
-Crystal pyramid cap, although its hard to find one in the correct 2:2:1 aspect ratio
http://www.jatashop.com/crystal-pyramid-figurine-clear.html
-3W ~100 lumen Luxeon white LED beneath the crystal cap. Going for the Luxor hotel look.
http://blog.mapawatt.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/luxor_light.jpg
Here's the results of a few hours of initial brainstorming. Obviously I still need to add a lot of other stuff. The two S22's are in orange and the 4 B22's are in blue. I will be able to do all the metalworking at my university's machine shop, and I also have access to a laser cutter which can perfectly cut the acrylic. Thoughts or comments? And let me know roughly how much heat I need to dissipate when running HD800's.
