[Tomo]

Hello,

I am building a passive preamp with 23 pos steppers and perhaps input transformer coupled.

Anyways, I thought what a heck I should get pretty looking chasis so I don't feel embarrased when my preamp look like just another lab equipment.

Where can I get nice, pretty-looking and sexy chasis?

Thanks in advance,

Tomo

 

[aeberbach]

Tomo, in the shops you referred me to in Akihabara, particularly on both sides of the iron bridge crossing the main street I found many nice chassis places. One is upstairs in the station building, the other upstairs on the other side of the road.

I think these Takachi brand cases are great, and they come in all sizes. I hope I will be going back to Tokyo in a few weeks so I can buy more.

 

[Tomo]

Hello,

Yep. I know. I grew up around there. But I am in US so I can't go to Akihabara.

Did you ask them about R-COre transformers?

Darn ... I need a sexy chasis.

Tomo

 

[aos]

Tomo, can't you scour some pawn shops for old amps, preamps etc? Then just throw away the insides and keep the chassis and knobs... Old stuff was frequently well-built, all metal heavy cases.

 

[Apheared]

nice...

These guys have a pretty extensive line; as much as a Hammond/PacTec/Serpak... there's gotta be at least one US distributor, right?

http://www.takachi-el.co.jp/main.htm

 

[slindeman]

It's probably been posted before, but who knows... www.okwenclosures.com seems to have some nice metal enclosures (I like the look of the Mettec and uniCases lines), the only downside is that they seem quite expensive ($50 or more) and don't come in pocket amp sizes, just home amp sizes. Allied carries a couple of their enclosures, but not the ones that look good for headphone amps.

 

[Toe]

Is it just me or does this look like a lighter fluid can wrapped in electrical tape with a volume control knob attatched?

Might be something to try!

 

[aeberbach]

LOL! Now I look at it, exactly right! Let's flip up that red spout and start the BBQ :

 

[Neruda]

aeberbach, that's a killer looking amp!

 

[aeberbach]

I've got to be honest, it's only a test bed at this stage but the back is even better - the Takachi case allows the plate at the back to be inset so that the RCA connectors and power switch are completely protected when it gets thrown in a bag.

I was trying to make an amp with batteries that recharge in an hour or so, just like a CD player. I tried 5 cells with a Cosel ZW30515 DC-DC converter, same as the Headroom Cosmic uses, but 600mAh batteries only last about two hours. The charger circuit gets more complicated with higher cell counts, and can handle 16 cells maximum, so I would be limited to low voltage opamps.

Realistically I suppose I don't need batteries - I won't be walking around with this and the Sennheisers anyway. I'm just going to wire up AD843 and EL2009 powered by a 36V DC wall wart for my travelling over the next couple of months.

 

[Tomo]

Hey,

I am kinda settling into the idea that I should just pick one up (ordinary-looking) chasis from stock room around 10 bucks. (Or if it fits, I might go for 30 bucks nifty kind. ...

aeberbach,

Your amp chasis looks pretty. I usually pick chasis from lab dumbster. For my recent project, I used Lambda PSU chasis. I removed the intestines and stuff it up with my special stuffing. My stuffing consisted of THS4022 EVM and Decent PSU. It looks like something out of your nightmare if you look close. If your amp was the Enterprise, my amp would be the Borg Ship. In fact, my amp is CUBE! Don't worry my CUBE does not have thrusters and worp engines. The blue LED is NOT proportion system or Fusion reactor. Sorry to disappoint you more but it does not come with borg people either.

Tomo

 

[ppl]

I posted a reply to this on Headwize but since the same question is asked Hear check out http://www.lansing-enclosures.com/