Electronics! Falling into the geek rabbit hole.

That amp camp amp is pretty cool, but supposedly the sound quality is not there. This circuit I am playing with is strictly an active buffer. It serves to isolate the previous stage of an audio signal (think cd player or tuner) form the following section. For one section to drive the next, the output of the previous section needs to have low impedance, while the driven section needs to have high impedance so it can be driven by the previous section. A buffer shows very high input impedance, making it easy to drive, and low output impedance, so it can drive hard to drive components. Being a powered circuit, you need a power supply, so I integrated it into the board. It takes a 15vAC (pretty standard) and converts it to ballpark 21vDC, and then regulates it down to 18v, and the via diodes drops it to +-16vdc for the buffer. The buffer produces an exact match of the input and can drive pretty much any hard to drive amplifier. So this is a component. Working on a reworked version, and the BOM,. So it would be easy to build. So this could essentially serve as a preamplifier between your source and your amp, but this does not have an attenuator for volume control. Attenuators are frequently placed after the buffer in commercial preamplifier, and many preamplifiers have these buffers right before final output.

sent from Utah.

Here's the latest piece. Amplifier power supply pcb with rectifier. Will get you from the transformer to your amplifier and make sure there is lots of clean DC power available for your amplifier. It has options to add snubber caps to the bridge rectifier diodes, as well as optional output snubbers, optional bleeder resistors, and optional led rail power indicators. 2 different capacitance designs. One for up to 48,000uf, and the other good up to 72,000uf. Should be good up to the 100+-vdc output. These would be for an ab class amp, not so much for class a. Just wrapped up buding one for my gb150d amp to replace my total franken power supply I currently have in there.. Need to get off my duff and go install it.
This one will be available for purchase soon, and will come with a complete book of materials to order everything you need from mouser to make it simple.Attachment 365912Attachment 365913

sent from Utah.

Well it works, time to finish up the BOM and order up a set of parts to build a nice one. Sound is pretty good, but I used a bunch of old parts yanked out of a couple different low level yamahas for the power filter caps and rectifier. Those 20 year old cheapo yamaha caps aren't what the doctor ordered, or the rectifier I abused with my soldering iron to get it out. But stevie ray sounds pretty nice. Attachment 365930Attachment 365931

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Sold my first pcb today. One of the above power supply boards. On ebay. Look for the Wreckt 4Cap and the Wreckt 6Cap. Hehe.

sent from Utah.

Maybe you sold out already but either of those just gives me back a bunch of weird hats.

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Originally Posted by dfinn

Maybe you sold out already but either of those just gives me back a bunch of weird hats.

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Ha, yeah, definitely not sold out, and don't really care if they sell. They do work though... Ill use them in future amp projects. Going to build a full nice part version of the pack and toss it in one of the honey badgers. You are welcome to have one if you want to swing by the Aves and grab one. Or if you want one built, tell me, and I can order parts to build it out and build it for you.

It sounds cool but I gotta be honest, I’m not actually sure how it would be used in a real world situation. I read your description but it might be a bit over my head.

All good mang. The post vax listening sessions for the SLC audio geeks is getting closer...

Definitely into that!

fuck yeah i'd join

especially if there is whiskey involved too

The guy I bought my turn table from has an impressive vinyl collection with a bunch of duplicates and he was willing to sell them off for cheap. I was heading out his way and I hit him up to see if I could pick through his stuff some more.

Came home with a couple records and this somehow found it’s way into my car too

Attachment 373291

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dfinn

The guy I bought my turn table from has an impressive vinyl collection with a bunch of duplicates and he was willing to sell them off for cheap. I was heading out his way and I hit him up to see if I could pick through his stuff some more.

Came home with a couple records and this somehow found it’s way into my car too

Attachment 373291

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Dang man that's awesome!! What records are you spinning??

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My tastes are all over the place but so far tonight to test it out:

Led Zep houses of the holy
Allman Bros live at Fillmore east
Sturgil Simpson cutting grass vol 2
Bob Marley Uprising
Kendrick Lamar, good kid mad city

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dfinn

My tastes are all over the place but so far tonight to test it out:

Led Zep houses of the holy
Allman Bros live at Fillmore east
Sturgil Simpson cutting grass vol 2
Bob Marley Uprising
Kendrick Lamar, good kid mad city

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cutting grass and GKMC are phenomenal, hell yeah

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2 of my favorites and both sounded really, really good on this new table

How you likin' the Dirty Weekends, dfinn?

That technics is cool.
Allman brothers fillmore east album always makes me think of driving down towards green river along book cliffs. Had the cd in high school and listened to it on that road.

sent from Utah.

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Originally Posted by Viva

How you likin' the Dirty Weekends, dfinn?

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They are great! Definitely keepers. So fun to listen to and they sound good with all sorts of music. Even if I wanted to sell them I’m not sure the wife would let me, she’s in love with them too.

My next upgrade might be the amp. I’m curious what more power would do for them. I’ve kind of got my eye on a Rogue Sphinx which Zu says works really well with the DWs.

That's what I'm using, the Sphinx v.1, although I read that v.3 has much improved phono section. You can also play around with the tubes to tailor the sound more toward your liking, although the factory-supplied tubes are pretty good.

The Sphinx definitely provides a solid base response. Way better than my previous Sim Audio Celeste. And I agree that it matches well with the Dirty Weekend. Was running it originally with the Lynn Ninkas, but could tell right away that those speakers weren't a good match as far as base was concerned.

spent the evening last night spinning vinyl and thinking about upgrading my amp setup - the Sphinx v.3 looks sweet, but i don't need anywhere close to 100wpc - i can get by with 1wpc. @viva, have you run it with more efficient speakers, and, if so, how do you like it?

the alternative i'm looking at is this amp here: https://www.amazon.com/Willsenton-R8.../dp/B08133TH98

i really like the fact that (virtually) all of the wiring is point to point, no PCBs, and a ton fo flexibility in configuration. it's also both pre and power, and i like the tube layout - steve huff says it might be the best audiophile buy of all time:

https://www.stevehuffphoto.com/2020/...o-brainer-buy/

which is also something that people say of the Sphinx. damn, i'm torn.

Overpowering is better than underpowering... Underpowering will get you clipping at higher volumes, and that kills speakers. Just putting it out there as something to keep in mind.

sent from Utah.

My pandemic project has been a hack build out of a ram promaster. Function over fashion motif.

Getting closer to addressing the sound system. I’ve already put new speakers in the front doors and picked up a set of 6x9’s for the back doors. Pretty set on a cheapish alpine head unit.

My question is around amp vs subwoofer to fill out the sound. Not looking to spend a ton on it but want it to rock well enough.

I’ve got an old alpine two channel amp laying around, probably mid 80’s vintage. Wondering if it’s worth putting that in the mix to drive the speakers in the back.

Hoping that might get me enough oomph to avoid spending money on a sub.


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The old alpine amps are high quality. To keep a car audio build out more on the budget end while still sounding good, focus on the front speakers. A good 2 channel amp, or better yet, a 4 channel amp with crossover controls for the front, and put a subwoofer in the back. So a 5 channel amp with crossover controls would treat you right. Rear door speakers would the the very last piece of the puzzle... And in my bimmer (which has the best sound system of all my cars) there are no rear speakers. Just the front 3 ways, and a subwoofer.
What are you using for amplification in the front? What model alpine amp is the old one?

sent from Utah.

Not sure the model of the amp, I'm in Florida right now and it's in Maine. I know it's a 2 channel and I think 65watts per, maybe I should put it to the front speakers?

I put an okay set of JBL components in the front doors, tweeters up in the front pillars.

My plan was to get this head unit https://www.crutchfield.com/p_500ILX....html?tp=72357, figure out what the best use of my old amp is, mount the 6x9's in the rear doors and see if I need to get a subwoofer.

Was thinking of just a compact powered 8" sub that I can stick under the passenger seat, something like this https://www.crutchfield.com/p_777B8P...TD.html?tp=114

My thought on the rear doors was it's such a big space and shit rattles all the time so I was hoping to drown some of that out.

That head unit has 6 channels of preouts. So it can feed a 4 channel for all 4 doors, and a subwoofer amp for the bass. A small powered sub under the front seat is good, a separate amp and subwoofer box with more power is better. And properly setup, can be easily removed when you need the extra space. One option with a 4 channel is to use 1 channel per speaker up front, ie. one channel xfir each component woofer, and the other two channels for the tweeters, this is known as an active setup. It will allow better tuning of sound and sound better than using 2 channels, one channel for each set of components. Putting a big 6xo in the back door to cover the rattles up will likely just make the rattles worse in my opinion. Fix the rattles if you don't want to hear them. Most of your perceived sound in the front seats will come from the front speaker sets. Focus on getting those right if you are after good sound.

sent from Utah.