Building my first amplifier.

  • Thread starter Thread starter Omnis
  • 18 comments
  • 853 views
Omnis

Omnis

Not Even A Real Mod
Staff Emeritus
Messages
39,107
United States
Application hell
Messages
MP-Omnis
Hey guys. I just thought I'd let everyone in on my first venture into DIY audio. I'm going to be building a Cmoy headphone amp...much like the one walked through at this site: http://www.tangentsoft.net/audio/ , a great site for any construction and do-it-yourself'er's needs.

I went to radioshack today and bought most of my components, but I still need to wait for an op-amp and a few other components to arrive in the mail.

Here is an example of what I'm going to be building.
complete-outside.jpg

It's a Cmoy- which stands for Chu Moy, the developer (who chose not to patent the design) of the build and basic construction- headphone amp built by (I believe) Warren Young of Tangentsoft.

More updates to come as I get deeper and deeper in progression. 👍
 
Awesome!

I used to build my own stuff. But, I got bored and stopped. I also used to build my own speakers. That was fun, but no longer have a need to do it. You should try that next.

Keep us posted! 👍
 
I'm more of a headphone guy, myself. but I guess speakers could be pretty fun. Right now, I want to progress through the different kinds of headphone amps. I might go to a meet in november in Melbourne, FL, so I can check out what a bunch of other people have and have made.

the rest of my parts should come via UPS in the next few days. I want them to come quick because the suspense is killing me. lol.

thanks for the feedback, SL.
 
Melbourne, eh? That's only about an hour away from me. Maybe I should go too? :lol:

Cool idea to build your own amp. I saw this on The Screen Savers a while ago (when Pat and Leo were still there) and Pat built one. Quite a cool project. 👍
 
Integra Type R
Melbourne, eh? That's only about an hour away from me. Maybe I should go too? :lol:

Cool idea to build your own amp. I saw this on The Screen Savers a while ago (when Pat and Leo were still there) and Pat built one. Quite a cool project. 👍
Click to expand...

yeah. if you want to go just head over to www.head-fi.org . it should be pretty cool. I got a Serpac H65-9v, so I won't be using an altoids tin for this one. :dopey: My next one will possibly be made in a tin, but I still don't know. I wonder if I can make a mini business out of this with people/teachers at school.
 
Ugggggggh! Mission Failed. I accidentally forgot to reverse one of the capacitors, and that screwed up everything. I need to go get a new one and maybe a desoldering kit to fix it. I have the other half of the board, but then i'd have to buy EVERY part all over again, and wait for my opamp in the mail once more. I used very crappy low impedance headphones for the test, but it honestly sounded pathetic. I guess I need more practice, as that sound wasn't amplified in the least.
 
Unlit LED

Lit LED
(looks cool, doesn't it?)
Finished Potentiometer Shot.

Underbody & Soldering. I don't think it's TOO bad for my first try ever. :)


As you can see in this pic,

the right capacitor should have the black stripe (the negative side) facing fowards, as opposed to its polar opposite on the left side. I seriously misread what I was looking at, and I guess I just blew it. Hopefully it's not fubar'd...but i'll take care of it somehow. 👍
 
Yeah, i know. at least I learned my lesson :D
 
Solid Lifters
Next time, buy some non-polarized capacitors. ;)
Click to expand...

Nah, they're all polarized. The ones the project call for are, anyway.
 
chinko
i winced at the soldering :lol: but good job 👍
Click to expand...

I took about half of it off with all the "improvised desoldering", and I got my new cap today. installation tommorow, and hopefully a mission accomplished.
 
Omnis
Nah, they're all polarized. The ones the project call for are, anyway.
Click to expand...


No....i see 2 blue non-polarised caps(the flat ones).... :sly:

anyways..practice soldering, use soldering paste for a better job and remember...the better the equipment the better the job. 40W soldering iron are about right.
 
Hmm.

My dad's friend is an electrical engineer.

And my dad knows how to solder.

He said to buy the parts, and we can build one of these. Sounds like a plan.
 
Awesome. I had this planned for myself as a summer project but work got in the way (hopefully next week, I'll be free).

Be sure to tell how it goes and if there's anything in the instructions that I should pay close attention to :D
 
Well, I'll tell you one thing. If you decide to buy a case, DO NOT mess around with the 9v metal prongs that you insert into the battery slot. I tried to bend one of mine slightly so I could fit the soldering iron in there, and it just snapped in half.

I might consider going with a 2 battery setup. I don't know how much juice my HD650s will need.
 
How's the build going? Got more pics?

I will probably order the parts from Digi-Key sometime tomorrow night if I remember to.
 

Latest Posts

Back