Electronics RaspberryPi Amp Box - UPDATE - up and running!

I had this link among my bookmarks (maybe it could interest you) : http://hifiduino.wordpress.com/

Can't wait to see you project done

 

Here's how it's looking right now.

Random pics....

 

Not bad

Now you only need to get the enclosure done

Only one question. Why didn't you hook up the 12V transformator to the same 230/110V wires like the 5V ?

 

I will. This was just for testing temporarily.

Next step is to figure out a layout for how everything will fit in the enclosure. Also still waiting for a few parts.

Slowly but surely it's coming together.
I also need to build some speakers!

 

I'm still glad that I built my speakers a few weeks ago, as they're really fantastic for the desk

 

I had found a nice speaker design I was going to build. The speakers were on sale on clearance everywhere for like $9 each. I couldn't afford to buy them at the time. Now I was just checking it out again and they are all sold out. They are no longer being made

So now I will probably have to spend more money on speakers or keep looking for a good/cheap design.
Oh well...

The amp is slowly coming along. I have almost all the parts here now. I have figured out the layout I will be using for the parts and have decided on the final dimensions.
Internal dimensions will be 8"x8"x4".
I have the wood (oak) that I will be using. Just need to cut it to size.
My dad will be getting the aluminum cut at his work hopefully this week.
Then I can start mounting parts to the bottom panel and get some of it started.

I'm hoping to have it all done for mid to end of April.
By then hopefully I can start looking further into what speakers to build. We have to reshingle our house this summer so how much that costs will determine what kind of speakers I can build


I'll post more pics once I get further along with this.

 

Some $50 per speaker is reasonable I think, and there's lot's of plans available for such speakers. Search the web for "Quickly 14 speakers" for example.

 

I'm thinking of going with these

http://www.lonesaguaro.com/speakers/amethyst/amethyst.htm

My dad got the metal cut for me at his work yesterday. Except he forgot the back panel! lol
I still need to get the threaded inserts for attaching the panels to the wood.

I think I have pretty much everything else I will need, just a few small things maybe, but this weekend I'll be able to get a bit of progress done at least. This thing is going to be very beefy when one.

 

I heard good things about those TangBand chassis, so I guess these will be decent for a desktop-speaker.

When you think about it, my Visaton Vox80 have a 3.3" bassdrivers paired with two 2" mids and a 0.5" tweeter and they deliver awesome sound really. And I can't even crank them up more then to about 50% with the Scyhe Kama Amp Kro I'm using (2x10W only!) while setting the volume to 50% in Windows. Otherwise I'll become depth, because they would be too loud sitting left and right to my screen

Most people simply don't understand anything about audio and speakers, so they allways go for big powerful speakers instead of smaller setups with good sound-quality.

Anyways... I'm waiting to see that AmPiDAC getting assembled

 

today was holiday so I spent the afternoon drilling and tapping holes in the bottom panel and mounting things.

Here is what it looks like now.




Gonna work on some of the wiring and need to pick up a few small things then can get the basics working.

I have the wood selected for the side pieces. I took a test piece and stained it and did a few clear coats on it. Looks really good! I'm hoping tomorrow I can cut down to wood to size and get it ready for staining.

 

Small update:

I have cut, sanded, routed, glued and stained the wood for the sides.
I have done one application of oil to the wood as well.

All the panels have been mounted to the wood sides. Holes have been drilled in the back panel for the switches and power socket, speaker posts, rca jacks, and usb port.

Not sure what I'm going to do about the ethernet port and the panel mount jack I bought on eBay didn't have mounting holes!! Gonna message the seller, but it came from China so even if they do send a new one it will take 3 weeks to get here and I plan to have this thing done in the next week and a half, hopefully.

I've also got the input switch figured out and majority of it is finished. Enough to test it and see that is works!
Almost all the wiring is done actually.

What I have left to do is:
Do one or two more applications of oil to the wood.
Wax and Buff the wood
Drill a few mounting holes in the front panel
Get the inside of the front panel recessed in some areas for the volume knob and input switch.
Sand all the panels and do a brushed aluminum look.
Clear coat all panels.
Create labels for everything.
A few other little bits here and there.

Still waiting for one more part for the final wiring. Should be here next weekend.

I forgot to take pics, will try to do some this week.

It's looking pretty awesome though!

 

Nice to see you keeping us up to date with this one.

I was reading and reading through lots of DIY-HiFi sites during the last two weeks to make my mind about building an USB-DAC-AMP combination, but I don't want to use preassembled components but make all the PCBs myself.

The hardest part is to source the amplifier and DAC ICs, as for example the Tripath TA2020 aren't available in the usual shops. You can find alot of other AMP-designs tho, so I need to make my mind about that first.

Maybe I'll simply buy a nuForce IconAmp 2 in the end tho, which I'm looking at since I've built my new desktop speakers.

DIY is so much cooler tho

 

eBay has the TA2020 chip.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2x-NEW-Trip...885?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4ab2288cfd

It definitely would be really awesome to build your own PCB to have all the features built in one. I could never do that though. I don't know enough about how these devices work. I could assemble one with instructions, but never design and make my own.

 

There's plenty of diagrams available on the net, and the rest is done via expresspcb.com, where you can get a free software from. Gets a little expensive, but it's a professionally made board.

Soldering of SM-components isn't that hard either, if you've learned how to do it.

 

UPDATE:

The amp is almost finished. I would say about 98%

Here pics of the progress I made in the past week and a half

















Things didn't go as planned with the labels on the front and back panel so I had to scrap that idea. As you can see in the pics, the front panel doesn't have labels and the back panel has labels I printing with my labeler. Good enough for me.

You may notice one square hole in the back panel. That is where a RJ45 jack would go, however the one I got on eBay came with out the mounting holes. I got refunded for it and will purchase a new one eventually. So for now there is a square hole there. When I do get the correct one I will just need to drill 2 small holes. No big deal.

The other thing I need to finish is to do some kind of wax/polish on the wood for a final sealer and to give it a shine. Not sure exactly what I'm going to do there.

I also am getting a buzzing noise when I have my pc connected to one of the inputs. I have done testing to eliminate the possibility of it being the input switch wiring, so it is either the source or something to do with the RCA jacks. Will do some further testing on that.

Otherwise it all works awesome!

I got Logitech Media Server running on my WHS 2011 server and then installed SqueezePlug on the raspberry pi and am playing the music with SqueezeLite. A USB DAC is connected to the pi outputting the audio to the input switch then to the amp. Sound quality is great as far as I'm concerned.

Now I'm just going to be testing it in the office for a while then move it to it's home in the bedroom. I hope to build some speakers for it this summer.



With how well this has worked I think I will do another one (or two or three) in fall/next year.

 

What about using the "laser printer" transfer method for labelling?

 

What method is that?



Also, did a bit of testing today, when I have the DAC in the living room hooked up to the inputs of the amp I get no buzzing noise. Will test further, but it seems like it may be something to do with the audio out on my pc.


I also found out something else disappointing. The speaker terminals I got, which thought supported banana plugs, don't support banana plugs. :walbash:
Now looking back on the eBay page, it isn't mentioned. oops....

 

NVM.

Cool project though!

 

It can be done with greater success than show in that video, just remember you have to inverse any text as it would be mirrored afterwards.

 

That was a pretty awful video..

If you use masking tape and tape on 'magazine paper' ontop of regular A4 in the area you want to print (or glossy paper, google 'PCB Toner Transfer method') and you will find that 100% of the toner comes off (because it does not stick to the glossy paper. Using normal paper is a big no no as it is kinda of soaked in almost (the fuser prevents a lot of it coming off)).

So to summarise; laser printer + glossy/PCB paper --> Iron on CLEANED surface = Good transfer! I can confirm this as I do it myself and my laser is running out of toner but it still works great onto copper clad boards, you'll have to test it first on alu! Ps grease will stop it sticking, so make sure its very clean and dry!

Looks good I am thinking of something similar with the Pi, but will probably use an existing amp and retrofit the pi + connections into it Good luck!