DIY sub amp pics posted (1 Viewer)

[Jonathan M]

Hey all,
Just thought I'd post some (rather blurry) pics of my DIY sub amp. It's capable of around 300W RMS into 4 ohms. I'm just waiting on the slow boat from the US to deliver my DPL12 to get the rest of it done!
Pics are here
The xover is a 4th order L/R at 80Hz, although I may alter this depending on whether I purchase a receiver (Leaning this way) or DIY it. The bass section has variable gain, and will be equalized with an L/T.
As for the rest, the board that's upside down is a DC speaker protection circuit which also supplies on/off transient cutoff, and the rest is power supply etc. The small piece of prototype board shown is signal detection auto power on. It operates at very low signal levels (variable by the trimmer) and auto switches off after around 15 minutes of no signal.
I had heaps of fun building it. Most of the PCB's etc. are from ESP.
Now I just have to wait (somewhat impatiently for that DPL12 from Adire!

 

[Wendell]

looks real nice! How much it cost you to build it?

 

[Jonathan M]

Thanks, Wendall.

Cost was around NZ$400 which equates to around US$180. The cheapest plate amp available in NZ with 300W or so into 4 ohms is around NZ$450 which only has 2nd order xovers etc. Ordering from the US is just not cost effective, unfortunately! My DPL12 postage cost 50% of the drivers cost - and that's via surface mail! (It costs at least 2x as much to post from US to NZ as it does from NZ to US - never have figured out why)

I figured that although I wasn't saving a lot, it would be fun to build and I could customize the xover and equalize to suit both the driver and the room.

 

[Anthony_Gomez]

Jonathan. That is pretty cool!
now...if you really want to be the ultimate DIYer, you need to find away to assemble tye driver that is going to be mated with you DIY enclosre and DIY amp

 

[Isaac C]

Very nice! Have you thought about changing the layout so that you could use a plexiglass cover? I wouldn't completely hide the electronics
Did you ask Acoustic Concepts if they carry the DPL12? It could be cheaper to get it from them.

 

[Jonathan M]

I'll definitely be using a plexiglass cover if I build a receiver which MAY be in planning. I am currently tossing up between completely building a receiver and using one of the Jazz DE-007A's as a decoder (Removed of all it's packaging and probably with improved buffer IC's etc.) or purchasing a receiver and possibly adding a DIY bi-amped power amp in the future. I got hold of some of the Alesis modules from Apex Jr (a bargain!) so will be altering the xovers etc. in them and building a 5 channel amp at some stage. I'm currently leaning towards getting the cheap NAD T741 receiver for the mean time and upgrading to a biamped setup later if I feel it's necessary - I'm sure I'll find plenty of use for those amp modules...
As for the DPL12, I mailed Acoustic Concepts regarding Shiva's etc. but didn't actually ask about the DPL12. I got the DPL12 at pre-order price, so I think it would have been cheaper from the US anyway.