DIY amp and such build gallery

[philodox]

Sweet, nice work as always Nate.

[n_maher]

So I'm always telling you guys about how I rebuild hack-job builds for folks but I never post pictures of the original. My most recent project warranted posting those pics. I honestly think that the original builder isn't all that bad a guy, he just got in way over his head with this build. Or at least I hope that's what happened. Anyway, here's the latest trainwreck M3.

Feature #1 - the case - kindly not the lovely steel Hammond chassis complete with tiny knobs and custom scratches all over the place. Amp thy name is fugly.


Feature #2 - locking neutrik jack - now I hate these things on general principle but this is a special case, JBWeld ftw. Next time you might try aligning the jack before making a permanent mistake.



Feature #3 - interior madness - where to start... from the starquad wiring that was hanging on in some spots by no more than 2 strands to the custom mounting hardware that included wood screws for standoffs , just a friggen mess. Also of note, the fact that neither alps pot sits flush or square on the pcb.



Other note-worthy features not able to be clearly seen - the front panel led literally fell out, even though it was super-glued in. The RCA jacks, you guessed, also super-glued in. The IEC jack, wait for it, super-glued in. Lots of super glue, not so super.

So what the hell do you do? Trash everything but the amp and PS pcb and start over with a new chassis and all the hardware. The result, what the amp should have looked like in the first place.













There's about 7 to 10 hrs of labor in that re-build but at least the owner can now listen and enjoy the amp without feeling like he got screwed. And what is worse is that this is only the second worst of the 4 M3's that I've repaired in the last 6 months.

[dc]

WoW that's impressive work there n_maher

do you do builds for pay?

[EdipisReks]

wow, nate, you have cracked the secret to polishing a turd!

[n_maher]

Originally Posted by dc

WoW that's impressive work there n_maher

Thanks, I can't design squat but I know the business end of a drill.

do you do builds for pay?

For pay, no. I generally do stuff like this, repairs for the cost of parts, no labor charge. It's just for fun for me, if you want someone to do a good job and pay them for it you've got great options like MisterX and thrice.

[Pars]

WTF? That is one cluster fuck initially... how hard is it to square up pots with 6 pins on them? The starquad might not be a bad idea, but solder the shield down to a groundplane or something

Nice job on the rebuild. Was it just an aesthetics reason regarding taking the pots off-board? Is that another Context case? Looks good. I've been meaning to thank you regarding your recommendation on those BTW... I really liked the one I used for my brother's amp.

[EdipisReks]

i like the look of the pots being off-board. i have no idea if that make a difference or not.

[deepak]

Great looking builds Nate. I remember seeing that M^3 in the FS forum for a long time. The crooked locking jack was the first thing that threw me off.

What case did you use to recase it?

[EdipisReks]

that crooked jack was vomitorious.

[tyrion]

Nice work Nate. I can't wait to see my MPX3 in one of those cases.

[EdipisReks]

are you really getting it recased, Tyrion?

[n_maher]

Originally Posted by Pars

The starquad might not be a bad idea, but solder the shield down to a groundplane or something

I've had several bad experiences with starquad type wiring, it has very little tolerance for movement when soldered to a pcb like this and tends to fray and snap rather quickly.

Nice job on the rebuild. Was it just an aesthetics reason regarding taking the pots off-board? Is that another Context case? Looks good. I've been meaning to thank you regarding your recommendation on those BTW... I really liked the one I used for my brother's amp.

Thanks for the compliment, I'm pretty pleased with the result. Hopefully the owner will be too. It was mostly aesthetically driven but also I think the amp would have developed issues pretty quickly, the wiring was just bad bad bad. And moving the pots off board was necessitated by my anal retentive nature that unless it's impossible I live to have knobs centered in the depth of the front panel. The original builder used huge f'ing heatsinks (why, who knows) so the board had to be mounted pretty low to give adequate clearance and there was no way I was going to go the trouble of recasing this thing only to have the knobs ride super low on the panel just because I was lazy. And this is a Hi-Fi 2000 chassis, I picked a couple up a year or so ago and this one was a spare so I offered to use it and the owner liked it.

[n_maher]

Originally Posted by tyrion

Nice work Nate. I can't wait to see my MPX3 in one of those cases.

I must contact my lawyer to renegotiate the terms of our agreement regarding your MPX3.

[deepak]

Those are some monster size heatsinks.

[tyrion]

Originally Posted by EdipisReks

are you really getting it recased, Tyrion?

I was just kidding around.

Originally Posted by n_maher

I must contact my lawyer to renegotiate the terms of our agreement regarding your MPX3.

I told you, name your price. No negotiation needed.

[EdipisReks]

Originally Posted by tyrion

I was just kidding around.

that's too bad, it might have been cool

[n_maher]

Originally Posted by deepak

Those are some monster size heatsinks.

Yeah, you could probably use this amp to run some small bookshelves if one were so inclined. But I'm not offering to wire up the jacks, I'm happy to see this off my bench so I can get back to *cough* other things.

[n_maher]

Originally Posted by tyrion

I told you, name your price. No negotiation needed.

I quoted you a price, you started in with the threats!

[thrice]

This must be the month for fixed mistakes...I just got a balanced beta22 to look at (when I have time...someday). I should post pics...this one's a doosie. I'll give you a tease....the case has no bottom. Just wires taped to the sides and bottoms of the pcbs with electrical tape. It gets better from there.

He got it for a bargain....he got what he paid for.

[tyrion]

Originally Posted by n_maher

I quoted you a price, you started in with the threats!

With quotes of $0.00 you're never going to get that MOT designation you've always wanted.