What I did on my summer vacation:

[Rip Van Woofer]

I've been building two four-channel power (60 wpc) amps to drive my planned Linkwitz Orion speakers. Here's a couple of pictures of one completed (except for some cosmetics) unit:

The big circuit board on top is actually the Linkwitz Orion ASP crossover/EQ. The actual amps are nearly out of sight, mounted flush to the heatsinks on the sides. Small circuit boards are speaker muting/protection that trip relays for each speaker as needed.

Plans and blank circuit boards (except for the crossvover) are from Elliot Sound Products. Many of you may know of Rod Elliot; links to some of his articles are featured in the Audioholics articles.

Blow-by-blow forum discussion of the project and lots more pix are on the Elliot Sound forum here

Compared to these the speakers will be easy! Already have the drivers.

 

[cgk]

Beautiful work!

Very impressive work! Did you put together the cross-overs for the Orions yourself, assemble them with the circuit board he provides, or buy them ready made?

If I understand things correctly, you've built your own enclosures (which look GREAT!) and amplifiers for each driver?

Since I live in the Detroit area, I'd like to invite myself over sometime to hear how they sound...

 

[Rip Van Woofer]

Thank you. I'll hopefully have the speakers done in a month or so. PM me after Halloween to hear them.

The blank crossover circuit board is from Linkwitz. It comes with the Orion plans. Yes, that's one amp per driver! Actually, if you have a more powerful amp (100 watts per channel or greater) that is stable into very low impedance loads you can connect both woofers in parallel. But the woofers connected thus get down to 2 ohms at around 100hz - a difficult load.

Yes, I did the case. More time drilling and tapping holes than I thought possible!

I have to do one more refinement. The crossovers are mounted over the transformer where they pick up some hum. I'm working on some shielding.

Just finished wiring the other unit tonight.

 

[MacManNM]

It looks nice RIP. I know how tough doing that type of project is. Are you worried at all about all of those crimp connections?

 

[j_garcia]

I'd clean up the edges, get it clear anodized or alodined or even nickel plated (will look great with that nice surface finish) and go with either button head or flat head screws on the front panel, but that's just me.

Do I spy wood in the back?

Looks great. Have you fired it up and listened to it with anything?

 

[soniceuphoria]

Those amps are looking sharp there Rip. I hope that they sound as good as they look. The time and effort that you have put into those really shows. There is nothing better than sitting back and enjoying the fruits of your labor. You will definiatly have the most unique system on the forum. Happy Listening.
Greg

 

[Rip Van Woofer]

Thanks!

I guess I could have finished the edges of the front panel better. I'll do that one of these days. Chalk it up to impatience! Not sure I can justify the cost of anodizing. I kind of like the knurled screws, though. That "industrial" look, don'cha know?

Those are temporary plywood side panels cut from scrap. Finished ones and the top will be an MDF-like material I have leftovers of laying around that looks kind of like granite. I used to be able to get the stuff when I was in the sign business. It's called Environ. Unfortunately I do not know of a supplier for the DIY market. Have to order it by the pallet. Top will have ventilation of course.

Those are bullet-type quick connects but yes, they crimped on. Hope it's not a long-term reliability problem. I want to be able to pull "modules" out for repair if needed without cutting wires and/or re-soldering connections. It has already come in handy.

I've only listened to them in mono, one channel at a time before hard-wiring the crossover in, to verify that they didn't distort or make rude noises.

Checked one after the crossover was in, too. Ever listened to *just* your tweeter? Eewww.

You can't see the heatsinks very well in the pix but they're huge. Runs very cool.

Amps weigh about 25 lbs. each. I'm going to put them on little castered bases just behind the speakers so they'll be easy to nudge out of the way for vacuuming the carpet.

 

[j_garcia]

If you wanted to get it finished, you could check around for a local shop that does anodizing and see if they'll let you throw it in with another batch of stuff that they are already running for a minimal charge. Some places will, some won't be open to the idea.

Back when I had my 902s biwired, I could select via the A or B speaker outputs for mids/tweets. It does sound funny when just one or the other is playing Now that I have an extra amp just sitting there doing nothing, I may hook it up and do some actual biamping (not that they need it).

From what I can see, those are definitely some hefty heatsinks.