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£100 DIY system challenge

You can get a TPA3116 with a volume pot for less than a tenner delivered leaving a massive 90 quid for the rest of the system.
 
What do you get for that? I had a look and the combinations were many. I imagine you can get a PCB and the bits, you then supply your own PSU, case and heat sink. That about right?
 
stevec67 said:
What do you get for that? I had a look and the combinations were many. I imagine you can get a PCB and the bits, you then supply your own PSU, case and heat sink. That about right?
Click to expand...

You get a board with a volume pot, you put it in the case of your choice add connectors etc and a laptop power supply from 12v to 24v
There are plenty already in a case for not a lot more.
They sound great for what they are.
 
Wow. £18 in an ally case. Mind you, I should have guessed that, I already have a Lepai version of this in the garage. I'm not sure what chip it is, I think a TDA2020 or similar. It runs a pair of charity shop Goodmans bookshelf speakers (£3) and an Asda DAB radio very well indeed. As you say, for the cost they are sensational. Mine sounds as good as an 80's starter system (NAD/Diamond/Dual etc) ever did.
 
I have a few of the TPA3116/8 boards already, I will try some. I am very tempted to put my name down for Scalford and turn up with my £100 system (if I can decide what I will use).

I am building enclosures for my Mark Audio CHR 70's, not Frugal Horns but the boxes on page 2 of this pdf as I have a use for them at home:

http://www.frugal-phile.com/boxlib/P10free/CGR-dCHR-Ken-301113.pdf

I have some Atacama SE-24 stands that I picked up from a car boot sale for £4 years ago to use with these.

Alternatively I have thought about using 4 bmr drivers in a line array with an active crossover and a 6.5" bass unit - yes we can also build an active system for £100! Crossover point will be around 250Hz and four bmr's per enclosure will be around 89dB sensitive.
 
I'll look forward to all these Mark Audio builds popping up here, and am only to happy to advise as I've built quite few speakers with them!
 
I am intrigued by the foam board cabinets, I fancy making something similar for fun. The other thing I fancy is making something from plasterboard. With taped edges it might be reasonably secure and durable if not abused. Has anyone ever tried this? The stuff costs nothing and you can cut it with a Stanley knife, then glue it back up with hot melt glue and Universal Bodgit Cludge. (Sold as Acrylic Sealant).
 
I've not made much progress on the speakers recently however I have recently completed a couple of CD players which fit within the overall system budget. First is a Philips CD710 with a TDA1545 DAC, bought for a tenner:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/17bRjeoPmFLIeDUcHlNHHYcH1VWWt45nNyQ/view?usp=sharing

Originally the player just had a single 7805 regulator, the op-amp was fed from raw supplies. The datasheet says the raw supplies are 10V, my player had them at more like 12.8V so I was able to add LM317/337 regs @ +/-9V for the op-amp supplies. I used this regulated +9v to also act as a pre-reg for the four other LM317's I added at 5V (one each for the DAC and filter, one for the TCXO clock and one to replace the 7805 that powers the rest of the player). These regs are as close I could get them to the DAC, TCXO and the filter. Other mods are replacing all of the axial eletrolytics, bigger reservoir capacitors (10,000uF and 4,700uF), os-cons and an Elna Cerafine for the Vref cap, and MKP output capacitors. The IV stage is now an LME49720 and I have added Dynamat to the flimsy case. These are decent players to mod but the PCB tracks are very delicate. Total cost was about £25, including a new laser mech as the original didn't like CD-R's. Mr Lampizator likes these players too:

http://www.lampizator.eu/lampizator/REFERENCES/PhilipsCD710/Philips CD-710.html

The second player is a Sony CD-X229ES, bought for £23, this uses the Sony PULSE DAC. The power supply section looks decent as stock but I added a super-reg for the DAC fed from a second transformer, a new clock, new IV stage DACs and various os-cons and other capacitors. Total cost around £45.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VfpHE2VSHn4Dkc323z-3q9_7v90txY7xpg/view?usp=sharing

I have also put my name down for Scalford to show this system when it is completed.
 
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