Sunday, December 6, 2009

Beta 22 Balanced Amplifier

The first project I started this year back in February was the well known AMB Beta22 Amplifier. This is a DIY amp that you can built in a variety of different configurations. The Beta22 itself is a single channel amplifier powered by a Sigma22 power supply.

I decided to go the whole hog and go balanced. This requires 4 amplifiers as each channel uses 2 amps each. For more info see here.

After looking at the parts lists I ended up buying Beta22 and Sigma22 kits from Glass Jar Audio. Jeff's kits made assembly a whole lot easier than it may otherwise of been. /salute

I originally decided to build the Beta after seeing Namaanf's build, in AMB's gallery here.

Considering how much this was going ot end up costing anyway I decided to do things right, and not cut corners (for once).
The end result took me nearly 4 months to complete, including waiting for parts to arrive etc.

Like Namaanf, I also decided to go with a Twisted Pear Joshua Tree attenuator (volume control). This little number is a microcontroller driven relay attenuator. The main reason for going with this is that being a balanced amp I would otherwise need a volume pot that had four sets of contacts on it. Something that makes managing space in the case more difficult. Not that using the Joshua Tree solved all my problems, in fact if caused a few new ones.

The JT that Namaanf used was the Version 1. In this version its PSU board was long and thin. But in the Version 2 that I got the board was shorter and fatter. Not a problem I thought until I tried test fit everything in the case. Yup, it wouldn't fit. Glad I found this out before I finished designing the I/O board.

End result was I had to redesign both the main power supply and the I/O board from what I had originally planned.

The amplifer all cased up. At the rear of the case is the custom I/O board, with the Joshua Tree relay board stacked on top to the right.


The power supply all cased up. To the left (the rear of the case) you can see the custom controller board.


And finally both together.


The front panels I had made by Front Panel Express. The cases were from Par-Metal. The buttons (which change colour indicating mode) are Bulgin.

Oh, and yes it sounds great :)

1 comment: