# Lets discuss some amp guts



## GlasSman (Nov 14, 2006)

I figured I'd pop the 'ol cherry.


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## [email protected] (Jun 12, 2008)

I like thermal paste all over in mine


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## chad (Jun 30, 2005)

don't get it on your Jeans.

Or your bench, thermal paste on your bench will hide for years till you come out to the shop in a nice black shirt, then it attacks.


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## lycan (Dec 20, 2009)

here's my whole contribution to the topic :

1. neatness counts
2. see those little holes in the transistor cases? please USE them, to screw or bolt the damn things to the heatsinks! yes ... i understand termal stress, and manufacturing simplicity. i don't give a ****  last thing i wanna see is little clothespins pressing my transistors to the heatsinks.
3. neatness counts
4. i like fans. fans are cheap. but please, for the love of god, spend the extra twenty cents for quiet ones 
5. neatness counts


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## chad (Jun 30, 2005)

lycan said:


> here's my whole contribution to the topic :
> 
> 1. neatness counts
> 
> ...



says the guy that is rumored to like HH Scott tube amps.


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## lycan (Dec 20, 2009)

chad said:


> says the guy that is rumored to like HH Scott tube amps.


hey you prick .... that's the "night-time" me


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## chad (Jun 30, 2005)

Ah-Ha! I understand


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## Therum (Apr 18, 2009)

lycan said:


> here's my whole contribution to the topic :
> 
> 1. neatness counts
> 2. see those little holes in the transistor cases? please USE them, to screw or bolt the damn things to the heatsinks! yes ... i understand termal stress, and manufacturing simplicity. i don't give a ****  last thing i wanna see is little clothespins pressing my transistors to the heatsinks.
> ...


I dont like those clothes pins either. They are a PITA to remove. And if they are cheap... You tear through them and can never get them out. :laugh:


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## MarkZ (Dec 5, 2005)

lycan said:


> 2. see those little holes in the transistor cases? please USE them, to screw or bolt the damn things to the heatsinks! yes ... i understand termal stress, and manufacturing simplicity. i don't give a ****  last thing i wanna see is little clothespins pressing my transistors to the heatsinks.


No sir, I don't like 'em one bit. 

I actually avoid screwing down banks of transistors individually. First of all, you need those little plastic inserts and I can never find them when I need them. Secondly, it's a pain in the ass to tap a million holes and have them all line up. I just bought a drill press, and one would think that would help, but you'd be surprised. :blush: And third, clothespins work! 



> 4. i like fans. fans are cheap. but please, for the love of god, spend the extra twenty cents for quiet ones


The only way I'll touch a fan is if it only kicks on when the music is in high gear and it's drowned out. Even then, you catch fan noise in dynamic passages or between songs. I give bonus points to anyone who can design something without the aid of a fan. Usually, a little more metal is all you need!


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## lycan (Dec 20, 2009)

MarkZ said:


> No sir, I don't like 'em one bit.
> 
> I actually avoid screwing down banks of transistors individually. First of all, you need those little plastic inserts and I can never find them when I need them. Secondly, it's a pain in the ass to tap a million holes and have them all line up. I just bought a drill press, and one would think that would help, but you'd be surprised. :blush: And third, clothespins work!
> 
> ...


Well i won't be buying amplifiers from Mark anytime soon 

And I can't believe you've given up already, on the fan problem. I can't believe that you've just come to accept that we can't make a little 2" fan that's actually _quieter_ than that big motor under the hood


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## MarkZ (Dec 5, 2005)

lycan said:


> Well i won't be buying amplifiers from Mark anytime soon
> 
> And I can't believe you've given up already, on the fan problem. I can't believe that you've just come to accept that we can't make a little 2" fan that's actually _quieter_ than that big motor under the hood


The pair of 2" fans in my computer in a sealed trunk behind a false wall is audible in the cabin between songs. Maybe not on the highway, but certainly when I'm stopped. But I live with it. I'm much more anal about noise in the house. I'd never ever own a home amp with a fan in it. Especially because it's completely unnecessary.

I've got an amp on the bench now that I'm putting in a case. Rather than screw the individual TO220s down, I'm using some u channel screwed down at strategic points.

For a while, I ran my LM1875 chip amp clipped to the heatsink with an 89 cent clamp from home depot.  Couldn't find my damned plastic inserts for the screw hole.


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## turbo5upra (Oct 3, 2008)

chad said:


> don't get it on your Jeans.
> 
> Or your bench, thermal paste on your bench will hide for years till you come out to the shop in a nice black shirt, then it attacks.


damn that ninja paste!

electrical tape does not make a good replacement for Kapton....


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## thehatedguy (May 4, 2007)

Wonders why he liked the Steg amps so much...lol.



lycan said:


> here's my whole contribution to the topic :
> 
> 1. neatness counts
> 3. neatness counts
> 5. neatness counts


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## bullet (Jul 8, 2008)

I like e'm BEEFY! Built like the good old days...


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## MarkZ (Dec 5, 2005)

I bet you say the same about your women.


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## lycan (Dec 20, 2009)

MarkZ said:


> The pair of 2" fans in my computer in a sealed trunk behind a false wall is audible in the cabin between songs. Maybe not on the highway, but certainly when I'm stopped. But I live with it. I'm much more anal about noise in the house. I'd never ever own a home amp with a fan in it. Especially because it's completely unnecessary.
> 
> I've got an amp on the bench now that I'm putting in a case. Rather than screw the individual TO220s down, I'm using some u channel screwed down at strategic points.
> 
> For a while, I ran my LM1875 chip amp clipped to the heatsink with an 89 cent clamp from home depot.  Couldn't find my damned plastic inserts for the screw hole.


PM me your damn name & address, and plastic insulating/insert part numbers, and i'll buy you a ****load  I'll even spring for the screws


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## GlasSman (Nov 14, 2006)

MarkZ said:


> The pair of 2" fans in my computer in a sealed trunk behind a false wall is audible in the cabin between songs. Maybe not on the highway, but certainly when I'm stopped.




I just re-built a compouter and the main case fan is suprisingly quiet.....I actually though it was toast until I stuck my finger into it and got whacked.

Even with 3 of those in an amp rack I doubt you'd be able to hear it.

I'll be using 2 120 mm fans in my new amp rack.....maybe even larger if I find ones that are quiet enough.


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## [email protected] (Jun 12, 2008)

You can get fans that move decent air in the 26-40 decibel range, I highly doubt you would hear that up front if they were in the trunk. The quieter ones just move less air.


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## Knobby Digital (Aug 17, 2008)

I just picked up a few of these

What do any of you make of this thread on DIY? I was planning on mounting one of those fans under each amp exhausting through the bottom of a false floor.


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## MarkZ (Dec 5, 2005)

The ones I use were rated at 30dBA each, which was the quietest I could find on newegg for ~30cfm fans at that size. Keep in mind though that fans usually don't run full bore in most machines, so typically case fans are quieter. But in a car trunk in the summer they're at 100% all the time.


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## GlasSman (Nov 14, 2006)

MarkZ said:


> The ones I use were rated at 30dBA each, which was the quietest I could find on newegg for ~30cfm fans at that size. Keep in mind though that fans usually don't run full bore in most machines, so typically case fans are quieter. But in a car trunk in the summer they're at 100% all the time.



Thats true since when I first booted the computer it was at full bore for 5 seconds then it seemed to die out but it just slowed down.


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## msmith (Nov 27, 2007)

Do fans blow or suck? Yes, they do. They're noisy, unreliable and unnecessary in a mobile amplifier. Plus they require holes in the chassis which let all kinds of things into and out of your amplifier. That may bring about a few howls, but I don't care. ;-)

Spring FET clamps are a pain to remove if you don't have the right tool, but they tend to apply pressure more evenly than your typical Korean/Chinese laborer's mental torque calculations while wielding a rounded-off screwdriver near the end of a shift.

Here is a righteous bolt-on, extruded aluminum FET clamp:









Neatness certainly does count... but not as much as proper layout and grounding for EMI/RFI.  There are lots of really pretty circuit layouts that fail in the cage.


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## GlasSman (Nov 14, 2006)

msmith said:


> Spring FET clamps are a pain to remove if you don't have the right tool, but they tend to apply pressure more evenly than your typical Korean/Chinese laborer's mental torque calculations while wielding a rounded-off screwdriver near the end of a shift.


Thats funny.....I love that kind of insight.

Which is why at the end of the day the QC line is_* just as important *_as the assembly line.....maybe even _*more*_ important.


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