[1UP]

Hi all,

I've always felt unsure about DIY, probably cause of the idea of messing up / electrocuting myself plus apprehension of a steep learning curve.

Yet I'll be hearing grumpy git and ronr's aspen amps tomorrow    and I'm already thinking I'm now up for getting into DIY audio myself (primarily to save €€€ but also so I can independently customise things my own way in the long-term).

The big but is my knowledge of soldering, electronics, etc, is zero  

So, say you were starting over, and knowing what you know now, what tools, books, weblinks, tutorials, kits would you recommend me so I could get up to speed quickly (and economically - though I don't mind getting kitted out with the right tools).

[EchiDna]

forget the savings part

think of it as a learning exercise with tool purchases added in... the tool purchases can or likely will offset the perceived savings!

[aurelius]

Hi 1UP,

There are 3 domains of knowledge with electronics...

* the physical skill set of soldering etc,
* the science - a.k.a understanding the theory
* the art

The first you can acquire in a misspent weekend.  Buy a simple soldering iron, stand and sponge; some vero board and a hand full of cheap resistors and solder away until you get clean consistent joints.  Should not cost you more than 30-40 quid all up and it should set you up well for building a kit like the AKSA.

The second can take several years to acquire and can get quite mathematically complex, athough a general understanding can be acquired in a few months.  There is good info on the net, although a good engineering text book is worth its weight in gold... I will try to look something up for you later.

The last takes a life time of tinkering and I'm not even close... the Hughs and Gingers of this world are it masters.

I wish you the best of luck and hope you enjoy.

[1UP]

Thank you very much for the encouragement and useful info; would appreciate any recommendations for starter books, too.

[fajimr]

welcome to the AKSA family 1up!!!!

your words resonate very deeply in me as I was in your shoes not too long ago.  My first post to this circle was one asking if someone would be willing to build an AKSA for me and ... welll.... a few months later.. I just ordered my AKSA 55 Nivana+ and Gk-1 a couple of days ago  

first of all, just hang out a while and read some of the threads to see what a GREAT community resides here.  this is probably what pushed me over the top, I know that if I have any problems there will be more than sufficent help and encouragement from this great group of people.  Of course, with Hugh as head honcho/guru- you know you will always get some very insightful support along the way.

I have asked many newbie questions in the past months so you might want to do a search on my name (fajimr) and follow some of the threads.   I would fish some out for you but I am at home and on a slow connection now.   I've asked questions about what skills, knoweldge and experience it takes to build an AKSA, about soldering, about references, etc...  You could probably find a lot of info there.  I also found it quite useful to look at  the AKSA online gallery and study the different AKSA projects that people have built.

I did also get a soldering station, a multimeter for testing, and some kits from an on-line electronics shop and have played around with soldering enough to know that it isn't THAT difficult.  After building a few of these, I think I should be well versed enough to do a decent job building the amp and preamp.  I am still scared silly about sending 110 volts through me but hopefully that will translate into being a bit cautious when doing the testing...

welcome again.. no matter whether you decide to be a second cousin or adopted child of Hugh's growing family

[JoshK]

As a fairly newbie to DIY, and on the steep part of the learning curve myself (theory part) I have to say that the advise here is good.  Constructing a kit is one thing, going full blown DIY is quite another.  I think you need to judge for yourself where you want to come in.

Gaining the requisite soldering skills and basic technical information is something I think all audiophiles should gain.  This may be a bit contraversial but I think it opens up a lot of great value oriented gear, ability to fix minor problems with gear and do minor parts mods under the advisement of well experienced peers.  Overall I think this sort of skills will come in handy if you like to experiment, tweak or change gear at all.  The committment is minor as are the costs of simple tools needed for such DIY'ing.

The next step is a major one IMO.  To go much further than the above requires a lot more understanding, patience, commitment, TIME and a lot more spent on tools.  This is where the value in DIY can deteriorate.  The learning curve is steep.  I recommend this road only to those that take it as part of the hobby itself.  For me this is fun, a brain excercise and opens a lot of possibilities.  

That said, I think the next step can be quite illuminating a rewarding.  First, it helps you gain the tools to dispel many of the myths in hi-end audio, so you can start to spend money where it will gain you more in return.  But more importantly, to me anyway, it allows you to take a number of steps up the food chain in small increments.  

Take the UcD building thread for example.  In order to make an amp upgrade, a DIY'er can make some changes, maybe even dramatic ones without having to sell an expensive component at a major loss and buy an even more expensive one to get gains.  One can just experiment with different design, parts, etc, which usually come in smaller increments (although do add up, don't underestimate that) which can be easier to digest than kilobuck component swapping.  Quite often, accumulated parts can be recycled if one changes to much different path also, commercial product buying can't make any such claims.  

my $.02

[PSP]

Hi 1Up,
I'm in a real time-crunch right now, but:
1.  Buy 2-3 simple kits (maybe a battery powered FM radio, a "signal generator", whatever and put those together first.  This teaches you to solder, to recognize parts, and to solder on a circuit board.  Make it work, perfectly, before you go on.  Then  desolder all the parts, remove them, and put them all back in and make it work again.  This teaches you how to recover from the occasional mistake.

2.  If in doubt, ask someone on the board here.  You will get good advice from helpful people.  I have never seen anyone insulted or demeaned here.  It's all been very welcoming and helpful.

3.  Aspen gear will definitely make you smile!

Gotta go,
Peter

[gonefishin]

Wow!  All great advice.  I especially like how PSP recommended putting together a couple of kits...check and ensure that the kit works properly.  Then de-solder all components and rebuild the kit again to work properly.  

   That will certainly come in handy for the "N" or "N+" version.


    1up...take all the advice provided here and get yourself a decent soldering iron and multi-meter.  

   After building (and de-building) your practice kits you should be prepared for the AKSA amps.

   Read ALL the instructions before starting at least twice.  Don't worry if everything doesn't make sense to you.  Reading it at least twice before hand will familiarize yourself with the procedures when you are actually building the amplifier.

   While building your amplifier don't over work yourself.  This is when mistakes can happen.  Sit down and do your work...but if you start to feel tired, frustrated or blurry eyed.  Just walk away for either an hour or for a day or two.  Then before proceeding completely read the step(s) again and work it out in your head.  Now proceed.

    After the kits if your still a bit overwhelmed about building a high quality kick ass amplifier (namely the AKSA N+), then just follow all the instructions above.  But only do one to three steps a day.  This way you won't be overwhelmed and each step could be looked at as the task at hand.  Rather than looking at the whole amp as the task at hand.  Baby steps

   Also...it's easier if you don't take long breaks in between steps (say two or three months).  You'll lose alot of time getting reorganized and figuring where you were at when you left off.


   Lastly. Ask questions and Have fun!

     

 dan

[ginger]

One of the things I find disappointing as an electronics/technology professional is the attitude of some folk who are so afraid of "mucking up" that they won't have a go - not directed to you 1UP or anyone else in particular, just a general statement. I even find this from freshly hired, just graduated engineers.

"What if I screw up?" they ask - "So what if you do" says I - you'll have progressed to the extent that you will know one more way NOT to do it.

The way to progress is to dive in and have a go. Treat each screw up as a learning experience and don't get discouraged. One of my favourite expressions when asked for a progress report on a particularly difficult engineering problem is "We have advanced to new and surprising levels of bafflement" - just remember bafflement is usually temporary and goes away with further reading and/or better advise.

I was a kid from the "sticks" (farm) when I first came to "the big smoke" (city) to study electronics. One thing which stood me in good stead is the farm boy attitude of "have a go at anything" - knowledge of what you are doing is handy but its not a pre-requisite. One of the things which DID NOT stand me in good stead is the farm boy attitude of "if a hammer doesn't fix it  then get a bigger hammer" - I usually found there was a better way.

This is where the AKSA kits shine - the build instructions are very clear and concise. They were written with beginners in mind. I see no reason that the AKSA could not be tackled as a first ever electronics kit project. Certainly the instructions leave what you normally get from your local electronics kit supplier for dead.

The only way to get from zero to expert in the DIY HiFi scene is to pass through BEGINNER and you can't start sooner than now.

Dive right in - the waters warm. Assistance is an email or an AudioCircle Post away. Take comfort in the fact that ALL of us in this circle have been where you are now and are happy to help where we can.

Of course you need to be reasonable about DIY else your lounge room may end up like this:

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?action=gallery;area=browse;album=571

Top - 845SET, AKSA 55N+
Middle - EL84 Ultralinear Push Pull
Bottom - ECL86 Balanced Shunt Feedback Push Pull, 2 off EL34 Triode Mode Parallel Push Pull Mono Blocks.

P.S The other 4 amps are in the workshop

Cheers,
Ginger

[bluesky]

Hi

Here are two cents worth after building the 55 watt Nirvana as a first project.  Firstly as mentioned before, get a small piece of veroard and a $2 pack of resistors and solder them all on.  By half way through you'll be able to solder well.

Then get a cheap power supply and amp kit.  Silicon Chip magazine has a couple of excellent ones to start.  Something like a +/-15 volt power supply (or similar) and the "Schoolies amp" are perfect for this purpose and you'll have something that actually works as well.  This will cover both the power supply and amp process quite well.

There are a couple of good books that fairly easy to read without your eyes glazing over from the more technical ones from people like Douglas Self et al.  These are "Basic Electronics"by Peter Phillips and "There Are No Electrons" by Kenn Amdahl (available from AudioXpress).  All the other kits and book can be bought from Jaycar Electronics, and even if you don't live in Australia they are easily ordered over the internet.  

We Aussies fairly much rely on purchasing a lot of our bits and pieces over the internet, so it should be no problem to buy these things here and have them airmailed to you overseas.  It should only take a week, or even less.  I recently got some wire from Canada and it only took three days to get to me in Australia.

Good luck, it's a great journey, but, be warned, this DIY thing can become seriously addictive!

Ian

[bearddavid]

Hi 1up,

I would commend you to take Ginger's excellent advice above!

I have just built an AKSA100N+ and while the sphere of electronics isn't new to me it must be approx 20 years since I used a soldering iron in anger so I too was a little apprehensive.

I would suggest getting yourself a bit of stripboard and a handful of cheap components (resistors are cheap) and just practicing the art of soldering for a while before commencing the AKSA build.

Don't worry about not having a great deal of electronics knowledge, Hugh's instructions are truly superb and if in any doubt drop him an email -you'll get a quick simple and often humerous response. The only other suggestion I'd make is don't rush - take your time;

I had only one problem buiolding my amp and it's an embarassing one to say the least- it took me 3 sets of LEDs and mounting clips to finally come up with a combination that would actually fit the holes in my case!

The joy and satisfaction I experienced when I switched on and it all worked was wonderful.

So all in all --- GO FOR IT !   you'll be rewarded with a superb amplifier and a huge sense of satisfaction!


cheers


David