[kyrill]

i agree
Very professional and sleek
also the inside

[RonR]

Thanks guys, you're too kind.

The Power buttons are stainless steel momentary-contact "Vandal-proof" switches from RS. I use them to remotely switch 16A impulse relays, so I can keep the mains path as short as possible.

The selector switches are also from RS, these are momentary types with three-colour LED illumination, which allows the green "background" light, and the yellow "selected" light to be implemented. There's a square area behind the circular button for putting the label. I baulked at the price of these, but decided they were just too good to miss. There are 2 versions, a clear and an opaque, I mistakenly got the opaque ones and then had to polish them clear!
BTW, these won't work with the Hugh-supplied pushbutton PCB. I slightly modified Hugh's design to incorporate them while I was making a version with in-line switches.

RS catalog numbers and pricing (GBP):

Power switches:  240-1231 - £10.86 ea
Impulse Relay: (240V) 244-0040 - £17.37 ea
Selector switches: 301-2781 £5.94 ea

All Plus VAT, of course!

Cheers!

Ron.

[AKSA]

Ron,

This is absolutely gorgeous, exquisitely built and presented!  I congratulate you, both for your impeccable design, but your sterling assembly skills.  I'm deeply impressed;  this stuff is better built, I suspect, than I do myself, and I bet I've built more AKSAs than you!!

I'm getting close to the Retail GK1, which I shall call the GK1 Swift.  It has been design by a three man team and uses Tasmanian Myrtle to marvellous effect.  I will post pictures on the website when it's ready for sale.  It's been a very long gestation, but it's close now, finally, and I'm just delighted with the results.

Look out Ron, it might rival your own AKSA perfection!!  Once again, my sincere congratulations;  your work is art.

Cheers,

Hugh

[soitstarts]

Okay, when it comes to this sort of stuff I am just one big peanut.. Can some one explain this for me off the spec sheet for the switch..

Contact rating  10A 250VAC  
                      5A   28VDC  

That is one gorgeous set of Aksas there Ron. The only mods I would do to anything electronic are the unplanned sort

[Lost81]

Okay, when it comes to this sort of stuff I am just one big peanut.. Can some one explain this for me off the spec sheet for the switch..

Contact rating  10A 250VAC  
                      5A   28VDC  

That is one gorgeous set of Aksas there Ron. The only mods I would do to anything electronic are the unplanned sort

Hi soitstarts (nice nick by the way ),

It means that your switch is rated for up to 10 Amperes at up to 250V on an AC circuit. The switch is also rated up to 5 Amperes for switching up to 28V on a DC circuit.

For the purpose of switching the AKSAs, it is the Ampere (A) ratings of the AC type of circuit that you are concerned with.

A better switch would be one rated for inductive loads, or, failing at that, 15A, 16A, or 20A for AC. Switches that are speced for inductive loads usually have a HP (horsepower) rating next to their power ratings. These switches are more resistant to the wear and tear that results from switching on and off the toroidal transformers...

Hope this helps


-Lost81

[soitstarts]

Thanks for that, Dang.
The bit that messed me around was the higher rating for a 240v load. I didn't realise that AC or DC would have such a big bearing on the the amp rating.
I actually had switch a lot like this one but wrecked it when I was trying to mod its stroke so that it would operate a switch from a computer tower, Now I'm not so sure the switch is to use. I am doing all I can to avoid using a toggle. My wife doesnt like the 'those' switches. I nearly put the push button on the front as a dummy and toggle'd the back.

[Lost81]

Thanks for that, Dang.
... I am doing all I can to avoid using a toggle. My wife doesnt like the 'those' switches. I nearly put the push button on the front as a dummy and toggle'd the back.

No problem, dude...

If you really, really want the push button switch, and have space in your chassis for a relay, you can have a tiny 12VDC push button in front, and have it activate a beefy 16A relay that switches on the AC mains. That will introduce additional complexity in wiring and components though; you will need a separate transformer, and power supply for the 12V relay, but such power supplies are plentiful online as well as in electronic supply stores.

The plus side of this approach is that you only need to drill a small hole (1/8" ) for the push-button relay switch, instead of having to cut a large slot for the toggle-switch.

Actually, come to think of it, it is an idea that I might implement for my monoblocks. The machinist hasn't CNC-ed the face-plates for the fat toggle switches yet. It will save me a chunk of change (CNC-ing 3/8" thick aluminium faceplates isn't cheap ).

As of right now, I am temporarily using 16A 125VAC black DPDT toggle switches from Parts Express, with the unused side blanked off with fully-insulated unconnected spade connectors. The permanent switch is the Carlington Technologies' DPDT switch, a superior switch from mouser.com (10A @250VAC / 15A@125VAC / 3/4HP 125-250VAC).


-Lost81

[RonR]

Thanks for the explanation lost81, knowledgable as always.

Soitstarts,
sounds like you own a british car!

I didn't use these switches to power the AKSA, just to switch the 16A relays that power the AKSA. So the 10A rating wasn't a problem as it's only switching the relay coil which draws < 1A for a second or so.
The relays I used have 240V coils, so a transformer isn't needed with these.
The idea came from this list (where would we be without it!), and allows you to use front panel switches that look good, but wouldn't be up to the job of powering the amp.
I hope you manage to find some switches that are acceptable to "'er indoors".

Cheers,

Ron.

[Lost81]

Soitstarts,
sounds like you own a british car!

       


-Lost81

[soitstarts]

Okay, now you've just got me thinking   ....More questions. BTW, I have a 'leckie mate who is gonna check over my HV side before I can hurt myself. But, if I used a relay, and say, in the future, (Don't tell the missus) built a GK1, could I bridge off the relay to a male plug to power the GK1 from the same switch. Like when your monitor turns on with your case. I may look at that if its possible, I would use this.
http://www.altronics.com.au/cat.asp?cat=14&grp=168&id=P8330
Is it possible? the current draw of the GK1 wouldnt be too high to add to the draw from the amp, would it?

thanks for this, guys.

[Malcolm Fear]

Yes you can do it this way, but what is the big deal on having a switch for each component.
I have a switch on each component.
I turned them all on, then left them all on.

[soitstarts]

Hey, call me cheap, but 90 bucks is 90 bucks..

[Lost81]

Call me old-school and paranoid, but I don't feel comfortable turning on the pre-amplifier and amplifier at the same time. Ideally, I prefer to turn on the pre-amplifier, go brew some coffee or open a bottle of wine, and then when I come back, turn on the amplifier, take a shower, towel off, cook a meal, wait until the Kerry / Bush recount is over, and then pop a CD in there for a serious listen.

Another thing you might want to consider is that (if I have not misread your post) by having your pre-amplifier power ride on the powercord of the amplifier, it might be affected to some degree by the varying levels of power demanded by the amplifier during performance. Now whether this is audible at all is another matter.
 

Good luck!


-Lost81

[soitstarts]

You put it that way..... Ahhhh, hang it. Whats 90 bucks, coupla hours overtime'll do it.
Thanks for the advice guys.

[kyrill]

Ifall this dedicated super approaches to power switches and so is not only for convenience and looks, but also (primarily) for  supporting the system to be
as transparent as possible (among other things) may i assume that you (Benny, Soitstarts.)have prohibited as much as possible the digital components from using the same main current/ groundt as the analogue parts of the system?


quote from Stereophile, but The Absolute Sound has rave reviews of the Pac Idos. I have one too and the difference is another veil of grunge removed
"Around that time digital was recognized as a very different beast that must be separated from analog devices both physically and electrically, so in 1991 came Larry Smith’s PAC-IDOS to show us that digital even needs a separate ground. (Proper grounding constitutes a topic unto itself.)

A few days after the arrival of the speakers, I received a Conrad-Johnson EV20 preamp for review; for most of the listening sessions, I used the EV20, duly compensating for its polarity-inverting line stage. In addition to the VTL Deluxe 225s, amps used included a pair of Bryston 7Bs and an Aragon 4004 Mk.II. The power amps were plugged directly into a dedicated AC line; the rest of the analog electronics were fed from a Mk.Il Tice Power Block, in turn plugged into a PAC IDOS (one of the analog outlets), with the digital transport and D/A converter plugged into the IDOS's digital outlets. The IDOS got its power from a second dedicated AC line.
http://home.earthlink.net/~idos/IDOS.html
http://home.earthlink.net/~idos/


Other wise it is like giving your porsche brand new golden plated relays, but the all the other spade connectors and lugs are contaminated with grunge , oil and metaloxydation, making poor contacts

For the Idos alone I forced a 3 meter (10 feet)  copper tube of half an inch diamter into the garden next to my music room as a seperate earth, as the 3 meter is deep enough to reach ground-water. I need seperate earth to ground the chassis of my wooden enclosures

[EchiDna]

ok all updated on the first page index post again...

perhaps we should be keeping the discussion of gallery entries in a seperate thread? what do you think Hugh? there is actually an option for spliting the thread into two for moderators like yourself... (for example).

*sigh* on the home front, my GK-1 chassis completion has taken a back seat at the moment (I've got those blardy same switches as Ron sitting in a box waiting for nearly 6 months now!).

[SamL]

Hi all

Thought I would post some pics of my very first Aksa 55.  

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?action=gallery;area=browse;album=395


Thanks
Brownee

Hi Brownee,

Very nice looking amp. You did very well. Mine is not as nice. Will post my aksa100 once I sold my old amp.
From the look of your photo, the heatsink is one piece, not cut in half. Where did you get the heatsink? I am thinking of doing the same for my next project.

TIA,
Sam

[Brownee]

Hi Sam, Thanks for your comments.

Actually the heat sink is the one supplied in the kit cut in half. The cut is hidden by the case.

Happy Building

Brownee

[pea]

Here's the link to my new AKSA 100N+ amp gallery. Scroll down till you get to, 'New AKSA 100 Nirvana Plus Amps'.

Enjoy,
Bruce

http://www.audiocircle.com/circles/modules.php?op=modload&name=gallery&file=index&include=albums.php&set_albumListPage=31

[kyrill]

nice work
Looks sturdy

: )