Project: PrometheusCu

My portable headphone amp has arrived. It's a Decware ZenHead kit.

I can't wait to get this baby put together... I hope to make my own carbon case for it this week.

Here it is... sort-of

If you'll excuse me I have a date with my soldering iron.


[later that day]
Progress + Caveat:

First the Progress

The the Caveat:
Bloody Decware forgot to pack 3x10k resistors!
Ahhh, but as chance has it I have a collection of resistors.
However chance is a real son-of-a-gun - my 10k drawer is empty.
Message sent to Decware requesting expedited replacements - but I'll just take a trip to the hobby shop tomorrow.

ahh... looks cool... bl with the resistors...

one of the kits from school did that

but just went to the draw :P

Nice soldering mate. How much does one of those kits cost? I may get one to plug into my sound card, ultimate headphone goodness lol. Then when I get my Seinhesser HD800 canns (when I have a space 2Klol, yeah right) it will sound insane.

*EDIT*
Just had a look at the link properly, an introductory price of $295 is pretty good considering stuff like that usually costs around $1,000AUD lol. The only downside for me is the fact that it uses a 9v battery instead of mains power.

DC power has it's advantages though - no AC squeal at high volumes (something very hard to get rid out in low-mid range gear). The kit is only $135, and the PCB can be had for only $25 - considering it's currently ranked 7th best portable amp in the world (according to Head-Fi) the price is FANTASTIC.




I got my package from Sidewindercomputers.com. I HIGHLY recommend this eTailer - I made this order at about 10pm on a Sunday evening. Gary, the owner, personally responded via email and thanked me. I then amended the order at about 1am, and again Gary immediately responded with the revised quote. Thanks Gary!

I got my Uber Fans!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sidewinders

Four new Revision C models from Delta's AFB line have arrived!

The AFB1212GHE Revision C Grand High Speed is our newest king of 120mm fans. This dc fan motor provides over 240 cubic feet of air out of a traditional design that has been highly refined and tuned by Delta's fan motor team. Comparisons with our other high end Delta parts show it has modest power requirements for its ability to move so much air out of the standard 120x38 millimeter form factor. It does lack the directional blades which we've all come to know as Delta's patented design, which helps airflow move more consistently straight out of the fan housing. However, as noted in its lower decibel rating, it will also lack the high pitched whine that accompanies directional fin fans. The AFB parts can be undervolted slightly more, but apparently cannot be overvolted as much. For power users adjusting the voltages on these parts, it will be a welcome change.

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All 6 fans actually hover.
6 in a row run at 19-21dB at min and 67-71dB on MAX (~1 away).
Even at min setting the row throws over 85CFM at any point (~5cm away).
They have a power spike of ~40W and pull 29.4W at 12V
Which means I need to have 270W of power overhead just to turn on my fans, and another 180W to keep 'em running.

The fan controller - the build quality is nothing to write home about but I'll straighten out the components, clean off the acetone, add new heatsinks, and make a new frame.
I went with this controller because it's the only controller -that I could find- that can offer up-to 45Watts per channel.
Most 120mm case fans will draw no-more than about 2-3W - so a low wattage controller will more than do you.
The Delta Fans I'm using however draw 29.4W w/ an on spike as high at 40W so they need more beef!

Also some arctic silver TIM and TIM remover - some of which will be used in this project... most will go elsewhere.

Lastly a free gift from Gary - this little treat which I rather enjoyed because I happen to love little metal machinist rulers. =)

You are going to need some really beefy heat sinks on those TO-220s not to burn up the regulators, when you slow the fan speed down, those regulators will be dumping all of the extra voltage off as heat. I also don't know what the pins are rated for on the connectors coming off of the PCB, might want to look that up.

You are doing an amazing job on this case. I keep coming back to this site almost daily to see if you have updated or added any photos! Thanks for keeping me, and I am sure many other people, on the edge of their seats!

Cheers,
James

You seem quite a capable builder :rolleyes: obviously.
Have you though of building a pwm controller for the fans?
You'll lose alot less watts in heat. but I guess heat isn't a concern behind a set of deltas.

Those fans are insanely powerfull lol. You are going to definitely need to add bigger heatsinks to those regulators.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by me

The fan controller - the build quality is nothing to write home about but I'll straighten out the components, clean off the acetone, add new heatsinks, and make a new frame.

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I did it this afternoon actually - heatsinks a la Enzotech for all. They didn't even use any TIM on the stock cheapo painted black aluminum heatsinks.

Like said the build quality is ****ty... but I can always swap out the parts and expand of the existing design using the existing PCB in a worst case scenario... and I was expecting to have to do this when I ordered it TBH. I also tossed around the idea of making a controller if the Lamptron failed. But it seems to be working just fine. I gave it a 'burn in' for a few hours today just to be safe at a few different speeds.

Considering that my new fans frighten me, it occurred to me that someone might get hurt.

So I decided to add redundant safety protocols, just in case:

lol nice