DIY - Pre and Power Amplifier using DD Board

Triple Ace

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May 30, 2016
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Location
Cuttack, Odisha
Hi Friends,


First of all, let me thank few of our FMs with whom I have interacted over 7-8 months for my DIY plan, i.e. to build a Pre and Power amplifier. They are, frend2001 (aka Ashish), MASH ( aka Shobhit), Sadik and last but not the least Aniket. They have spent lot of time in guiding me to build my system.

It all started during lockdown when my hunger of moving from multi channel audio to stereo increased. Being a 90's kid, I am always fascinated towards vintage amplifier, i.e. amplifiers with analog VU Meters, large volume and other control knobs with old school type toggle switches.

Initially I had decided to go for Sansui AU-D707 vintage amplifier. But before buying this beautiful amplifier I was little skeptical, due to its spare parts availability. Also in case something goes wrong then get it repaired is a big challenge. Hence I reached out Ashish for his input as he is owning a Sansui AU-D707. He is the first person who encouraged me to go ahead with Aniket' s DD amplifier board or any modern days Stereo Integrated Amp such as Marantz 7006/8005 in stead of Sansui due to above mentioned issue.


It was May 2020 when I made of my mind to go for DIY way which can give me good sound quality and looks as per my liking. Also none of these entry or mid level modern days amplifier gives a vintage look nor comes with VU meter. Amplifier like Luxman was out of budget and Yamaha AS-1100 was not available in India.

In the mean time I reached out to MASH, Sadik and they also suggested me to go with DD Board. So finally I reached out to Aniket and my DIY project kick started. As per my requirement building a Cabinet which can provide me vintage look and finish of any branded/commercial amp was a big challenge hence Aniket connected me to Aminder of theaudiocrafts.com, who has been doing this for a long time.

So made a design in mind for both pre & power amplifier chassis. Then prepared the architectural design and sent it to Aminder to start the process. Below is the design.

It was June 2020 when Aminder made the Front Fascia of Power Amplifier. From cutting Aluminium to complete the anodising process

Attaching couple of photos

We ordered the matching VU Meter for the Power Amp module
 

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After Inner fascia of VU Meter housing is made.

Now front panel with VU Meter

By September the Chassis was completed. This is how it looked.

Now it was the time to put labels on it . So we did the laser engraving on the rear panel and did the printing on the front panel. I gave a name to my Amplifier and that's how it became M3 Audio

Assembling process started.
 

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Wow man, lovely very professional looking.. Am drooling over the fit and finish of the cabinets and specially the VU meters .. BTW can I ask where you got these huge VU meters from any pointers to the price and location would be appreciated.
 
Wow man, lovely very professional looking.. Am drooling over the fit and finish of the cabinets and specially the VU meters .. BTW can I ask where you got these huge VU meters from any pointers to the price and location would be appreciated.
The VU meter cost was on a higher side as it is the OEM VU meter of Onkyo M5000. It costed me somewhere around 12k including Shipping and Custom duty. You can find them in ebay.co.uk. Below is the URL for your reference

 
The VU meter cost was on a higher side as it is the OEM VU meter of Onkyo M5000. It costed me somewhere around 12k including Shipping and Custom duty. You can find them in ebay.co.uk. Below is the URL for your reference

Hi,

Truly a beautiful built.
Can you plz post a video of its working as well.
Thanks,

Sreejith
 
Is the pre amp also ready ?? I’m interested to see that and features if DD board.
Pre-amplifier is just kick started. It is now at very early stage.

Only the Front Panel and Rear Panel of the Pre-amplifier is ready. May take some more time for the Chassis to get completely. Post that Aniket will build a Discrete Pre-amp board. Posting few photos of Pre-amplifier Front and rear panel

Also I have planned to add one more pre-out socket in the rear panel
 

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Another drool worthy build, happy to see the DIY scene is maturing from plain old square box amps to beautiful creations.

Hats off to the effort.
 
Purchase the Audiolab 6000A Integrated Amplifier at a special offer price.
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