Batery powered DIY CNC phono stage

[thomacho]

Since sourcing batteries to run the phono kit was becoming a headache

I ordered the Power supply KIT from Sachin.

It arrived and I got to work at once.

Since I'm almost a noob in electronics I kept bugging Sachin a lot and He always guided me through very patiently. So kudos to him once again.

I completed it and carried to a technician for adjusting the voltage, he was mighty impressed with it and exclaimed that it should provide cleanest possible power.

I finally hooked up the tranny and .....

it works...such a flawless power supply.

The background it almost pitch black and I'm yet to properly ground the phono.

I'm a happy and content soul.

Thanks to Sachin for kit and Om for this great design.

Attached are pictures during the work.

[url=https://postimg.org/image/6mhk...g.org/6mhkf366v/IMG_20160627_WA0012.jpg[/img] image hosting 5mb[/URL]

Hi
I am also interested in buying a CNC phonostage . Can you please guide me through. Also how is the listening experience ?
Thanks

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[frend2001]

Hi thomacho

For sourcing the kit kindly get in touch with Sachin his handle in forum is sachu888. He is also owner of this thread.

About the listening experience, I can very modestly say that it has dynamics and handling of a far superior phono stage. My guess is not many phono stages under 30K can beat this one. I have sampled a few only so this is my own experience.

By all means you should go ahead and build yourself one, it is not costly and definitely gives double bang for the bucks.

Sachin is very helpful. He will guide you through.

All the best. Happy listening.

 

[thomacho]

Hi thomacho

For sourcing the kit kindly get in touch with Sachin his handle in forum is sachu888. He is also owner of this thread.

About the listening experience, I can very modestly say that it has dynamics and handling of a far superior phono stage. My guess is not many phono stages under 30K can beat this one. I have sampled a few only so this is my own experience.

By all means you should go ahead and build yourself one, it is not costly and definitely gives double bang for the bucks.

Sachin is very helpful. He will guide you through.

All the best. Happy listening.

Many thanks for the prompt and informative reply.Take care.

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[thomacho]

Re: Battery powered DIY CNC phono stage

HI,

I have just completed my first DIY project successfully.It is a battery powered Phono stage for MM cartridge.It is designed by Audiokarma member, Hypnotoad.It sounds really good and way better than my integreated Technics mm input.I have not heard any high end phonostage,but it is definately better than CA AZUR 640.It is better than most of the DIY phonos like buggle,VSPS etc.
Details can be found here
Another Super High End Phono Stage! No expense spared... - AudioKarma.org Home Audio Stereo Discussion Forums

Rregards,

Sachin

Hi sachin,
I am interested in building this phonostage but totally new to this but my friend here can help me out if I can source all parts to him. Can you guide me through?, when you are free.
Also, is this a good project?. or is there anything else I need to know before proceeding?.
Thanks

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[Vivek Rao]

Taking inspiration from Skrodhal's housing both the CNC and the power boards in a single chassis I have tried doing the same. I have tried to make do with what I could source i.e. - aluminium sheet as a chassis board, Aluminum box section (used for door frames) and teak wood piece for the front.

I have housed the toroidal transformer, power boards and the CNC on the chassis which I slid inside the Aluminum box. The bolt for holding the transformer acts like a lock between the box and the base plate. The front is the polished teak piece - needs a couple of polish coats still .

Thanks sachin for the useful interactions we have had....

At first I had housed the power section along with the transformer separately then after experimenting for humm and noise with all parts on the chassis I took the plunge. Its dead silent. The power board is point to point wired - I did not use a PCB.

 

[arunkvivek]

Dear Sachin,
I have completed the phonostage and it has started opening up very well (about 7 hours of play time). Getting it up and running was a comedy of errors. I shall post about it my thread. Do not want clutter this thread with the drama.

The separation between vocals and instruments is very good. The vocals are very natural but I find the instrumentals to be very subdued. Bass is almost non-existent. I have a few questions in this regard:

1. Would the Bass improve after the 30 hours break-in?
   Would the Dip switches change improve the instruments and bass?
   Can you list what each position does to the sound?

I use Pro Ject Debut III with Ortofon 2M cartridge. I do not recall the name of the Op Amp that you gave me

We have been able to enjoy the vocals thoroughly. SPB, Shamshad Begum and Balamurali Krishna never sounded this real before (many thanks to you for this).

For now, I have housed it in an old SMPS case and powered it with batteries. I get a bit of static because of routing the TT inputs over power cables. I shall be fixing it when I house it in the final cabinet. I am looking out for your instructions about PSB settings to power only the CNC (for now). I shall start up with power supply board after using up a couple of pairs of batteries.

I shall post some pics tomorrow.

 

[sachu888]

Re: Battery powered DIY CNC phono stage

You should have a very good Bass. What is resistive loading on dip switches? Most carts sound good on 47k. You will need to select no 3 position on both the dip switches.

Regards
Sachin

 

[arunkvivek]

47K - #3 position. I should probably let it burn in for some more time before critical listening.

 

[sachu888]

Taking inspiration from Skrodhal's housing both the CNC and the power boards in a single chassis I have tried doing the same. I have tried to make do with what I could source i.e. - aluminium sheet as a chassis board, Aluminum box section (used for door frames) and teak wood piece for the front.

I have housed the toroidal transformer, power boards and the CNC on the chassis which I slid inside the Aluminum box. The bolt for holding the transformer acts like a lock between the box and the base plate. The front is the polished teak piece - needs a couple of polish coats still .

Thanks sachin for the useful interactions we have had....

At first I had housed the power section along with the transformer separately then after experimenting for humm and noise with all parts on the chassis I took the plunge. Its dead silent. The power board is point to point wired - I did not use a PCB.

Very nice build Vivek. You can use SS Glass studs as feet, available at most hardware stores @ rs20-25 each https://www.google.co.in/search?q=g...ved=0ahUKEwjMlsHljv_OAhXCOI8KHavbDycQ_AUIBigB

Can you post a back side pic of your build.

Regards
Sachin

 

[aks07]

47K - #3 position. I should probably let it burn in for some more time before critical listening.

The CNC should sound nice right out of the box. Instruments and bass is good from word go.

But what surely will make an impact is the choice of opamps. There are several combinations one can play with. Anther great thing about this board is the ability to quickly change input load via dip switches. Plus the very logically laid out PCB goes a long way in minimising noise.

I too put the CNC and its PSU in a single enclosure. Used a 9V single rail transformer from a 30 year old Philips 2in1. It was half wave rectified to get dual rail and fed to a pair of 12v fixed regulator. Entire circuitry was done in a 2 X 3 strip board. The biggest items are the main filter caps which are 6300uf to filter the increased ripple. Otherwise with the required load even 1200uf will probably work ok.

I know this is not the best arrangement. But since I was only experimenting with the CNC the additional cost of a CT transform was saved. The hum was only audible with ears struck to speakers. My valve phonostages too have about the same hum.

Everything was housed in a simple MS box which sells for Rs 35 in local shops. This is perfect for shielding. The finishing is power coating. People use it to make small battery chargers and such.


I gave it away to a kid who was building up a vinyl rig. He seems happy to have struck with this since last one year. Probably I should built a proper PSU for him.

The CNC is an enduring gift of Shri Sachin and Shri Om Mishra to this community.

 

[arunkvivek]

The CNC should sound nice right out of the box. Instruments and bass is good from word go.

But what surely will make an impact is the choice of opamps. There are several combinations one can play with. Anther great thing about this board is the ability to quickly change input load via dip switches. Plus the very logically laid out PCB goes a long way in minimising noise.

I shall spend some more time and let you know on the feedback..

I too put the CNC and its PSU in a single enclosure.

Your case looks gorgeous

The CNC is an enduring gift of Shri Sachin and Shri Om Mishra to this community.

So true!!!! :clapping:

 

[reubensm]

I have built many versions of the CNC, the main one being the Sachu version. Never noticed any problem with the bass right from the very first minute of operation.

 

[Vivek Rao]

Can you post a back side pic of your build.

Here it is Sachin

I just went with Felt foot pads as I had it readily with me and since I keep the CNC on a glass partition.

The rear side has been kept really simple so that my DIY efforts is easier (easier to drill a hole than slots )

The grounding pin is also from my scrap bin - I just used a brass pin from an old power plug. screwed in the male side through the aluminum sheet such that sufficient amount is popping out. The female part with a plastic cap is easy to screw on to fix the TT grounding cable.

Absolutely no bass issues at all..

 

[sachu888]

Looks really nice, simple solution but effective.

Regards
Sachin

 

[reubensm]

I forgot to click pictures specific for this thread so have to make do with pictures from my old sales thread. Here's the CNC Phonostage which I built using Sachin's PCB and imported components. Terrific results. Since I moved to using a Sedco broadcast phonostage with my SP10, let go of it. Its now with a deserving forum member who is making his debut in the world of vinyl.

If the battery connectors are replaced with proper cabling, then the "box" will look even better. Zero hum, Zero noise, dip-switch preset to 47K, LED indicator incorporated and construction tips by Sachin and Mishra used, with fantastic results.

 

[aks07]

I forgot to click pictures specific for this thread so have to make do with pictures from my old sales thread. Here's the CNC Phonostage which I built using Sachin's PCB and imported components. Terrific results. ...............

Brilliantly innovative idea! TV set top enclosure?

 

[raj88]

I am Zero in DIY, whom can I approach for a CNC build in Hyderabad? What will be the ballpark figure of the completed build?

 

[sachu888]

I am Zero in DIY, whom can I approach for a CNC build in Hyderabad? What will be the ballpark figure of the completed build?

PMed you.

Regards
Sachin

 

[harry123456]

Hi Sachin..could you recommend someone who can build a CNC phonostage in Delhi?


Thanks.
Harry.

 

[reubensm]

Brilliantly innovative idea! TV set top enclosure?

Its actually an external hard disk enclosure for IDE hard drives which I purchased for using an old IDE HDD as an external drive, but never got down to doing it. Had the enclosure lying around and put it to good use. I think it cost me about 400 bucks new off the shelf, when I inquired about making a similar one for the CNC phonostage, the quote came up over 1k. Hence modified this and made do with it. The back-plate is nothing but the lid of an old cd drive, again which I had lying around.