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Akitika PhonoZ build

MKG

MKG

Elvish-mark’d abortive, rooting hog
I’m really enjoying building kits. Each one teaches me a bit more about how and why circuits are designed as they are. I wish Heathkit was still around, but they were well before my time.
I’ve tried multiple times to read books on theory and whatnot, but my brain doesn’t work that way- I learn by doing and analyzing what I’m doing, as well as by teaching others.
My hope is that down the road I’ll progress to scratch builds of other’s designs and then move on to combining everything I’ve learned into creating my own designs.
Anyhow, this thread will cover another Akitika kit, a phono preamp- the PhonoZ.
I’m building it as a stand-alone unit, essentially their ee-101 minus the volume control and in different enclosures.
I’m building this while listening to various blues records being played through my diy ear834p phono preamp, my hope is that this unit will be a bit quieter than the ear.
I ordered this kit because of the excellent documentation that their gt-102 amp came with- I really appreciated the clear and concise directions as well as the explanation of how the circuit worked.
This will be built as two units- one housing the phono preamp board and one housing the power supply.
Originally I was planning on using a pyramid 12v dc bench power supply that I have, but then I realized that it requires +/-12v dc, not just a +12v & ground.
Dan (designer and seller of akitika kits) has been incredibly responsive to my questions and offered to sell me the power supply designed for the ee-101 kit.
I’m currently waiting for the power supply to arrive but in the meantime I’m starting on the main board build.
Here it is as originally packaged, then with bits separated.
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That is exciting. Last time I checked they were sold out of the only kit they offered, I think it was a clock. I’m glad to see other offerings. I wonder if my hands are steady enough for smd work.
 
Populated, minus jumpers
I think my next build will be a 6LU8 compactron tube amp. I read through a previous AK project about it and learned lots.
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Fully populated. Need to do some wiring, drill some holes in its case, and then build the power supply.
 

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im thinking of buying one but im not sure if i should get thing kit or one of the Chinese ones. have you completed it? I already have the power supply ready.
 
Main board is completed, it’s waiting for me to finish drilling holes in the case as well as build the power supply.
I’ve built and bought a few of the Chinese kits. I’ve got nothing against them, however, I do appreciate the full and proper instructions that tend to come with us kits. Especially when they also include a breakdown of the circuit design and how/why it does what it does.

Edit- and the ability to easily contact the designer of the circuit for any questions that I have.
 
MKG said:
Main board is completed, it’s waiting for me to finish drilling holes in the case as well as build the power supply.
I’ve built and bought a few of the Chinese kits. I’ve got nothing against them, however, I do appreciate the full and proper instructions that tend to come with us kits. Especially when they also include a breakdown of the circuit design and how/why it does what it does.

Edit- and the ability to easily contact the designer of the circuit for any questions that I have.
Click to expand...
alright I am sold. ordering one now.
 
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Main board is mounted and enclosed. I don’t quite yet understand cartridge capacitance loading and I can’t seem to find what my andante e should be loaded at so I’m starting with their recommended 100pf.
Next step is building the power supply. That will happen this weekend. I haven’t decided on an enclosure for the power supply, so it’ll be mounted on a slab of wood so that I can try this thing out. I’d like to order another matching case as the main board, but I think it’ll be just barely too small to fit the power supply board, transformer, & iec.
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Which power supply did you choose? I'll be using the salad bipolar ps. It works very well.
 
Haven’t built it yet. I ended up just ordering a kit from Dan @ akitika. It’s not one of the ones listed in their store, it’s the one that would typically come with their ee-101 kit.
 
I see. my kit just arrive, despite being behind with my work I want to build it this weekend as I really need a good phono stage. I have grand plans of placing this phono and an R2R DAC all in one modu shop box. if the current requirement of this board is low enough I will probably let them share the power supply.
 
I’m thinking now that I should have placed the board & power supply into the same enclosure, but we’ll see what happens. Actually, I’d really like to squeeze it into the same enclosure as my aikido preamp, but That would take some very creative placement.

From the akitika site:
  • Power supply requirements - +/-12V, 40 mA from each rail (idle)
 
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Exciting! I approve of your drink.
I’ve almost completed my power supply, but I need to head to a computer shop tomorrow to buy some thermal paste.
I’m looking forward to completing and hearing this build.
 
almost done

UIcPXVs.jpg


AS YOU can see I soldered resistors, some caps and pretty much everything that was possible, on the top and the mess that you see on the board is actually just rosin. i pretty much drench the whole board on rosin.
 
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Just wanted to say how much I'm enjoying these threads on kit builds.
I'm more or less, kinda, maybe, on a similar skill level....close enough anyway that I often have the same questions/problems to solve.

My own line stage project has been stalled for awhile because I have this nice box for it which turns to be a tiny bit too small for the transformer now that I see how much room the selector switch and volume pot are going to take. Duh!

I'm currently considering whether I should mount it on top, or put it a separate box.
Never put together an umbilical power connection before.
 
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Glad you’re enjoying them. I’d be lost on some of these builds without the input of people much more knowledgeable than me.
I’m putting this phono pre’s power supply in a separate box- mainly because I don’t have the appropriate tools to work with steel to make a shield and I’ve had transformer noise problems with past builds.
I’d really like to be able to hear this thing this evening, but first I have to find a place that sells thermal paste in the boonies on a weekend and that’s proving tough.
 
MKG said:
I’ve tried multiple times to read books on theory and whatnot, but my brain doesn’t work that way- I learn by doing and analyzing what I’m doing
Click to expand...

Likely another reason why I pay attention to your threads.
I'm very much the same way.
"Baby steps" and all that.
Learn by doing, even via mistakes.

One problem I have though has to do the size of these projects.
I'm used to working on a much larger scale. In fact, the bigger the better.
I haven't worked on anything this small since I built plastic car models at age 12.
Which was 50+ years ago....
 
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