Since my last post on this subject I have finished putting together the amplfier.  All the resitors an capacitators went in one at a time and very very small!

I probably spent too much time on some of them because I ended up pulling up a soldering pad on one of the cap.  I think that will stop the signal and since I only get signal from one channel at the moment, I believe that is my problem.

I have posted several messages on the www.41hz.com message board regarding the project and there have been several people that have been very kind and helped me out.  However the actual people who run the site and sell the product are basically absent.  I've emailed them several times and usually a day or so later I'll get an email back saying someone will get back to me which doesn't happen.  Without support, I cannot reccomend the product to anyone getting into the hobby... I'll be looking for other kits with better support and keep you posted in case you decide you want to try it also.

The project has been very engaging.  I've learned a great deal.  Number one: The soldering iron is HOT!  I have serveral burns to testify to that.  I use a special pair of magifying lenses that are mounted into a kind of headpiece for the close up work. 





The power supply came yesterday and it's HUGE!  It must weigh twenty pounds!





I put everything together and fired it up.




It uses DC on the board but of course the house supply is AC.  So the first thing you have to do is change the 120 volt AC power to something like 22 volts.  You can use anywhere from like 18 to 30 I think.  People on the board gave me a link of several places to buy the transformer that does this and I ordered it.  It was $46 delivered.  The Transformer is basically two wires coiled around eachother.  Electricity flowing through one coil (the primary) induces a current in the other coil (secondary).  So the number of turns you have in the second coil determines how much current you end up with.  So the more turns, the closer the primary is to the secondary.

In this case the chip uses two power supplies.  One feeds each channel.  So there are two secondaries on this tranformer.  They put out 22volts each when the primary is charged with current from the wall outlet.  I've introduced a 100 watt lightbulb in the current path of one side and a fuse in the other.  This was shown on the site as a way to keep the system from frying if something is wrong.  Too much power and the light bulb converts the excess into light (and heat).  When you first turn it on the light bulb flashes menacingly as there is a large inrush of current from the transformer.  However, no smoke comes out!

I'm actually running the transformer off of a variac which is a variable transformer.  That way I can slowly bring up the power to the circuit.  When I go slowly, the lightbulb doesn't light.  However when I turn the variac up all the way and throw the switch , it flashes once.

Well that's about as far as I can go at the moment.  I've put a mute switch in there and it's working.  The mute LED comes one when the switch is in the MUTE position.  The only problem is the one channel not working.  I will be troubleshooting that today.  I have a great idea for a case for it.  I'm keeping it a secret for now.  I'll let you know as I get closer to building it.

If anyone knows a good place to buy audio connectors , let me know.  I need the chassis input for the speakers and so forth.