** Mini DIY V6.0 project - amp upgrade completed **

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goodman

goodman

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Wow, looks very good! :yes:
Is it possible to attach front grills from original speakers? ;-)
You can paint in black angles of speakers - where are 4 screws...
 
J

jimmyjimmy19702010

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goodman said:
Wow, looks very good! :yes:
Is it possible to attach front grills from original speakers? ;-)
You can paint in black angles of speakers - where are 4 screws...
Click to expand...
The original speakers were housed in separate cabinets. They were mounted from the rear into a housing. The mesh grills are molded into the plastic casing so they are not removable.
IMG_3764.JPG
The tweeters are protected by their own fine protective mesh. The drivers are plastic cone types with cloth surrounds so they're pretty durable but yes, grills would offer more protection. The trouble is, all the aftermarket ones look like crap IMHO. :-)
 
T-STER

T-STER

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Wow i love it, seeing it next to a coke can makes you realise how diddy it is, i bet it still pounds though like only proper cabinet enclosures can. Love it.

I have all the wood, amp, speakers etc that i bought sometime ago to do mine, i better crack on with it! Just gotta get a battery and all the charge gubbins, feels a little over my head but i will give it a go.

Inspirational work Jimmy :bow: :bow:
 
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jimmyjimmy19702010

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T-STER said:
Wow i love it, seeing it next to a coke can makes you realise how diddy it is, i bet it still pounds though like only proper cabinet enclosures can. Love it.

I have all the wood, amp, speakers etc that i bought sometime ago to do mine, i better crack on with it! Just gotta get a battery and all the charge gubbins, feels a little over my head but i will give it a go.

Inspirational work Jimmy :bow: :bow:
Click to expand...
Thanks man. I actually thought of you when I was posting into this thread this morning. Trust me, you will love your DIY box when you're done with the building process. :-)

Just ask if you need any tech info assistance with your build.

Good luck,

James.... :-)
 
J

jimmyjimmy19702010

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JustCruisin said:
I love it! Great job :yes:
Click to expand...
Thanks man, I appreciate the positive feedback. I took the little V6.0 to work today and I've been amazed at the response I've received so far. It must be something about the size /performance ratio. I've had it cranking at around 50% volume (loud) since 7am. It's 4 pm now and after charging my aging Iphone5 to 100%, it still has around 60% usable charge left.

IMG_4029.JPG
 
frontside5

frontside5

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jimmyjimmy19702010 said:
The original speakers were housed in separate cabinets. They were mounted from the rear into a housing. The mesh grills are molded into the plastic casing so they are not removable.
...
Click to expand...
One possibility would be to chop off the casing then cut the mesh to fit the new octagonal shape. You could file down the edges for safety then just mount them using the existing screws. Aesthetically I'm not sure it would add anything but it would give you some protection.

Awesome build as is though! The size is definitely perfect.
 
J

jimmyjimmy19702010

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T-STER said:
"Instructional how to video coming soon" Yes !!!!!
Click to expand...
Yep, still waiting for the amplifier parts to arrive. The volume control gear turned up yesterday. The original $4 amp was for proof of concept purposes only. :-)

Here is the new volume pot board and remote board:IMG_4164.JPG
The quality really is outstanding. This digital pot is stepped and has that Hifi feel to it (Like a Sanyo M9998 volume pot). The new control board will be powered by a 12V supply being fed from the Sure amplifier board.

All of this electronics to replace this single (shitty) volume pot on the old amp: :lol:
IMG_4165.JPG

This is going to sound awesome!! The new matching Sure T amp board should be here soon. :-)
 
J

jimmyjimmy19702010

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The Sure T amp has arrived. Below is a pic of the 3 new Sure amp/volume control circuits boards that are to replace the old amp (left).IMG_4170.JPG
It's going to be an extremely tight fit getting all this new gear inside the centre section. I should have it all installed by the weekend.

James.... :-)
 
J

jimmyjimmy19702010

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Hi Guys,

Well after around 2 hours of work, I finally managed to cram the 3 new circuits into the small centre section of the V6.0. Wow, what a pain in the arse. :-) The 3.5mm to RCA cable that runs from the volume board to the amp had to be hard soldered instead of using the RCA inputs as there simply wasn't enough room.
View attachment 36928
View attachment 36959 Battery installed.

The battery retaining bracket also had to have 15mm cut from the vertical side sections to allow room for the volume control remote board and then new main amp.

The only extra wiring required was a power feed from the 'cascade' 12v power output from the amp to the volume control board.

The new stepped volume pot has a handy mute function that is activated/deactivated by pressing the volume knob in.

Performance wise, the highs are nice and clean now. They were a little harsh with the no-name amp board. The volume can now be turned up to almost maximum without distortion. The bass output from the drivers is so much more controlled. I previously thought the speakers were being over powered but it appears the old amp was simply distorting with cranked bass hits.

I've also noted extra details in the music, particularly in the highs. The stereo separation also seems to have improved.

Previously, the only weak link quality wise was the amp so it's nice to know the entire electronics package is now brand name quality.

The new pot has a D shaft so I went through my Hifi parts bin and found a nice, old school metal/plastic/chrome knob that is the right size and sits up nice and close to the unit. Most volume knobs stick too far out in comparison:
View attachment 36930
The other positive feature of this knob is that it doesn't have a position marker. As the new pot is digital, it takes more than one complete revolution to go from minimum to maximum volume so an indicator would have just confused things.

Anyway, that's as far as I can go with this one. It's easily the best sounding BT speaker I've heard in my retail shop travels so I'm happy with that.

View attachment 37092
Charging another dying IPhone. :-)

Thanks for accompanying me on my DIY journeys. You can contact me via PM or within this thread if anyone needs any info or advice for their own builds.

James..... :-)
View attachment 36929
 
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