The vox in a box roxs

Circuit Break Podcast #145

The Vox in a Box Roxs

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November 7, 2018, Episode #145

Stephen gives an in depth update to his Vox in a Box project! 100 Watts of Class D amplification!

Podcast Notes

  • Stephen’s Vox in a Box
    • Preamp Design
      • Vox AC30 preamp – 3 gain stages with a cathode follower and a phase inverter
      • Phase inverter – create differential signals for the power amp input
      • Drop signal using voltage dividers and mosfet buffers
      • 320V phase inverter to 18V buffer drive
      • Built point to point on an aluminum plate for easy modification and testing
    • Power Amp Design
      • TPA3116 Class D amplifier
      • LM311 comparator mute circuit for start up mute ~5 to 10 Seconds
      • Runs at 400KHz – Left open pads for boosting this up to 1.2MHz
        • Is there an advantage at running at higher frequencies?
    • Power Supply Design
      • TPS40210 Switching controller into a diode/cap ladder voltage multiplier
      • 7 stages of multiplication leads to ~50V per stage
      • Variable Switching from 35KHz to 1000KHz
      • PMP8621 Appnote
    • Testing the Vox in a Box
      • Been going nonstop for weeks now
      • Have taken it up to nearly 60 Watts without problems
    • Layout of the PCB
      • Multiple ground system with master start
      • Each sub circuit has its own ground return
      • 8 Master star ground returns
      • 4 layers
    • Issues with the current design
      • High Voltage SMPS does not like high capacitive load
      • Ground for signal input is very important – Nearly all noise is dominated by this single point
        • Alligator clips for signal patching are not low noise…
      • Cold Heater impedance
    • Current Schematic for the Vox in a Box
    • Fusion 360
      • New amp design
        • Learning by building a virtual amp
      • Vox in a box
        • Going to model the whole design to ensure proper fit
  • R.F.O.

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Vox in a Box Schematic – Page 1

Vox in a Box Schematic – Page 1

Vox in a Box Schematic – Page 2

Vox in a Box Schematic – Page 2

Vox in a Box Schematic – Page 3

Vox in a Box Schematic – Page 3

The Vox in a Box driving the VOX AC30 Tube preamp and speakers!

The Vox in a Box driving the VOX AC30 Tube preamp and speakers!

Stephen has also been modeling parts in electronics in Fusion 360!

Stephen has also been modeling parts in electronics in Fusion 360!

About the Hosts

Parker Dillmann
  Parker Dillmann

Parker is an Electrical Engineer with backgrounds in Embedded System Design and Digital Signal Processing. He got his start in 2005 by hacking Nintendo consoles into portable gaming units. The following year he designed and produced an Atari 2600 video mod to allow the Atari to display a crisp, RF fuzz free picture on newer TVs. Over a thousand Atari video mods where produced by Parker from 2006 to 2011 and the mod is still made by other enthusiasts in the Atari community.

In 2006, Parker enrolled at The University of Texas at Austin as a Petroleum Engineer. After realizing electronics was his passion he switched majors in 2007 to Electrical and Computer Engineering. Following his previous background in making the Atari 2600 video mod, Parker decided to take more board layout classes and circuit design classes. Other areas of study include robotics, microcontroller theory and design, FPGA development with VHDL and Verilog, and image and signal processing with DSPs. In 2010, Parker won a Ti sponsored Launchpad programming and design contest that was held by the IEEE CS chapter at the University. Parker graduated with a BS in Electrical and Computer Engineering in the Spring of 2012.

In the Summer of 2012, Parker was hired on as an Electrical Engineer at Dynamic Perception to design and prototype new electronic products. Here, Parker learned about full product development cycles and honed his board layout skills. Seeing the difficulties in managing operations and FCC/CE compliance testing, Parker thought there had to be a better way for small electronic companies to get their product out in customer's hands.

Parker also runs the blog, longhornengineer.com, where he posts his personal projects, technical guides, and appnotes about board layout design and components.

Stephen Kraig
  Stephen Kraig

Stephen Kraig is a component engineer working in the aerospace industry. He has applied his electrical engineering knowledge in a variety of contexts previously, including oil and gas, contract manufacturing, audio electronic repair, and synthesizer design. A graduate of Texas A&M, Stephen has lived his adult life in the Houston, TX, and Denver, CO, areas.

Stephen has never said no to a project. From building guitar amps (starting when he was 17) to designing and building his own CNC table to fine-tuning the mineral composition of the water he uses to brew beer, he thrives on testing, experimentation, and problem-solving. Tune into the podcast to learn more about the wacky stuff Stephen gets up to.

Special thanks to whixr over at Tymkrs for the intro and outro!

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