Danger in building a headphone amp?

A

alexyang

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 9, 2004
Messages
311
I'm aware that working on a guitar amplifier is pretty dangerous and can easily kill, but what about making a headphone amp? Is it still dangerous or is it much safer?
 
If I have absolutely no experience in soldering whatsoever, and I don't YET have a lot of "fine building" skills, how hard is it to build a Cmoy?
 
alexyang said:
I'm aware that working on a guitar amplifier is pretty dangerous and can easily kill, but what about making a headphone amp? Is it still dangerous or is it much safer?
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Kill?? What are you talking about? Unless you're working on it with the thing plugged in or while juggling knives at the same time, I don't think you have to worry about that.
 
What power source do you plan on using with this amp?
Batteries?
An AC adapter?
 
I'm not really that much of a battery person; I like wall warts.

So, I plan on modifying the Cmoy to include DC power.
 
dotZIP said:
I was under the impression that you only made high end stuff :p
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Oh he builds them all I think. And...I guess you can totally pimp out the CMoy as well and make it cost like a couple hundred bucks, so maybe that pushes it into high end?

Anyways, even with a wall power supply the power you're getting would be turned into DC by the time it gets to your amp. As long as you're using a normal wall power supply you shouldn't have any trouble. The worst shock you could probably get is like a 9 V battery to your tongue - thing that will cause real damage.

alexyang said:
f I have absolutely no experience in soldering whatsoever, and I don't YET have a lot of "fine building" skills, how hard is it to build a Cmoy?
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I just built my first amp and finally got it working and in the beginning I felt quite overwhelmed with all the electronics stuff. Of course, there are tons of people like MisterX who are willing to help on this board and tons of other places on the web. If you aren't good at soldering, I would recommend that you practice some of that first. There are many good guides online if you google a little bit. If you can, find a really old CD player that's broken and take it apart. That way you can practice desoldering things and then resoldering them. Also, it would be a good idea to get a desoldering pump. I didn't get one until I built my CMoy and it was a huge help.
 
Deadlierchair said:
Oh he builds them all I think.
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Since we are all speculating while he could post his own reply and have it be 100% sure I am going to say he used to build them but no longer does.


edit: Since he is the builder in question and this could interfere with his buisness I think it should always be left up to him to discuss.
 
zachary80 said:
Since we are all speculating while he could post his own reply and have it be 100% sure I am going to say he used to build them but no longer does.
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I was just trying to be soft in my answer, I know that he makes them, he even admitted it a few posts up :) He will build you what you want, so as long as you pay his price then I'm sure he would build someone a CMoy.
 
Asking Mister X to build a CMOY is like asking a F1 mechanic to change the oil on your Ford Pinto :p

And to answer your question, no there is no risk unless you decide to poke yourself with the soldering iron. We're all here to help you if you run into any trouble :)
 
Talonz said:
Asking Mister X to build a CMOY is like asking a F1 mechanic to change the oil on your Ford Pinto :p
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Best. Analogy. Ever. :D

And that probably is true, the soldering iron is probably the most dangerous thing involved. Soldering can get flicked around if you're crazy with it, however that's unlikely. If you really wanted to get down to it, you could poke yourself with some wire or something, but as long as you maintain some level of caution you will be fine.
 
Have built does not equal will build. ;)



Of course when I get real bored just about anything is possible. :)
 
the capacitors (caps) are the things that can hurt/kill. there is no use for caps big enough to hurt you in a portable amp so there shouldnt be too much danger. maby a small shock if you short out the board ( dont be proding when its on :p )
 
jerb said:
the capacitors (caps) are the things that can hurt/kill. there is no use for caps big enough to hurt you in a portable amp so there shouldnt be too much danger. maby a small shock if you short out the board ( dont be proding when its on :p )
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I think the only way to kill yourself with caps of these size is to charge them up and stab the ends with a finger from each hand. Maybe it will stop your heart? :p
 
Talonz said:
I think the only way to kill yourself with caps of these size is to charge them up and stab the ends with a finger from each hand. Maybe it will stop your heart? :p
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i doubt that the charge that small, moving that far would have any effect, besides it would probbably go down through your legs (earth ground) rather than to the other hand. i wouldnt try it though, it only takes .6 amps acrost your chest to kill you (dont try it, it will stop your heart)
 
You would have much difficulty killing yourself with a CMOY amp, unless you tried swallowing the assembled unit.
 
my dad built me a few Cmoy amps.. one runs on 9v and the other has a dual 12v feed w/ spatializer circuit and some fancy opamps that i cant remember.. he called up texas instruments and they sent him like 50 of them for free lol
 
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