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Humpty
Dumpty ...lalala
Fortunately my GeenKloon worked the first time it was switched on. Unfortunately I mixed up the correct sequence for the resistors on the attenuator and therefore the first minutes the GeenKloon would only work the loud way. It took half an hour to correct this problem and from that moment on no additional "repairs" were needed.
I'm still not convinced that the GainCard (the original) is so special that it can't be copied by mortals, and I still think that the 47labs website is far from concrete. But I have no complaints about the quality of the GeenKloon and the LM3875 OpAmp.
The Hifi Setup that was used to listen and assess GeenKloon's performance was far from high-end. However, I promised myself to give the amp a long break-in period and test it's behavior before connecting the amp to the more expensive set in the living.
We have been listening to the following CD's amongst others:
After a few days of listening sessions Annemarie and I agree that the GeenKloon is not just another 13-in-a-dozen amplifier. Although I did not use any exotic components in the clone but quality components of BC/Philips and 1% metalfilm resistors the amp does sound dynamic and open and we like the sound.
But both of us do think that the amp certainly has enough bass so I plan to put the amp on the scope and the signal generator in order to find out whether it it is our imagination or not. On the other hand, strong basses could mean that the high frequencies are blocked. But I'm open in this discussion, measurements with the scope will reveal the nature of the beast.
And as a closing remark; the GeenKloon has been put to work in a hifi set which consists of old equipment that was not replaced for nothing. Interconnects and speakercable are nothing special (speaker cable is Cat-5 computer cable and interconnects are made of prefer MK106 microphone cable).
And as I know today when translating this page from Dutch into English, changing interconnects and speaker cables did not significantly change the character of the sound of the GeenKloon. It remains open and clear, and we still like it for voices and not too complex music.
As discussed on the previous page, I took the GeenKloon to the (annual) meeting of Hifi Fanatics in Sneek. There was little time for a complete evaluation of the clone, but in an informal session of about 45 minutes I had the chance of getting feedback on the sound of the GeenKloon.
The general opinion of those who listened was very positive. For myself I noted that the GeenKloon needs careful matching with speakers in order to perform best. Not every speaker, even if its sensitivity is high is an ideal match for the clone. Once the perfect marriage is made, the GeenKloon sounds terrific.
We noticed the following things during the listening sessions at home:
"What is the price for all this?" I was asked during the third analog meeting at Audioselectief in Sneek. After connecting the GeenKloon to several speaker sets there was an unanimous opinion: Not bad at all.
Well, you won't be surprised that the GeenKloon is not very expensive to build. In fact, it's in your own hand since most of the money goes into the housing and the power supply transformer. So if you have an old/secondhand transformer available and one or two housings for the amp, you will build a different amp from mine but it may sound equal or even better (who knows).
So find my bill of material in the tables below, and remember that w.r.t. component choice the sky is the limit. On the other hand, keep your feet on the ground, upgrades to better components are always possible.
| qty | Part | Price |
| 1 | Aluminum housing of Conrad (Conrad 522945) |
€ 13.27
|
| 1 | LM-3875 Power OpAmp (gift from Sodejuu, so it's a guess) |
about €12.00
|
| 2 | Two speaker terminals (red and black, cheap ones) |
€ 1.20
|
| 1 | Gold-plated cinch chassis connector |
€ 3.50
|
| 1 | din chassis entry for power (Conrad 737500) |
€ 1.66
|
| 1 | 12-step rotary switch (Conrad 709700) |
€ 2.02
|
| 11 | (0.6W, 1%) metalfilm resistors for attenuator €0.11/pc |
€ 1.21
|
| 1 | Silver wire 0.8mm (http://www.ae-europe.nl) |
+/- € 2.50
|
| 1 | PTFE 1mm tube isolator (for Silver wire) |
+/- € 1.50
|
| 2 | Elco 1000uF (35-50 Volts) |
€ 3.00
|
| 1 | Elco 22uF/35 Volts, (Conrad 472611) |
€ 0.20
|
| 1 | MKT capacitor 0.22uF |
€ 0.20
|
| 1 | Resistor 1Ohm (1W) |
€ 0.20
|
| 1 | Resistor 20k |
€ 0.10
|
| 1 | Resistor 22K |
€ 0.10
|
| 2 | Resistor 1k |
€ 0.20
|
| Half a meter shielded microphone cable (from Prefer MK-106) |
€ 1.00
|
|
| TOTAL one Channel(ca.) |
€ 45.00
|
|
| Total for two monoblocks: |
€ 90.00
|
| 1 | Housing for the Power Supply (it's a guess, Sodejuu gave it to me) |
€ 15.00
|
| 1 | Transformer Amplimo type 68015. 225VA and 2 * 22Vac |
€ 43.74
|
| 4 | Rectifier diodes type 1N4007 (Better use fast types of 3A or more) |
€ 0.80
|
| 4 | 100nF MKP capacitors (over the diodes) |
€ 0.92
|
| 1 | IEC chassis power connector with 4A slowblow fuse |
€ 2.50
|
| 1 | din-plug (screw fastened) for the power supply (Conrad 737496) |
€ 2.33
|
| nuts 'n bolts etc. | ||
| 1 | Small piece of board | |
| 1 | 1.5 meters computer power cable, used to connect to the powersupply |
?? € 2.00
|
| 2 | Small Elco's of 100uF/30-50V (Conrad 472638) |
€ 0.60 |
| Total for the power Supply |
€ 68.00
|
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