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Bass Boost cMoy v2.01
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Do-it-Yourself cMoyBB
Overview
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 Do-it-Yourself
Bass Boost cMoy v2.01
Forward
The concept of the cMoyBB began in the summer of 2006
when I took an interest in DIY audio.
The
original cMoy design from 1998 was nothing new, and I already owned a
pre-built cMoy I had purchased from eBay. But as an electrical engineering
student, I was intrigued by potential modifications of the simple circuit. After
spending hours reading tutorials, message boards, shopping for parts, and then
tweaking a cMoy on a breadboard, I spent more than 8 hours constructing a cMoy
on protoboard. It didn't work, so I spent another 8 hours assembling a second
(and functional) cMoy, later realizing I had forgotten just one wire on each
channel of the first amp. In all, it took over 30 hours to build the same
amplifier many others before me had built over the previous eight years--a bit
of an anticlimactic result.
Many months later, I am taking the pain out of DIY
cMoy assembly. Thanks to my hatred of protoboard, the cMoyBB can be electrically
completed in about 30 minutes, saving you 5-7 hours versus building a
regular cMoy. Plus, the cMoyBB sounds better. :-)
Why DIY?
It is important to me to promote engineering creativity
and progress, thus, I am upholding DIY tradition and making the cMoyBB available
to everyone. Music, or audio in general, is a subjective topic. I greatly prefer
the sound of the cMoyBB over other basic amplifiers. Still, you may wish to experiment
with different resistors, capacitors, jacks, enclosures, or something more
exotic. I suggest just a few alternative components in the
BOM, but DIY gives you
the freedom to build a unique, top-notch cMoy from a practically unlimited
number of component choices.
Will building a cMoyBB myself
save money?
The cMoyBB is a high-end version of the cMoy. It was not
meant to be cheap; a cMoyBB built to my specifications will most likely cost
around $60 USD (refer to the
BOM for an estimated cost breakdown) plus your time and labor. DIY headphone amplification is for those
who possess the interest and/or knowledge to build their own amplifiers. In
other words, this project is not intended to save you money.
That said, you can certainly use a cMoyBB PCB to build a
basic cMoy. Bypassing the bass boost switch, the volume control, and the DC jack will lower
the building cost by about $30.
Skill and Knowledge
Prerequisites
Although this guide should single-handedly provide you
with the necessary information to build a cMoyBB, I highly recommend
browsing through
Tangent's cMoy
tutorial and
Chu Moy's
original article. The cMoyBB is a derivative of the original cMoy design.
Consequently, I will not bother repeating Tangent's exceptional work. If you are not already skilled in soldering, definitely
check out Tangent's tutorial videos and practice before you begin.
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