Ok, feels good to be done, at least until I start adding stuff! Nothing too revolutionary to you experts I'm sure, but its making me happy. Turned out great for a beginner. Prior to this I'd done a Bottlehead Seduction, a few step-up transformers, and lots of music industry projects for my day job, but this was definitely my most ambitious HiFi project to date.
Anyway here's pics!

Used a Par-Metal 16x12x3 20-series case, and was very satisfied with the quality. Might do a FPE fancy panel at some point, but we'll see, I might do an Arduino panel eventually, but right now its pretty simple: power, source on the left, volume on the right and a bi-color LED for mute/lock.


the mains section is shielded by (and mostly mounted to) a 1/4" thick aluminum panel, overkill probably but why not, and it made for very easy mounting.


The electronics are straightforward, a stereo B3 into Ivy. Placid HDBP for the Ivy, LCDPS for the Buffalo and Toslink. There is room and a panel connector for adding USB when a good option becomes available, but I'll be primarily using Toslink via my Mac Mini for the time being. All audio electronics and Power supplys are mounted on a 1/4" aluminum backplate which sits on vibration dampening mounts. Again, probably totally overkill, but it was cheap and easy, and made for clean mounting. It also kept chassis drilling to a minimum and if I change things up eventually I won't end up with a bunch of extra holes in the chassis. As well, the vent holes in the chassis would probably have caused me alignment issues otherwise.


I thought for sure I'd want an FPE panel for the rear, but I impressed myself by drilling and dremeling pretty straight. It hardly seems worth the expense just to add unnecessary labelling, so I'll probably stick with this.


Anyway, that's it for now. Time to listen!

Perfect. Just as it was designed to be built.

Nice job!

Just to toss out a labeling idea, I built a Hagerman Coronet II phono stage for a friend. On the rear panel I used a Brother P-Touch labeler with Black label tape, White print, and it looks pretty good. I wouldn't use it on a front panel, just the rear so I wouldn't forget what all the plugs were for. ; )

Edited by user Thursday, August 2, 2012 11:46:46 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Looks nice! I think I'll copy the style :)
Can you explain how you connected ε24 (it needs 12v)? Is it a 12v transformer in the left corner? (or a choke)

Well, its been a while and its time for an update. Thanks to a lot of help from this forum, especially Corpius, and the Hifiduino blog (GLT?) I've successfully added display and remote control features to my B-III. For the most part I followed the Hifiduino model using Arduino and an Apple Remote, and Corpius's Buffalo shield made for much tidier connections. His help was invaluable in working out the kinks in the code.

Here you can see the Arduino and CE-Designs shield (top center). Mounting in the front might have been more ideal if I had planned this from the beginning, but it still went in pretty clean and easy.


Below you can see the LCD panel mounted to the front. I started off with a negative backlight LCD and just this week upgraded to a Noritake VFD, which required a few changes. Mainly, I had to discretely supply power to the display since it draws something like 400mA, far more than Arduino can handle. I had to juggle things a bit to avoid adding more power supplies, so at the moment I've got 1/2 the LCDPS supplying the Buffalo, 1/2 supplying the Arduino and display and a tiny AMB labs 5v supply doing the Toslink. So far its working very well. LCDPS is certainly a nicer PS than Arduino requires, but this is what happens when a project evolves slowly over time. Since the VFD requires no BL (backlight connection) and is getting power straight from the supply, I'm really only using 2 pins from the Arduino + Shield to the display.


I found it pretty much impossible to get a realistic photo of the VFD, but here is something, for what its worth. Suffice to say I found it to be a huge improvement over the LCD. That said, its really bright, and as others have suggested I think it probably belongs behind some kind of smoked plexi.



So all in all, its still hideous, but I'm holding off on a nice panel until I'm satisfied with the evolution. Honestly I like having ugly gear for a while, and its nice having a cheap stock front panel I can cut up to try things like this out.


Up next is the USB, I was about ready to go with an Amanero but its sounding like Russ is actually getting close to releasing, so I think I'll hold out a little longer. I guess when I do that, I'll add a 2nd USB port on the back for Arduino software updates.

Anyway, cheers to Corpius, GLT and everyone else with way more complex projects, I've stolen from you all and its been a lot of fun. BTW, its sounding killer and the functionality of controlling all the Sabre32 setting from my couch with a slick apple remote is pretty unbeatable.

Nice project! Great work! Looks to that there still plenty of room for a USB input board. Are you using a soft start module or do my eyes deceive me?

Nice work! This is what HiFi 2000/Modushop proposed for the bright displays when I was in planning stages.

Edited by user Wednesday, March 13, 2013 5:03:32 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Looks great!