WhooHoo, I built a Novo!

And what a lot of fun I had. I know that other members have posted their experiences here so I'll not start at square one. Rather, here are the things I tried or the things that made a difference for me. Long post, but I hope it's useful to someone.

First off, Graham should be commended for such a fabulous kit. I've been a 'doer' most of my life and have had a go at kits of furniture, aircraft, kites, electronics etc, but I have never had a kit so well thought out and with all the information needed clearly supplied. Thank you. 

I followed the instruction manual from one end to the other but note the following along the way:

1. A multimeter seems like a must. I've little to no experience of rating resistors from their coding, so even my old cheap analogue meter was a good safety net to be sure I was using the right components.
2. Take the time before you start to read the booklet (although I didn't read the how it works section as I'd still be none the wiser given my knowledge of electronics ) and then measure the resistors with a meter and mark the paper tabs on the resistor sets with the resistive values. You can check these off against the packing list and sort out any confusion before you start.
3. I bought some solder with 4% silver content from a well known high street electronics, computing and gadgets store chain. £4 for a small tube, worked really well and is supposed to enhance the quality of the electrical connections you make.
4. As I worked through the instructions I crossed off the components in the contents list at the front of the manual as I soldered them in, usually working in pairs at a time. I don't have any sort of jig or third hand but I found that I could upturn the pcb over my empty coffee mug (once I'd bent out the component leads on the reverse side of the board to retain them) to make the solder joints and that all worked quite well.
5. When it came to the thermal linking of the paired transistors, I fitted one of each pair first and then put a really small dab of heat sink compound (from building pc kits!) on the flat face of the second as I put it in place and soldered it with its face pressed against the first. I've no idea what difference this will make, but I didn't have any 'elastic sleeving'.
6. I read the sections about earthing and wire links a few times to make sure I had everything in place: insulated connector lead on underside of pcb; earth strap to potentiometer body; earth strap from underside of pcb (phono socket ground) to chassis earth tag; chassis strap from top side of pcb to chassis earth tag. Worth noting carefully the proper sequence for assembling the earth tag and post on the rear panel.
7. The case all went together pretty well, but I managed to cut the spindle on the potentiometer a tiny bit short, meaning that when I dropped the knob over the spindle as I finished, the rim of the knob was brushing the fascia panel. Easily solved; I cut a small square from the clear backing vinyl that surrounds the adhesive feet and stuck it to the end of the spindle as a small spacer. The knob then just cleared the fascia and I fastened it in place with the grub screw after working out where the index mark needed to be at minimum volume( between 7 % 8 o'clock).
8. To check the placing of all the components, I worked around the colour photograph and ticked of all the items on the photo as I checked the pcb until I had nothing left to check.
9. NOW.......I DON'T RECOMMEND YOU DO THIS LIKE I DID. I have a very visual mind and checking against the pcb photo for component placing was easy. However, when I got to the electrical testing I did struggle with knowing quite where to check according to the circuit diagram provided (my electronics knowledge is !?*!@, remember?). I managed to check half a dozen voltages, which seemed OK, so I went for broke, plugged the amp into my gear and tried the headphones . Everything worked fine, but my short-cut was taken out of impatience/frustration/ignorance and I don't recommend you do the same. Stick with the test regime in the manual to be safest. 
10. What would have helped my enormously, would have been the test points indicated on the pcb photograph and a table of test voltage readings for each of the points included in a table in the manual. Any chance Graham, for other poor souls like me? 
    

So, what's it like? Brilliant! I have the Novo kit connected directly to the second line output from my Arcam Alpha 8 SE CD player, via Chord Chameleon II inters and driving Senn 600s. The player is powered via some mains conditioning, but the Novo is just running via its switched mode power supply, off a distribution block plugged in to a 13A socket. My Novo  is replacing a Rega Ear and the biggest difference for me is the improved resolution and separation in the lower mid to bass frequencies. Everything is so much better balanced and there is a real 'sparkle' to the sound. I finally feel I am listening to music, and not just to 'Hi-Fi', if that makes sense. I'm greatly looking forward to the improvements that burn in will bring.

Finally, a good word for GSP service. I managed to leave my phone number off of my order and so e-mailed it in separately. Graham advised receipt of the number and also took the trouble to inform me of the likely date of despatch. I wasn't in when the courier arrived, but as well as receiving a card through the door and an e-mail update from the UPS tracking system, Graham dropped me a line to let me know that the courier was trying to deliver. Now that's customer service!

10/10 all round.

Congratulations nickitson! Now sit back and enjoy it.

Fatmangolf wrote:   Reading the "how it works" took me back to the articles in 1970 and 80's electronics magazines. So did soldering in the discrete semiconductors! However the quality of the design means Novo sounds much much better than the circuits I still have from my youth.

You mean articles like this?





There is a typo I just discovered after all these years, but I'm saying nothing...

I'm sitting here chuckling to myself reading nickitson's post ...
I completed my Novo yesterday and joined the forum today largely to express
exactly what nick' already voiced ... so I'll save some typing, but I've got to underscore
that every step of the process - from inquiring about the products, to ordering, to tracking my shipment,
to the flawless kit and instructions, was a treat and I'll be watching closely for more kits.
I also echo nick's confusion about reading resistor coding - a multimeter was necessary.

I'll throw my hat in the ring on the "test points" issue as well ... found that a little confusing to do.

One other thing I noted was that the resistors supplied for R14 & R15 were slightly different than in the component list and PCB photograph and I was a little concerned. The kit specifies 3R3 and I measured 3R5/3R6 but because everything else was bang on and Graham seems careful to a fault, I trusted that this is an acceptable sub.

The amp works flawlessly and is getting better, but in reading all the "burn-in" related posts I guess I've got some time yet before full bloom.

Thanks Graham for a great product and a great first electronics DIY experience.