Projects: MacAmp Mini
What do you do when you want to have a HiFi amplifier matching the design
of the Mac Mini? It's easy. You buy a Mac Mini lookalike external harddisk
case and fit an amplifier into it!
Various mail order shops sell the so called M9 MINI POD. It's a
case with Firewire- and USB-hub and with space for a 3.5" harddisk. There's
a heatsink provided to cool the harddisk which can be used to cool the
amplifier instead. Since none of the readily available amplifier boards
really fits into the small case I decided to build one myself.
The finished amplifier board
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Solder side of the board
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I'm using two TDA1562 integrated amplifier components which require very little
external circuitory and only need one single 12V power supply. Internally a charge
pump generates a symmetrical supply of +/- 12V which enables the amplifiers to
deliver up to 70W @ 4 Ohms. The complete board can now be fixed to the heatsink
and then mounted inside the case:
Amplifier board with heatsink
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The whole assembly
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The Firewire- and USB-hub remain untouched and can be fully used. However, there's
no space left for a harddisk any more unless you try to squeeze in a tiny 1.8" drive.
Since the included power supply can't deliver 2x70W I've added an extra connector
for a separate external power supply just above the USB port. Unfortunately the
there's no more room for the speaker connectors so I've routed wires outside the
case to a small external box holding the connection terminal. So this is how the
finished product looks like:
MacAmp Mini front
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MacAmp Mini rear
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