The Jacko 4180 Four Channel Class D Switching Amplifier, using Hypex UCD 180 modules

The Jacko 4180 Four Channel Class D Switching Amplifier

The 2005 Halloween project.

Here's some notes and pics of my four channel DIY Hypex amp, the Jacko 4180. I built it around Halloween so I tried to keep it orange and black. The Hypex modules are Class D switching amplifiers. 180 watts into 4 ohms. They are small, cool and quiet.

The unusual part of this amp is the enclosure -- a mid tower PC case. This worked suprisingly well. I was lucky, the spare case I had had a perfectly flat top to use as the front faceplate.

How do these sound? Fantastic, a real improvement over my JVC FX-10, especially for rock. Piano and drums sound very lifelike.

This amp has zero hum, none, zip. I tested the dynamics with Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody and Julian Bream's Concierto de Aranjuez. Outstanding. The Jacko never stressed in busy passages.

I bought the first pair of Hypex modules from the manufacturer in Holland. I bought the second pair from Kevin at DIY Cable in Port Angeles, Washington. DIY Cable ships to my house in 24 hours. The impatience in me likes that.

I mounted the UCD-180 modules into a heatsink I yanked out of a circa 1978 Kenwood receiver.

The amp has dual power supplies off of dual toroids. The toroids are 330VA 30V from Parts Express.

The first power supply has two 10,000uF Panasonic FC Caps with 8 fast rectifying diodes. The other one has four pannys and uses two bridge rectifiers. The smaller caps are Solen 6.8uF polys. Added some bleeder resistors and that's it.

I use the smaller PS to power the tweeters in my Magenepan MMGs. The other amp powers the woofers.

A view of the top. The chassis is a mid-tower PC case turned on it's size. The front faceplate is actually the top of the PC. I used black lacquer spray paint.

Here's the front panel. The power switch came from the old Kenwood.

Here's the innards. Why no IEC socket? I was too lazy to cut out the rectangle and I had a nice long black cord lying around.

The first amp rectified with MUR 860 fast diodes on blank pc board, but these bridge rectifiers I got from diyCable.com were much easier to use. Crimp and forget.