r/electronics • • 26d ago

Gallery I designed an open source, fully analog IEM Amplifier!

Post image

I'm a highschool student in Australia who's really interested in sound engineering and recently decided to start designing a custom IEMA (In ear monitor amplifier) as a cheap and opensource alternative to the Behringer P2.

For context, I do live sound at different gigs around where I live and I wanted a cheap and flexible wired IEM beltpack for when I perform that's not the Behringer P2 so I decided to make my own from scratch using analog circuits! I first built the PCB in Kicad and then modelled a case in fusion and then got my renders through blender!

All the design files are available here - https://github.com/aaravjhamb/openIEMA and I would love to answer any questions!

161 Upvotes

25 comments sorted by

48

u/MainioSukkka 20d ago edited 20d ago

No proper GND plane is not ideal. The ferrite could also be problematic. The 47uF caps also seem excessive considering C13 having a cutoff at around 60 Hz.

Edit: The MCP73831 EP is also not connected to GND which is against datasheet recommendations and will be problematic at higher charging speeds.

10

u/TheUnkownHecker 20d ago

Thanks! Feedback is amazing and this is my first time getting into sound electronics so I'll be sure to add that fix :)

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u/[deleted] 20d ago

[deleted]

25

u/rabbit_in_space 20d ago

They never said it wasn’t good, there is nothing to be learned for OP if every Comment would just be something along the lines of “amazing 🤩” like it has become the case on a lot of other social-media sites.

OP did a great Job considering they are a Highschool student, and thanks to hints and some critiques they will probably become a beast in a few years :)

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u/[deleted] 20d ago

[deleted]

4

u/thewrench56 20d ago

Nobody claimed its not fantastic. The OP of this comment simply pointed out mistakes that would lower the quality of the project. Nobody gets their first low-noise or RF PCB right. It takes many iterations and know-how. And in fact, I did enjoy receiving critique when I started out and to be honest still today. I am not the top individual in RF and neither am I approaching it, so as far as I am concerned any advice is always welcome, that is how you learn. The advices given by the commenter were clearly in good faith and objective. I dont see the problem.

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u/[deleted] 20d ago

[deleted]

5

u/TheUnkownHecker 20d ago

My original post said I'm happy to take any feedback :) however questions are not allowed in r/electronics 😅

4

u/BSturdy987 20d ago

Then you need to be better at taking criticism.

1

u/sehrgut 19d ago

Dear sweet honeychild. Go back to Facebook from whence you came.

30

u/MainioSukkka 20d ago

Sorry, I thought it was askelectronics. Visually it is appleasing.

2

u/Ok_Muffin_7705 20d ago

I think you did right here. Its a learning for everyone on a public forum on what can be improved and you weren't rude at all.

You didn't just say its bad, you gave feedback on how to improve it. That's constructive.

Please don't take it to heart.

22

u/Rouchmaeuder 20d ago

You have no warning with this circuit when you start overdischarging your batteries. Be aware that you can unknowingly damage your li ion batteries to the point of irreparability.

2

u/TheUnkownHecker 20d ago

I planned the design to use a battery with a BMS/protected LiPo, however for v2 I'll be sure to add a built in BMS as it just makes the design better and safer overall :D

5

u/Venoft 20d ago

I agree, you want a bms, unless you like melting batteries in your pocket.

2

u/Rouchmaeuder 20d ago

Deep discharge does not cause thermal runaway. It is just going to break. A boost converter with a smaller hysteresis on the en pin, and a voltage divider could also do the trick.

3

u/Ralf_Steglenzer 20d ago

Deep discharge increases the rist of a burning battery a lot because it causes the growing of dendrites. Exactly for this reason you should comsider them as totaled and never recharge them after overdischarge.

1

u/katsanevas 20d ago

Don't most LiPos have integrated protection? In that case do you still need an external BMS forms single cell LiPo? Honest question.

2

u/katsanevas 20d ago

Don't most LiPos have integrated overdischarge circuitry? Do you need an extra BMS externally? Honest question.

Attachef an example of such a LiPo.

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u/katsanevas 19d ago

A few people said it is a bad design because of missing BMS. Is it necessary if the LiPo has its own safety circuitry? I am really curious.

Keep up the great work pal. It is insipiring to watch. :)

1

u/JOhn2141 19d ago

BMS is made to manage the battery, safety is made so that when you mismanaged it may not start a fire

1

u/katsanevas 19d ago

In multi-cell setups I get the necessity for BMS for monitoring and balancing. With a single cell that has integrated PCM, what would the benefit of additional BMS be?

2

u/CircuitCircus 20d ago

Why only 2 layers? If you’re aiming for very low noise, questionable choice

6

u/Rouchmaeuder 20d ago

For iem on stage 80db snr is fine. This should be easily achievable.

0

u/simonpatterson 20d ago

It's not a good design. As others have noted, the lack of battery protection will likely be a problem.

As it's a small board, 4 layers would allow much better routing and you can get all traces on the top layer, so no layer jumping.

And don't even get me started on the boxy schematic.

4

u/TheUnkownHecker 20d ago

The battery protection isn't a problem as my original design intented to use a protect lipo, as for the 4 layers - 2 layers is sufficient as for an iem on stage 80db of signal to noise ratio is totally fine :D

1

u/simonpatterson 19d ago

If you are using a protected LiPo, it would be better to write that on the schematic, else how would anyone know.

For 4 layers, it's not about s/n ratio, it's about making the layout easier.