It was a tight squeeze, but the removable base let me move the 2026 Combined board against the side of the case. The Hypex uses a chassis heatsink and enough breathing space keeps it quite cool.
Rob's 2026 StereoCoffee Integrated
NOTE: The 2026 COMBINED StereoCoffee board has replaced the 2025 board. See home page for impressions of 2026 Redesign
Rob is a long time StereoCoffee customer and has upgraded to several different versions over the years. He decided to bite the bullet and use a very solid aluminium enclosure from Douk Ebay shop for about $150.
He owns Neat Acoustic speakers which use an isobaric bass configuration and has found that he can control the over enthusiastic sub bass to complement the mids by using the START and FOCUS adjustments.
------------------------------ Rob Says------------------------------
" I happened to have an OEM Hypex NC252MP module that I had discarded from another project and I doubted that it would be sensitive enough to use with a passive preamplifier so I hadn't considered it before.
How wrong I was! This little amplifier has real balls and is a perfect match, as it adds nothing to the purity from the StereoCoffee. Because of the great performance, I decided to reduce audio connections. A simple way was to integrate the Hypex and StereoCoffee to eliminate one set of interconnects.
The newly refined external trim for the START and FOCUS circuits have allowed my to tweak the sub bass/mid ratio to suit my speakers and my own taste.
My new LDR board has a 20 turn START and FOCUS pots that have allowed me to perfectly integrate it with a new SVS 1000 subwoofer for a low cost.
The Start and Focus controls have a much smoother range of adjustment. I come 20 turn external trim pots but it should be easy to use single turn pots for a quicker response to adjustments.
This gave me the freedom to experiment with adjustments while being confident I can return it to my chosen setting by flicking a switch on the side.
Thanks Chris, I've had a load of fun building the new 'Combined Board' StereoCoffee into my previous enclosure.
The NEW Power Dynamics really took me by surprise."
My SINGLE BOARD BUILDING EXPERIENCE
The previous Finish potentiometer is now called the Focus pot.You will understand why when you start experimenting with it while listening to music. Once you find your sweet spot the whole sound stage opens up and previously hidden dynamics and positioning of deep bass will come to life.
To me, the audio experience is musical NOT clinical. My Neat Acoustics speakers are also designed to sound musical. Valve amplifier enthusiasts, like me, should be comfortable with the SQ.The manual action of the volume pot is smooth with a wide volume spread.
NOTE: I have found that the remote pot can sometimes get a bit excited if I am adjusting it between Tidal tracks that have extreme level variations.
Albums work fine.
I found that construction is much simpler than previous kits because there are less connections and the input/output ferules can accept thin wire as well as 16WG
Soldering points:
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4 X for the 3 way switch
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3 X for volume potentiometer
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12 X for Inputs & Output
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2 X each for the Start and Focus potentiometers.
You may need to supply your own trim pots. I have used a pair 20k trim pot and a 20 turn pot from EBay.