I took some time this morning, now that the paint is dry on the top plate, to install the mechanical aspects of the amp. The top plate is now fully populated.

It felt good to finally get going on this project. As usual, the finish for the top plate has been vexing me. I have finally made a decision that my next top plate is going to be from Front Panel Express. Since they do the machining as well as the powder coating I think it will be worth it. Here’s how the bottom of the plate looks with everything installed.

The next thing to go in will be the heavy copper signal ground bus. Once that’s installed the electronic assembly can begin in earnest.

With everything installed on the top plate the final look of the amplifier is starting to come into focus. Here it is on my assembly table with the populated top plate just set on top of the chassis.

Some people may notice that, in spite of being an upgrade to the Marblewood design, this amplifier’s layout is the mirror image of the Marblewood amplifier. This is for a little variety and because I didn’t want this amp’s layout to be too close to the 6L6 Spalted Alder amplifier.

Now that the mechanical assembly is essentially complete, I’ll get to work on the internal wiring.

As always, questions and comments are welcome.