local components online

[Ben M]

Good morning all,

Is RS components alright to order good quality audio electronic components through?
I've started to order online but my cart isn't being filled properly. Frustrating.

Any other local online electronic places worth looking for?
It seems that there are plenty of suppliers but off shore.

I'm populating some Neve boards and I'm in need of resistors, caps, trimmer resistors, bridge rectifiers, etc...

Any help here is much appreciated.

cheers

[Gian]

I get nearly all of my stuff from rs.

Farnell is supposed to be good too.

[no-fi]

RS also frustrates me - Dunno why, but just the way their site and catalogue are laid out, I can never find anything easily, and it seems to me that what they do have that I want is often not stocked.

Farnell currently has a free (same day or next day) shipping on all web orders. And their prices on things you can easily ship from overseas seem to have come down a lot recently, too.. I think everyone got annoyed with them and started shopping other places, so now they are playing catch-up. though you have to watch for things that are out of stock in australia. stuff stocked overseas still comes, but takes about a week and a half... At least now you don't pay multiple shipping in that case...

Speaking of other places - Mouser has free shipping to Australia at the moment, on orders over AU$200 and the range and price of their stock isn't matched by anywhere here. you usually get their shipments in 2-3 days.

Also, go to soanar plus for anything you'd buy from jaycar. they're heaps cheaper for the same things (same part numbers even!) and normally deliver in a day or so. though their website is also pretty painful to browse and their search doesn't always seem to work right. but if you know exactly what you want it's really fast and simple.

[Ben M]

Great thanks J and G.

I agree with the clunky web ordering on RS. I'm finding I have to go to 2 to 4 places to get a small amount of parts for one project.

I'm on mouser now doing an order and they are pretty good with most parts.

I guess the trick is sourcing free shipping. Mouser wants about 40 -50$ for postage of each order.

Thanks again.

[astrovic]

I found www.futurlec.com.au has a pretty good selection of the kind of stuff that Mouser stocks but the usual Aussie suppliers (Jaycar, Altronics) didn't.

Plus they're shipping is bugger all...I've read they can be slow but I didn't find this at all recently.

[waitup]

I found www.futurlec.com.au has a pretty good selection of the kind of stuff that Mouser stocks but the usual Aussie suppliers (Jaycar, Altronics) didn't.

Plus they're shipping is bugger all...I've read they can be slow but I didn't find this at all recently.

As far as buying standard 1/4w resisters, regular caps and things, Futurlec has been excellent for me. Really cheap and postage has been fast for me every time.

[Mac]

Hey guys,
My secret weapon at the moment is active components. They are based in NZ but have offices here in Oz too. They carry the whole mouser catalogue plus some extra stuff as best I can figure out, so if you type in a mouser code you will find the product in NZD or AUD. Best of all they offer free freight on orders over $120 AUD.

Only issue is that on some products they have large minimum numbers, but for 10 up's etc, i usually look towards Jaycar or Rockby.

Between Active Components and Rockby Electronics, I usually have it all pretty much covered (mic pre's, 1176's, GSSL's, amps etc etc). Tubes and vintage knobs and VU's still come from ebay, or under grandads house of course!!

Awesome if you can do a whole build with components only coming from two or three sources - postage is a killer!

Mac....

[Ben M]

Ok, I spent about a week ordering for my Neve pre clones and finally decided on Active Components and Farnell and Futurlec. My BOM is not exactly detailed. So lots of good healthy Neve research.
Total of $17 postage for all components from all places. Phew!

One more order from Audio maintenance for Grayhill switch, push switches and Carnhill in/out transformers. That will be the big order.


My boards are PCB mounting for all components including xlr ins and outs (everything). The board length is 220mm. I've searched around different places but I'm still unable to find a 1 or 2 unit 19" 220mm deep rack case for them. Any ideas?

I could cut a 255mm case down to size (seems crazy) or panel mount the AC in, xlr in/out, on/off switch and hookup to the boards.
If I chassis mount these things what is the recommend wire gauge people would suggest for power/switches/audio. I was thinking 14 gauge for power?#!% And using some Mic cable I already have for the xlr in/out. Switches - wire gauge??
Are there any suppliers of small quantities of different wires? The companies I've ordered from have large reels only. I'm just looking for a couple of meters of different wire gauges to complete some DIY projects.
I've added some pics for any help.

Thanks in advance.

[rob]

Altronics rack case. 255mm deep. You could cut down the front edge of the side panels to give you your required depth. You'd then need to drill and tap 2 holes per side panel to have them mate to the front panel. Also you'd need to cut down the top and bottom lid and drill and countersink three holes.
Straight forward if you have the tools

It would be easier to to mount the pcb directly behind the front panel and just fly leads for audio and power back to the rear panel and mount XLRs on the rear panel.

my local electronics supplier has reels of hook up wire that you can just pull of metres of whatever you require. But i buy 200m of the 3 different gauges that i commonly use. I can't recall if Jaycar sell hookup cable by the metre....I can't recall the last time I was in a Jaycar store!!

18 awg is plenty for this job

[Ben M]

18awg, cool thanks Rob.

I think I might hook leads up rather than cut up a metal case. I'd need a metal press, etc.. That brings me to how to best cut in a Modutec meter into the front aluminium panel for my 1176 clone project. Sand blasting, laser cutting? Maybe I should go and find a good metal shop with all the goodies to do a couple of small jobs.

Also, The best it gets near my place for electronic stores is 40 mins to a Dick Smith. The store in question has closed it's electronic components department and is all about domestic consumer goods (tv's, computers...). Shame. I need somewhere close where I could do exactly that - buy a couple of meters of decent quality wire. I will try a bit more on the net. It's always good to stop by here first though for some words of wisdom. Cheers :)