Any ideas what I should start reading in to. Just want to build a pre designed one. Info seems really scattered, and I don’t know where to look. Does that guy from mayflower use this fourm.
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I was in a simular situation .........a long time ago like a decade.
Ramsey electronics used to sell that stuff. I was more into building my own linier amp and Ham Radio.
Heathkit used to sell radio kits and even hobby computer stuff but they went under 30 or 40 years ago.
Radio shack had some great beginner books and stuff and still might have kits etc. Hobby electronics have taken a beating the past 20 years.
I am kinda going by memory. Radio Shack used to have all the diodes capacitors and whatnot to build one and still may have it.
Still woundering what happened to newsgroups, thats where I first got into the hobby.
Tube or solid state?
I can help you put together a tube amp, but I do not play around with solid state.
I simply do not have the time or the patience to solder together a shit ton of parts to make a discrete circuit and opamps suck major wang.
Yeah, I remember heading in to radio shack not to long ago and it seems like they still stock a lot of stuff. If not them, I'm sure alot of the things I'd need would be available on the net. Just a pain in the ass if I cook things, because of the delay period.
I was thinking solid state. Basically wanted to build an amp around the ideas of the mayflower O2. But for speakers. No fancy bs, just a volume knob and some outputs, no colouring of the audio.
But in saying that a tube amp would be cool maybe just not my main priority.
Mmmmmkay.
Well lets start off with the basics.
What tools do you have? Do you have a soldering iron, solder, and do you know how to read a circuit diagram?
There are alot of schematics of amplifiers online. Not all are created equally, however. Out of all the stuff I've looked up and built over the years, maybe 10% ended as failures or needed some tweaking to get it right. Just a quick look and I found a simple solid-state amp, only 30 watts http://diyaudioprojects.com/Solid/Jean-Hiraga-Class-A-Amplifier/ ,but there is a tremendous amount online. Try searching for "stereo amplifier schematics". I've had good sucess ordering electronics parts from Jameco Electronics if you are looking for good prices. If you are looking for great customer service and knowlegable staff, Circuit Specialists in Mesa, AZ is unbeatable. Be prepared to spend alot more money to make an amp than it would take to buy something pre-made if this is your first go. On the other hand, nothing beats a project you made yourself. Link to Mayflower o2 schematic http://cdn.head-fi.org/a/a1/a170f550_nwavguyo2schematic30aug113.png
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I have a temp controlled soldering iron, solder and multimeter its just a cheap $40 one. I have a basic idea of reading schematics. When I was younger I built a radio transmitter, light activated switches and a few other simple things.
I suppose what I really want to know is there any way to tell the quality of what you building before its built. Or info to point me in the right direction of an low impedance non coloured audio amp.
Just simply adding solid state amp to my search seems to have given me a bunch more info. Maybe I'll try building that headphone amp first
how big and for what? That really matters.
Well.....no. And I would not worry about it too much either.
Impedance is not going to matter either. The design will give you a set impedance of 4, 8, or 16 ohms. Its not like headphone amps where it can just vary wildly across the board.
Also forget about color and accuracy. Just get it out of your head. It does not mean diddly shit for headphones, and it means absolutely nothing for speakers either.
I know I am gonna get flamed for this, but the o2 amp sounds like shit. It sounds flat, lifeless, and boring. There are plenty of solid state amps that I and many others like FAR more than the o2 amp.
So just completely forget NWAVguy ever existed because otherwise you will be fighting yourself on some of these amps.
I would research the hiraga amp very carefully. Make sure you come up with a full parts list before buying anything.
Its gonna be quite expensive.
Was maybe thinking 200watt per channel. i have 240 which is 120 per channel but it gets hot when it gets cranked.
Hmm nwavguys got a prety convincing article. I've been reading alot of info for now any way. But if anyone has heard of or has built an amp similar to what I have described, I'd like to see some schematics or anything. I'd still like to go for the non coloured. Or just other great designs I'd like to hear about it. I'll look in to that amp you talked about
hit up benjamin hinz of dwarfcraft devices, he's a cool dude and has built amps before.
Oh please for the love of god do not get sucked into power ratings.
I have pretty efficient speakers, and I am using about 2 watts per channel. At max volume my ears will bleed and the house will shake.
The catch is that I am using a high current amplifier rather than a high voltage one. But what ever.
What speakers do you have?
Ok I didn't realize this was a thing. Just assumed the power rating was a measure of the loudness and size room it could fill. Speakers are like 100w 8ohm
That is how much power they can handle without blowing up.
Unless otherwise specified that is NOT a recommendation of how much power you need to push.
Who makes the speakers and what is the model number
He is an amp builder. He is not an amp designer.
But this ought to be interesting. Lets see what he says.
yeah thats what im hoping for
You could also start out with a CMOY. It is a very simple headphone amp design that will give you a great understanding of some of the basics of amp design. You can buy the parts for cheap, and start working almost right away in something that you will constantly play around, and tweak with.
The link I provided pretty much gives you all the info you could ask for on the subject.
I think @WolfStrong is correct, I would probably build something first (any kind of soldering project) just to refresh your memory. Anything worth building is worth be built correctly the first time. Now I don't do anything with speakers, and I doubt there's an "O2" for speakers. I could sit here and google all day something up for you, but you can do the same. (hopefully that doesn't come off like I'm trying to be an ass) but just doing research on google will get you far. http://www.diyaudio.com/ is also a fantastic website for this kind of stuff as well.
Good luck!
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You do by no means need a 100w amplifier, that's just what the speakers you have are rated for.
Also unless you're experienced stay as far away from DIY class A and tube amplifiers, both are expensive and the latter one happy to kill you with the insane voltages inside.
What speakers are you using, and what amplifier are you currently running?
Also as stated above, DIYaudio is a pretty good site for that stuff obviously.