mondialfan
Well-Known Member
Thought I'd share some pictures of my newest toy. This afternoon I finished up my latest DIY Class A amplifier. I have named it the Frankenamp not only because it uses parts from other amplifiers, but also because its a massive slab of an amp at 65 lbs. I completed the chassis about a year ago at the same time I finished my Aleph Mono cases. The heatsinks and faceplate were anodized by Anodics in Ft Worth. The upper and lower panels I had professionally powdercoated in a fine textured black finish at Specialized Performance Coating in Arlington. In case you AK'ers didn't know it, Specialized Performance Coating is owned by Michael [a.k.a TOMLINMGT]. The handles are NOS for a Hafler XL600, I purchased them off of the bay many years ago.
Anyway, I wasn't sure a year ago what I wanted to build in this case. I finally decided to build up a Nelson Pass Class A push-pull amplifier and I wanted something different than the norm. This amp is based on an Adcom 5400, just a massively beefed up version of it. The 5400 is a Nelson Pass design from the early 90's. For this project I bought a defunct Adcom 5400 off of the bay and used the channel boards in my build up of this amplifier. The separate output driver boards I used were spares from a project I started over 10 years ago.
In this amplifier the 1KVA main transformer is shared by both channels, but each channel has its own dedicated output stage CRC power supply board with 66kuF per channel. The circuit front ends have dedicated L & R 25VA transformers and CRC supply boards. The output stage is running at about 35VDC and the front end has 55VDC being fed to it to allow the full +/- 35 volt swing at the output if needed. Currently I have it set up for 50 WPC Class A which I doubt I would ever exceed. My killawatt meter shows it drawing just under 300W from the wall at idle.
My initial impressions are extremely good. This amplifier is a lot more forward than the Aleph's which are extremely laid back. I have not had a chance to try it on the Vandersteen's yet, but I'm thinking it may be a better match for them than my Aleph's were. This is based on what I'm hearing now through my AR's.
I included one family picture showing the aleph mono's next to the new Frankenamp.
Anyway, I wasn't sure a year ago what I wanted to build in this case. I finally decided to build up a Nelson Pass Class A push-pull amplifier and I wanted something different than the norm. This amp is based on an Adcom 5400, just a massively beefed up version of it. The 5400 is a Nelson Pass design from the early 90's. For this project I bought a defunct Adcom 5400 off of the bay and used the channel boards in my build up of this amplifier. The separate output driver boards I used were spares from a project I started over 10 years ago.
In this amplifier the 1KVA main transformer is shared by both channels, but each channel has its own dedicated output stage CRC power supply board with 66kuF per channel. The circuit front ends have dedicated L & R 25VA transformers and CRC supply boards. The output stage is running at about 35VDC and the front end has 55VDC being fed to it to allow the full +/- 35 volt swing at the output if needed. Currently I have it set up for 50 WPC Class A which I doubt I would ever exceed. My killawatt meter shows it drawing just under 300W from the wall at idle.
My initial impressions are extremely good. This amplifier is a lot more forward than the Aleph's which are extremely laid back. I have not had a chance to try it on the Vandersteen's yet, but I'm thinking it may be a better match for them than my Aleph's were. This is based on what I'm hearing now through my AR's.
I included one family picture showing the aleph mono's next to the new Frankenamp.
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