• The move to the new server is done. There are some software and database maintenance updates in process. This has us passing the hat around to help out. We appreciate any donations. Seriously, even a dollar helps. The payment page may be found here - https://www.audiokarma.org/support.html

Inexpensive kit for a beginner?

The Reverend

The Reverend

Just terrible.
Hello, I am really itching to build something these days. I have the tools necessary and I understand some circuit theory (op amps, diodes, AC power, phasors, all first semester circuit analysis material) but in a somewhat abstract way. All of the construction I have done has been with breadboards and a large supply of all components (so frying an opamp or a diode was no big thing). I have a little bit of soldering experience, mainly from repairing broken guitar equipment and I one time, somehow someway, repaired a portable CD player. Anyway I just want some ideas for some kits that I can easily buy all the parts at one place, ideally as a kit with all the necessary components/enclosures/etc. that is useful, inexpensive, and fun to work with.

Thanks for any suggestions, I will look forward to replies!
 
Register to hide this ad
So Reverend
What Kind of a kit did you have in mind ?

Dave
 
Hi Reverend:

I saw your preamp thread over on the tube-audio part of AK. If you want to build a tube amplifier, take a look at the Spud - 2 to 3W based on the 6CL6 pentode, operating in triode mode. Cost of the complete kit is $285 including ground shipping.

Here is a link: http://www.hawthorneaudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=523

I have not built the kit, although I did order the top plate and schematic from Jerry.

Ashok
 
The new Dynakits are very nice... not sure how much real "assembly" there is to do, though. I suspect the PCB's are pre-populated, as they were on the original Dynaco kits.

It is really hard to recommend a kit without knowing what you want to build, Rev! :-(

Velleman has a zillion things, available from www.partsexpress.com and elsewhere (e.g., Jameco). Maybe something from them'll float your boat?

http://www.ramseyelectronics.com Has a bunch of... interesting... kits.

If you want to build a hi-fi kit, Velleman has a few things, but something like the www.bottlehead.com offerings might be more fun and interesting. I am also sort-of enamored of the cheap and cheerful little amp-on-a-board from S5 Electronics:
http://www.s5electronics.com/tube12.html (also available from www.tubesandmore.com)
There're also Ron Welborne's kits: www.welbornelabs.com
Iconoclastic designer Bruce Rosenblit has some very cool things at:
www.transcendentsound.com

For solid state: are AKSA kits still available? http://www.aksaonline.com/products_main.html

any of these on-track?
 
Slim pickens for kits now a days. When I was a kid there was Knight, Eico, Dynaco(sp) and a few others I have forgotten. There was always a build it yourself kit in the QST, amature publication.:tears:
 
If you want to keep and use what you build then I'd recommend:

dynakitparts.com or
bottlehead.com

I have done business with welbornelabs.com twice and been gravely disappointed in their service for both kits and parts. The amps are good but the service was LOUSY.
 
that is useful, inexpensive, and fun to work with.
Click to expand...
What is inexpensive?Solidstate is not expensive--Valves are a different story.


Dave
 
Solid state is not expensive--Valves are a different story.
Click to expand...

And what IS expensive, Grasshopper?

$24.80 (IC power amp)

320-212L.jpg


$44.95 (shortwave radio)

SR2C.gif


$150 (phono preamp)

bugle.jpg


$156 (as you see it)

dsc00012(13).jpg


$200 (sans enclosure)

6T9_Table_Small.gif


$369 (single-ended headphone amp/integrated stereo amp)

SEXbacksideweb.jpg


$450 (Dynakit ST-35 power amp)

51C.gif


$1239 (15 wpc stereo OTL)

TranscendentT16Front01web.jpg



Other viable targets include the new Juicy Music Tercel phono preamp kit and a wide range of kits from Jim Hagerman www.hagtech.com

No dearth of nice electronic kits even now...
 
Wow, thanks for all of the great suggestions. I am really waiting on the schematic from PakProtector and just want something to keep me busy for a while. I was thinking about building a headphone amp, like a CMoy just to start off with inexpensively. I would like to build a tube headphone amp or phono stage at some point.

As far as price range goes, I am a college student so I definitely have to keep costs down. I am a physics major and will likely end up as an engineer at some point, so convincing my parents that learning a good skill like circuit construction and design principles is not out of the question. In other words, I could ask my parents for money, but I hate to do it, even though they are very generous. Anyway I would like to build something like the Foreplay or Bottlehead phono amp but I just can't get the cash for it right now.

I don't really care if it is solid state or tubes at this point, I just want to have a little bit of fun and learn some nitty gritty details about design/construction before I dive into a project like PakProtectors preamp. Thanks for suggestions!

Colin
 
You can build a very cute (and very decent sounding) little tube headphone amp for about $150, thanks to Pete Millet. Add a source selector switch on the input, and it is a more than serviceable preamp. I used one as a preamp with my Bottlehead Paramours for about a year.

The original version is rat cheer:
http://www.pmillett.com/hybrid_head.htm
http://www.pmillett.com/file_downloads/ax_hybrid.pdf

hybrid_head.JPG


Best of all, it uses low-voltage, space charge tubes and runs off a 30V wall wart -- no pesky high voltage to kill you :-)

TX2andbottlehead.jpg

realhifiglows.jpg
 
One of the amps pictured above is the K-502, a stereo 8 w/ch tube amp.

http://www.tubesandmore.com/scripts.../elevclients/cemirror/ELEVATOR.FXP?item=K-502

One of my friends' son (about 16) build one of these and did a great job. This was his first kit of any sort.

attachment.php


attachment.php


attachment.php


attachment.php


Not bad for a first time!

Who has the link for the GainClone amps?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gainclone

http://diyaudioprojects.com/Chip/LM3886_CA/LM3886_CA.htm

Edit to add: Here's the GainClone url http://www.chipamp.com/

Also, lots of kits here, solid state, and a few tube kits:

http://store.qkits.com/category.cfm/AUDIO

http://www.audiosector.com/

http://www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/ssps1_e.html

http://www.marchandelec.com/pm21.html
 
Wow, I have this MP3 player! (the silver and blue brick-like thing in the lower part of the pic)

6T9_Table_Small.gif


I'm actually considering a tube pre-amp kit myself, once I get a mate to my Magnavox power amp and can run it in stereo. I'll check into the suggestions made here. Gotta love finding info I wasn't specifically looking for :)
 
Regarding these low wattage tube amps:

I know people say that tube watts are "louder" which I know is not completely true (a watt is a watt) and I know it all has to do with the acceptable amount of distortion in the signal and etc. But how about my speakers? They are wanting between 20-100 watts, will I damage them by clipping an 8 watt power amp? I have them hooked up to a 105 wpc solid state amp right now. How much of a volume loss would I experience by using an 8 wpc tube amp? Also, I hear bass response is somewhat weak with tube amps, hence my desire to use just a tube preamp and a solid state power amp. Any response to this?

Thanks,

Colin

BTW, thanks for those links, I will keep them in my bookmarks.
 
Guys who build the low wattage tube amps generally use them with very efficient horn type speakers. Those speakers will knock you down with 1-2 watts, or at least give you very nice "live" audio levels.

At Audio Round Table there is even a "High Efficiency" forum for such speaker builders.

BTW, it is not true that big speakers require a lot of power. In fact, just the opposite. It is the small speakers that are power hungry.

Here is a picture of Jaymanaa's rear loaded horns powered by just a few watts of tube power--Jay tells me 5 watts per channel. They are not quite finished, no grill, not yet stained, but you get the drift:

attachment.php
 

Attachments

  • 21 new system ear.jpg
    21 new system ear.jpg
    39 KB · Views: 173
The amp power question is hard to answer. The good news is that you're quite unlikely to damage speakers with a tube amp, compared to a solid state amp. Tube amps tend to compress long before hard clipping, and are (IMO) much less likely to generate the high-power, high frequency chaff that an SS amp driven to nonlinearity will -- that's the stuff that (literally) smokes tweeters.

I listen to vintage AR acoustic suspension speakers with a ca. 12 wpc push-pull EL84 tube amp (Magnavox console hi-fi amp) in the basement regularly. The AR's are EXTREMELY inefficient; no one would EVER recommend using such an amp with them... but for the kind of music I like (mostly acoustic: solo and small group) at the level I like and relatively close field, they are entirely satisfactory. YMMV.

The bass extension/quality thing is hard to say. The S5 amp isn't anything like world-class in terms of either parameter -- but it's not embarassing, either. There's a pretty good review of it available from audioXpress magazine.
http://www.audioxpress.com/reviews/media/1102hansen2145.pdf

Say... you should get a subscription to audioXpress!! www.audioXpress.com
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom