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DIY Amplifiers - What have you built and is it a keeper?


Curious_George

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4 hours ago, henry4841 said:

You should try one of the TPA3255 boards one can buy on ebay and build a linear supply for it. I can almost guarantee you will be pleasantly surprised. I have two of them with linear supplies. One an original Texas Instrument board and one from China bought on Ebay. Both sound extremely good and equal. Best bass of all my amps with great vocals and soundstage.   

 

I'll second that, with reservations. I had two old audiophile amps that weren't worth refurbishing, but that had very healthy power transformers. So I removed all of the original audio circuitry and substituted TPA3255 boards from 3E Audio. Outstanding bass amps. Not so outstanding above the bass range, but still acceptable.

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On 8/30/2021 at 2:42 PM, Curious_George said:

 

What is your budget? Do you want analog or class D? Power output?

Unfortunately I'm on a very tight budget so under $300. I'm looking to power Heresy/H-700's and leaning towards tubes. I remember when I was younger and in a band the sound from the tube amps was so much warmer with more soul. But I am just getting started so willing to take advice.

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Just buy a used Crown D-75 (a) for  half your budget...you'd be surprised how good it sounds with the Klipsch stuff.  I bought a couple just to get my toes wet with bi-amping/dsp and they surprised me with the quality of sound they enable from my H-II's and LaScalas. 

 

The L & R Gain controls and the balanced inputs are a bonus IMO.

 

You may want to save a bit more for a decent tube combo.

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  • 1 month later...

I built some Icepower amps...way overkill in power, but not too expensive and sound great for the money. The amp cases are all Chinese ebay cases. The 2 big ones are Krell ksa clone cases.fbd0cee321e7fd40d23d6ffbb475d469.jpg5a889c8df863cea9e7fcd6551e1312c8.jpgd0174040c06ff7708dd7f52c571ced05.jpg176f4cf54c6c3b54f420b3ce9eed1b1a.jpg

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  • 3 months later...

MyRef FE LM3886 based chip amp

image.png.b194978f630d7781f56007d21ace6090.pngimage.png.936446152443d0b9086c84bd9d66b87e.png

LM4780 based integrated chip amp-audio sector boards.

image.png.5dc20736e41370f4a5c467d6b2cb6144.pngimage.png.8a5ea0d21640f7016ee69d74cd1b561b.pngimage.png.aa27386bc4ddd0b6cb4fa54cc99f36ef.png

KT88 SET - parks audio clementine board

image.thumb.png.13cf13ac97b5ce2458aa106bac5f0191.pngimage.png.d5ba5cedaa5bd3b0a0d0cc7aa1b5cc90.png

 

These are the amplifiers I have built over the last ten years. It blows mind how quickly that time went by. The first amp is actually the second shown. It is the LM4780 based audio sector amp. this is basically 2 LM3886 in one package. This was when I thought I needed lots of power. The second was the MyRef type amp. This is a great amp and I would definitely like to build another some day. It had noise issues that I could not resolve. The case is currently in process of becoming an F5 (or at least has been in process for 5 or more years!). The third is a KT88 clementine SET. This has been my daily driver for several years. This is a fantastic amp that powered my La Scala clones with ease and now powers the dual heil wave guide on top of the Scala clone bins. I would love to build many other versions of this amp but the boards are out of print. Someday I will build point to point. I have a 300B project that is also half done sitting on my desk. My original goal was to build a nice DIY hifi item at least every year. Seeing how long the KT88s have been in use, I may need to consider replacing them at some point. 

 

 

 

 

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