Do-it-yourself- Tube Amps?

[eknuds01]

This company had some of their amps on display at the 2008 RMAF. What do you guys think? Their website has a sample manual (assembly instructions). I am not the greatest with a soldering iron, but they do a nice job at walking you through the process.

Dave and I checked out their gear and their amps are very, very nice looking.

http://www.audionotekits.com/

Thoughts? Anyone tried this before? Tube amps are really pricy (though some of the used ones aren't out of reach for me). Still, as a kid I was really into RC cars and built and raced off-road cars and trucks, dragsters, cars for road coarses, you name it.

Erik

 

[Bernard]

Not enough power to drive Logans.

 

[Beakman]

Here's my thoughts. Though I may be way off base but after going through some DIY magazines it looks like that outfit is charging about 3 grand for some very good instructions.

 

[twich54]

You know Erik my memory is somewhat vague on that particular vendor ????

As much as I'd like to takle a DIY project I have little faith in my soldering skills.

 

[eknuds01]

Wow, don't hold back on me, Beakman.



I am sure it's possible to build an amp with the right instructions on your own (of course, I can't read a wiring diagram to save my life).

Then you still need to build the case, too. That isn't terribly expensive, but I don't have the tools or materials.

It was just an idea, and as Bernard pointed out...I am not sure if these amps provide enough juice.

 

[eknuds01]

You know Erik my memory is somewhat vague on that particular vendor ????

As much as I'd like to takle a DIY project I have little faith in my soldering skills.

http://www.martinloganowners.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7425&highlight=Erik+RMAF&page=2

Check out post 23. They had some of the amps on the floor. You had the same comment when we looked at the amps...we both questioned our assembly/soldering skills!

 

[twich54]

They had some of the amps on the fl...OL ! So are you thinking about a project ???

 

[jtwrace]

Then you still need to build the case, too.

If I only knew someone that was a circuit designer that need a case designed and built...

 

[risabet]

This company had some of their amps on display at the 2008 RMAF. What do you guys think? Their website has a sample manual (assembly instructions). I am not the greatest with a soldering iron, but they do a nice job at walking you through the process.

Dave and I checked out their gear and their amps are very, very nice looking.

http://www.audionotekits.com/

Thoughts? Anyone tried this before? Tube amps are really pricy (though some of the used ones aren't out of reach for me). Still, as a kid I was really into RC cars and built and raced off-road cars and trucks, dragsters, cars for road coarses, you name it.

Erik

Ask this question at the AA AudioNote kits forum @ http://www.audioasylum.com/forums/audionotekits/bbs.html
AudioNote has two arms, AN UK and AN Japan. I think the kits are the UK branch. Very passionate owners of AN gear will answer any questions you have.

 

[Tj Bassi]

When you look at the amps in post #23, realize that the person(s) that built them probably had quite a bit of experience building the same/similar units and arrived at that method of tidy wiring over time. Soldering is easy. Re-soldering and moving wires around isnt much so. And what do you do if its all together and it doesnt work? Poking around inside a tube circuit has to be done with some caution; most tubes have a few hundred volts on them.....makes for a painful boo-boo. My DIY Eimac 304TL amps have >1400 volts on the plate. That could kill you.

I'm all for DIY projects, just of the opinion that most tube circuits are best tackled with some experience.

Tj

 

[User211]

AN gear is fine if you want to ditch your Logans. The as yet to be released 70 Watter shows hope for some Logan models.

DIY AN gear plugged into the AN speakers can sound very good indeed. AN copied the old Snell Type J etc, which can sound amazing. I heard it with a Voyd/Helius Orion/Audionote IO and Audio Innovations 2A3 based monos years ago and was gobsmacked.

But the sound is a world apart from MLsVille, so to speak. In another Galaxy, in fact!

 

[eknuds01]

Oh yeah, now I remember....had I started drinking already by then ?? LOL !

So are you thinking about a project ???

It was just an idea...the notion of building an amp seems appealing.

 

[eknuds01]

When you look at the amps in post #23, realize that the person(s) that built them probably had quite a bit of experience building the same/similar units and arrived at that method of tidy wiring over time. Soldering is easy. Re-soldering and moving wires around isnt much so. And what do you do if its all together and it doesnt work? Poking around inside a tube circuit has to be done with some caution; most tubes have a few hundred volts on them.....makes for a painful boo-boo. My DIY Eimac 304TL amps have >1400 volts on the plate. That could kill you.

I'm all for DIY projects, just of the opinion that most tube circuits are best tackled with some experience.

Tj

That's certainly true. I know next to nothing about troubleshooting this sort of project. I don't even have a voltmeter!

Hmmm...I need to meet a group of tube amp building enthusiasts in my area that can mentor me.

 

[eknuds01]

If I only knew someone that was a circuit designer that need a case designed and built...

heh

I'll keep you in mind if/when I need that case.

 

[Tj Bassi]

That's certainly true. I know next to nothing about troubleshooting this sort of project. I don't even have a voltmeter!

Hmmm...I need to meet a group of tube amp building enthusiasts in my area that can mentor me.

How about getting your feet wet with something like a preamp kit or tube phono stage? Power amplifiers have lotsa expensive parts....mistakes can be costly.

Check out the Bottlehead site. Nice kits and lots of user support, including some user's DIY pages that document the complete assembly.

Tj

 

[eknuds01]

That's certainly a good idea. From what I've seen the tube pre-amps are cheaper and perhaps easier to build.

I already have a tube pre-amp, but building another sounds interesting.

Erik

 

[Shub]

Hi There

Hello --

I am currently building a tube amp kit based on the old Dynaco kits - but with an upgraded driver board. I actually corresponded with a fellow ML enthusiast who built one of these to drive his CLS's -- he seemed very happy with it!

I used to do the RC car thing too when I was a teenager and that kind of prompted me to do this kit. If you have any experience with a soldering iron, you should be fine! I am about 80% done with my kit and had a blast putting it together!

Check out this link:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Dynaco-"ST-120"...ItemQQimsxZ20090116?IMSfp=TL090116119002r3647


http://www.tubes4hifi.com/bob.htm

Pics of a build:

http://picasaweb.google.com/arnoldm...DesignedByBobLatinoAssembledByArnoldMatthews#



The seller, Bob Latino, was great to work with. Responds to questions in a timely manner - very helpful!

He has two - ST-70 35WPC & ST-120 60WPC. I got the ST-120 and if 60WPC ends up being not enough power, I am gonna run mono and get a second one -- then it should be over 100WPC each in mono.

Hope this was useful.

Shu

 

[Shub]

Just noticed you are in MD -- did you go to Mimi's World & Off-Road Headquarters to race RC cars??

 

[Wardsweb]

I've been into IDY for years. Audionote is nice stuff and like you noticed, a bit pricey. The one thing to consider is power. While SET amps are sweet, you really need a Push-Pull to get power needed for electrostats. I would say 55 watts is a minimum and really double that would be better.

Places like Bottlehead.com can you get started with point to point wiring kits. There are others that use PCB's, so easy as plug in the part and solder.

Here is a pic of a 2A3 stereo SET amp I built from scratch. It uses one chassis for power and one for the amp. Your mileage may vary.