gainclone amp to drive B&W 802

[dagoose]

Hi all,

This is my first post on this forum, i have been sniffing around for some time now and thought it was time to register and start being a part of it.

First post is a question which i couldn't really find:

I'm using B&W 802 for mastering purposes with a denon pma300v amp that is ok but not good enough, it lacks power to drive the 802's and the speakers deserve a better amp anyway.
I was checking out some big Rotel amps and hoped to find a good Bryston amp but the rotel's are not what i'm looking for and the brystons are to expensive or are gone before i can even contact the seller.

I'm really into DIY stuff, actually, i have done a LOT of hi-end studio stuff (some pics below) so i thought it might be interesting to do my own amp
I heard and read really good things about the gainclone amps so i'm thinking of doing a dual mono (2 in one case with 2 trafo's) gainclone.
The only thing is that i need some power so i was thinking of doing a 2 or 3 parallel version of the amp but couldn't find a real solution here so that is my question; what is a really good version of the gain clone to get like 150watt per channel?
What 'chip' should i use to get a clean sounding amp without colouring the sound (to much)
Getting parts is not that hard for me since i have my own company and so i can get parts from RS and know my way around online partshops.

Anyone?

Thanks!
Jeffrey

[Netlist]

I 'think' you want a big classA amp that can deliver lots of current..
Welcome Jeffrey.

/Hugo

[miguel2]

A gainclone is fun.... but that´s it!

[fizzard]

I wouldn't waste time with Class A. A Bryston works quite well with B&Ws in my experience.

[dagoose]

i know a bryston is a good thing to have but i know it's possible to build something like that myself (and is more fun, custom and cheaper)
Is there anything around that might be something like a bryston clone? I saw some groupbuys for krell stuff, sounds interesting as well.
Money is not a real big issue and building it either..
I'm p retty much experienced in DIY stuff, only thing is that i'm new to building amps and so i'm not familiar what is around.

BTW, the promissed pics can be found here: studio engineer introducing himself

[jaycee]

Personally i'd say Gainclones are only any use for domestic listening as you can only get about 50W into 8 ohms out of them before distortion rises.

Perhaps look at building the Leach Amp. Even better still if you can get the boards that Jens Rasmussen made with the new output transistors.

Note that DIY wont neccesarily be cheaper - the most expensive parts are case, heatsink and transformer unless you can aquire something used!

[dagoose]

Originally posted by jaycee
Personally i'd say Gainclones are only any use for domestic listening as you can only get about 50W into 8 ohms out of them before distortion rises.

Perhaps look at building the Leach Amp. Even better still if you can get the boards that Jens Rasmussen made with the new output transistors.

Note that DIY wont neccesarily be cheaper - the most expensive parts are case, heatsink and transformer unless you can aquire something used!

OK, so no gain clone.. allready decided that.
What about the leach amp? have to do a serach on that one then..
And yep, DIY can be about the same price as something you bought in the shop but the quality is better, i simply know because a lot of studio equipment companys just use cheaper parts and leave feedback caps etc out to build it even cheaper (behringer for example).
What is also like about DIYing is the fact that you decide what it's gonna look like and searching and finding the right parts in the right places for less is cool.

My latest build is a fully expanded SSL compressor, better then the real thing, which is about 3000 euro, my build is the same and more for about 1000 euro.
For those who have seen the GSSL clone before, this one is totally different as you might have seen on the picture


But to go on topic again in my own topic: a leach amp might be a good idea to do? Or is there something else i can take a look at?
A need an amp that has about 2x150watt rms and is transparent sounding, no coloring or warming the sound.

[Puffin]

The 802's are said to be 90db. 100 watts should do it. Build a bridged GC.

[Dr.EM]

The Symasym AAK model (higher power) might be a good choice:

Symasym 5.3 "AAK model" builder's thread

[khundude]

How about a Hypex UcD? You would do well to biamp too. UcD180 would be great and deliver enough power to them. If you decide that 100w is not enough, build the UcD400, or better would be 4 UcD180 and biamp.