So is a DIY a good idea for me? 5 channel HT

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Hi all I am a poor college student (nothing new here). Here is the situation. I am getting ready to get rid of my cheapass receiver and get a proper sound system. I want great 2 channel sound and good surround sound (for movies and maybe SACD in the future). Before I heard about gainclone I was leaning towards a Harmon/Kardon Sig2 amp or Marantz MA 500 monoblocks. Both for about $500 (on ebay) . This is a little more then I would like to spend, but I am willing to pay for quality. After seeing this site I am wondering if there are any DIY 5 channel amps that I should look into before going the commercial route. I am woundering if a DIY amp over christmass break is something that I should consiter.

I have been building little things for a long time, but I am not eletronics expert outside of putting togother ramsey kits.
 
It depends on what you're looking for. Are you looking to be able to build something yourself, or are trying to save some money? I dont think a GC will match a ready made amp for wattage, but, there's nothing like building it yourself.
You wont save any money building your own, and may end up spending more, depending on what you use. I've ordered 5 LM1875's for a HT amp, for the bedroom or PC, but I probably wouldnt even use the 3875's for HT, since they're only gonna have 50 watts at most unless they're bridged, so they're going into a 4 channel amp for Bi-amping.
 
2 is betther than 5?

Hi Mike,

You wont save any money building your own, and may end up spending more, depending on what you use.
I very much share this opinion.

Did you consider the possibility of "listening" in good old stereo (cooler name: 2.0 channels :) ) from your Dvd player and building or investing in much better equipment (2 loudspeakers instead of 5, etc.)? Sooner or later, this will make your wife happier as well. ;)

Ciao,
Massimo

P.S. http://www.tnt-audio.com/topics/realstereo_e.html
 
JCoffey said:
I've ordered 5 LM1875's for a HT amp, for the bedroom or PC, but I probably wouldnt even use the 3875's for HT, since they're only gonna have 50 watts at most unless they're bridged, so they're going into a 4 channel amp for Bi-amping.

Just a small point, which is not really that important but worth mentioning. In a 5.1 HT system you won't need much power for the surround channels.

For a mid size room 50W for R, L and center should enough. You would only need bridging for the subwoofer.


Carlos
 
If it will cut costs I have an old Sansi intergrated amp that I am using as just a phono-preamp in another system at the moment. If I can 'de-intergate' the amp and make a cheap phono preamp then I could use it for the surrounds (Not a prefered solution, but on that is an option). Also I have a powered sub. I have search, but I have not come up with a good breakdown of the cost of a good gainclone, if anyone has one I would apprecate it.
 
I agree that DIY usually costs more than buying the equivalent. When time is factored in, it is much worse. You are a student, so I expect that your time is better spent studying...

In another thread, I've outlined my system. I use active studio monitors and a sony 5.1 dvd/sacd player. Make a volume control and you're done.

:)ensen.

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=17864
 
I would suggest buying a surround receiver with preamp outputs and DIYing yourself a nice pair of amps for the front left and right channels. The surround receiver then acts as a surround decoder/preamp and 3-channel amplifier, with your DIY amps covering the crucial 2 front channels. You should be able to find a suitable receiver for fairly cheap (say, $150-$250 or so), and while the amplifiers in it probably suck and the DSP/DAC probably isn't the greatest, it's a good tradeoff overall, since it would be much more expensive to buy a proper surround decoder, preamp, and materials for another 3 channels of amplification. Plus, you get video switching and a remote control and all that nifty stuff.
 
You haven't said if you already have speakers or not so I've outline some options...

Sony DVP-NC685V has 5.1 analog output. Just add volume control, amplification and speakers.

Option 1
Try Cambridge Soundworks for powered systems that will plug into the back of the DVP.

Option 2
Make a 6-ch passive volume control using 6 pots as attenuators.
Use your sub-woofer
Get 5 Active monitors (suggest M-Audio BX5 and ESI nEAR-05 as cheap ones I've heard that aren't bad)

Option 3
Make a 6-ch passive volume control w/ 6 pots
Use your current sub
Get or build a 5-ch amp (suggest gainclone-type)
Get or build 5 speakers (suggest Yorkville YSM1 for mains)

Variations
a) Use your TV for centre channel and save one amp/speaker ch.
b) Use 3 stereo preamps of same model and get remote volume
c) Use full-range speakers for centre and surrounds with better quality mains so that stereo music sounds better without much compromise on HT.

:)ensen.
 
So, all you need is surround speakers and 4-ch of amp for the least expensive route, assuming you use the TV for centre and get the DVP-NC685V.

The big decision is how you're going to do volume control. If you want cheap and simple, then forego the remote and build a passive attenuator. If you want a remote, the best value (without DIY) is to use 3 similar pre-amps so the remote can operate all simultaneously. The most unified and expensive is a 5.1 preamp. I believe Rowland makes an analog only pre-amp for (only!) around $750 USD.

Surround speakers and amplification. The simplest and cheapest is the nEAR-05 which is a bit bright sounding but probably good enough for surround speakers. If you want better, the YSM1 is pretty good for it's price and can be had passive or active. I believe the ART brand in the USA is a license of the Yorkville. Of course, you can really spend some money...

If you build your surrounds, just about anything that will do 120Hz-18kHz +/-3dB will suffice and even worse is passable. Surround is about fooling the brain and not necessarily about quality, although, of course, higher fi is going to sound better. Also, you'll amps for these and the Sansui could do nicely here.

As for amps for your mains, start by using your old Sansui (if you aren't using them in the surrounds). I've heard a few of them and they are pretty good for what they are. I'm surprised you already aren't using them. Which series xx00 or x01? If you build, start with the GCs as they are quite good sounding for the money. Most "small" active monitors use a version of the LM chip.

The problem with using the Alesis modules (or any other monitor module) is that they are intended to wire to your HF and LF separately. There is a lot of surgery just to make them full-range and it would be easier to start from scratch. The Polks are crossed at a freq to match the enclosure. If that is not the same as the Alesis bi-amps, there could be big problems with non-flat response or worse, bad cabinet resonances.

Good luck.

:)ensen.
 
I checked and if the specs for the Kenwood are true, it will probably make a decent amplifier for the surround channels only.

I guess the decision is what to keep in the signal path, what to keep out and what to add?

What equipment (brand and model) do you have right now? The Sansui? How about your DVD player?

:)ensen.
 
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