why bother with DIY ! ?

[Bigun]

2 X 100 Watt 6 Ohm Class D Audio Amplifier Board - TDA7498 100W Stereo Power Amp | eBay


2 X 100 Watt 6 Ohm Class D Audio Amplifier Board - TDA7498 100W Stereo Power Amp for US9.99

There are plenty of other examples out there. It seems to be an attractive option of you were putting together a multi-channel amp.

Are these kinds of things complete crap or are they actually pretty decent ?

[Soldermizer]

I speak as someone who has little DIY experience, other than an interest in reading about projects. I think the main answer to your question is that people like the challenge of turning a bag full of tiny parts into a working project, or at the higher level, of building something original of their own design. Other than those, you probably can NOT build something cheaper than buying a ready-made unit. I did a spot survey (Ebay) and I think you CAN buy a "DIY" (modules) that would be cheaper than my "benchmark" Behringer iNuke NU3000 (~$300) but you of course must find a power supply, chassis, etc. For the rest of us (me!) I am content to just take the fan out of the NU3000 and get a nice quiet Class D amp Did I mention a warranty, at least until you remove the fan! Thank God (if she exists?) for cheap Chinese electronics (+ ebay and similar marketing) ... for those of us who are not to be trusted with a soldering iron ... for the rest of you, there is authentic DIY!

[Baldin]

If you wan't to build and especially construct yourself, the reason for sure shouldn't be to save money.

I myself like the challenge and I think if you are good, working long and hard at it ... and a bit luckey, you can end up with something which is better than what you can actually buy.

Getting a board and PSU off eBay, I would think could save you some money compared to get an off the shelfe HiFi/Surrounf unit giving the same performance. On the other hand don't thinkall you can find on eBay is pure gold .... think a lot of stuff don't seem to be well engineered, and it seems that some folks will get a schematic off the net and start producing something they don't really understand .... especially when we talk things like class-d which is very much harder to get to working really good compared to e.g. Class-AB

So do it becourse you feel like it, and think it is fun

[KatieandDad]

We do DIY because we like to do it.

[KatieandDad]

Ask your wife why she likes to knit jumpers. You can buy jumpers for less than the cost of the wool.

A hobby is just that, a hobby - something to do in your spare time.

I've never been bitten by the DIY speaker bug as I consider aesthetics to be important, others will disagree. I build amplifiers because I can achieve what I want to hear at a fraction of the cost of the commercial item. I'm talking about Pass Class A amps which are prohibitively expensive to buy but easy to DIY. At the lower end of the scale the tables are turned and you are paying for the pleasure of creating your own masterpiece.

[Jack Caldwell]

Originally Posted by Bigun

2 X 100 Watt 6 Ohm Class D Audio Amplifier Board - TDA7498 100W Stereo Power Amp | eBay


2 X 100 Watt 6 Ohm Class D Audio Amplifier Board - TDA7498 100W Stereo Power Amp for US9.99

There are plenty of other examples out there. It seems to be an attractive option of you were putting together a multi-channel amp.

Are these kinds of things complete crap or are they actually pretty decent ?

Definitely not crap, at least for sonics. I have not tested these specific boards, but I have tested the Tripath versions made by the same vendor, and they actually sound very, very good even by audiophile standards. Good candidates for mods! But their Tripath versions run very hot for some reason, while competing products from HifiMeDiy do not. You should definitely check the HiFiMeDIY stuff also.

But at $9.99 + $12 shipping.... man, if these things are even half as good as the tripath versions, that's a heckofabargain!

I especially like the HiFiMeDIY amps that can be driven with +24V, allows for use with rechargeable batteries, and then they really sing.

Once i got these going, I ended up selling off all my tube amps. They are that good. I kid you not.

[farley]

I used one of those Sure amplifier boards in a project and, in my opinion, it works great. If I remember correctly it is one of their class D models listed at 15 Watts / channel, no fan.

As far as "why diy?" - in my case I was presented with a predicament caused by my wife's choice of entertainment center furniture. All the cubby holes are too small for conventional gear so I rolled my own.

[Redshift187]

You are never likely to save money with DIY audio. That said, I pretty much make everything from scratch I use for audio now. USB DAC, mic pre-amp, power amp, headphone amp. I bought a LP-2020A+, but then I replaced pretty much every through-hole part and removed the entire op-amp section. I mostly bought it for the board and the case.

If I make it it is fun, but it is also *exactly* the way I want it.

[nigelwright7557]

There is nothing like the feeling of achievement when building an amplifier from the components and it works first time.

Then there is the feeling of achievement when it doesn't work first time and you work out why !

[prezden]

Totally agree with Nigel
So far I have 4 working amps built from inexpensive kits and 3 that I screwed up. Of the working amps the most satisfying are the ones that I modified (thank to the help of many of you). Even the ones that don't work are satisfying in their own way and I learn something new every time.