What diy amp can you build for 500 euro?

[NurEinTier]

Hi there,

Have been looking at some commercial amps.
The onkyo A-9555 (http://www.eu.onkyo.com/products/product_en_781919.html) looks interesting.

But perhaps diy is also an option.
Looking for a stereo amp, >60w@8ohm continious with volume control.
Source will be a pc.
Only 1 set of rca and 1 set of speakers is needed.
No need for source selector, bass, trebble, loudness etc.
Budget is 500 euro.

So is there something I can build for that kind of money?


It is not my intention to flame or troll in any way.

[theAnonymous1]

Pick your poison.......

www.hypex.nl
www.coldamp.com
www.newclassd.com
www.41hz.com

[NurEinTier]

Thanks for your reaction theAnonymous1.

Do I understand correctly I will need 2 amplifier-modules and 1 power supply?

[theAnonymous1]

It depends; coldamp, hypex, and newclassd are mono modules, but most of the kits from 41hz.com are stereo.

You CAN use one supply for both channels usually, but most audiophiles would prefer separate supplies. I suggest a coldamp SPS80 or SPS30 switching supply. The SPS80 is on my wish list.

[NurEinTier]

All clear.
Sorry to have bothered you with these amateur questions.
It's just that most of the posts here are way over the top for newbies.
Thank you very much for helping a n00b out.

[iwf]

I'm a newbie and I built a 2 channel amp based on Hypex amps.

all you need is a couple of the UcD 180St amps, a HG power supply and a transformer. I bought my transformer here in the UK for aorund £30. The rest cost around 300e direct from Hypex themselves. a few bits of wire and a case and that's it

a day after the bits arrived I had the amp working.

very very easy.

I'm now waiting on their new AD amps before building the other 3 channels for my 5 channel amp.

you'll get lots of support around these parts.

[FastEddy]

"Truth is one, paths are many ..." - The Dalai Lama

Multiple amp modules from a single supply, if its a good one ... or multiple supplies if you really really need that CMRR and isolation between several channels in the same box ... (CMRR = common mode rejection ratio = a measure of the speration between signal paths ... greater than 100 db (relative) is good, more is better.)

Re the Onkyo above: " ... OnkyoÕs exclusive Vector Linear (VL) Digital technology to remove any spike noise before it introduces errors into the inversion timing ... " indicates they may have two digital switching supplies with feedback coming from the output stage of the (probably class-d) amp sections = pretty cool and hard to duplicate as a DIY amp. That Onkyo also hase a whole lot of other features, like pre-amps and "Discrete phono equalizer circuitry ..." that will be likewise, hard to duplicate in a DIY project. (If they had a nice pre-amp, without the amp stages, you could add your DIY Class-D amps to it ... )

[Pierre]

all you need is a couple of the UcD 180St amps, a HG power supply and a transformer. I bought my transformer here in the UK for aorund £30. The rest cost around 300e direct from Hypex themselves. a few bits of wire and a case and that's it

For 360 euro aprox you can get 2 BP4078 modules (2 x 400W) plus a 800W switching power supply at coldamp. I bought it as a "pa/subwoofer pack" and this way you will get this price. I have this setup and I won't use a linear PSU again.

If you "only" need 200W or so, you can purchase a "hifi pack", comprising 2 BP4078 + 1 SPS30 (400W switching psu) for slightly less. Check http://www.coldamp.com/opencms/openc...e/price_lists/ for the prices, I don't remember them well.

In both cases, you don't need _anything_ more so you don't need to spend more money on toroidal transformers, soft start circuit, etc.

All the comments I read also say that coldamp switchers beat HG PSUs in terms of sound quality, bass, etc. My experience is that sound is wonderful and all is light and small.

BTW: they provide _excellent_ support. I was even asked to send them a photo of my setup just to check if all was wired correctly before turning it on!

Just my experience. Hope this helps.

[phn]

Seriously. The guy asks for >60W@8Ohms. There's no need for some over-the-top 200W amp. What's next? Tell him to go get a mullet and some amp from Krell or some other has-been company hopelessly stuck in the 1980s?

[iwf]

I'll bow out of this conversation.

As a newbie I've no idea what he's taking about. Before going with Hypex I read several reviews of DIY amps and for me Hypex came out the best.

However , not having any knowledge of techie matters I'm not in a position to judge.

In answer to your original question there's lots of ways of building a DIY amp for less than 500e.

In truth the biggest problem you'll have is deciding what case to use!