Greetings from ESP

[dazzje]

Hi folks I have been lurking for a long while now and playing around with electronics a fair bit, and now I feel ready to jump in a the deep end with a couple of projects so I thought I would introduce myself and share my plans (dreams?) and ask for some feedback.

First of all the introduction – I am a beginner at practical electronics although I do have some educational background in it (up to 1st year of university) and I have been giving myself a practical refresher course recently, I love music and mainly listen via computer (just can’t see the point in buying CDs anymore when I can buy the file cheaper). As for what style of music I listen to, well several since my family also listen to a lot of music.

I currently own a Cyrus system, a 6xpd amplifier and some EB Acoustics EB2 speakers which prior to a couple of living room furniture re-arrangements was serving as a temporary and ridiculously over dimensioned computer audio system on my desk. Now that the Cyrus and the EB2 monsters are relocated I have the idea of building a new DIY computer audio system to replace them.

What I am thinking of is building a stereo amp from a design (not a kit) but with a PCB available, class AB since my flat is already overheated in winter, in a slim, desktop friendly chassis. The amp doesn’t have to have massive power (my 40W Cyrus is overpowered for my living room) but it does have to sound great. I also want to complement this with a DAC/preamp and small home-made speakers (this would come later if I manage the amp).

So, any suggestions (am I suicidal, delusional?) and in particular any designs you could recommend for the amp?

[wintermute]

Hi dazzje and welcome to diyAudio

for amps there are so many to choose from, for a beginner it is hard to beat a chipamp I think, so check out the chipamp forum. There are also some interesting amps being discussed in the solid state forum for instance lazycat's simple symmetrical amp. Plenty to choose from!

Tony.

[dazzje]

Thanks wintermute I think I will do that. I guess for size vs performance you can't beat a chipamp.

[pinkmouse]

Hi Dazzje, and welcome to diyAudio! Where's ESP?

As for the amp, I'd look at the Symasym as a good start if you want to go discreet, or one of the chipamps for slightly more simple construction. Chipamp boards are available from various sources, but if you want to go for the basic Symasym, the only board I know of at the moment is a TO3 version in Group buys. Good luck!

[dazzje]

Thanks pìnkmouse I'll have a look at the Sysasym as well. ESP is Spain but there were already a couple of hello from Spain threads so I thought I would be different .