HI I am a newbie at this hole thing, forums and amplifier building so I will make mistakes for a while. I live just north of Toronto. I am an automotive tech by trade and doing this as a hobby. I am building two of Randy slone's Opti-Mos amplifiers. I have built both modules and speaker protection board and now am going to order my power supply. I will post some pictures when I figure out how, if any one would like to see them?
OPTI-MOS PAT
My Pass Labs project (Aleph 4 built as mono-blocks) still reguires completion of the cases as they need top covers and face plates. They have been up and running for awhile now. I built it from the service manual schematic taken from PassLabs.com
Your amp looks good. Did you pirate the case from a comercial product?
Lethbridge
I am also a Trades Person. I am currently taking my third year of schooling for my electrical apprenticeship.
Gaucho
My Pass Labs project (Aleph 4 built as mono-blocks) still reguires completion of the cases as they need top covers and face plates. They have been up and running for awhile now. I built it from the service manual schematic taken from PassLabs.com
Your amp looks good. Did you pirate the case from a comercial product?
Lethbridge
I am also a Trades Person. I am currently taking my third year of schooling for my electrical apprenticeship.
Gaucho
Pat,
The commercial version dissipates aprox 250W at idle per channel, I cranked the bias so now each channel dissipates about 300W and heatsinks are at 60'C. The heatsinks ran at about 50 'C (if memory serves) before increasing bias.
I think the amps sound wonderful, with excellent depth, detail and sound staging. Before I was running a Arcam integrated amplifier and the Alephs are a HUGE improvement. The only problem is now I can't afford a proper upstream source (CD or turntable) that won't limit the performance of the amps. I'm looking into a MusicHall Maverick SACD player which is apparrently an excellent value, but are they as cheap as I am?
Cheers,
Gaucho
The commercial version dissipates aprox 250W at idle per channel, I cranked the bias so now each channel dissipates about 300W and heatsinks are at 60'C. The heatsinks ran at about 50 'C (if memory serves) before increasing bias.
I think the amps sound wonderful, with excellent depth, detail and sound staging. Before I was running a Arcam integrated amplifier and the Alephs are a HUGE improvement. The only problem is now I can't afford a proper upstream source (CD or turntable) that won't limit the performance of the amps. I'm looking into a MusicHall Maverick SACD player which is apparrently an excellent value, but are they as cheap as I am?
Cheers,
Gaucho
Thanks for the interest.Gaucho said:Adamamp,
I love the username! Very funny!So Adamamp do you have any projects on the go? Plans or finished product?
Gaucho
Adamamp is a take off an old cartoon called Adam Ant. I must have been quite young at the time cause I do not remember much besides liking the name. Glad you like it as a monkier
Yes I have lots on the go, an amp business in flux, and about 30 years of tube tinkering history. My first totally scatch built amp was back in 85, a Stereo PP 807(Triode connected/Williamson circuit) power amp fed by a 1KW regulated power supply that came from a CFB Radar station. Thing weighted well over 100lbs
Although I have played guitar for years most of my DIY was focused on hot roding my HiFi. This ended with near profection IMO for my low budget. I use a 1959 HH Scott preamp that is all original except the B+ power supply was repalced with a triple Darlington regulator and the DC filament supply improved. This feeds a Shure stereo electronic crossover that splits the FQ at 120 HZ. The high end goes to what used to be a Trio/Kenwood 100 tube watt Stereo intergrated amp but is now totally rebuilt as a Power amp with HV regulation, DC filaments on Driver/PI, Rifa coupling caps, and series connected Photo Flash caps(1200MFD @ 700volts) in the first power supply filter. This amp drives a pair of Dynaco A25s with Vifa tweeters. The lows are fed into a pair of 100wt SS PA power amps that inturn feed two large commercail Bass bins totalling 4x15" LF drivers. I would use more power for the lows else where but my living room is only 20x12 feet
The preamp has a center channel output with volume so I can hook another amp/speaker in the middle for 3D effect or even play with the phasing for rear speakers. All in all it is the clearest cranked 300watts I have ever witnessed and the only distortion I hear is from standing waves. Recently I found a huge market for tube type guitar amps and have built dozens of custom amps based on popular designs. The latest is a preamp with two channels, one the 5150(6 stages of tube preamp bliss) and the other a Marshall super lead 100. The amp building part of this business is great but it is not a good idea for those hoping to make money fast, glad I am past R&D finally. My finished product will be totally different than the one I have offered in the past. I still do way to much by hand
How about yourself
Amp tech prefered but I used to fix VCRs and TVs to put bread on the table. Audio was more or less a profitable hobby for me until I found the internet.OPTI-MOS PAT said:Adamamp,
Amp tech a? And you like cars? I am an auto tech and like audio, they seem to go well together. As an amp tech, I suppose you built a few mean amps (tubes or solid state) as I have built a few mean cars?Go leafes Go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Pat
Yep, cars and audio definately rock together. Nothin IMO beats flyin through the beautiful coastal mountains in a high performance auto with a high octane stereo cranking Highway Star by Deep Purple. I prefer tubes for most things. Have yet to build them into my car but inverters just keep getting cheaper so maybe there is hope
So what is your meanest rockin machine you either drive on the street or drive your speakes with? Ah heck, tell me about both
I worked at a high performance shop for five years, then I worked at ford
for ten years as "Master Tech" meaning specializing in all areas. I
attached a picture of my other hobbies, the Mustang is mine that I had
since new (86) and never winter driven, and the Corvette is my wife's. The
Mustang has a 306 that I built form scratch, the car has a 65mm throttle
body, 10:1 compression, B303 motor sport roller cam, ported GT-40 intake,
ported TFS twisted wedge aluminum cylinder heads with 202 valves, under
drive pulleys, 1.7 roller rockers, shorty headers, high flow cats, flow
master exhaust, tremec TKO 5 speed transmission, 3:55 gears, drag suspension
front and rear. The car runs mid to low 12"s! and it looks pretty stock.
The vette is stock except for the titanium exhaust system but it goes good
to, but not as good as the Mustang!!!!
As for driving my spearkers, look at the begining of this thread.
Ahh silly meOPTI-MOS PAT said:
As for driving my spearkers, look at the begining of this thread.
and thanks for the extra r Haha, forget the Vette, I could never handle the seats in those. But that Mustang, sounds like thunder & drives like lightning I bet. Nice, real nice for sure. Your amp looks mean too. One day I hope to break down and build my own SS power amp(just for Bass
) but for now I put up with what I got. One day I hope to do a lot of things but time keeps slipin into the future and it seems to wait for no one
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