sound of amps

[bobsinclar]

sound of amps is a question that I like, althought it may be a personnal feeling , and also a good combination with speakers ,
I am currently building an aleph 30 ,just to have the pleasure to use a DIY amp in my system...,but am really curious about what diffrence could exist compared to production amps like SAE, GAS or JEFF ROWLAND amps...these are my preffered amps (deep bass , nice med , and reliability)
actually building your own amp is an experience more than just a challenge...,but can we say that a DIYproject as an aleph clone
will be able to compare to an AMPZILLA or SAE bass reponse?
any input would be appreciated, as I really love DIY projects and
am curious about sound experimentationyou all could have
Vince

[jcx]

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showt...392#post152392

[bobsinclar]

Yeah!
Bob just rules , he loves this kind of challenge...So do I, but this is all about what combined response you will get with your speaker (mostly low end response) VS amp, sure the internal impedance of the system makes your amp sound diffrent, tubes VS bipolars sounds diffrent because of that (but not only...) , also you can put resistors between your amp and woofers to damp the low end curve (what JBL does in their professionnal speakers) to help control better the big 15"or get a better combined response or modify the Qts wether teh speaker is used clos or Bass reflex...

BUT, this seem to me like minor, even if you lower the rise time or modify the solid state amp so that it can sound as slow as a tube amp, that's what Bob did in a certaim manner in a test he made in the early 80's Vs a Tube amp... , this is not what I was talking about,
mainly my thoughts and questions were more about solid states amps compared to each other (excluding tubes), of course when they use an output transformer they sount really diffrent, just like between tubes and direct output devices (Mack or Jbl from the 70's)
actually I am curious about howan aleph 30 or even 100w would drive JBL monitors compared to an SAE from similar power, would it give deep bass? I will sure have the answer as i am building one, but would love to have some opinions from everybody
and please excuse for my english
Vince

[Daveis]

Vince,

You will likely be pleased with your Aleph30 provided your speakers are relatively efficient or you dont listen really loud. If anything, the A30 will err on the side of sweet 2nd harmonic distortion.

Once your active electronics get to a certain level, your speakers will matter more. If you go the active crossover biamp/triamp route you may find that you can match the amplifier to the driver.

In recent days, I've been swapping tweeters in/out of my DIY speakers. I'm hearing MUCH greater differences with speaker changes than with any amplifier change.

For example, I've been using Threshold/Pass amps in the wintertime. In the summer I switch to cheap receivers that put out less heat. My speakers dont sound quite as good, but the differences are much less than a change of EQ or driver. My speakers "tone" is suprisingly similar between the different amps. I suspect that my use of triamp with active crossover has something to do with that.

Dont worry about your A30 being "good enough".

[bobsinclar]

Daveis,
thanks for the review regarding aleph 30,
definately impatient to test it!!!
not that I need lots of SPL actually 10 watts is enough to bother the neighbours , but hope this will drive correctly the 15" woofer (speakers are bi amped with an active EQdbx drpa)
vince

[Bare]

Dunno .. Mate,.. despite bleatings to the Contrary a decent Rowland Amp simply sounds better.
Could be the reason they outsell the Alephss.. hands down.. But you be the judge your ears are yours alone.
There are 'Many' ideas as to Audio amps, some simply sound better than others... despite the hype.

[P. Lambda]

Be sure to check the postings regarding adjustiment of the "AC gain"
of an Aleph amp -- especially if the bias is the stock value or less (2A).

On my system with relatively low efficient speakers (86db, 4-6ohms)
I have found that
too low of an AC gain will make the sound not
crisp and you can hear some distortion. Also make sure that
both sides have the same AC gain -- I have found that small differences can be
very noticeable. YMMV.

P.Lambda

[bobsinclar]

thanks for the comments,
for sure I'll take big care of the power supply, This amp will be a great field for sound experimentation about ajustments bias Vs sound, bypass capacitors choice , and components matching!
just impatient to end up collect all the parts!
vince

[Nelson Pass]

Originally posted by Bare
despite bleatings to the Contrary a decent Rowland Amp simply sounds better.
Could be the reason they outsell the Alephss.. hands down..

From this week's mail:

"when I told a friend I was about to make one of your Aleph amps he told me that it was for sure one of the best amps he ever heard even compared to his JEFF ROWLAND or SAE"

[XELB]

I don't know the Aleph 30, but Jeff Rowland amps don't amaze me
I prefer a Krell KAV 300i with a good pre amp, instead of the chip amp made by Jeff Rowland.
But in Europe we have a lot of products for the same price that perform much better..... ( I don't think that Jeff Rowland sells a lot in Europe(CE) )
But I am not saying that his amps are bad, far away from that... but they just don't amaze me