Why no SEWA or equivalent kits?

[Spasticteapot]

I'm a bit of an audio newbie, but I've always been curious - why no kits of the "SEWA" low-power class-A amplifier?

With a similarly simple class-A preamp, a whole amplifier could be made for under $100, assuming a suitably ginormous power transformer could be sourced from something broken.

[gmilitano]

Teapot,

Take a look at Mark's Class A MOSFET Amplifier.

It looks fairly simple. To cut down on costs, don't use a choke in the PS and perhaps you can try car bulbs instead of the big power resistors.

Use a breadboard for the circuit and the parts should be able to buy at a local electronics shops.

For a big transformer, look around for a dead computer UPS.

Cheers.

[Spasticteapot]

Originally posted by GG
Teapot,

Take a look at Mark's Class A MOSFET Amplifier.

It looks fairly simple. To cut down on costs, don't use a choke in the PS and perhaps you can try car bulbs instead of the big power resistors.

Use a breadboard for the circuit and the parts should be able to buy at a local electronics shops.

For a big transformer, look around for a dead computer UPS.

Cheers.

Getting the parts is no problem for me.
However, I'm surprised that, considering the low parts count, nobody has made a small PCB on which all the small components can be mounted.

Olimex will make something like 12 1"x2" double-sided boards for about 26$.

Yes, I'm aware that I could just build one myself, but ordering one or two of every part gets expensive - and my point-to-point skills are lacking.

[gmilitano]

Originally posted by Spasticteapot

Getting the parts is no problem for me.
However, I'm surprised that, considering the low parts count, nobody has made a small PCB on which all the small components can be mounted.

Olimex will make something like 12 1"x2" double-sided boards for about 26$.

Yes, I'm aware that I could just build one myself, but ordering one or two of every part gets expensive - and my point-to-point skills are lacking.

I don't imagine that there would be much demand for such a small PCB. If you use a protoboard you get much more felxibility in being able to fit locally available parts or parts you have on hand. Furthermore, a protoboard can be purchased locally and at a fraction of the price. You should be able to get a protoboard for the price of shipping a PCB.

You should not have to order any parts unless you want to use a very high quility MOSFET.

There is not much more skill required for doing a protoboard project versus a PCB.

[Spasticteapot]

Originally posted by GG



I don't imagine that there would be much demand for such a small PCB. If you use a protoboard you get much more felxibility in being able to fit locally available parts or parts you have on hand. Furthermore, a protoboard can be purchased locally and at a fraction of the price. You should be able to get a protoboard for the price of shipping a PCB.

You should not have to order any parts unless you want to use a very high quility MOSFET.

There is not much more skill required for doing a protoboard project versus a PCB.

To be honest, newbies like myself are likely to muck up the choice of parts. If everything could be put in a nice little box (like the Gainclone kits), it would make it easier for newbies to build them.