Best looking preamp

[Jan Dupont]

Now I have time for some DIY again

Please help me get in inspired to make "THE" chassis for my diy solid state preamp...

The preamp has to be displayed in my livingroom, while the power amps are "hidden", so therefore I'm looking for something cool, smooth and nice looking design.
Please attach a photo

Size? Can be from ½ 19" to full 19" in width, 1 or 2U in height.

Home made or commercial doesn't matter, but if it's home made, then please state where I could get the chassis if you bought it from a supplier...

My own preamp will of course have a volume control and a input selector, and some additional switches like "Gain -10 dB" etc., however I see no problem in adapting these to the right design.

Thanks in advance

[jleaman]

I'm going ot be selling REALLY REALLY nice pre-made chassis all you have to do is drill the back plate for your rca / xlr or other choice of conector. They are really nice. You can pm me to have a quick look if interested.

[RCBandwidth]

Hi Jan:I am in the early stages of building yet another pre-amp,this one uses some scrap pieces if 1/2 Corian(solid surface).I will build the rest of case from veneered 1/2 MDF,In between the knobs will be a backlit LED display to show volume and input source selection.This case can be built very inexspensively with only a few basic woodworking tools.

Best Regards
Bob Cottiers

[RCBandwidth]

Heres some older pre-amp projects.

Bob C.

[RCBandwidth]

I am also fond this styling from Outlaw audio,at some point I will try to duplicate the front panel of this using a mixture of different materials...

Bob C.

[AuroraB]

I am planning my next.....
Mahogany with a center front mounting plate of engraved brass......
( I am fairly fed up with alu cases.....natural or black don't make any difference..)

RC's second last pic gives some ideas, -- but to me the corner posts are too massive... round brass rods ??? Wider center plate of brass to hold the knobs too, - on a plain mahogany front....

You would either have to build it yoursef, - or hire a cabinet maker's....:

[Bratislav]

Form me, the original design of Levinson's Cello preamps was the most elegant and classy looks ever. Somewhat mimicked by some of the Pass preamps (see XVR1 below, but I cannot find Cello Etude which is the "original" - well for me at least, haven't seen that design before. Cello had only two knobs, selector and volume). The ergonomy of classic "instrumentation" knobs combined with understated, clean design to me is the pinnacle of good looking preamp.
I also like Audio Research looks (for the same reason I suppose, classy minimalistic - that is why I own LS7 - among the other things) but they are much harder to DIY. I still have half finished chassis that is based on Cello Etude that will house one of Nelson's designs (P or BOSOZ).
One day.

Bratislav

[Jalex420]

Great work guys, you can realy tell you worked hard on those

[Jan Dupont]

Thanks for the input sofare

Those are some really nice looking designs to trig the my inspiration.

Please keep posting pics

[lgreen]

Be bold!



ok, maybe not this bold!