Welborne Labs MINIAMP kit, any advice?

[KevinLee]

Hello,

I am considering building myself a simple line-stage around these boards to replace an op-amp based pre-amp.

They are based on an Erno Borbely design. Does anyone have any experience with these or any advice?

Would they be an improvement over my BB OPA627s that I am using now?

http://www.welbornelabs.com/miniamp.htm


Any input is appreciated.

Best Regards

KevinLee

 

[LHMAudio]

I Built the Tube Hybrid Which Is Similar

I built the tube hybrid from Welborne which is the same concept as the unit you are considering and is also based on a Borberly design. I've had a little problem with DC offset drift, but they sound fantastic. I have them direct coupled so I adjust the DC offset once per week. I have them mounted in a Mark Levinson JC2 preamp chassis along with a VSPS phono stage. The boards are very high quality and I had no problems with assembly. Ron Welborne also offers good technical support.

 

[KevinLee]

Thanks for the response,

I am glad to hear you are happy with the results.

I am still searching for a chassis to use, I will use the switching etc and replace the power supply and use the Welborne boards.

If anyone has a Rotel or Adcom pre-amp that is not working I would be interested in it.

Thanks

Kevinlee

 

[LHMAudio]

I ended up with four external supplies in two Hammond cases, all from Welborne. I use separate supplies for each channel, which results in two filament supplies and two circuit supplies. Channel separation is phenominal. The Levinson chassis already had two XLR connectors, so I simply replaced those with the proper ones for connecting the power supplies - no drilling. Using the existing selector and wiring saved a lot of time. I replaced the potentiometer as the wirewound pot that came with the Levinson was noisy.

Good luck and enjoy!

 

[recca]

Kevin

Did you actually put the Miniamp together? I'm thinking about building this too. It looks pretty simple to put together especially since I probably won't use a selector and use it strictly as a volume control.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Dave