KT88 SE Complete Kit

[neonthecat]

Originally Posted by rknize

What are you talking about? My Tubelab SSE only cost me $35!

LOL, Russ!
I think my Tubelab SSE ended up costing me about $35 x 20
Moral of the story: DIY audio is seldom cheap IF you want good sound.

[cjkpkg]

the price sounds reasonable for what has been described. I built my SSE for what is now about $1000 sourcing all the parts myself and fabricating everything myself.

I dont envy scitizen17 because this is an admirable task to compile all the parts for a nice SE amp but the total is NEVER a nice number.

Tubes are $200
Iron is $300
All the other ancillary items plus what you forget plus the multiple shippings add up.

To put it another way - would I pay $850 for a really nice SE amp all at once? NO Would I spend $1000 on a really nice SE amp over time? I already have

So, my wisdom tells me that scitizen17 has put together a really nice SE amp that is not cheap and that has a lot of the trial and error already behind it. Obviously he is not getting rich off this cost as it probably barely covers all the costs.

What I have seen will kick the crap out of any chinese amp that can be had for less cost that you would end up spending hundreds of dollars modding.

[rknize]

Indeed. I have no idea what I have spent on either of my SE amps, but I'm sure it is well within the ballpark of this kit and then some.

[scott17]

Originally Posted by cjkpkg

What I have seen will kick the crap out of any chinese amp that can be had for less cost that you would end up spending hundreds of dollars modding.

[Rockmore]

Originally Posted by scitizen17

The "noticeable" changes or betterment is barely noticeable or that much of an improvement for-your-hard-earned-recession-economy-dollar of DIY $1000 amps to the common consumer, vs the Chinese invasion integrated amps in the past couple years. I must of read 18 articles in the last two years alone on this very subject. The idea is not to alienate younger generations on tube amps and designs based on cost, but to involve the next and newer generations in the tube benefits vs SS. You shouldn't have to be retired and 50+ with free money burning holes in your free time pockets to enjoy and get into tube amps. Guess that's why class D and T's are making DIY tubes a dinosaur for the 15-30 demographic. Heck, my father was a full time Music Therapist with a Doctorate's degree in the 60' and even he could never afford a full blown tube amp. (Had fun and tons of vibes recapping his old Phillips SS solid wood console...). So, even as "good" as a design and kit like this is, it has to be affordable for the masses and the economic times. Sorry most of you fellas have blown your money over the years for parts and designs that yield very little noticeable benefit.

[scott17]

Originally Posted by Rockmore

The "noticeable" changes or betterment is barely noticeable or that much of an improvement for-your-hard-earned-recession-economy-dollar of DIY $1000 amps to the common consumer, vs the Chinese invasion integrated amps in the past couple years. I must of read 18 articles in the last two years alone on this very subject. The idea is not to alienate younger generations on tube amps and designs based on cost, but to involve the next and newer generations in the tube benefits vs SS. You shouldn't have to be retired and 50+ with free money burning holes in your free time pockets to enjoy and get into tube amps. Guess that's why class D and T's are making DIY tubes a dinosaur for the 15-30 demographic. Heck, my father was a full time Music Therapist with a Doctorate's degree in the 60' and even he could never afford a full blown tube amp. (Had fun and tons of vibes recapping his old Phillips SS solid wood console...). So, even as "good" as a design and kit like this is, it has to be affordable for the masses and the economic times. Sorry most of you fellas have blown your money over the years for parts and designs that yield very little noticeable benefit.

Maybe you should have read that 19th article. Just kidding, Happy Holidays!

[antiquekid3]

I think this is looking like a great kit. However, I didn't expect this kit to be more expensive than an ST-70 kit. Whether or not it is a better amp, it does have more parts than a single-ended amp does. I have a feeling the iron used in the SE kit is probably nicer than the Dynaco stuff, but heck; the A-470s are $100 a piece. Who knows...

I am a teenager who built an ST-70 on a budget. I bought a new chassis and output transformers, salvaged an original power transformer for free, and got most of the other parts for free. I bought some new electrolytic caps for the power supply. Anyways, for about $500, I've been quite happy with it.

Kyle

[scott17]

Originally Posted by antiquekid3

I think this is looking like a great kit. However, I didn't expect this kit to be more expensive than an ST-70 kit. Whether or not it is a better amp, it does have more parts than a single-ended amp does. I have a feeling the iron used in the SE kit is probably nicer than the Dynaco stuff, but heck; the A-470s are $100 a piece. Who knows...

I am a teenager who built an ST-70 on a budget. I bought a new chassis and output transformers, salvaged an original power transformer for free, and got most of the other parts for free. I bought some new electrolytic caps for the power supply. Anyways, for about $500, I've been quite happy with it.

Kyle

Kyle, I applaud you for your resourcefulness. You are a true DIY'er. Hopefully some of your apparent knowledge will find it's way to others of your generation. Great job sir!

[c2cthomas]

Hi Scott - a great project and wonderful job by you for putting this all together. Too few people have jumped through the hoops necssary to put together a group buy, and to do that as well as design your version of the amp and put together a "how-to" CD is simply HUGE. You have my congratulations and a heat felt "well done"!!!

Short OT question about your avitar - is that the AN/FPS-35 over at Montauk Point State Park? I'm just an old radar tech that worked onna bunch of that stuff back in the day. The rumors about Montauk are interesting - but that's all I'm gonna say about it.

[Extreme_Boky]

I think there is potential for this complete kit at $850. That is, if it is going to look like one in post #82 (blue coloured transformer are not really required – just high quality transformers / choke will do nicely here….). Hopefully, the price for full kit includes better transformers (not Edcors)… If the answer to the above 2 questions is YES, then I wouldn’t mind to get the full kit and see what it can deliver in its original configuration / with original parts’ quality… The cost with shipping ($100?... or more?) and assembly ($100-$300... or more, depending on how much you value your skill-set AND your time) could probably reach levels where some will start comparing the total cost to those Chinese class A valve AND solid state amplifiers that can be obtained directly from Chinese manufecturer (I know what most of you guys think about products from China…., but some are quite good, well engineered, same parts quality like the kit we are taking about in this thread, and they sound AND look (!) pretty good indeed in their original form…) I suppose I wouldn’t go above $850 for the full kit…. At least until it proves to be good sounding and good looking kit that sells well.

Apart from all I mentioned above, kudos to Scott for putting the whole kit together! This is entirely different subject from my marketing reasoning… so congratulations for dedication and attention to detail.

Boky