• WARNING: Tube/Valve amplifiers use potentially LETHAL HIGH VOLTAGES.
    Building, troubleshooting and testing of these amplifiers should only be
    performed by someone who is thoroughly familiar with
    the safety precautions around high voltages.

Beginner , tube kit suggestions please

Status
This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.
Hello everyone,

As you can tell this is my first post and with it comes the knowledge of a noob. Sorry.

I've recently stumbled upon an article on a minimalist tube amp in my free issue of Audio xpress (came with my latest parts express order).
From what little I understood about it seems that this amp or one very similar to it would be a great intro to tube amps. I've been looking for affordable amp kits (meaning $300 or less) but have had very little luck. My only requirements for the kit is that its affordable, the instructions that come with it are easy to follow and make sense of, and the sound quality is exceptional (or at least as exceptional as it can be within the given price range. I'm aware a 300 dollar amp won't be likely to match the SQ of a 1000 dollar amp, but I would rather not have mud coming from the amp.

Can someone please define what Push pull power means while you're at it?

Thanks a whole bunch I hope these questions aren't terribly redundant.

Thanks,
Bryan
 
Welcome :wave:

Don't worry about newbie questions, we all had to start somewhere! :)

If you're looking for affordable kits, you may be interested in this active thread. I don't have any experience with that particular kit, but people seem to be pleased by it.

Push-pull amps are where there are two (or four or six...) output valves working in opposing phase such that when one set increases conduction, the other set decreases conduction. I'm not sure if my explanation here is particularly helpful, if you don't get it - feel free to ask and I'll try to be clearer.
 
:: another noob subscribing to thread ::

i know how annoying noob questions are but will you guys instead give me some good topic searches to get my feet wet in the transition from car audio to home audio? i'm starting small at the moment (purely financial reasons), i'm thinking of just using a 3.5mm to rca plug out of my desktop to power some bookshelves... it seems to me that on my budget, making one of these tube amp kits is in order but i'm completely new to anything like this. can someone briefly explain function of the different components and what makes one higher quality than another? i'll keep reading and keep coming up with dumb questions :bawling:

-andre
 
Another good project for those of us new to tubes is the Pete Millett headphone amp. It is inexpensive (it can be built as cheap as about $75, or can go up to about $200), it is low voltage diminishing the danger, and it sounds remarkably good.

There is a reprint of the article descriming it at http://www.pmillett.addr.com/hybrid_head.htm. There is also a PCB for sale.

-d
 
Status
This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.