Good morning everyone, making my obligatory introduction post. I've been a big music nerd for my whole life but never really had the budget for any high end gear so have mostly stuck with midrange headphones or vintage scores from craigslist etc. Just bought a house with the SO and working on furnishing so I'm thinking its a good time to integrate a good audio solution. Current daily driver is a 1968 HH Scott 2550-W "Scottie." Funky little solid state bookshelf receiver with matching enclosures that I scored for $50 nearly 10 years ago. The drivers were trashed when I bought it so I swapped them for some bose 6.5" papercones from the parcel shelf of an early 2000's mazda millenia. Complete swag on my part but ended up being a nice fit sonically. This little guy is great (likely needs some recapping) for an average sized bedroom but runs out of my steam in my open plan dining room/kitchen.
My current plan is to grab a single ended EL84 amplifier (some china junk but very workable with some simple mods from what I have seen) and do a full range build like pencils or something similar. I'm a little stuck on driver selection and that's why I'm here.
My current plan is to grab a single ended EL84 amplifier (some china junk but very workable with some simple mods from what I have seen) and do a full range build like pencils or something similar. I'm a little stuck on driver selection and that's why I'm here.
Welcome to diyAudio :^)
Most of the inexpensive tube amps from China are what i call “pre-built kits”, screaming for some tweaks. Biggest potential issue is OPT quality.
But you have to work hard to make one that sounds bad. With 1.5 to 5w /channel i’d suggest A10p/A12p/CHP-90 for the Pensil.
dave
Most of the inexpensive tube amps from China are what i call “pre-built kits”, screaming for some tweaks. Biggest potential issue is OPT quality.
But you have to work hard to make one that sounds bad. With 1.5 to 5w /channel i’d suggest A10p/A12p/CHP-90 for the Pensil.
dave
Funny you mention the a10, that's the one I was planning for. A youtuber (skunkie designs) has done a very extensive video series measuring and improving the unit to put out 6-7w cleanly, the OPT's seem to be at least sufficient. For the cheap buy in I'm not afraid of whipping out the soldering iron and replacing some parts.