Alpha Nirvana 39w 8ohm Class A Amp

Maybe “degrade” is too aggressive of a description.
Having built a few amps, the dual mono power supply builds have the quietest background and slightly better stereo imaging in my subjective opinion.
You can build a Fantastic AN with a single supply! But, if you have the extra $$$ and chassis space to fit the dual supply it’s something to think about.
Or….
Initially build with a single supply keeping in mind the thought of “upgrading” later to dual mono supply.
 
Yes, dual mono is recommended for lowest noise floor and getting it hum-free.
All the latest amplifiers that I've built are dual mono.
Learned it the hard way: an amplifier that I had build with a shared transformer had an annoying hum,
tried to get rid of the hum, didn't succeed, until I finally made dual transformers PS and it became hum-free 🙂
 
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Hello all, quick question on resistor choice for R124, R126, R143. They were spec'd as Carbon comp 1w. I read in posts 3074, 3075 that @Vunce recommended carbon film since the carbon comp were out of stock at mouser. The recommended parts in that post are 1/4w. It looks like the carbon comp were spec'd at 1w. Will the 1/4w work in this position? Any help greatly appreciated. Thanks!
 
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Yes good point jimk04! I recently procured a bunch of KEC parts from Profusion. The KTC3503-Y measured very consistent (hfe=140, Vbe=0.730V) and KTA1381-Y (hfe=130 Vbe=0.720V) [I measured 60 qty of each with an Atlas Peak DCA75Pro]. Also a really good option if you consider the $40 shipping cost to US. I ordered a large qty if anyone in US wants some pairs for cheap.
 
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The "lamp" warm up is a great idea. I used a different tool with the same approach for matching MOSFETs: I have a hot plate that controls temperature pretty well and I set the temperature to match what I think the operating temperature of the FETs will be on the amp heat sink (typically 50°C) and measure Vgs (with a 6.5 digit desktop DMM) at that temp and assumed voltage/amperage (24V/1A bias) for each FET. Here's what it looks like in action...

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I suppose I could do the same thing with the smaller BTJ's at a lower temperature. What would they be expected to run at? I would love if someone shared a temperature measurement of the C3503 parts while in operation on the amp.
 
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to get closer values i personally "warm up" - lamp - the transistors to get real environment like in the real amp. ;-)
chris

That's all very commendable but, surely, if you are trying to match some transistors' Hfe (or whatever) ... then if you select 2 which are matched at room temperature (say, 21 deg C) - they will still be matched at the amp's operating temperature (say, 50 deg C)?

Although, of course, their readings will be different (higher?).

Or can't we assume that the transistors will have a uniform temperature difference.?