beginning with class a

[Opie]

I would like to build a pass labs son of zen for my midrange horn speakers. The horns have a sensitivity of 109 db per watt, so I think that about 2 watts will be enough to power them. According to passdiy.com I would need a rail voltage of around 8 volts. Is this too low for this amp for good quality sound? How much capacity should I have in the power supply? And finally how much heatsinking will I need?

Any help would be great!

Thanks in advance,

Opie

 

[paulb]

I thought that Nelson stated the SOZ range was from 5 to 50 watts. At the lowest levels, the voltage drop across the transistors becomes more of a factor, so I'd recommend you look at the 5W version unless you have money, size, or heat constraints. I think there's enough info in the article to scale it for 5 watts, but if you have trouble interpreting the graphs, etc. let us know.
More power than necessary is never a problem, but less is.
Good choice for a beginner amp, by the way. Very simple.

 

[Nelson Pass]

Perfect application for SOZ. With horns that efficient,
consider the filtered power supply from Zen Variations
part 3.

 

[HarryHaller]

Son of Zen

And maybe could drop the value of the output resistors and get some damping factor improvement. Herr Pass?