DIY Class A/B Amp The "Wolverine" build thread

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#2,544
I don't think you can get 600W from the wolverine at 4 ohms. My calculated max is 527 with 70.7 volt rails. Frankly, for subs, the wolverine is not a cost efficient design, as it is wide-band, extremely low-distortion. Something like 10,000 lower distortion than any sub from 10Hz to over 20kHz. There is a reason digital amps have made a big splash in the sub-woofer market, as they are efficient at high power, and the higher distortion is not a problem in the subs.

OTH, Wolverine is great for the upper/full-range speakers. An EF3-3 can do the job into 12 ohms with the 70 volt supply - I calculate around 175W max, although you probably won't get all of that, depending on the supply.

There is a BOM that comes with the board purchase.

If you want a kit of the board parts (no boards - get them from the previous instructions), send me a PM, as I have a surplus of most of the parts. Otherwise, most are available from distributors such as Mouser. There may be a Mouser BOM floating around somewhere.
 
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#2,546
I have the YATMA transistormatcher designed by 'Elektrouwe' on Modwiggler, described in details in post #1 via link below:
https://modwiggler.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=153845

Q: I have quite good experience with this matcher for diodes, LED's and TO92 transistors ect for diff and so forth.
Last amp build I did the DC-offset came out 0.8mV at the output without servo or trimpot to adjust. Normally I'll see within a maximum of 3mV offset straight out the amplifier after matching...
-Does this YATMA-matcher quality for the Wolverine build, or should I follow the matcher mentioned in the first pages in this thread to seek even better results?

Regards

EDIT: I use some of the cheap Chinese testers for Hfe-test, just as a guide also
 
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#2,547
So if i make the Wolverine, and deck it all out, what kind of sound quality should I expect? Is it going to be on the level of a musical fidelity m8s or something similar? Can anyone please comment with some commercially available comparisons? I know it measures well and many are very happy with the sound, but that doesn't really tell me much. Even a, "it compares well with amps $$$$-$$$$$ price range" would be helpful. Thanks for your input
 
#2,548
The main problem with most of the inexpensive testers is that the tests are generally well below the actual operating point for the circuit. But they will get you in the ballpark. Transistors are also very temperature sensitive and simply handling them introduces uncertainty into the measurement.

I match mine using one of those socket breadboards and two resistors, two power supplies and three meters. 100k in series with the base hooked to a variable supply, 1k is series with the collector hooked to 6 volts. Meters across the two resistors and the Vbe. Dial the base supply until 2.5 volts across the collector resistor for the 2.5 ma operating point. Measure the Vbe and then the ratio of Ic to Ib for the beta at that point. It's a DC beta, but that is where the DC offset come from so it is good enough. Takes a bit of time, but out 10-20 transistors I can usually find several pairs within 1mV Vbe and a couple of per cent beta. Typically better than you can buy matched pairs.
 
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#2,550
mhuth1776 said:
I don't think you can get 600W from the wolverine at 4 ohms. My calculated max is 527 with 70.7 volt rails. Frankly, for subs, the wolverine is not a cost efficient design, as it is wide-band, extremely low-distortion. Something like 10,000 lower distortion than any sub from 10Hz to over 20kHz. There is a reason digital amps have made a big splash in the sub-woofer market, as they are efficient at high power, and the higher distortion is not a problem in the subs.

OTH, Wolverine is great for the upper/full-range speakers. An EF3-3 can do the job into 12 ohms with the 70 volt supply - I calculate around 175W max, although you probably won't get all of that, depending on the supply.

There is a BOM that comes with the board purchase.

If you want a kit of the board parts (no boards - get them from the previous instructions), send me a PM, as I have a surplus of most of the parts. Otherwise, most are available from distributors such as Mouser. There may be a Mouser BOM floating around somewhere.
Click to expand...
I’m in Europe.. kind of think it’s better to get components here.. as for sub duty I’ll build one for the tops and see if it’ll work for the subs.. and if it’s worth the effort compared to what I have driving the subs today.. anyways thanks
 
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