Full noob, but would like to learn more and build

[AlexKV]

Hello everyone. I'm Alex from Serbia.
I've been following this forum for some time, as well as DiyAudioProjects, and trying to learn stuff first so I could build later.
I've always been into high quality sound, and I'm also hard-core DIYer, and for my first audio project, I would like to build a Headphone amplifier.

Have been researching a lot about Cmoy Op-amp, which seems to be fairly easy project to build, but also would like to build a tube headphone amp, and I'm not sure how much harder that is compared to Cmoy.

Any good link with info about mentioned stuff will be much appreciated! 🙂

Thanks in advance! 🙂

 

[cT equals piD]

Alex,

A tube amp would be much more complicated than an amplifier based on op-amps, and also requires higher voltages that you must be careful about when when wiring and testing the circuit. If you haven't built an audio amplifier before, I would suggest one from op-amps for a start.

Probably you could find a lot of good information by searching for threads at diyaudio.com. On the web generally there are a lot of good articles concerning making audio amplifiers with op-amps.

-cT

 

[rayma]

Any good link with info about mentioned stuff will be much appreciated! :

This is one to seriously consider, and there's a pcb. http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/headphone-systems/211394-marsh-headphone-amp-linear-audio.html

 

[AlexKV]

I haven't built any kind of amp before, but have been working with high voltages and have basic electronics skills.
The problem is, I don't know much about audio circuits, so I don't understand most of the terms. Currently I'm learning what the gain is and how it gets adjusted and how it is affecting sound...

@rayma - What are the differences between the Marsh amp and Cmoy, except I see here multiple transistors instead of an op-amp?

 

[cT equals piD]

Alex,

If you are looking for basic information about audio amplifiers, you might try looking at the site Elliott Sound Products - The Audio Pages (Main Index) Not for certain, because I haven't checked, but I think that most likely that site has articles about some fundamentals of audio amplifiers, including with op-amps.

Voltage gain of op-amps is utter simplicity. The gain is a function of the resistance of two resistors connected to input/ output terminals of the op-amp. A tube amp is going to require many more passive components to produce a working circuit.

-cT

 

[rayma]

What are the differences between the Marsh amp and Cmoy, except I see here
multiple transistors instead of an op-amp?

The Cmoy circuit is about as simple as you can get, just an op amp with a few passive parts.
The Marsh is a much more advanced project of very high performance, so I'd tackle that later on,
if at all. Go ahead and jump in on the Cmoy, since the battery power is safe to work with.
This should help. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9l2I40zLSYmQXdvNENxeV9lUWs/view

 

[AlexKV]

There's definitely lots of info on Elliott Sound Products website, thanks! 🙂

I forgot to mention that I have already made some preamps with LM386n that I built into guitars, and after years of playing, they still work great, and battery power consumption is really low.
...So making a Cmoy wouldn't be a challenge.

If the Marsh amp is better in sound quality which can be noticed on lower end phones (Sennheiser HD201, HD202), I would build that one instead.

As I'm a photographer, and hobbyist industrial designer, making an amp will also be a product design project 🙂

 

[rayma]

If the Marsh amp is better in sound quality which can be noticed on lower end phones
(Sennheiser HD201, HD202), I would build that one instead. As I'm a photographer,
and hobbyist industrial designer, making an amp will also be a product design project 🙂

Then if the Marsh is within your budget and skills, I'd go for that. The pcb will be a big plus, too.

 

[MrSlim]

JackinNJ sells complete amp board kits with matched transistors here: Tech DIY Company Store. You still need to buy a power supply, transformer, case and volume control, but those are quite readily available. You could probably do it for less than $200US. According to the Marsh headphone amp thread, a +- 24 volt supply will give you the best sound/lowest distortion, as long as you heatsink the output transistors.