So this thread got me thinking a little bit
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=14253
have anyone of you gainclone people compared your amps against the P3a, I would like to build a 7 channel system someday and wonder if it might just be easier and cheaper to get that outlaw 100w/channel amp.
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=14253
have anyone of you gainclone people compared your amps against the P3a, I would like to build a 7 channel system someday and wonder if it might just be easier and cheaper to get that outlaw 100w/channel amp.
My $.02
I reply, not because I'm an expert, but because I am NOT an expert! For some of the pro's around here, it would be cheaper and easier to build than to buy a pre-made product. I am in the middle of a 2ch P3A and parts aren't !that! expensive, but having the patience to find/source good heatsinks, caps, torroids without paying retail has been the hardest things thus far. True, a P3A doesn't require anything size wise like a class A amp does, so it's not impossible to go with straight retail on most things, but costs do mount up. Also, if you toast it two or three times during the build process, more money down the tubes. Half of the regular builders probably have enough shelf components to build a channel or two of many different amps. I don't have that luxury.
So, I'd say if you want the easy way out, you've just got to buy it, but if you're in for the experience, you have no choice but to build it. I wish I could comment objectively on which would sound 'better,' but I currently have a different 5 ch consumer amp and have yet to finish the P3A.
Hope to hear more about it from you in the future, though.
Good luck.
Sandy.
I reply, not because I'm an expert, but because I am NOT an expert! For some of the pro's around here, it would be cheaper and easier to build than to buy a pre-made product. I am in the middle of a 2ch P3A and parts aren't !that! expensive, but having the patience to find/source good heatsinks, caps, torroids without paying retail has been the hardest things thus far. True, a P3A doesn't require anything size wise like a class A amp does, so it's not impossible to go with straight retail on most things, but costs do mount up. Also, if you toast it two or three times during the build process, more money down the tubes. Half of the regular builders probably have enough shelf components to build a channel or two of many different amps. I don't have that luxury.
So, I'd say if you want the easy way out, you've just got to buy it, but if you're in for the experience, you have no choice but to build it. I wish I could comment objectively on which would sound 'better,' but I currently have a different 5 ch consumer amp and have yet to finish the P3A.
Hope to hear more about it from you in the future, though.
Good luck.
Sandy.
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