To start you need to know about electricity. Then you need to learn about electronics. You also need to know a bit about sound.
If starting from nothing, you could design a bad amplifier within months and a good amplifier within years. I say this not to put you off, but to ensure you have realistic expectations so you are not set up for disappointment. I started learning electronics about 50 years ago, and I am still learning new things.
If starting from nothing, you could design a bad amplifier within months and a good amplifier within years. I say this not to put you off, but to ensure you have realistic expectations so you are not set up for disappointment. I started learning electronics about 50 years ago, and I am still learning new things.
Do you want to start with a kit or already partially assembled PCB, or want to jump into designing your own from scratch?
I suggest that you start by building a complete audio power amplifier using someone else's circuit design. Find the component suppliers yourself, buy the parts yourself, decide how to mount and interconnect the parts yourself. Then solder the parts together yourself, perform before-power-on testing yourself, turn it on and perform after-power-on testing yourself. Connect it to loudspeakers yourself and listen to the results yourself.
Mr. Nelson Pass has kindly provided several candidate circuit designs, which would be good first projects in my opinion. Although they are , ahem, idiosyncratic, they are also EXTREMELY simple and thus, easier for a beginner to put together correctly.
The De-Lite Amplifier (link 1) has one transistor per stereo channel. One!
The Zen Amplifier (link 2) has three transistors per channel.
Both of these are Class-A designs, meaning they will consume a LOT of power and produce a LOT of heat, while delivering modest amounts of audio power to the loudspeakers. Maybe a good follow-on project after one of these, would be to build a Class-AB amplifier which runs cool and drives large amounts of audio power to the loudspeakers.
After you've built two or three power amps using somebody else's circuit design, you are in a better position to start doing your own circuit design. Bob Cordell's textbook would be an excellent resource to draw from while you are doing your own designs.
Mr. Nelson Pass has kindly provided several candidate circuit designs, which would be good first projects in my opinion. Although they are , ahem, idiosyncratic, they are also EXTREMELY simple and thus, easier for a beginner to put together correctly.
The De-Lite Amplifier (link 1) has one transistor per stereo channel. One!
The Zen Amplifier (link 2) has three transistors per channel.
Both of these are Class-A designs, meaning they will consume a LOT of power and produce a LOT of heat, while delivering modest amounts of audio power to the loudspeakers. Maybe a good follow-on project after one of these, would be to build a Class-AB amplifier which runs cool and drives large amounts of audio power to the loudspeakers.
After you've built two or three power amps using somebody else's circuit design, you are in a better position to start doing your own circuit design. Bob Cordell's textbook would be an excellent resource to draw from while you are doing your own designs.
Designing Audio Power Amplifiers by Bob Cordell
You will need some test equipment.
http://www.vrtacicdesign.com/equipment.htm
You will need some test equipment.
http://www.vrtacicdesign.com/equipment.htm
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
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Hi,
To do that you need to be able to understand
pretty much any amplifier design you come
across in great detail, to come up with a
viable original alternative of your own.
The learning curve is very long and not easy.
rgds, sreten.
Hi,
Its impossible to say whether you can learn enough and are bright
enough to become a talented amplifier designer, but wanting to
design an amplifier from scratch is not a good way to start out.
Understanding the problem is a long journey, worth it if that
is what piques your interest, You can't design an amplifier
unless you can critique the approaches used in many designs.
rgds, sreten.
Its impossible to say whether you can learn enough and are bright
enough to become a talented amplifier designer, but wanting to
design an amplifier from scratch is not a good way to start out.
Understanding the problem is a long journey, worth it if that
is what piques your interest, You can't design an amplifier
unless you can critique the approaches used in many designs.
rgds, sreten.
I have already built GainClone. So I'll read The Art of Electronics and Bob's book and start designing 😛
A power amp test fixture is a great way to develop and test different circuits.
My design is not limited to just power amps, it has been used for a verity of applications.
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/equipment-tools/218978-power-amp-test-fixture.html
My design is not limited to just power amps, it has been used for a verity of applications.
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/equipment-tools/218978-power-amp-test-fixture.html
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