Want to build a Pass lab design....help desired

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jmillerdoc

jmillerdoc

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Joined 2009
#1
Hello,
I have been involved with DIY audio for a couple of years now and have built several successful chip amp and tube based designs. I have not yet tried one of the many Pass Labs designs I have read about lately. I am interested in building an amp in this class and was desiring some input. Basically I am very new to these designs and don't know where to start. I was hoping for some help in choosing an amp design, one that has readily available PCB's and guideline threads on the forum.

Power is really of no concern. I have many different speakers that I could use. I am more concerned with quality of sound and availability of substrate PCB's and components.

Any input here is welcome.
Thank you very much for your time and help!
Jeff
 
#4
I'm getting ready to build my first Pass amp as well. While surfing around, I decided on the mini Aleph boards, which are still availabe through chipamp.com. I suppose I could've gone a lot of directions, but went with those boards based on scalability (start small, with overkill on heatsink), vetted design, and all the positive comments of the Aleph scheme in general.
 
#5
I second the F5 without a doubt. There are 2 options sort of "born and bred" here - one option from a user called CVILLER and one from PETER DANIEL - both of which you can find in the Group Buys section.

Both are essentially the same circuit, there are many happy builders of both PCB's and there is much discussion around tweaks etc. Both also have a PSU option that is appropriate for this and many other PASS amps.

I too started with the Aleph mini. Very nice amp. I found the F5 irresistible due to no caps in the signal path at all.

Many have said, however, that the F5 may be the last amp you will build...
 
#7
No problem. To be totally accurate, our member BrianGT created the mini-Aleph boards many moons ago with blessings from the Master, and sells them very inexpensively on chipamp.com.

Peter Daniel's site is Audio Sector. He's done a number of board projects
 
#9
I would probably build both an Aleph design and F5.
Then compare which one you like best.
Then build a BA series.
Then build a J2.
Once you have finished those, you will probably want to build Nelson's Open Baffle project which will probably be published by that stage.
Then once you have built that.
Build an F3, and try biamping (F3 on tweeter/fullrange + F5 on bass).
 
#11
Hi,

Why not look at what you could try out with a single psu and then start looking for the design you like most. With a single psu comprised of a decent (say 500-800VA/2x18V) trannie and some capacitance you could build most of the first watt series, BA designs, a number of other variations such as the ax and a number of ss designs from other designers as well. It's the psu and heatsinking that costs the most and this way you could try out various designs at relatively little cost.

That's what i do. I've got about three of those psu's lying around and can compare a lot that way. If you use cpu coolers on a heatspreader you can even skimp on the cost of heatsinking.

regards
Joris
 
#12
Where can these giant heatsinks be found? I was thinking of building my own from a piece of 1" thick x 4" wide and however long and actually bolting several cut sections of angle aluminum across the length of it for the fins. This aluminum like this is very inexpensive from speedymetals.com. Has anyone ever built there own heatsink like this?
Jeff
 
#17
I'm not Nelson Pass but IMHO, 2 per channel for a mini-Aleph should work. The Aleph 30 dissipates around 90 watts per channel so I would think 3 per channel might be OK, but they will get very hot. That would be too hot for my sanity, but NP has been known to cook his breakfast on some of his creations.

Maybe the Master will comment again.
 
#19
cjkpkg said:
I second the F5 without a doubt. There are 2 options sort of "born and bred" here - one option from a user called CVILLER and one from PETER DANIEL - both of which you can find in the Group Buys section.

Both are essentially the same circuit, there are many happy builders of both PCB's and there is much discussion around tweaks etc. Both also have a PSU option that is appropriate for this and many other PASS amps.

I too started with the Aleph mini. Very nice amp. I found the F5 irresistible due to no caps in the signal path at all.

Many have said, however, that the F5 may be the last amp you will build...
Click to expand...

Unless he makes more, Peter is out of F-5 boards. He told me on my last order that those were the last of the F-5 boards. Unfortunately they havent arrived yet, but this is about normal delivery time, I'm just a little nervous as it was the last set. I understand that Cviller has more, but is waiting for them to be delivered in Denmark.

russellc
 
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