I learned electronics by designing and building audio amplifiers in the 1970s. That was great fun for the teenaged me.
The last amplifier I designed and built was in the year 2000. It is audibly perfect. While I have continued to refine the design, I have not built the newer one since it would sound identical.
So... my questions for the hobbyists are:
Ed
The last amplifier I designed and built was in the year 2000. It is audibly perfect. While I have continued to refine the design, I have not built the newer one since it would sound identical.
So... my questions for the hobbyists are:
- After achieving audible perfection, do you continue to build more amplifiers?
- Why?
- What do you do with the old ones?
Ed
It's a sickness. I have 8 amps that I have built. About half were attempts at sonic bliss, but the rest are amps that I thought were cool to build without being exceptional in any way. I have been collecting the parts for 2 or 3 more. I have built tube, transistor, chip amp, and class D. The building process is fun: designing in my head, sketching the circuit and chassis layout, collecting the parts, machining the chassis, soldering and debugging. All are gratifying in their own way. When it is done, it goes in a system until the next amp is finished. Then it goes in the basement unless I find a friend or relative who needs some new hifi. Building amps, and other gear, doesn't have to be for any reason other than it is a fun thing to do
What motivates me for building more amplifiers is having more ideas about amplifiers, or trying to improve what I already have.
Thanks for the replies! 🙂
I should mention that I also write software as a hobby. That can go on forever. 😉
Ed
That is an impressive range of technologies. I know only about BJTs. I probably could get similar performance from MOSFETs.
I should mention that I also write software as a hobby. That can go on forever. 😉
Ed
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Joined 2009
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Kudos. I settle for BJTs reproducing tube sound by playing records from the vacuum tube era. 😉
Ed
Thanks for asking! The amplifier and phono preamplifier are described at http://www.edgrochowski.com/electronics-museum/stereo4.html and http://www.edgrochowski.com/electronics-museum/phono2.html. I have not put more information on the web because I do not want them to be copied.
Ed
I designed and built two main amplifiers in the 1990's. The first was a variant on the Blomley design that didn't work well: one day I turned it on and the emitter resistors went up in flames. The second was an amplifier with a class-AB bias loop that I still use. I didn't build any main amplifiers after that, except for a high-voltage amplifier that I designed and built in 2003 to directly drive an electrostatic loudspeaker that a colleague of mine had made. It was not a success: it sounded very good, but the 2 kV peak that it could deliver was simply not enough for my colleague's loudspeakers.
I also built a preamplifier in the 1990's, a fancy one with all sorts of features. I kept tweaking it, because there was always something I was not entirely satisfied with. I later built a completely new preamplifier (actually a phono preamplifier with a couple of switches and a volume and balance potmeter, no fancy features at all) because the old preamplifier's partner acceptance factor was insufficient.
I also built a preamplifier in the 1990's, a fancy one with all sorts of features. I kept tweaking it, because there was always something I was not entirely satisfied with. I later built a completely new preamplifier (actually a phono preamplifier with a couple of switches and a volume and balance potmeter, no fancy features at all) because the old preamplifier's partner acceptance factor was insufficient.
Don't assume perfection is always the motivator. I just like to breadboard three or four schematics a month and tear them down again. My sickness is the obsession to try out every vacuum tube ever made, and ADHD makes want to try out every remotely interesting circuit on the breadboard. No focus, just a different random thing after another. Many failures, much experimenting, hoping I'll learn something. I suppose I should learn spice, but not, so it's more like a model-train building hobby.
Remember the story of the Zen master who asks the boys why they ride their bikes?
some other Zen master posted something like this on one of 6l6's build guides
'the formula for the right number of amps to own is (x+1=) where x equals the number of amps you currently own'
some other Zen master posted something like this on one of 6l6's build guides
'the formula for the right number of amps to own is (x+1=) where x equals the number of amps you currently own'
Windcrest77 - I am beyond the experimenting stage. My projects work as designed.
Indigent Audio - And I thought amplifiers were too big to have more... 😉
Ed
Indigent Audio - And I thought amplifiers were too big to have more... 😉
Ed
Perfectionism is not the only reason to build audio equipment, you can also build it just because you like to do so.
When the local radio station in Haarlem still had a largely analogue studio, I sometimes built equipment for them that you either couldn't buy anywhere (like a downward expander that automatically goes in bypass when it hasn't been used for longer than a quarter of an hour) or that was far more expensive when you bought than when you built it.
When the local radio station in Haarlem still had a largely analogue studio, I sometimes built equipment for them that you either couldn't buy anywhere (like a downward expander that automatically goes in bypass when it hasn't been used for longer than a quarter of an hour) or that was far more expensive when you bought than when you built it.
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I started as a teenager in the early 70's as well. Cost was the primary reason then, since income from odd jobs wasn't enough to buy a decent system. Electronics became my career and I built whatever I ever needed along the way. Now that the kids are grown, I started to build again to update, keep busy and experiment with alternatives like full active crossover systems. Since 2020 I've built two multi-channel amps, a pre-amp, an outboard DAC, three sets of speakers, with another amp in the works. It's a very rewarding hobby for music lovers. Still have almost everything, in one form or another, and gave a bunch to the kids.