Best sounding DIY SS amp

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Just out of curiosity, what is the best sounding DIY SS amp?

I was looking into Pass Labs, but I cannot afford to build one of those. The parts would be a little much, but affordable. Heat sinking is what would kill me.

I am looking for a fairly simple, great sounding amp what can be built on its own one channel board, and then have power run to it from another board. The idea is to make 5 to 7 of the amps and make it an HT surround amplifier for use with a 5.1, 6.1, 7.1 surround processor.

Just something to keep me busy...
 
hifiZen said:
Gainclone. Great sound (apparently... I have yet to build one), simple, and ridiculously cheap. Maybe a bit too easy though...
I will build 4-6 TDA2050 amplifiers.
Will be an active bi- or triamp system.
Gives like 20 good sounding watts, with good bandwidth for low money.
90 mA idle, class AB, for no crossover distortion.
Max 2x25 Vdc supply.
20 Watts 8 ohm, 30 Watts 4 ohm.

/halo - thinking money, simple but good
- active is the way ;) :cool: ;)
 
I will look into the Gainclone...

For this project, I will be etching my own boards and putting them all in large box (well, a neat looking box lol) with some sort of power supply- maybe separate for each running off of one 110VAC cord, if possible. Similar to a design like Klipsch Aragon amps, just not 200Wx7. :D
 
Hi!

Also consider Project 3A from ESP (www.sound.au.com). Since heatsinking and supplies are not so over-the-top if compared to class-A-amps, they will be cheaper to use.

If you make your own boards, you could probably get six - seven of them into a 19" chassis with heasinks as sidepanels...

But GC is also an option, virtually no heatsinking is required (if compared to class-a-amps)...

Bye,

Arndt / still waiting for his TI samples to arrive... GC with BB... and much more...
 
Include the AKSAs on your list

You should definitely include AKSA from Aspen Amplifiers on your list! AKSA users have reported their AKSAs are replacing Audio Research, Krell, their own JLH class-A's, etc. FYI, there's an AKSA group at audiocircle.com. There is less noise these days about the power amp (AKSA), and more posts about the preamp (GK-1), mostly because the AKSA users are still so happy with their power amps... ;)
 
The Sealelectonics kits just mentioned seem to be largely derived from principles set forth in Doug Self's books and articles. There is nothing with thatr at all, I just mention it since if you are in North America, seal may be more practicle to deal with. Also the owner, Randy Slone, is very helpful. You can quite a few variations on his amps in his books.

If you are going to go to the extent of making your own boards, readinf Slones books in conection with one of his designs may be helpful. It may be possible to "cherry pick" one of the variantions that best suits your particular needs.

--------------------------

Also, check out www.marxhandelec.com for yet another option.
 
Re: Include the AKSAs on your list

Hi!

mb said:
You should definitely include AKSA from Aspen Amplifiers on your list! AKSA users have reported their AKSAs are replacing Audio Research, Krell, their own JLH class-A's, etc. FYI, there's an AKSA group at audiocircle.com. There is less noise these days about the power amp (AKSA), and more posts about the preamp (GK-1), mostly because the AKSA users are still so happy with their power amps... ;)


Be aware that AKSA is just a slightly changed Project 3A from ESP... i think it was developed (contract work) by Rod Elliot, but I could be wrong with that. But even when looking at the PCBs for AKSA and P3A you will notice the resemblance...

So, if you are able enough in DIY, you will get the same as AKSA for less by building P3A...

Bye,

Arndt
 
I had the privelige some months ago of sitting in the AKSA loungeroom and listening to a pair of them and I nearly flipped my wig! They were the best sounding amps I have ever heard anywhere anytime ever. So that's my recommendation.

/Circlotron - has to equal AKSA if it kills him. :dead:
 
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Hi Arndt,

I have both an AKSA and a P3A and they are not that similar. About 18 months ago an early version of the AKSA PCB was available from Rod Elliott's web site and this may be the cause of the confusion. Hugh Dean is the designer of the AKSA.

Hi Rob M,

The AKSA is significantly better than my Yamaha amp.
 
Be aware that AKSA is just a slightly changed Project 3A from ESP... i think it was developed (contract work) by Rod Elliot, but I could be wrong with that. But even when looking at the PCBs for AKSA and P3A you will notice the resemblance...

So, if you are able enough in DIY, you will get the same as AKSA for less by building P3A...
Hi Arndt,

This is not correct at all. At one time, Rod offered an early version of the AKSA. This was not an evolution of ESP Project 3, and Rod acknowledged that it was Hugh Dean's design. The AKSA has evolved signigicantly since then, and I notice that ESP no longer offers the PCB for the early AKSA.

Imho, Rod / ESP offer great projects, and contribute a lot of IP to the DIY community, but the Aspen approach is a little different. Aspen supplies most of the components, and they are selected very carefully (by ear and technical design), without resorting to extravagant components. Once again, AKSA is not at all the same as ESP 3A. I'm sure builders of either amp will support this assertion. :nod:
 
TDA2050 is a good one, but take a peek at TDA2052 also, it will give you little more output and they´re slightly better..
i´m working at a 4-channel amplifier with four of those little fellows..
although i had some problems with oscillations during my 2050 project, make sure you use good 100nF capacitors for the supply, and short leads to the IC, i used not-so-good capacitors on one of mine channels, some smoke escaped.. 8-(
 
Mr. Triatic said:
TDA2050 is a good one, but take a peek at TDA2052 also, it will give you little more output and they´re slightly better..
i´m working at a 4-channel amplifier with four of those little fellows..
although i had some problems with oscillations during my 2050 project, make sure you use good 100nF capacitors for the supply, and short leads to the IC, i used not-so-good capacitors on one of mine channels, some smoke escaped.. 8-(
I thought TDA2052 was the same as TDA2050, but with some extra MUTE and control stuff.

I have to download TDA2052 datasheet to have a look
if it is a better amp.
But BOTH are better than TDA2030 and TDA2040.

TDA2040 already is a very good Chip amplifier.

/halo - now downloading some PDF datasheet

################################################################
Code:
TDA2030             14W HI-FI AUDIO AMPLIFIER  
TDA2030A            18W HI-FI AMPLIFIER AND 35W DRIVER  
TDA2040             20W Hi-Fi AUDIO POWER AMPLIFIER  
TDA2050             32W HI-FI AUDIO POWER AMPLIFIER  
TDA2052H/TDA2052V   60W HI-FI AUDIO POWER AMPLIFIER WITH MUTE / STAND-BY

   Download PDFs from this page: 
    [URL=http://us.st.com/stonline/books/toc/ds/100.htm]ST - Audio IC Power Amps[/URL]
 
Hi!

mb said:

Hi Arndt,

This is not correct at all. At one time, Rod offered an early version of the AKSA. This was not an evolution of ESP Project 3, and Rod acknowledged that it was Hugh Dean's design. The AKSA has evolved signigicantly since then, and I notice that ESP no longer offers the PCB for the early AKSA.

Imho, Rod / ESP offer great projects, and contribute a lot of IP to the DIY community, but the Aspen approach is a little different. Aspen supplies most of the components, and they are selected very carefully (by ear and technical design), without resorting to extravagant components. Once again, AKSA is not at all the same as ESP 3A. I'm sure builders of either amp will support this assertion. :nod:

Yeah, I have to admit, it was the other way around. But I think he startet P3A as his own effort of designing an amp similar to what now is called AKSA.

Of course you are right that selected components alone are somewhat a guarantee for sound quality, if the basic design is good.

I wish that Thel in Germany would also offer their Accusound and IQ Amp modules not pre-assembled, but as a kit... I want to build stuff from scratch (The End Millenium was my first and only pre assembled module...), even if that is the hard road to take (like my DoZ, dosn't work right now, don't know why...).

Bye,

Arndt
 
There is often a lot of discussion about the AKSA amp and how
good it is. Are there any schematics available, or is the design
restricted to those who buy kits? Note, I am not complaining,
I fully understand if Hugh doesn't want to make the schematics
public. I am just curious about what type of design it is. For
instance, a schematic without component values could be
interesting.
 
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