[Goldfinger]

Hi there, a few months a go I moved all my audio equipment to my appartment that I have in my university's town so I have no stereo at home anymore. Now I want something not too advanced at home and I was thinking about buying something simple second hand, an amp, a CD player, a tuner and 2 speakers. But now I have this idea of building my own amp and speakers to try and make it as cheap as possible and it will be a good project too warm myself with the soldering iron during cold winter days. Now what I want to know is it not TOO complicated (I don't mind a little challenge) and is it worth my time. Will I really save money ? Any ideas, input ? G4ME knows a lot about this stuff IIRC and Spheric?

[residentEvil]

radio shack use to have 'how to build xxx' books in their stores. gander thru there if you can and read up on some of the basics and price out parts while you are there. obviously, don't buy as the internet will point you to cheaper prices on parts.

[Goldfinger]

No such thing as radio shack over here.

[residentEvil]

okay. do you have bookstores or libraries? check one out/buy one. read up. then price things on the internet.

i just did a quick google. parts for a 50 watt stereo amplifier kit and power supply, $17.
(that is just parts. not a cabinet, wires, heatsink, etc)

[G4ME]

my recomendation would be a Gain Clone amp. Using National's LM3875TF, Its a solid state amp in a T0220 package. That when all said in done you could have a stereo set up for around 100 bucks. You can get a kit PCB components then you just have to get a PSU, just a torrid, and a chassis to put it all in. You can customize it either mono block, or stereo. The kits can be found for around 45 bucks and torrid for around 30ish and case can be what ever you want. The chip can put out 30W at 8 ohms and i wouldn't really push 4 ohms unless you are dropping the voltage on the torrid.

This is prob the most simple designs for the beginer out there, just need to know how to solder and put it together.



linkage

great example of a gain clone done right
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...highlight=gain

a guy that does PCBs and a components kit
http://www.chipamp.com/

parts express got torrids for $27 that would do you just fine

Granted you will need a pre amp (a comp would do fine) and binding posts and input terminals but over all for what is claimed as a kick ass amp for little cash it is a steal.


I will post about some cheap DIY speakers when I get home, as I am just leaving work.

[Goldfinger]

Wow great thanks! Yeah, residentEvil i'll go to the library one of these days and check some of the books they have about it.

[tooki]

If you want to build to the same quality and features as a commercially available unit, you don't stand a chance of making it cheaper yourself. It's been about 30-40 years since one saved money by building things yourself. (For example, that little amp above is good, but you need more than that to make a stereo, and by that point you could just have bought one.)

Now, if you want something simple, and want the fun of assembling it, go for it.

I don't know if they ship outside German-speaking countries, but www.elv.de has some great kits.

tooki

[G4ME]

The only place you will prob save money would be the speakers, seeing that you won't be paying 500% mark up. granted you can have a nice pre amp and dual mono blocks for under 200 bucks I promise, thats prob the same price as a decent vintage receiver.

For speakers, you really only save money if you got the tools and space to do it it requires a little know how but well worth it in the end IMO.

i would recomened this kit, its simple and will blow you away once you get it up and running, granted they are 4 ohms you would have to mod the PSU a bit. But for the price you they are like a limp dick, you just can't beat it. A friend of mine has a pair and the bass extension if corner loaded is amazing you will be taken back by what 4 little 16 buck 6 1/2 inch drivers can produce.

But like I said its all about the tools you have and the initial costs of getting the parts, I imagine you would get F'd if you ordered from partsexpress.

[Goldfinger]

Originally posted by G4ME:
For speakers, you really only save money if you got the tools and space to do it it requires a little know how but well worth it in the end IMO.

Which tools would that be ?

Thank's for the advice already, I appreciate it.

PS: your link is wrong. There is a http:// too much in it.

[G4ME]

to do it right,

minimum (in my book) , nice contractors table saw, router w/ circle jig, as many clamps as you can afford. Thats just for the box, soldering stuff for the XO and thats pretty much it. But you could get away with a circular saw and straight edge, with a scroll saw. and a few clamps.

Deff hang out at that HT forums that i linked to about the gain clone, mostly people build subs for their first project as its the simplest to do, but full range speakers just a little bit more to it.

[Goldfinger]

I have all that at home . I'll start my research now, looks like something fun to do.

[Lancer409]

keep us posted and post pics if you complete it.

tooki - another useful post. SEE?!?

I say just buy the darn thing. Unless you have free time on your hands, it may take a lot of time to build. It'll make for a great conversation piece though.

[Goldfinger]

about the financial side of things:

I want:

-A good amp, stereo or dual monoblock doesn't matter altough monoblocks look cooler . I don't need extremely loud stuff so one of those 60W things would be good enough I suppose, they can form 2x120 is you put them in a dual monoblock if I understand it correctly.

-A preamp with enough inputs to be future proof, don't need any digital inputs or anything (they can be a bonus if this technology is available at a low price but I doubt it, and you would be needing a D/A I think)

-A headphones output, very import part of the system for me. Would I be needing a dedicated headphone amp ? I guess so. If so I would be needing 2 outputs on my pre amp, right ? One for the amp and one for the headphone amp.

-A tuner + CD player, these can be had cheap locally or on ebay. I'll be designing a custom enclosure for these tough.

-Speakers, simple speakers that sound good is all I need. I don't need subwoofers or anything like that.

Now would this all be feasable with let's say �500 (US$665). Mind you, we have a 21% sales tax on everything so it comes down to roughly 415 euros (� US$550)

[G4ME]

One chip dose one channel so you would need 4 chips to get 120X2. but for those speakers listed there just 60W would be more then enough. Also if you do mono blocks you would need two PSU which almost doubles the cost.

[Zimphire]

Originally posted by G4ME:
great example of a gain clone done right
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...highlight=gain

That is AWESOME!
I've built my own small iPod amps and such for an ex before. Using a small 386 op amp.
Nothing like that above but still neat. She was impressed.

I have always wanted to build my own stereo.

I built a nice tube preamp once.

I've built scads of effects pedals. Even etched my own boards.

Fun stuff.

[Zimphire]

Originally posted by tooki:
If you want to build to the same quality and features as a commercially available unit, you don't stand a chance of making it cheaper yourself. It's been about 30-40 years since one saved money by building things yourself. (For example, that little amp above is good, but you need more than that to make a stereo, and by that point you could just have bought one.)

Now, if you want something simple, and want the fun of assembling it, go for it.

The cool thing about making your own amp is, you can really make a nicer one than one being bought. You can choose your own parts and close tolerance them. Use better capacitors and resistors.

[Sherwin]

Originally posted by Goldfinger:
-A good amp, stereo or dual monoblock doesn't matter altough monoblocks look cooler . I don't need extremely loud stuff so one of those 60W things would be good enough I suppose

Before undertaking this project, you need to read more. For example, amp wattage has next to nothing to do with volume. I've owned a pair of speakers and literally not been able to stand in the room with them when running a 2 x 25w RMS amp.

[Zimphire]

Yeah, my 50watt guitar amp if turned up all the way shakes the walls in the house.