Custom Power Amps

I would like to look at building (or have someone like zanash do it ) a pair of power amps/mono blocs.

Here's my main criteria though; they need to be constructed so that they are either cylindrical (like the old Musical Fidelity X series) or box type chassis but so they stand upright.

I want something I can stand upright just behind my speaker stands as my space availability is at a minimum and I want the cable terminals on the top face of the chassis as I have some very special speaker cable I want to use but they are only short runs.

The other thing is that they would also need to have a line level out so that I could daisy chain other amps or connect up to an active sub.

Anyone got any ideas? Maybe someone has already modified existing amps in the past like the MK X series or some of the NAD amps (althought the NAD's I've seen seem more AV than music).

 

ooch....I'm good at mods & cables but my case work skills are limited !

Maplin used to have an easy 100watt mosfet kit it was cheap and with little effort and a few judicial changes could sound exceedingly good in a mid 80's way.....

These could easily be made into mono's.....

I know LC Audio's Zap pulse sounds very good but its not cheap...

If you contact Granville ...he could give you more details.

 

sounds like a pair of 2nd hand cyrus apa7's to me !

there's a pair of 7.5's on ebay 9724508496

 

also no idea what these are, but they may suit:

Second Hand ALBARRY M408 monoblocks £399
Fine sounding retro mono power amps in great working order and at a bargain price for performance.
http://www.moorgate.demon.co.uk/forsale.htm

 

take a look at this : http://users.verat.net/~pedjarogic/audio/gainclone/gainclone.htm

I have heard they sound good and look very simple to construct and probably fairly cheap,
for the round cases you could use some stainless pipe and some mdf for the end caps, should also be pretty easy.

 

You might find putting a system list pretentious, but at least we would have an idea of what speakers you want to drive.

How about 2 T-amps? Can't get smaller than that. Gainclones are a good idea if you need a bit more power.

 

All my amps are diy, So far I've tried a 41hZ Amp6,WAD kit88,mosfet power follower,several Gainclones including Pedja Rogics design,Avondale NCC200 and a Hypex UCD180 (which I'm still working on)
I've given a few of the amps away but its good fun building them when you get time, theres plenty of kits available thats suitable for beginners if you look around.
BTW I'm also useless at metalwork, most of the amps I built that wasn't a kit spent their life bolted to pieces of wood

They all sound good in their own way like Lee already mentioned which ever is best will depend on your other gear especially the speakers seeing as though all these amps vary in power

 

I lusted after a set of alberrys...back in the late 80's but never had the readies.......

there are some cheap kits going on fleabay

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Modified-Accu...42302QQcategoryZ14974QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItem

I've not used this chap but the stuff looks ok........

 

I have used him and so far the stuff has been very good, but takes a while to turn up (to be expected)
looks like a nice easy project to start on too.

oh here is his main shop. http://www.kitsparts.com/kitspartsweb/

 

I love the look of the Albarry's but unfortunately they do not have the line level output for daisy chaining or connecting up any active loudspeakers.

My own speakers are Von Schweikert VR-1's, very easy to drive but very revealing and detailed with a luscious mid-range. I also use the Von Schweikert VR-S/3 subwoofer too which is why I want to have a line level out on the amps. The sub does have speaker level inputs but I only want to use the line level.

 

Why not use a Y splitter?

 

Y-splitter could work but it would need to be of loss-less quality

Most Y-splitter's I've come across are a piece of junk. Maybe Zanash can help there.

 

There easy enough to construct .......

common ground with a split signal line for each channel...

the problem is making them neat with out resorting to heatshrink y shape boots .

 

why not just add them inside the amp?
just wire up the same as you would the splitter and drill some more holes.

 

absolutely .......

 

So if I got the Albarry's or something similar you could modify them to include line level outs Zanash?

 

should be relatively straight forward.......[famous last words!]

 

LOL...OK, I will contact you once I actually have something in my hands. I think that may be put back a bit now as we are now going to go ahead with landscaping our front garden to make it an environmentally friendly off-road parking area, but still retain natural land drainage and garden appeal.

...too much concrete and block paving going on