I have started building my own vacuum-tube based guitar amplifiers. When one is getting started building guitar amplifiers, it is very normal for most people to buy a so-called DIY Amplifier Kit that is basically a 1:1 clone of a famous circuit such as the Fender 5F1 Champ or the Fender 5E3 Deluxe. These are both relatively low-powered, simple to understand, bare-bones amplifiers. There are many places one can buy a "Parts Kit" for one of these famous amps. They come with a schematic, a wiring diagram, and sometimes an instruction book. I would really like to find something similar to this for getting started building my own Tube-based home audio hi-Fi system.
I know that Home Audio Hi-Fi systems are more complex than guitar amplifiers on... pretty much all levels. For example, with guitar amps, the pre-amp and power amp are almost always on the same chassis as an integrated system. My research shows me that most Hi-Fi systems split these up into Preamps and Power Amps. So, I hate to ask such a newbie question but... can you guys tell me if there is one (or may be 2 or 3) very coveted and famous vacuum tube based Hi Fi kits that most people buy when getting into building their own Hi-Fi systems? I am also looking for specific sources. I've already searched the internet and asked ChatGPT; the responses are usually pretty vague, and do not tell me where I can actually buy the kits.
I know that Home Audio Hi-Fi systems are more complex than guitar amplifiers on... pretty much all levels. For example, with guitar amps, the pre-amp and power amp are almost always on the same chassis as an integrated system. My research shows me that most Hi-Fi systems split these up into Preamps and Power Amps. So, I hate to ask such a newbie question but... can you guys tell me if there is one (or may be 2 or 3) very coveted and famous vacuum tube based Hi Fi kits that most people buy when getting into building their own Hi-Fi systems? I am also looking for specific sources. I've already searched the internet and asked ChatGPT; the responses are usually pretty vague, and do not tell me where I can actually buy the kits.
Really boils down to how much power you want/need. There are single ended kits (low power) and push-pull kits (higher power).
A popular mid-power kit would be the Dynaco ST70. Still available as a kit. https://www.tubes4hifi.com/ST70.htm
jeff
Some such kits have very low power output (especially single ended amps), so make sure they will work with your speakers.
The Dynaco Stereo 70 has enough power for a lot of different speakers.
The Dynaco Stereo 70 has enough power for a lot of different speakers.
There was a recent thread here somewhere that listed pretty much all the kit sources, but I can't find it.
jeff
jeff
There aren't many kit makers left. For low-power, single-ended amps (6-8 watts) there's Elekit and Bottlehead, and a couple of small boutique kits at 2-3 watts per channel. The most reliable high-powered tube kits are basically copies of the old Dynaco circuits found at tubes4hifi.com. These are also known as VTA kits. They are very well-made, with high-quality output and power transformers. It's a bit of a miracle that they are still around.
http://www.tubes4hifi.com/
You could do much worse. For the money they'll challenge anything from China and many of the popular affordable tube amps like Rogue Audio or Black Ice. They also have decent resale value since the quality of these kits is well-known.