Great, as in great sounding? I love to build, and have built crossovers for years. I have absolutely zero clue about tube amps, and the different topologies and tubes. I need a fairly powerful tube amp though. Any recommendations on kits no more than $1200?
Thanks
Thanks
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My friend just bought a VTL ST-120 kit for $1209. Go figure. Any other kits I should consider before buying my own?
I'm a big fan of Bottlehead - no affiliation.
Lots of members here really like the boards offered by Tubelab, another forum member here. You can build up his boards to your taste and budget - which is pretty cool.
Edit: I missed your requirement for lots of power. In that case, you're probably looking for a PushPull amp.
cheers, Derek
Lots of members here really like the boards offered by Tubelab, another forum member here. You can build up his boards to your taste and budget - which is pretty cool.
Edit: I missed your requirement for lots of power. In that case, you're probably looking for a PushPull amp.
cheers, Derek
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You need high power because:
Your speakers are inefficient
Your room is very big
You are hard of hearing
You like loud rock music
You enjoy highly compressed music to be played at high sound levels
You want the police to come over
You like to play pipe organ music, and need the 32Hz notes to shake the walls
High power amplifiers are impressive
Your loudspeakers have extremely low impedance minimums
Your loudspeakers cause amplifiers negative feedback to go out of whack.
You are starting Woodstock III
There are many other reasons.
You probably need high power, but . . .
How much power do you need?
And what are the details of the above factors?
Your speakers are inefficient
Your room is very big
You are hard of hearing
You like loud rock music
You enjoy highly compressed music to be played at high sound levels
You want the police to come over
You like to play pipe organ music, and need the 32Hz notes to shake the walls
High power amplifiers are impressive
Your loudspeakers have extremely low impedance minimums
Your loudspeakers cause amplifiers negative feedback to go out of whack.
You are starting Woodstock III
There are many other reasons.
You probably need high power, but . . .
How much power do you need?
And what are the details of the above factors?
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Guilty as charged!
Except, I missed Woodstock II? When was that?
You can build a nice TubeLab amp with the most expensive components being the transformers and the output tubes.
As 6A3sUMMER says- how much power do you need? If you've built crossovers, you obviously know something about speakers.
Except, I missed Woodstock II? When was that?
You can build a nice TubeLab amp with the most expensive components being the transformers and the output tubes.
As 6A3sUMMER says- how much power do you need? If you've built crossovers, you obviously know something about speakers.
Do you want a kit with printed circuit boards or are you prepared for point to point wiring?
If you want a true kit with printed circuit boards I would look at the Oddwatt Oddblock here: OddWatt Cost is around $2,000 as these are monoblocks and require a pair of amp.
If you can do point to point wiring, you could build these from this schematic provided by the amp's maker:KT120 Push-Pull Tube Amplifier Schematic (Oddwatt Audio OBHO)
Pretty simple amplifier section, a bit more complex on the power supply side.
If you want a true kit with printed circuit boards I would look at the Oddwatt Oddblock here: OddWatt Cost is around $2,000 as these are monoblocks and require a pair of amp.
If you can do point to point wiring, you could build these from this schematic provided by the amp's maker:KT120 Push-Pull Tube Amplifier Schematic (Oddwatt Audio OBHO)
Pretty simple amplifier section, a bit more complex on the power supply side.
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I'd actually love to build the KT120 point to point wired. But ordering all the individual parts would be above my ability. It would need to be in a kit form at least.
The power supply schematic would really take some research for me as well. It would be really easy if the parts were ever laid out to match the schematic and photographed.
The power supply schematic would really take some research for me as well. It would be really easy if the parts were ever laid out to match the schematic and photographed.
Those are the reasons above from your list. How much power you ask? I'd say 45 w/ch if it is really all usable with a great power supply. 55 or 60 would be better.
I had a good solid state amp that was 50 watts per channel, and on some of my speakers more power was needed. Tube power is different, but I like loud and dynamic music. I'm a musician with some hearing loss. Thanks for the help
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A tube newbie's review of the VTA ST-120 this guy does.
I've never even seen one. So can't offer an opinion.
I've never even seen one. So can't offer an opinion.
I just designed a modular amp using PCBs. I can easily make you up a kit - just add your own transformers and chassis. Let me know if you're interested. Power levels from 10W to 100W are easily possible.
No, it's not based on that.
It uses 6F12P for VA and PI, 6SN7 for driver, and the output board of your choice, so far I have 5 models supporting about 30 tube types.
What output tubes do you want to use?
It uses 6F12P for VA and PI, 6SN7 for driver, and the output board of your choice, so far I have 5 models supporting about 30 tube types.
What output tubes do you want to use?
I think that the tubes 4 hifi VTA ST120 is the perfect kit for you. It is very well received over at Audio Karma where it is a common topic. So you get a well put together kit with support from a community of builders and even better, a friend of yours is building it so you can compare notes and work through any difficulties together.
Forget Audio Karma. Bad Karma.
Why would anyone post advertisements for another website when you have have the best DIY Audio website in front of you?
Why would anyone post advertisements for another website when you have have the best DIY Audio website in front of you?
Given the power you ar ethinking you need a PP U: or pentode KT88/6550 would be the usual candidates . Triode i guess KT120/KT150. The KT150 as the distinct advantage of being a very pretty shape IMO.
Just for the looks, i don't need the power, a PP Triode Class A KT150 amp would be nice just to have those bottles on display. I have recently been finding that often people are seeking mre power than they need. A recent session with my Class A PP EL84 (a staggering 3.2w at clipping) did not have anywhere near the loudess limitations expected. And i wa spleased that it held its own against my SIT-3 in sonics.
dave
Just for the looks, i don't need the power, a PP Triode Class A KT150 amp would be nice just to have those bottles on display. I have recently been finding that often people are seeking mre power than they need. A recent session with my Class A PP EL84 (a staggering 3.2w at clipping) did not have anywhere near the loudess limitations expected. And i wa spleased that it held its own against my SIT-3 in sonics.
dave