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DIY Amplifiers, Solid StateToday’s topic is about DIY Amplifiers, Solid State type, or DIY Solid State Amplifiers! I’ve talked about DIY tube amplifiers process in the past. Go to DIY Tube Amplifier. DIY Amplifiers, Solid State type could not be easier nowadays. With the invention and commoditization of semiconductor integrated circuits, a very good amplifier circuit could be contained in a single chip! Just to name a few, one can use those from STK, National, IRF, ST, TI, Tripath, Philips, Sanyo, and etc. One can even go discrete too to build the amplifier from scratch. Flexibility is there. Choices are plenty.
My personal favorites are like the National Semiconductor’s LM3886, LM1875, LM4702 & LME49810; or the Tripath TA2020, TA4100, TA2022, TA3020 & TK2050; or the IRF IRS2092; or the NXP TDA8920, TDA8922, TDA8924, & TDA8950; and etc. I’ve built several versions of them and they brought favorable results. For discrete component lovers, there are lots of transistors to choose from, with the current favorite being the JFET. Passlabs DIY is the 1st name that pops up in my mind when I heard “discrete”. There is a huge group of DIY audio guys out there that build the Passlabs DIY class A, Burning Amplifier, and the De-Lite amplifiers with great results. The De-Lite amplifier is very interesting since it uses a single transistor for the whole amplifier. Talk about minimalism! Another class A camp would be the amplifier designed by John Linsley Hood (JLH) and the class A design articles by Jean Hiraga.
There is another option too that is to purchase readily made modules, a copy or clones of famous designs, or their own genuine innovative designs. There are just countless of them on the internet for you to choose from. If you like certain signature sound from a high end manufacturer but could not afford them, cloning could be one of the economical ways. For the modules, we just need to supply the chassis, power supply, connectors, accessories and perform wiring work. High end sound is not far. eBay is a good source for modules, other than the online stores. Do beware that not all are built the same. Some will be better, some will be just junks. Buy with caution. Do some researches, look for reviews or referrals from people who had built and tried their services. In near future, we will try to share some experiences and projects from them. Stay tuned! For readers that have already tried them, you’re very welcome to share your experiences with the fellow DIY audio fans. We can even add in a tube line stage or driver stage to spice up our life! That would bring us the best of both worlds, solid state control, power and authority with tube warmth, mellowness and harmonics rich character. Some guys have even tried having a solid state line stage or driver stage to drive the tube power stage. Or class D tube amplifier perhaps? Similar to tube amplifiers, solid state amplifiers are categorized into several classes. I’ll just list out the most common ones here. You can Google for the details online or check Wikipedia for more details on the classes. * Class A * Class AB * Class D / T * Class H * Buffer Similar to DIY tube amplifiers, DIY solid state amplifiers requires care too. Safety is everything! This is the MOST important factor you need to think about! If you are unsure of what you’re doing, do not do it! If you’d like to go through the thinking process again, refer to the DIY amplifier process link below: DIY Amplifier Process.
DIY Amplifiers, Solid State DIY 5687 TA2022 Hybrid Amplifier Return from DIY Amplifiers, Solid State to DIY Audio Guide
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