Until about a year ago, I used an Altec Lansing setup on my PC. The sound isn't great, and especially so once the subwoofer died. Since then, I've been struggling along with just two of the little, tinny-sounding plastic things on my desk.
Time to upgrade. Bought a Zhaolu D3 DAC off the forum, and picked up a pair of JBL Control One monitors from the dealer. As I listen in the near field (about 1 meter between my ears and each speaker cabinet) amp power is not a concern. Lacking an amplifier, and not wanting something the size of a VCR on my desk, I decided to build a tiny low watt amp from a kit, and fabrication, heat sinks, power supply, enclosure, connectors etc.
So here goes! I was looking for a pretty easy desktop amp to build, a pure Single Ended class A design because it has the more desirable even order harmonics......and has no cross-over distortion. My vote..... would be for a Nelson Pass design. NP designs are solidly engineered and they usually sound fantastic with many different rigs. If the ultimate goal is musicality, the NP designs are well proven and there is a wealth of information and variation out there for you to try. I'm focusing mostly on Nelson Pass' published plans because they're simple and therefore somewhat easier to build. Design elegance also tends to lead to better sound, since there are fewer elements corrupting the signal.
All in all its a fun project. The simple chassis built around the heat sinks. It is about construction techniques, to take an existing PCB-based component and put it in a box. Overall, the look is pleasing and hopefully somewhat different enough to be interesting.
Will post the listening impressions after completing the build.
Thanks for reading
Time to upgrade. Bought a Zhaolu D3 DAC off the forum, and picked up a pair of JBL Control One monitors from the dealer. As I listen in the near field (about 1 meter between my ears and each speaker cabinet) amp power is not a concern. Lacking an amplifier, and not wanting something the size of a VCR on my desk, I decided to build a tiny low watt amp from a kit, and fabrication, heat sinks, power supply, enclosure, connectors etc.
So here goes! I was looking for a pretty easy desktop amp to build, a pure Single Ended class A design because it has the more desirable even order harmonics......and has no cross-over distortion. My vote..... would be for a Nelson Pass design. NP designs are solidly engineered and they usually sound fantastic with many different rigs. If the ultimate goal is musicality, the NP designs are well proven and there is a wealth of information and variation out there for you to try. I'm focusing mostly on Nelson Pass' published plans because they're simple and therefore somewhat easier to build. Design elegance also tends to lead to better sound, since there are fewer elements corrupting the signal.
All in all its a fun project. The simple chassis built around the heat sinks. It is about construction techniques, to take an existing PCB-based component and put it in a box. Overall, the look is pleasing and hopefully somewhat different enough to be interesting.
Will post the listening impressions after completing the build.
Thanks for reading
