Building SPeakers and an Amp

[newParadigm]

Hey,

I am looking into building some speakers and an amp for my room.

I am a newbie with electronics (not computers tho), so I will probably need at least a complete schematic of one channel of an amp.

Any good schematics you guys seen out there?

Also, wut is a good box to build the Amp in?

Also, i would like two build a 6 channel amp for 5.1 Surround, with at least 100w per channel, and 250w for Sub channel.

Speakers:

Wut are some good woofers, and tweeters, I will probably build 2 way speakers so i won't need midranges.

Wut are good subwoofers?

and Is it advisably to build my own cabinet, and if i do how should i go about it.



If i had money i would by speakers, but i Don't so i am building them.

Thanks for help.

 

[spidey07]

there are plenty of kits out there (which I would recommend agains going from scratch)

Same with speakers - kits.

Otherwise I feel you'd just be throwing parts together and would be very disappointed.

 

[newParadigm]

Ahh,

Thankyou

If u know of any good kits could u givem e sum links?

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: newParadime
Ahh,

Thankyou

If u know of any good kits could u givem e sum links?

Its been so long I can't even remember.

 

[jwells777]

If you are trying to do this to strictly save money and not because you love to build stuff, I would recommend against building your own. Generally speaking, if you know how to shop for stuff on the net, you will find that the premium you pay to buy pre-built stuff is not much and perhaps even cheaper than you can build it for yourself (due to economies of scale). This is especially true if it will be your first time playing with electronics. Note that this is vastly different from playing with computers which are primarily idiot proof.

 

[jteef]

Originally posted by: jwells777
If you are trying to do this to strictly save money and not because you love to build stuff, I would recommend against building your own. Generally speaking, if you know how to shop for stuff on the net, you will find that the premium you pay to buy pre-built stuff is not much and perhaps even cheaper than you can build it for yourself (due to economies of scale). This is especially true if it will be your first time playing with electronics. Note that this is vastly different from playing with computers which are primarily idiot proof.

This depends on how much you buy into the whole "i can hear a difference between X and Y" thing.

most of the popular do it yourself designs are built equal to or better than commercial offerings in the 1000's of dollars(in some cases, 10s of thousands). If you're trying to build a home theater setup thats going to be "better" and cheaper than a sony htib, don't even think about it. You can build a GainClone for ~$75 / channel if you find good surplus and use cheap parts, but you'll also need a pre-amp and/or dd/dts processor ($$$) My first amp was the Leach Amp. search google. Prof Leach sells circuit boards that I would recommend. I ended up spending ~550 on that amp for 120 watts x2. I'm building a pass labs xa-100 right now, but its slow going...pretty heatsinks are hella money.

Speakers you can definitely save some money if you are looking to lay down a fair amount to begin with. Look at the audax ht kit for home theater stuff, or proac response 2.5 clone for 2 channel setup. The audax kit is ~900 to build and would rival store bought stuff for 5-6k. the real proac response 2.5 used to retail for $4500 / pair and costs around $700 to build yourself. If you're not looking to spend that kind of coin, its going to be hard to beat like some B&W 603's because you aren't experienced enough to know what kind of tradeoffs you can make.

in any case some links.

www.madisound.com
www.partsconnexion.com
www.digikey.com
www.mouser.com
www.diyaudio.com
www.apexjr.com

 

[Twerpzilla]

I would have to say your probably better off buying speakers if your looking to save money. Building speakers can be kind of expensive once you price everything out. Unless you buy ultra cheap drivers and use old speaker cabinets, but than you will have something that probably sounds like a cheap speaker that u can buy at Best Buy.

As far as building your own amp, people usually do that for more of a high end amp, spending several hundred on the kits. You will probably be better off buying a preassembled for $200 or so. As mentioned in a post abouve, you will also need to build a pre-amp. Just more $$ to spend to build that. A friend just built a tube pre-amp, the kit was $400.

About the only good thing I could say is that you could build a decent 2 channel tube amp for MAYBE $200 if you really price hunted and scrounged used parts. But you would potentially have a amp that would blow away most solid state amps as far as quality of sound.

Than you might be able to build some OK 2 ways with 8" drivers and Vifa tweeters for maybe $85+ each, if you use a cheap woofer like the Silverflute that u can buy at Madisound. You can have Madisound design a crossover for you when u buy the speakers.

 

[newParadigm]

Alright Frgt to say this.

Im gonna be using the setup with my PC, so it will act as the DTS/DOLBY Proccesor.


Anyways, i found This AMP, it's called the M250.

It's 250w per channel, and with the schematic showing only one channel of the AMP.

I drew up a price list from the schematic, and priced some parts online, from NewarkOne, i can buy parts for one channel, of the AMP for Aprox $30.

$30x6+50 for a case of some kind+proly like $75 to build a PSU = $300 for a 1500w RMS Amp.


I think i am missing something tho, as you guy said i would have to spend alot more than that to get something close to that high of wattage.

Also, these drivers, and these tweeters, are really cheap and I was wondering if anyone knew waht they sound like.


Ok,

I have alot of questions, I know.
newParadime



p.s. I have local freind that had a TV/Audio Repair shop, so he knows alot about circitry and could help me build the AMp, if i get the parts and a shcematic.

 

[jteef]

the actual electronics don't cost that much. The big money comes from the power supply, chassis, and heatsinks. If you can find a good looking chassis for $50 definitely buy it. I spent over $200 on my leach amp for just the chassis. You aren't going to build a power supply for $75 that supports 1.5kW. I bought all the power supply parts new and spent about $150 for the 600VA toroid and 50,000uF of filter caps. 6 channels of that M250 would need at least 3kVA and probably 2 or 300,000uF of caps. Othewise you're just wasting your time. I spent over $500 building 2 channels of a similar amp, I don't believe there is any way you'll get 6 channels for $300.

High power amps also need big heatsinks, unless you're building a Class D or tripath amp. A & AB amps are most efficient at full power and peak at ~50% & 70% respectively(typically much lower). Thats about 600W minimum your amp would need to dissipate. In other words...A couple hundred dollars unless you want to use fans(whats the point).

IMO, 250 watts per channel on your desk is retarded. The amp would weigh a couple hundred pounds, you absolutely do not need it for speakers sitting 3 feet away. I would tell you to only build this amp if you are going to use 8 ohm speakers. You can save a lot of money in the power supply and the heatsinks if you do this.

You have to account for tools you don't have as well. do NOT try this with one of those $5 radio shack soldering irons. Also, high power amps are dangerous if you don't know what you're doing, there are multiple parts that can kill you if you touch them during testing.

If you want cheap, use the gainclone/chipamp approach with ~50 watts / channel. It will still be "better" than any receiver you can buy and probably better than any 250 watt monstrosity because you won't have to make many compromises to save money.

gainclone link
leach amp link

 

[Howard]

http://sound.westhost.com/project68.htm

 

[newParadigm]

Thanks jteef.

I think i'll check into sumthing more in that roange of 50w.

Thanks howard for the link ill def check it out.

Also by building a lower wat amp i can get better speakers for a lwoer price if they are lower watage.

Thanks,
VInce

 

[0roo0roo]

dansdata.com had a review of several kits

 

[jteef]

the elliot sound page that howard linked to is a phenomenal resource. He also has a chipamp design and boards for sale pretty cheap. If you are newbie, definitely read all his site has to offer.

 

[newParadigm]

THanks for the help, im checkin out that eliot sound page like rite now.

Its cool