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diy tube monoblocks for small speakers?

post #1 of 16
8/29/05 at 11:16am
Thread Starter 
After having an eye-opening experience hooking the rkv up to a nice pair of small bookshelf speakers, I'm looking to build a pair of tube or hybrid monoblocks with more power.

Can anyone recommend something good for that? (I'm not interested in the super cheap 8w kit that's been posted recently.)

The headphone relation is that I'd use these when I need to take a break from the cans.

Thanks!
Dan
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post #2 of 16
8/29/05 at 1:37pm
How much power and how effecient are the speakers?

I built a Bottlehead SEX kit for my Edgarhorn Slimlines, sound pretty darned good.
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post #3 of 16
8/29/05 at 2:37pm
Thread Starter 
IIRC, the bookshelf speakers are 97dB efficient. I'd also really like to run the tube amps in the theater, where I have Klipsch towers. Those are even more efficient.

I know tube power is a whole different beast from ss. I'm guessing maybe 20 watts would be plenty, but I'll take as much as I can get.

Thanks for the response.

Dan
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post #4 of 16
8/29/05 at 3:15pm
Not DIY, but I've herd that these are the best for the money for monoblocks.

and in my opinion, 20W would be a lot of power for speakers that efficient.

I've got a DIY 5W Tubey thats almost too much for 87db Paradigm Titans.

Tubes are cool....and they'll help you get laid more.
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post #5 of 16
8/29/05 at 5:53pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ilikemonkeys

Tubes are cool....and they'll help you get laid more.

Since when?
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post #6 of 16
8/29/05 at 6:20pm
Lots of stuff out there. I'm looking into putting a Darling together this winter for my new DIY speakers. They put out only about a watt, but they sound pretty good on effecient speakers like yours. If you're into rockin' though, you'll probably want more power. Plenty of 6-10 watt SET and PP designs on the web.
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post #7 of 16
8/29/05 at 7:35pm
there is the ever popular "diy-elcheapo" tube amp. it is available as a monoblock, or as a dual chanel amp.

it is rated for 8w/ch, and i reccomend switching to triode to get 4w/ch. sound is sooo much gooder. the amp pushes a pair or CHEAP samsung bookshelf speakers to thunderous volumes. the speakers were included with an old reciever/cd player my sister got.

click for thread

read through the WHOLE thread, do ALLL of the mods reccomended by the user "blackie" he is just nominally short of a diety. that is all.
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post #8 of 16
8/29/05 at 8:13pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by nikongod
there is the ever popular "diy-elcheapo" tube amp. it is available as a monoblock, or as a dual chanel amp.
Notwithstanding that it is probably a good deal, isn't this the amp that the OP said he was not interested in?

Other places to look for kits are Welborne and other things from Bottlehead. Also, look into the tube section at diyaudio.com.

I agree with ilikemonkeys that 20 watts is way more than you need. With 97dB speakers, a watt or two is probably fine.
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post #9 of 16
8/29/05 at 9:01pm
Maybe, depending on how large your room is. My amp is doing 2 watts a channel to 100 dB effecient speakers, and I thought it was plenty...until I built a couple Pass based Mini Alephs that are a tad over 15 watts each. I'm liking the extra power.

The little Bottlehead was fun to build, priced right, and has great user support. If you think you only need a couple watts, then I can't say enough good things about those guys. Next tube amp I build will definitely be a Bottlehead kit.

SET tube amps rule!
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post #10 of 16
8/29/05 at 9:51pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by dsavitsk
Notwithstanding that it is probably a good deal, isn't this the amp that the OP said he was not interested in?
good call. my bad. it is a crappy amp, in retrospect. i would nto sell mine, for fear that someone else may use it and be brutalised by it.

lookie, a nice site i found after a 30 second search of the webarnet.
click for site
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post #11 of 16
8/29/05 at 10:37pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by nikongod
good call. my bad. it is a crappy amp, in retrospect. i would nto sell mine, for fear that someone else may use it and be brutalised by it.
Easy fellas, no need to get testy about it.

I honestly appreciate everyone's input. I'd dismissed the cheapie kit because 4 watts after converting to triode won't be enough. What can I say - I'm just a sloot for more power.

Cheers!
Dan
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post #12 of 16
8/29/05 at 10:43pm
The site created by the late Fred Nachbaur has many interesting tube projects, two of which might float your boat:

MiniBlok, the Low-Cost Single-Ended Triode which puts out about 1W and the the MiniBlok II Push-Pull which is good for 3.5W.

Fred was a very kind and generous guy who never failed to answer my e-mail inquiries with cheerful and helpful advice. He died earlier this year leaving behind these projects as well as his music.

I suggest you save all of his pages to your HD before they are gone forever...

ok,
erix
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post #13 of 16
8/29/05 at 10:53pm
http://www.welbornelabs.com/hyb.htm
....

could pair a few of them up.. 4 in a balanced config will probably drive those speakers to the ground (I'd say)

course, you may need a single ended to balanced converter type circuit (there is a chip that does it but my memory of it is vague)
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post #14 of 16
8/29/05 at 11:28pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Blorton
I honestly appreciate everyone's input. I'd dismissed the cheapie kit because 4 watts after converting to triode won't be enough. What can I say - I'm just a sloot for more power.
My understanding is that every time you double the power, you get an extra 3dB of headroom. Thus, 20 watts will only get you about 7 more dB than will 4, but in the SET world, it will cost you plenty. With 97dB speakers, assuming you are not in an anechoic room, you should get about 103dB or so which is plenty loud unless you are listening to headbanger music -- in which case SET might not be the best choice anyway. Further, with all amps, but especially with low power tubes, the first watt is what really counts. If your only objection to them is power, I would go with the cheap kits. I would keep in the back of your head, however, that by the time you upgraded all the parts in them as others have, you could build a Welborne or Bottlehead 300B amp for the same money. So, I would look at them as a learning project.
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post #15 of 16
8/30/05 at 6:56am
Quote:
Originally Posted by dsavitsk
My understanding is that every time you double the power, you get an extra 3dB of headroom. Thus, 20 watts will only get you about 7 more dB than will 4, but in the SET world, it will cost you plenty. With 97dB speakers, assuming you are not in an anechoic room, you should get about 103dB or so which is plenty loud unless you are listening to headbanger music -- in which case SET might not be the best choice anyway. Further, with all amps, but especially with low power tubes, the first watt is what really counts. If your only objection to them is power, I would go with the cheap kits. I would keep in the back of your head, however, that by the time you upgraded all the parts in them as others have, you could build a Welborne or Bottlehead 300B amp for the same money. So, I would look at them as a learning project.
isn't 3 decibels twice the volume, on account of decibels being an exponential measurment?

Thus, double the power = extra 3db = double the volume?
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