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DIY amp in the 500-1000USD range which you find would be worth building?

post #1 of 18
11/30/09 at 9:22pm
Thread Starter 
So the title describes itself, I am researching both SS and Tubes.
Preamp sections wouldnt hurt either. So if you feel like it drop your opinions
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post #2 of 18
11/30/09 at 9:27pm
Hands down the Cavalli Audio EHHA.
Tube hybrid amplifier..will floor anything else in the price range and then some.

Would do great for preamp duty as well.


Edit: IMHO of course
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post #3 of 18
11/30/09 at 10:26pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by sachu View Post
Hands down the Cavalli Audio EHHA.
Tube hybrid amplifier..will floor anything else in the price range and then some.

Would do great for preamp duty as well.


Edit: IMHO of course
Hi Sachu,
From what I've seen you're a tube-man through and through. Have you heard a B22 to compare to your EHHA (or even your stacker), I'm very curious as your builds seem top notch and a battle between a fully balanced EHHA + fully balanced B22 intrigues me beyond belief.
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post #4 of 18
11/30/09 at 10:38pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by mattcalf View Post
Hi Sachu,
From what I've seen you're a tube-man through and through. Have you heard a B22 to compare to your EHHA (or even your stacker), I'm very curious as your builds seem top notch and a battle between a fully balanced EHHA + fully balanced B22 intrigues me beyond belief.

Thanks for the compliments..all credit to runeight, snoopy for the EHHA and to dBel84 to introducing me to the EHHA.

Well I am not a tube person really..i find full tube amps to be too warm. Hybrid is where the magic is for me, which the EHHA and the stacker most definitely are.

I have heard a couple of B22s..and as good as the B22 sounds I am compelled to say that i prefer the EHHA in every way.
They are two different sound signatures and would mostly come down to personal taste.
The EHHA surges forward on the simple fact that it achieves superlative performance levels at half the cost of a B22 and manages to eclipse the B22 for me at least in several areas.

To put in another way, if I had a B22 then I probably wouldn't have built an EHHA, but now that I did build an EHHA, I don't ever think i would build a B22.

I admit however a side by side comparison is something i haven't done. I have spent a lot more time with the EHHA than with the B22. But to support my views i know a few folk who have owned/built both and they were gobsmacked at how good the EHHA sounded vis a vis the B22.

About the stacker...well that is a totally different story for another day
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post #5 of 18
11/30/09 at 10:58pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by sachu View Post
Thanks for the compliments..all credit to runeight, snoopy for the EHHA and to dBel84 to introducing me to the EHHA.

Well I am not a tube person really..i find full tube amps to be too warm. Hybrid is where the magic is for me, which the EHHA and the stacker most definitely are.
My mistake, I knew this, didn't take it into account. Very interesting.

Quote:
Originally Posted by sachu View Post
They are two different sound signatures and would mostly come down to personal taste. ...
To put in another way, if I had a B22 then I probably wouldn't have built an EHHA, but now that I did build an EHHA, I don't ever think i would build a B22.

... But to support my views i know a few folk who have owned/built both and they were gobsmacked at how good the EHHA sounded vis a vis the B22.
Fair enough, thanks for clearing things up. I hope one (far away) day to have the chance to build both and check out your findings for myself.

Quote:
Originally Posted by sachu View Post
About the stacker...well that is a totally different story for another day
Haha, yes I've read your opinion on the stacker.
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post #6 of 18
11/30/09 at 11:13pm
Another vote for the beta. I have not heard the EHHA, and I am sure that it is great, but the beta is just incredible. Plus I am a SS guy. I am building a pretty high quality 3 ch. beta and it is going to run me in the $550 range, though that is w/o cases, which I am building myself. The beta can also be built as a very good preamp.
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post #7 of 18
11/30/09 at 11:16pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by tintin47 View Post
Another vote for the beta. I have not heard the EHHA, and I am sure that it is great, but the beta is just incredible. Plus I am a SS guy. I am building a pretty high quality 3 ch. beta and it is going to run me in the $550 range, though that is w/o cases, which I am building myself.
I wish I had the 'authority' to vote, I've not heard any amplifiers in this price range. I was just curious as I've read alot about this price range.
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post #8 of 18
11/30/09 at 11:22pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by tintin47 View Post
Another vote for the beta. I have not heard the EHHA, and I am sure that it is great, but the beta is just incredible. Plus I am a SS guy. I am building a pretty high quality 3 ch. beta and it is going to run me in the $550 range, though that is w/o cases, which I am building myself. The beta can also be built as a very good preamp.
The beta indeed is an incredible amp....
I was a complete SS guy till I attended my first ever head-fi meet two years ago and heard the troika of amps that dBel84 had built then..
The Stacker, EHHA and the i think its safe to say, the first prototype of the CK2III and quite possibly the best Ck2III I have heard ever. I couldn't replicate that sound in my own. That proto was different to what finally became available to the masses. However, most importantly, fell in love with the EHHA that day...hybrids are just that, take the best of both worlds...that's the way i see it. And in the world of hybrids the EHHA is truly unique, a simple design yet absolutely brilliant in execution.

I do hope cherrybomb, the guy who bought the awesome looking EHHA from dBel84 will post a review sometime soon. Ferrari has actually built both the balanced B22 and balanced EHHA..mattcalf you should harangue him about posting impressions. Just don't tell him i put you up to the task.
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post #9 of 18
11/30/09 at 11:26pm
Very interesting. Hope to see cherrybomb's impressions and I'll keep my eye out for a subtle opportunity to hassle Ferrari about it! Anything for an excuse to look at his builds, to be honest, beautiful!

Thanks again,
Matt.
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post #10 of 18
11/30/09 at 11:30pm
The is no answer to this question. The range that you give encompasses so many designs to name one as "best" is a fool's errand.
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post #11 of 18
11/30/09 at 11:36pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by n_maher View Post
The is no answer to this question. The range that you give encompasses so many designs to name one as "best" is a fool's errand.
There indeed isn't..and i think it would be appropriate to air quote best in the topic title as well ..but even that is understood on such forums that everyone has their own idea of 'best'.

There are hidden treasures out there that are probably not known and such a thread hopefully will bring them to the forefront and for that reason alone this is warranted.

edit: case in point being the EHHA itself..till early 2009 there were only 3 in existence even though the design was live for over 2 years..who would've guessed that it would be B22 matching level in fidelity..a few mentions got more people exploring and building it and those who did have received it well..Only such threads would bring out more options and designs by folks out on the intarwebs..Its almost criminal for good designs to go unrecognized.
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post #12 of 18
12/1/09 at 12:35am
I think the SOHA II would be a good candidate for the low end of this range. I haven't built one personally, but was wowed by it when I first listened to it. I compared it to a balanced beta22 for about half an hour, as well as a battery powered PPAv2 that I had built. I liked the beta22 the least of the three, but that doesn't really mean it's no slouch, just not really my cup of tea.
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post #13 of 18
12/1/09 at 1:03am
Thread Starter 
Thank you all,

So it seems that there are few that keep popping up frequently,

EHHA,

Soha II

B22

(I have looked closely at EHHA and SOHA 2 schematics havent checked out the B22 yet but I am intriqued by all of them...I have this strange tingling sensation I want to build them alllllll) It wont stop there I guess, more I give in more I will want until I have built enough amps to fill all the shelves I have at hand and then some).

The reason I am asking is the fact that this price range is about as far as I am willing to go at the moment if I could see sense in spending more on a headphone amp I probably would. However I took a blind guess and chose a price range which I hope should be able to compete with quite expensive commercial amps when built correctly.

500-1000 USD seems like a price range which could achive "true audiophile levels of quality" if there is such a thing.

Reason behind asking about DIY amps specifically is that I am sliding down the slippery road of DIY addiction already I find myself investigating which "caps ar the best - alltough they have same values" O_o.

Anyhow the idea is to build up a respectable setup shortly. Currently I am building a Morgan Jones Tube amp (modified for Svetlana tubes). This will also be the first headphone amp I have ever owned. It is also first ever tube project I have ever tackled so I got a book about Tube amplifier design. By reading it and building something at the same time I hope to build up enough knowledge to be able to look at a schematic and tell if its worth anything and worth a shot.

At the moment I think I enjoy ripe and meaty sound which packs a serious punch in bass - but then again I hate it when bass is unbalanced (talking against myself here I know). Anyways I figured Ill start with tubes, and then try a good hybrid and then move to pure solid state.

One more thing, at some point I want to build a headphone amp with lots of tubes...it can be a hybrid or pure tube but it has to have at least 2 rows of tubes the bigger the better :P This is pure tube-pornography I know. There is no other reason behind it other than it would look really "BADASS".
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post #14 of 18
12/1/09 at 1:56am
Nate is right - there are lots and lots of designs you can build in your price range.

What I'd do would be to look at your choice in the context of the headphones you plan to use. That will tell you whether you need low output impedance, can get away with an OTL, etc.

If you want an amp with a lot of tubes, check Eric Barbour's Brute Force at Headwize. I have one about 90% complete, but a heavy schedule at work has kept me from cmpleting it. But the parts are carefully boxed away and when I can get two or three free weekends and home at a reasonable hour, it'll be up and running.

The Brute Force can be built with eight tubes - you can use tube regulators in it! I opted for that configuration just to have the extra tubes () and because the regulators glow blue and purple. It can also be configured as a preamp, something you said you wanted.

If you use Hammond iron, you can get the transformers for a little under $200 USD. The rest can be had reasonably - under $300 if you really scrounge, sans the case.
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post #15 of 18
12/1/09 at 2:04am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Arlekiin View Post
One more thing, at some point I want to build a headphone amp with lots of tubes...it can be a hybrid or pure tube but it has to have at least 2 rows of tubes the bigger the better :P This is pure tube-pornography I know. There is no other reason behind it other than it would look really "BADASS".
Build a GM70 power amp with mercury vapor rectifiers
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