I think I've just about settled on a plan of action. Given my general lack of experience, I think the M^3 will be a good next project. I did consider the mini3, suggested by jr41, but since I barely listen to music on the move, and it all costs more to build more amps, I decided not to build it (perhaps I will have a go at it later on). Though I will probably be buying myself the Paul Scherz book, I might wait for a 3rd edition as I've read that there are a few mistakes in it, and the last thing I want to do is learn something which is incorrect and not know it.
I have thought about what was said by Nullstring about the sigma 11 being overkill. I need to do more of my own research about powering this amp as it's not something i've yet looked at to any great detail. With that having been said, again given my lack of experience, I'm a little unwilling to deviate greatly from what's been suggested on the AMB website; not until I've built atleast one fully working amp with psu and understand it fully do I then really want to deviate and persue what I feel is more suited/better.
I have also considered the other amps suggested, as far as my plan goes, once this project is completed, I think I'll build the Bijou amp point to point, as I absolutely love the look of those glowing tubes, it just looks so much cooler (in my opinion) and hopefully I'll be more confident at reading schematics by then as well. I also really want to hear the difference between a tube and solid state amp.
Looking into the very distant future now, I'd like to build either a dac, or perhaps the b22 (perhaps as a speaker amp). This is my rough plan of action, but I will probably stick to this fairly closely, depending on what other diy amps are released in the future.
I've looked at kits, as well the kit reccommended by trumbldw, but am still slightly hesitant. Although I'm having a second look at that minimax this second and I do like it. Hmm, I'll have to look at this more closely. I might well build it instead of the m^3, we'll have to see.
Anyways, these are my thoughts for the moment, and if anything, just wanted to put them down somewhere, so it might as well be here. I'm only 19, so the way I look at it, I've got plenty of time to build many amps, and am almost not too bothered about the sound quality. From where I am, these sorts of projects just stop me from dieing of boredom (I do of course find them enjoyable to do as well, but hopefully you get what I mean, they give me something I care about to focus on, rather than my studies ;-) ).
To bring this oversized reply to a close, I think I'll give myself a couple years to get these projects completed. I feel most of that time will be spent researching, and the actual construction (aside from the case) will be a relatively swift operation. And I'm off to revise for my exam/research projects now.
Thanks for all your help, and as always, I'm more than willing to hear your thoughts.
Seb :)
