Help me choose a DIY amplifier project.

[Somek]

Sort of...

As I've been learning more about amplifier design (via books, ChatGPT, and the occasional helpful forum member) I've come to realize there really isn't a ton of scope to customize the Kumisa III. I've also learned the hard way that Aliexpress is rife with counterfeit components, so I'm having to spend time testing and validating some of the stuff I bought.

And then there's my ideas for a chassis, which have gone back and forth a few times as I've pondered the materials and layout I'll use.

Long story short, I'm taking things slow, and may actually build a basic Kumisa III kit with no upgrades as a starting point. I've thought about creating a placeholder build thread here, but with the recent changes in double-posting enforcement here on HeadFi the idea has become much less appealing. We'll see.

Well, it was proposed before, but I'll say it again. Whammy is an amazing amp to get you going with DIY.
https://www.ear-fidelity.com/whammy-review/
It's extremely well documented, parts are easily accessible. You can play with opamps all day long. You can swap caps, connectors, pot. You can easily put your own spin on it if you wish.
If you're stuck with it, I'm happy to lend a hand.

 

[funch]

https://www.amb.org/audio/mmm/

 

[Thomasr]

Well whatever I build, this oughtta keep the lights on!

 

[Somek]

Well whatever I build, this oughtta keep the lights on!

2x16V am I seeing it right? That will easily drive almost everything.
Oh, Greedy Boyz on diyaudio have been loosely cloning Pass HPA-1. Another interesting design.
Or, are you sticking with Kumisa? For planars, I prefer stuff with more current capabilities.

 

[Thomasr]

2x16V am I seeing it right? That will easily drive almost everything.
Oh, Greedy Boyz on diyaudio have been loosely cloning Pass HPA-1. Another interesting design.
Or, are you sticking with Kumisa? For planars, I prefer stuff with more current capabilities.

It's a 15-0-15 transformer driving 80VA. Most of these amplifier kit boards (the solid state ones anyways) are around 125mm x 150mm or smaller. My plan at this point is to build a custom chassis that can house two boards at the same time. Rear panel will have two sets of RCA inputs, and front panel will have two volume pots + headphone jacks. Should be a fun setup when it's all done.

Kumisa III and Dynalo balanced will probably be the first two residents to move into this duplex. From there, who knows!

 

[Somek]

I had the Audio-Technica clone from a polish forum. Amazing amp.
I have a pair of ALFETs, so who knows...

 

[Thomasr]

Finally got around to my first "base" board with commodity-grade components supplied with the kit.

Now I need to make progress on the chassis so I can mount this thing somewhere and see how it sounds.