Audio Amateur Power Amp Projects

Power amplifiers are highly important parts of a home sound system for any audio enthusiast. This collection of 26 articles, published over a twenty-year period, is a rich array of technology. It begins with a classic, typically modestly rated British gem by one of the greats in audio design, Arthur R. Bailey. Two articles cover the design and construction of his 30W sterio unit.

What is a speaker system doing in an amplifier book? Well, we considered including only David Hermeyer's specifically designed tube/solid-state amp for driving electrostatic speakers, but we thought you might like to have the speakers to go with the unique amp. L. C. Landers' "Super Brute" is an upgrade of an upgrade, so to speak. His article is based on the "Brute," originally published in Stereophile in 1966 by Audio Amateur's editor-to-be, which was the first upgrade of the justly famous Dynaco Stereo 70. Landers' effort is a worthy successor to both its ancestors.

Roger Sanders has become a legend in the world of electrostatic speakers. Along the way he designed and built his idea of a proper amp to drive electrostatics, in this case a generic unit which might well drive any of that special type of transducer. H. L. Eisenson's contribution is another interesting upgrade of the venerable Dynaco ST-70 amp, one of a series which were to follow. The most elegant of these is William Johnson's upgrade. Johnson is, of course, the legendary founder of Audio Research Corporation, as well as its cheif designer.

Nelson Pass is also something of a legend himself, and two of his justly famous designs appear in this book: his highly popular A40 Class A, and his upgrade of Harman-Kardon's wonderful Citation 12.

Reg Williamson authored the first-ever amp design in TAA's very first issue. He wonderfully upgraded the original 20W design ten years later. Included is the big brother of his first design as a fine example of simplicity and workman-like utility.

Erno Borbely has a well-earned international reputation as an amplifier designer and contributes two major, highly original designs to this collection. Johannes Didden gives us a 200W unit in two parts, as well as a signal-operated switch for turning them on. K. Lang's exceptionally compact and easy-to-construct 40W class A MOSFET has been one of the most popular designs ever published in Audio Amateur.

H. J. Heckert is obviously fascinated by raw power, thus his article pair on a 500W monster. Bill Chater's 40W all-MOSFET articles offer a very high level of performance in an elegant design. Randy Vikan set out to improve the sound in his car in a compact, workable design. Hans Mortensen likes hybrids and loves to combine the best of solid-state and "hollow-state" worlds into a single project.

Altogether this book offers an array of designs from authors from six countries around the world to fit almost any need for high-quality audio power for the resourceful amateur who prefers the pleasure of building his or her own.

This profusely illustrated handbook features 26 of the best articles on power amps published in Audio Amateur from 1970-89. Authors from six countries offer an array of designs to provide almost any level of high-quality audio power needed by the resourceful amateur who prefers the pleasure of building his or her own equipment. Predominately solid state.