Dreaming of a DIY 8W Class A amp designed by Nelson Pass?

Not chip- discreet transistors.
The sides of the chassis are large heat sinks-
Even so it gets pretty warm! (class A).
7 watts on a side, switch on back to convert to 14 watt monoblock, also set up for XLR input 14 w mono.

Good, as I'm not a huge fan of the chip amps.  I've owned at least 7-8 of them with different chips and while they all sound pretty amazing, in the end, they alll seem somewhat sterile and lifeless.  IMHO, they all need a tube preamp to warm them up

@robeswi

Thanks for the information!

I’m going to build a dual mono set.  The stereo version sounds great with a small wide band monitor I designed and built.  I think a dual mono set driving a pair of 8” wide band speakers in a larger room will be awesome.  The BK-20 Kit that @schwartz36 mentioned might be a solution.

It would be wonderful if we could share photos of our ACA builds.  I see some on the DIY site, but I’m sure there are more.

@jayh

Thanks for sharing such a wonderful experience!

they alll seem somewhat sterile and lifeless. IMHO, they all need a tube preamp to warm them up

@lou_setriodes Nelson understands the importance of lower ordered harmonics since you can't eliminate distortion altogether (this is a lot bigger topic than there might be room for on this thread!). So his stuff doesn't have that dryness to which you allude above. But a good tube preamp shouldn't be particularly warm- just neutral :)