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

lak,

I would not get too hung up on "upgrades" and start with a basic kit and just getting it to work, enjoy the sound, and learn as you will probably make mistakes.

It is hard when you don’t have experience, as what appears as "experienced upgrades" are often just stuff thrown against the wall with hopes it sticks ..... and usually claiming that it does.

There are DIY forums more appropriate to a beginner and people generally more experienced with electronics who can walk you through it if you go that route.

lak3,702 posts10-20-2019 10:17amI’m in agreement, for someone that has not built electronic equipment before (myself included), the Kit looks like a lot of fun.
I tend to get confused when people with experience begin talking about upgrades that will increase the level of the builds. I’m in favor of the upgrades but my inexperience makes the upgrades look confusing because I no longer have the step by step directions to follow with the exact parts I need.

There there is an old saying about opinions- everybody’s got one.
Do the build, make mistakes, learn from them, get help from others w more experience, get advice, take some w less than a grain of salt, enjoy the ride!
Listen!

The point of DIY is not to save money, but to develop a visceral, first hand experience most audiophiles don't ever get to.

If you are interested, have the cash, and maybe a young family member to help you .... do it and don't worry about upgrades.

Thanks, guys :-)

lak,
One thing I should have mentioned, is, if you plan to build a kit then learn to tweak it, then this is probably not the best kit to do that with.


This is a very basic amplifier circuit. It has low distortion at very low power, but as soon as the power gets up to anywhere reasonable, like 1W, the distortion is very high. No matter what component tweaks you do, you can't make much difference in that, it needs a different circuit.