Can anyone help me start building my own poweramp?

Tube would be a whole lot easier to work with. For an initial project I suggest that you rebuild an old dynaco amp. If that goes well you will have learned a bit about how amps work, and aquired soldering skill. Solid state amps have components that are easy to damage during assembly, and some ICs are near impossible to solder with manual tools.

Another possibility is to put together a digital amp using the UcD modules from Hypex. This will teach you little about amps, or soldering, but you will end up with a first class piece of gear.

"Gainclone" or "digital" switching amp using pre-fab amp modules would be very simple. Just do a google search for "gainclone" or DIY audio and you will likely find a wealth of information to get yourself started. AudiogoN'r "Rawsonte" builds and sells lots of simple gainclone and other type DIY amplifiers. Maybe you can ping him and he will send you some links to sites that have information about do-it-yourself amps.

TIC

http://www.diyaudio.com/
http://www.borbelyaudio.com/

Eldartford's comment about rebuilding an old Dynaco amp reminded me of an advantenture during my undergrad days, about 50 years ago. I'd successfully graduated from Heathkit to Dynaco amps, so a friend asked, and I promised, to build a Dynaco preamp by Christmas. What a foolish promise! The simple amp turned out well, of course, but the preamp was a disaster. Thus endth my kit building.

db