Multichannel power amp

if you think 6 channel is way too much, wait till you get a load of this.




12 channel power amp, to cater for the rest of the speakers.

the circuit is building up beautifully with only the main power capacitors and the chip to be soldered in. still following the same circuit as implemented previously in the 6 channel integrated 'stereo' amp. minus the tube buffer and source selection and HT bypass.

why, you ask?
1. because i can.
2. because parts are carried over from the first 10 channel power amp, it costs roughly RM20 to build 1 working channel.
3. because i'm gob-smacked by the sheer improvement brought by the the move from passive to an actively driven system (6 channel integrated stereo amp)

the move from a passively driven system to an active system have got to be the most significant upgrade (audible) that i've ever encountered. the sheer difference is amazing.

edited: typo

Food for thought.

Many forumer's on the MUG (magneplaner user group) talk about driving individual bass and treble panels using separate power amps, throwing out the passive crossovers.

Apparently the improvement in sound quality is said to be devine.

Currently saving up to buy another power amp to help my 2 channel Vincent do the job.

Thanks for sharing.
Not much going on on the maggie/apogee forum right now.

Bal.

the sheer improvement from the use of an active crossover is so much that any speakers that i'm upgrading next will all be driven actively.

there's so much depth and transparency that i'm dumbfounded when i first heard it. my current floorstanders are somewhat bass shy so can't say if bass is improved. midrange and treble are definitely upgraded.

now that the midrange and tweeter (and bass if you're running more than 2 way) are separated, tweaks could be done at the specific range. you could make the midrange slower (or faster) pace and still retaining the tweeter analytical sound (for example).

and since the crossover frequency and level could be further modified, you could strip down the 'sound signature' of a particular speaker and change it altogether according to your preference.
i know i did to mine. a wharfedale that sounded nothing like a wharfedale.

Yes I completely agree with you Jat.

Active crossovers are a different beasts all together.

Mind sharing the rest of your active crossovers?



cheers.

in a few days perhaps. the pcb for the active crossover for this build have yet to be fabricated. pcb design is finalized but i'm trying to finish the poweramp circuit first.

i'm quite comfortable with active crossovers after building the 6 way crossover for the front amp. this time i'm upping the ante by implementing an 11 way crossover for this build.
sounds excessive, but rough calculation tells me i'm only gonna spend about RM50 building it. might as well try it out since it's so cheap to build.

My next challenge for, if you wish to accept, is to build the gainclone using point-to-point technique.

I've done PCB (using experimenter PCB) and PTP valve hybrid gainclones before, and I swear by PTP technique man. The sound is just much more 3D and images a delineated better.



This is a PCB version of the valve gainclone. Does not sound as good as the point to point.









Point to point valve gainclone. Amazing 3D sound







cheers