Bottlehead Forum

General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: martinman on February 15, 2021, 04:28:42 AM

Title: Kits for integrated amps?
Post by: martinman on February 15, 2021, 04:28:42 AM: I've built up a bunch of guitar amp kits over the past years. I'm wondering if there is anything similar in the hi-fi world? I'd like to build the Fender Super Reverb (all the bells and whistles) of the hi-fi world. I'd need 3-4 analog inputs, 1 pre-out for my bottlehead crack, 1 subwoofer out, L/R binding for speakers, and enough power to drive Kef LS50s well (86db). Does such a thing exist? Can I get there with a combination of bottlehead kits (preamp / monoblocks, etc.)?

Edit: reading through the forum I see that there are some workable solutions for nearfield listening. That's not quite what I'm after. I need to fill a large(ish) room.

Thanks!
Title: Re: Kits for integrated amps?
Post by: Paul Joppa on February 15, 2021, 06:27:17 AM: To fill a large room with 86dB speakers, you're going to need 40 watts per channel. I'm not aware of any kits like that (doesn't mean they don't exist, of course).

Just for completeness, I'll mention a bell and a whistle you've left out of the list. In the so-called "Golden Age," integrated amp also included a phono preamp and tone controls.
Title: Re: Kits for integrated amps?
Post by: Thermioniclife on February 15, 2021, 06:39:40 AM: While not an integrated amp you could build a Moreplay or a BeePre and a stereo amp like a VTA ST-70. My ST-70 is running kt88's
and you can rattle your teeth out if you want.
Title: Re: Kits for integrated amps?
Post by: Tubegopher on February 15, 2021, 09:12:11 AM: Quote from: Thermioniclife on February 15, 2021, 06:39:40 AM
While not an integrated amp you could build a Moreplay or a BeePre and a stereo amp like a VTA ST-70. My ST-70 is running kt88's
and you can rattle your teeth out if you want.
I have built a couple of the VTA-70s but I have never tried using KT-88s. Do you need to make any mods to use them or just plug them in?
Title: Re: Kits for integrated amps?
Post by: Thermioniclife on February 15, 2021, 10:13:46 AM: Replace R 39 on the driver board with a 3.5k - 5k resistor. R39 is on the underside of the board. Set bias to 0.5 vdc
Title: Re: Kits for integrated amps?
Post by: Tubegopher on February 15, 2021, 12:54:39 PM: Thanks Lee, I will try that on my next version.
;D
Title: Re: Kits for integrated amps?
Post by: adeep42 on February 15, 2021, 01:28:55 PM: I believe that the Akitika solid state power amp is 40 WPC. Herb Reichart of Stereophile magazine gave it a good review some time ago.