building your own amp

[businessjeff]

How hard could it be?

Sooner or later Id like to gather up a PA system for setting up for bands. No idea how much sound would be needed but no matter the case Id like all separate enclosures for Low, Mid, High and all on active crossovers and using horns for mids and highs and Folded horns for the lows.

So how hard would it be to build your own active amps? Im sure if it was easy most you would probably do it, so there may be some reason. For me though as long as its practical and cheaper then Ill do just about anything, its just my nature.

Ive seen DIY on headphone amps.

Thanks.

Note: Any mods read this, I would like to get into discussing building enclosure materials and calculations for timing and acoustics in this thread, where would this thread belong then? Ty

 

[skizzerflake]

Isn't that one of those things that is like making your own ketchup or your own tires? By the time you design the thing, chase down all of the components, build it and test it, if you put any reasonable value on your own labor, that amp will be the equivalent investment of a $5000 amp that you could buy for $500 but since it's an original design, it MIGHT work. There's a reason why experts design them, test them, debug them and have production lines to build them.

 

[TLS Guy]

How hard could it be?

Sooner or later Id like to gather up a PA system for setting up for bands. No idea how much sound would be needed but no matter the case Id like all separate enclosures for Low, Mid, High and all on active crossovers and using horns for mids and highs and Folded horns for the lows.

So how hard would it be to build your own active amps? Im sure if it was easy most you would probably do it, so there may be some reason. For me though as long as its practical and cheaper then Ill do just about anything, its just my nature.

Ive seen DIY on headphone amps.

Thanks.

Note: Any mods read this, I would like to get into discussing building enclosure materials and calculations for timing and acoustics in this thread, where would this thread belong then? Ty

If you have to ask the question it is too hard for you. Designing and building an amp is a real labor of love, and you certainly won't save any money.

 

[highfigh]

If it was that easy, everyone would do it. You can take an existing design and change one part to make it sound different.

Also, if you want an amp that will stand up to PA use and think it's easy to design/build one, you need to read up on this kind of equipment. At home, if an amp fails, nobody loses money. At a gig, if the PA stops working, everyone loses- the band, the venue, the sound crew (no matter how large or small), the PA rental house. Also, PA system design is about specifics- how large the venue is determines what equipment is used and how much of it. Not having any idea of how much is needed won't work and having all separate enclosures for mid/high can waste a lot of space in an array. Large music systems tend to be 4 way, too.

For info, read:
Mix Magazine
http://mixonline.com/

Sound & Video Contractor Magazine
http://svconline.com/

 

[businessjeff]

The fact that it isnt easy is a given, I was just curious as to if the cost is practical. Not cost in time, but actual cost in components.

And... The only limitations on not knowing the size that is needed at this time is a mute point, as to im just making a general inquiry onto whether or not its possible in terms of cost and ability to manufacture/build.

And.. as well if you go big then you wont have issues of shooting to low, except with space constraints. However I think smaller units where space is that big of an issue, like behind a piano bar for a solo artist, that would be a whole separate PA system, much smaller, most likely not even a active system. For open stages in bars is what im aiming at for a general use PA system. Now how loud that would need to be is whats unknown to me? Any idea on a good way to get an Idea? lol. Would you need to know the SPL at X distance you want to achieve probably?

And when I said "It must be easy enough" Im talking in terms of specialty equipment that would be needed that would cost lots of $ and be unavailable to me. And of coarse it would have to be reliable. Micro circuitry is something thats not going to be capable of being done by hand. Thanks for the input, ill check out those links.

 

[highfigh]

The fact that it isnt easy is a given, I was just curious as to if the cost is practical. Not cost in time, but actual cost in components.

And... The only limitations on not knowing the size that is needed at this time is a mute point, as to im just making a general inquiry onto whether or not its possible in terms of cost and ability to manufacture/build.

And.. as well if you go big then you wont have issues of shooting to low, except with space constraints. However I think smaller units where space is that big of an issue, like behind a piano bar for a solo artist, that would be a whole separate PA system, much smaller, most likely not even a active system. For open stages in bars is what im aiming at for a general use PA system. Now how loud that would need to be is whats unknown to me? Any idea on a good way to get an Idea? lol. Would you need to know the SPL at X distance you want to achieve probably?

And when I said "It must be easy enough" Im talking in terms of specialty equipment that would be needed that would cost lots of $ and be unavailable to me. And of coarse it would have to be reliable. Micro circuitry is something thats not going to be capable of being done by hand. Thanks for the input, ill check out those links.

Distance from speakers to listeners, SPL from speakers at a specified distance (usually 1 meter) and desired SPL at listening locations and some educated guesses as to how much more/less power will be needed based on how much more/less absorptive the room's surfaces are. Absorption of sound is measured in Sabines and the amount will vary, depending on the materials present and how many people are in the space at the time. Adding some amount of extra power will keep the amps from running balls out all the time and compression/limiting keeps signal peaks from damaging speakers, especially when people use a mic and aren't familiar with doing this properly.

If you look on Craig/s List, ebay and at music stores, you'll find that PA amps can be had for very little money. A store here ran an ad for the rental equipment they wanted to sell and some of the amps were marked at less than $300, for 200W/ch.

Look at the Musician's Friend (and others) site for ideas on what's out there, how much it costs and the applications. Powered speakers can be had for a few hundred dollars and some of them sound really good.

 

[businessjeff]

wouldnt you want as much absorption as possible from the acoustic environment?

Thanks a ton for the help and ideas, I appreciate it.

 

[WmAx]

The fact that it isnt easy is a given, I was just curious as to if the cost is practical. Not cost in time, but actual cost in components.

.

You WILL spend at least as much, and more likely than not, more, than the commercial units cost. Take for example a Behringer or Tapco model 2500. These are both very high quality QSC 2450 clones. They produce 650x2 continuous into 4 ohms, and 1100x2 continuous into 2 Ohms. Price? About $350 street. You can get the price down to $280-$290 each if you shop wisely.

-Chris

 

[Dan Banquer]

You WILL spend at least as much, and more likely than not, more, than the commercial units cost. Take for example a Behringer or Tapco model 2500. These are both very high quality QSC 2450 clones. They produce 650x2 continuous into 4 ohms, and 1100x2 continuous into 2 Ohms. Price? About $350 street. You can get the price down to $280-$290 each if you shop wisely.

-Chris

And one will learn absolutely nothing on how things work or do not work as the case may be. The DIY process is as much about learning, as it is about the satisfaction of completing a project.
d.b.

 

[Midcow2]

I built a Dynaco ST-120 a long time ago.

How hard could it be?

Sooner or later Id like to gather up a PA system for setting up for bands. No idea how much sound would be needed but no matter the case Id like all separate enclosures for Low, Mid, High and all on active crossovers and using horns for mids and highs and Folded horns for the lows.

So how hard would it be to build your own active amps? Im sure if it was easy most you would probably do it, so there may be some reason. For me though as long as its practical and cheaper then Ill do just about anything, its just my nature.

Ive seen DIY on headphone amps.

Thanks.

Note: Any mods read this, I would like to get into discussing building enclosure materials and calculations for timing and acoustics in this thread, where would this thread belong then? Ty

I built a Dynaco ST-120 power amp a long time ago and it worked very well for many years until I sold it. You can still buy one and built it yourself, but you won't save any money,

You can buy an excellent Berhinger 2500 or 1500 for a lot less!

Your call,

MidCow2

 

[lsiberian]

Well it depends on how far you want to go? Do you want to mine the materials yourself? hehe. It's probably not hard if you are good at bread boarding soldering and know enough about electronics, but keep in mind that the amps companies manufacture are designed and built by electrical engineers so you will probably have a hard time matching there expertise and efficiency. That being said it's doable, but expect the learning curve to be steep. This sounds like a lot of fun though with the right tools.

 

[Dan Banquer]

Well it depends on how far you want to go? Do you want to mine the materials yourself? hehe. It's probably not hard if you are good at bread boarding soldering and know enough about electronics, but keep in mind that the amps companies manufacture are designed and built by electrical engineers so you will probably have a hard time matching there expertise and efficiency. That being said it's doable, but expect the learning curve to be steep. This sounds like a lot of fun though with the right tools.

There are still a number of folks that have kits available. It's a great way to start learning if you so desire.
d.b.