Audio I have gotten right so far. Introducing myself in this section because it is th

[phi1123]

I love listening to music. Grew up with a system in the house, moved out, scored some tannoy hpd 15s before most people had located the surrounds which were being produced in AUS. Got the seller to fit them in exchange for the surround source so he could restore tannoys from then on. Those speakers seemed to give me a new set of ears, and at the time I was finally putting in the daily hours to learn guitar.

I sold all the equipment before leaving the UK. The amp had 4xkt88s (Beard p-80 or 90) cant remember. Also had a Garrard deck with a rewired rega arm. Made maybe 10% profit at the end, with some great memories.

Anyway I found myself without a system and WITH the wrong transformer for a simple variable regulator I was building. Actually I didn't understand how to get different voltages out of a balanced trafo at the time.

I needed a system.

First the speakers.
Whizzer cone fullranges. Best thing I ever did to a speaker was trimming those babys down to~1.5cm depth.

Then it was Amp time. All was out of my price range that was within my wishes quality-wise so I bought DIY modules with the parts and soldered them together. with quallity PCBs and RELAYS at the rectifier bridge, default state=off, that will save me and/or the amp should something go wrong.

Decided on one pair of toshiba 2sa1943/2sc5200s

tried sanken. Cold sound.

Learned about keeping stages separated, Toshibas had a hum problem, sankens didn't, but Toshibas sounded great, one pair per channel. 2 pair in series didn't sound good to me.

Eventually I shielded the trafo, and used a mains filter and eliminated the hum.

Built speaker cabinets. Tall, narrow, and deep. The speakers are labeled NASA. I love them

DAC is an ess sabre with upgraded lm317, originally generic, now ST-Micro and with a heatsink. Supply is a linear lab supply. Using an Amanero USB i2s clone w/ better caps than the Amanero. RT-Preempt kernel when using the computer as a source, Compiled it myself.

I am building el-84 monoblocks from modules I got from Ukraine, and trafos I am getting made. C-Cores for the OTs.

Whatever happens with that build I will use relays on the HV part, default state=off because they can save my life.

All I am pondering is a snubber across the diode bridge or a 10nf cap in parallel to each diode and if that is a good idea. I think I will try w/o as I want to keep the soldering jobs clean and already have sufficient filtration.

I could not believe MOSFET amplifiers could sound so warm. It is going to be difficult for the Valve amp to sound better but will see,

To all DIY folks, safety first, ask an expert (clearly) b4 trying anything new, and I recommend an appropriate relay before the rectifier bridge, Default=off for your first HV build.

Good luck,
Rock-on
There's a pic.

Philip