Benjiman C. Tharp
DIY Hi-Fi Audio
Early
in my high school years, I developed a fascination with high quality
home audio reproduction. However, being a high school student, I
did not have the budget to support my boutique interests. To
partially remedy this situation, I began to learn how to design and build my own
amplifiers, speakers, and other related components using information
found on various websites such as Elliott Sound Products and PassDIY as well as helpful advice from forum members at the DIY Audio Forums.
I have since purchased more commercial speakers and amplifiers
than I care to admit, but I continue to study, design, and build new
amplifier circuits and speaker designs
in an attempt to further my informal "audio engineering" education.
It is quite fun, after all.
Some of my recent DIY audio projects appear below. Hopefully
the contents of this page will eventually expand to include more detailed information about
my projects so that others can learn from my trials and
errors.
Amplifiers
- 1626 "Darling" single-ended triode (SET) amp using #76 driver tubes
- 6C45-PI "SPUD" SET amp - only one active device in the signal path!
- 6C33C-V SET using 6C45-PI driver tubes
- mini-Aleph - using ZVP3310 input MOSFETs, built on Chipamp PCBs
- Clones of First Watt F5, F6, and M2 - standard builds using PCBs designed by various members of the DIY Audio forums
- 6418 triode-strapped, directly heated pentode tube-MOSFET hybrid mu-follower headphone amplifier - interestingly, I devised
this wonderful sounding circuit (which was unlike any I had
seen before) through a series of trials and errors only to later
discover that I had reinvented the circuit from a certain 1958 patent.
Speakers
- Mass-loaded transmission line speakers using Mark Audio Alpair 10p drivers
- Soundbar
using Dayton Audio ND91 - offers full-range sound for the TV (including
quite impressive bass response for 3" speakers!) from a compact
enclosure
- Micro open-baffle speakers using Mark Audio Alpair 7p drivers - for nearfield listening at my desk
Some Helpful Design Software
I use the following (free!) software programs when working on new projects.
Electronics Design
- LTspice IV - for simulating the behavior of a circuit before committing resources to a physical build
- PSUD2 - for modeling power supplies
- ExpressPCB - an easy-to-use program for designing printed circuit boards for my projects
- PCB Artist - another simple program for designing PCBs
- Heatsink.xls - a nice spreadsheet from Elliott Sound to calculate thermal resistance of heat sinks
Speaker Design
- UniBox408 - for designing closed, vented, or passive radiator speaker enclosures
- Xlbaffle - for determining the frequency response of a speaker on a rectangular baffle
- The Edge - for determining the frequency response of a speaker on a baffle of any shape
- ABC Dipole - for designing dipole/open baffle speakers
- Leonard Audio Transmission Line - for designing closed, vented, or transmission line speaker enclosures
Other
Some Links Containing Helpful Information
- DIY Audio Forums - the place to go to talk about audio projects
- PassDIY - older "Zen" projects by well-known amplifier designer Nelson Pass
- First Watt Articles - a more current series of articles and projects by Nelson Pass
Other Interesting Links
Links on these pages to non-university sites do not represent endorsement by the University of Oklahoma or its affiliates.
The opinions or statements expressed herein should not be taken as a position of or endorsement by the University of Oklahoma.
