Hi Paul and Leadercrat,
Thanks for your excellent complements. Take heart - I am an electronics ignoramus! :) My system is a progression from minor stupidity to gross stupidity. In other words, you start off building something low voltage and undeadly and build up to the dangerous and exotic. I do admit to having a minor talent for making / fixing things - and I can follow directions. Other than being aware of the various elementary formulas (and where to look them up when I need to employ them) I remain fairly ignorant of electronic theory. Safety is the key one hand in your pocket, etc. I really only studied electronic safety and soldering technique. Of course I learned to read schematics and the function of all the typical electronics parts, but thats mainly it. Oh yes, I learned to humbly ask questions. I worried the life out of Thorsten Loesch and he was kind enough to oblige :)
My modern electronics journey began when I refurbished several old tube table radios in the early nineties - I fixed an old Telefunken shortwave from the thrift store just in time for the "golden age" of shortwave broadcasting in the mid to late nineties. All of that lead to tube receiver modification and so on. My first scratch project was a two tube line preamp around '97.
Supercat - as to cost, I have cleverly hidden that aspect of DIY even from myself :) But add up the cost of the parts you see and that is basically it. It depends on how good you are at finding parts and striking a deal to buy them. Take the knobs on the Loesch preamp I got estimates of as much as $400 to machine those knobs. I ended up going to a huge CNC facility and struck up a friendly conversation with the owner (he turned out to be a minor stereo buff still using his TT) and got them for $70. In a nice way, he told me to never come back - i.e., never to expect him to stop his line for cheap one off job, at that kind of price again :) Getting the parts takes time and if you charge yourself for your time, your savings from DIY wont look so hot. But did I spend $20K of my time building the Loesch preamp? Hardly. And of course, at times hunting parts was fun too (think dusty warehouses and hamfests) ...and I honestly felt that it did sound better than a well known $20K preamp available at the time I built it. My cost goal for the preamp was less than $1,000 - and I am pretty sure I came in well under that.
Now to foist my DIY OPINION:
Make a preamp the best you can afford make it purdy - the Aikido circuit would be my choice. Modify an existing amp the Chinese PP KT88 amps of various types can sound fabulous. A tube preamp with a SS amp can also be a great combo. Dont attempt to build speakers unless its a kit. Why? Ever notice that most DIYers either build electronics OR speakers. You need a whole other set of tools, electronic and mechanical, to build speakers. After you price out all the drivers, XO and cabinets you might find that a used pair of highly reviewed speakers are very close to your real cost and will not drive you insane trying to get that one last aspect of their performance right.
Kind regards
Mike
