Nelson Pass has been an early contributor to the audio DIY scene; It has been said that Nelson has a knack of explaining engineering things very clearly in a few words, and that he obviously enjoys doing it. He is also a very active contributor at www.diyaudio.com. Being very generous with advice, tips, and complete amplifier designs that people can build.
What does Nelson Pass get out of this interaction?
“I like to speak to the teenager (me) who wanted to know this stuff—that's my audience. There are always people who appreciate a decent explanation that gets to the meat and potatoes. I see it all as light entertainment with a little education thrown in. The academic paper approach has its place, but it seems intended for people who mostly understand the stuff already. If you want to communicate with DIYers, you depend more on colorful analogies, a little hand waving, and very little differential calculus. I get lots of personal satisfaction out of the whole enterprise. It gives me an outlet for some cool ideas and things that otherwise would stay bottled up, and I have an excuse to explore offbeat approaches purely for their entertainment value. Also, the process of communicating DIY stuff is a two way street—I would say I get about as much as I give. Nelson Pass”
Conventional wisdom holds that a pure voltage source amplifier is ideal for audio applications, and generally designers of loudspeakers work to that assumption. This belief has particularly been dominant since the development of high power solid-state amplifiers that began in the 1960’s. A small minority of audiophiles thinks otherwise, and these are often people using low wattage tube amplifiers with unusual looking speakers. Well, of course entertainment is full of fringe elements. A couple of years ago, Kent English and I were playing around with various ribbon tweeters, noting how the ribbons themselves seemed perfectly happy being driven by a… More...
In Burning Amp 1 we examined an amplifier circuit designed to complement the hardware we gave away to some attendees at last October's Burning Amp Festival in the San Francisco bay area. This first design centered on a power output stage having of four banks of parallel N channel Mosfets. It was a single-ended Class A amplifier which delivered high quality sound with only local feedback. Burning Amp 2 will use virtually the same front end and power supply but coupled to complementary banks of N and P channel power Mosfets used as followers in a push-pull Class A configuration.… More...
A lot of would-be audio projects die on the vine, even when printed circuit boards and components are readily available. The planning, layout, and construction of the chassis metalwork are sometimes the barrier. Perhaps, this is why complete kits are often the first choice of beginners. To get you building, I’m including some additional information, a few instructions, pictures, and a parts list. Wherever possible, I’ve tried to select suppliers who have online stores so you can just “click” your way to a complete kit of parts. The Chassis To simplify construction of the FET Circlotron we’re going to go… More...
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