In September last year I got an urge to do an outrageous project, so I decided to build the world’s most ridiculous integrated amp. It will have to be visually very striking and sound good.
I decided on a gloss piano-black finish with a mirror-polished aluminium bevel around the front plate, concentric controls and a hidden tactile on-off switch.
I started by getting two Daan Jacobs power amps, then the project went on hold while we finished the Lotus and my son’s CR125.
Now it’s going again.
Got good valve preamp (in sub-assembly form) from Rudi
Got an abundance of MDF.
Mike (fdlsys) has ordered a couple of Alps blue pots, one for me.
I’ll get a 3-way switch from RS or Mantech for a channel selector. Squeezebox, CD or external phono stage.
I've done the measurements. Width is a bit less than I'd estimated as the preamp components are small.
Width 80cm, depth 50cm, height 12cm at the sides, 17cm in the middle. Weight including case will be +-45kg.
Output 100w per channel.
Heard the Jakobz (!) Marloth hybrid (mosfet/valve) at Rudi's place a month or so ago, and it sounds excellent – the valve/mosfet bits seem to complement each other well, especially since it was Rudi who originally modded the DJ power amps for Telephono.
Case will be 10mm aluminium front, 5mm top and sides. My aluminium supplier will cut to shape for no extra charge, and I have found a shop on Edenvale that will roll the 1625mm curve on the top and the front plates. They need an “ear” on either side to ensure that the roll continues right to the edge of the plate. I’ll machine the bevel on the top of the front plate before I get that done, however. I’m going to try with a router first – see how it comes out. My swaer will weld the whole thing together, tig welder.
Volume control knob will be turned aluminium, and the channel selector will be concentric with that, separated by a turned, shouldered sleeve made from ertalon.
Inside, the volume control shaft will go straight to the pot, and there will be a mechanical linkage to the rotary switch for channel selection.
Internal wiring C2 as recommended by Rudi - the preamp is very sensitive.
RCA sockets are Neutrik, machined brass and gold-plated.
Each power amp and the preamp will have its own Faraday cage, made from 5mm aperture expanded metal. That will keep out unwanted signals up to 30GHz, and the only activity there is satellite comms!
Base will be MDF.
Rudi says that when they tried to put two DJ amps in the same housing a few years ago, it hummed badly and they could never work out why. In this setup they will only share a wood base, and I suppose a power and an earth connection. I hope it doesn’t hum, but lets see!
Here’s a front view and a plan view.
