The Audiophile S Project Sourcebook

THE AUDIOPHILE’S PROJECT SOURCEBOOK Build audio projects that produce great sound for far less than they cost in the store, with audio hobbyists’ favorite writer Randy Slone. In The Audiophile’s Project Sourcebook, Slone gives you— • Clear, illustrated schematics and instructions for high-quality, high-power electronic audio components that you can build at home • Carefully constructed designs for virtually all standard high-end audio projects, backed by an author who answers his email • 8 power-amp designs that suit virtually any need • Instructions for making your own inexpensive testing equipment • Comprehensible explanations of the electronics at work in the projects you want to construct, spiced with humor and insight into the electronics hobbyist’s process • Complete parts lists "The Audiophile's Project Sourcebook" is devoid of the hype, superstition, myths, and expensive fanaticism often associated with 'high-end' audio systems. It provides straightforward help in building and understanding top quality audio electronic projects that are based on solid science and produce fantastic sound! THE PROJECTS YOU WANT, FOR LESS Balanced input driver/receiver circuits Signal conditioning techniques Voltage amplifiers Preamps for home and stage Tone controls Passive and active filters Parametric filters Graphic equalizers Bi-amping and tri-amping filters Headphone amplifiers Power amplifiers Speaker protection systems Clip detection circuits Power supplies Delay circuits Level indicators Homemade test equipment

Practical Audio Electronics is a comprehensive introduction to basic audio electronics and the fundamentals of sound circuit building, providing the reader with the necessary knowledge and skills to undertake projects from scratch. Imparting a thorough foundation of theory alongside the practical skills needed to understand, build, modify, and test audio circuits, this book equips the reader with the tools to explore the sonic possibilities that emerge when electronics technology is applied innovatively to the making of music. Suitable for all levels of technical proficiency, this book encourages a deeper understanding through highlighted sections of advanced material and example projects including circuits to make, alter, and amplify audio, providing a snapshot of the wide range of possibilities of practical audio electronics. An ideal resource for students, hobbyists, musicians, audio professionals, and those interested in exploring the possibilities of hardware-based sound and music creation.

Small Signal Audio Design is a highly practical handbook providing an extensive repertoire of circuits that can be assembled to make almost any type of audio system. The publication of Electronics for Vinyl has freed up space for new material, (though this book still contains a lot on moving-magnet and moving-coil electronics) and this fully revised third edition offers wholly new chapters on tape machines, guitar electronics, and variable-gain amplifiers, plus much more. A major theme is the use of inexpensive and readily available parts to obtain state-of-the-art performance for noise, distortion, crosstalk, frequency response accuracy and other parameters. Virtually every page reveals nuggets of specialized knowledge not found anywhere else. For example, you can improve the offness of a fader simply by adding a resistor in the right place- if you know the right place. Essential points of theory that bear on practical audio performance are lucidly and thoroughly explained, with the mathematics kept to an absolute minimum. Self’s background in design for manufacture ensures he keeps a wary eye on the cost of things. This book features the engaging prose style familiar to readers of his other books. You will learn why mercury-filled cables are not a good idea, the pitfalls of plating gold on copper, and what quotes from Star Trek have to do with PCB design. Learn how to: make amplifiers with apparently impossibly low noise design discrete circuitry that can handle enormous signals with vanishingly low distortion use humble low-gain transistors to make an amplifier with an input impedance of more than 50 megohms transform the performance of low-cost-opamps build active filters with very low noise and distortion make incredibly accurate volume controls make a huge variety of audio equalisers make magnetic cartridge preamplifiers that have noise so low it is limited by basic physics, by using load synthesis sum, switch, clip, compress, and route audio signals be confident that phase perception is not an issue This expanded and updated third edition contains extensive new material on optimising RIAA equalisation, electronics for ribbon microphones, summation of noise sources, defining system frequency response, loudness controls, and much more. Including all the crucial theory, but with minimal mathematics, Small Signal Audio Design is the must-have companion for anyone studying, researching, or working in audio engineering and audio electronics.

Self on Audio: The collected audio design articles of Douglas Self, Third Edition is the most comprehensive collection of significant articles in the technical audio press. This third edition features 45 articles that first appeared in Elektor, Linear Audio, and Electronics World. Including expanded prefaces for each article, the author provides background information and circuit commentary. The articles cover both discrete and opamp preamplifier design, mixing console design, and power amplifier design. The preamplifier designs are illuminated by the very latest research on low noise and RIAA equalization. The famous series of 1993 articles on power amplifier distortion is included, with an extensive commentary reflecting the latest research on compensation and ultra-low distortion techniques. This book addresses the widened scope of technology that has become available to the audio designer over the last 35 years. New materials include: Prefaces that explain the historical background of the articles, why they were written, and the best use of the technology of the day Extensive details, including schematics, of designs that preceded or followed the design in each article, giving an enormous amount of extra information and a comprehensive overview of how author's design approaches have evolved New directions for the technology, describing new lines of thought such as curvilinear Class-A

This book is essential for audio power amplifier designers and engineers for one simple reason...it enables you as a professional to develop reliable, high-performance circuits. The Author Douglas Self covers the major issues of distortion and linearity, power supplies, overload, DC-protection and reactive loading. He also tackles unusual forms of compensation and distortion produced by capacitors and fuses. This completely updated fifth edition includes four NEW chapters including one on The XD Principle, invented by the author, and used by Cambridge Audio. Crosstalk, power amplifier input systems, and microcontrollers in amplifiers are also now discussed in this fifth edition, making this book a must-have for audio power amplifier professionals and audiophiles.

BOOK DESCRIPTION: Avoid the hit-and-miss approach and stop wasting money on overpriced high-end products in the blind hope of sonic improvement. Achieve the ultimate audio synergy and get more enjoyment from your audio system by making it as good sounding as possible. "Sound Improvement Secrets for Audiophiles" will teach you how things work, why some circuits, designs, and technologies sound the way they do, and how to make them sound even better through simple modifications and improvements. It is like having an audio and acoustic consultant by your side to guide you through optimizing and voicing your audio system and your listening room. While relatively technical and in-depth, this practical manual goes way beyond "a dozen quick tips" and the simplistic advice you read elsewhere. Instead, the focus is on dozens of DIY projects, case studies, and examples of commercial audio components - turntables, preamplifiers, amplifiers, loudspeakers, power supplies, and acoustic treatments. With over 400 photographs, diagrams, and illustrations, "Sound Improvement Secrets for Audiophiles" makes it easy for you to understand and comprehend complex technical concepts and issues. The author does not shy away from many controversial and hotly debated topics. Tubes vs transistors, objectivists vs subjectivists, measurements vs listening, and digital vs analog: all of these are discussed in detail. The money invested in this book would not even buy you a budget-priced pair of cables: it will prove to be one of the best financial investments you ever make. Even if you implement only a few improvements from the hundreds described within its pages - you will never look back! BOOK CONTENTS: 1. WHY YOU SHOULD READ THIS BOOK AND HOW YOU WILL BENEFIT FROM IT 2. BEFORE YOU BUY AN AUDIO SYSTEM OR COMPONENT - THINGS TO DO & MISTAKES TO AVOID 3. WHAT DO WE LISTEN FOR AND WHAT DO WE ACTUALLY HEAR? 4. CLEANING UP THE POWER SUPPLY TO REDUCE NOISE, HUM, AND INTERFERENCE 5. CABLES, FUSES, CONTACTS, AND CONNECTIONS 6. UPGRADING & FINE-TUNING THE SOURCES: OPEN REEL RECORDERS, TURNTABLES, PHONO STAGES AND CD PLAYERS 7. AUDIO AMPLIFIERS - HOW THEY WORK AND HOW TO IMPROVE THEIR SOUND 8. HEADPHONES AND HEADPHONE AMPLIFIERS 9. LOUDSPEAKER TYPES, TESTS, AND IMPROVEMENTS 10. COMPONENT MATCHING AND AUDIO SYSTEM INTEGRATION ISSUES 11. LOUDSPEAKER POSITIONING 12. OPTIMIZING THE ACOUSTIC PERFORMANCE OF YOUR LISTENING ROOM 13. ACOUSTIC TREATMENTS 14. MINIMIZING UNWANTED VIBRATIONS & OSCILLATIONS 15. TROUBLESHOOTING YOUR AUDIO SYSTEM THE AUTHOR: Igor S. Popovich is the author of "Audiophile Vacuum Tube Amplifiers" Volumes 1, 2, and 3, and five other bestselling books on audio transformers, tests & measurements, tube testers, and other audio-related topics. An Australian audio designer with over 35 years of experience and a passionate life-long audiophile, he shares his vast know-how with you in this unique and practical manual.

Design and build awesome audio amps. Amateur and professional audiophiles alike can now design and construct superior quality amplifiers at a fraction of comparable retail prices with step-by-step instruction from the High-Power audio Amplifier Construction Manual. Randy Slone, professional audio writer and electronics supply marketer, delivers the nuts-and-bolts know-how you need to optimize performance for any audio system--from home entertainment to musical instrument to sound stage. Build a few simple projects or delve into the physics of audio amplifier operation and design. This easy to understand guide walks you through: Building the optimum audio power supply; Audio amplifier power supplies and construction: Amplifier and loudspeaker protection methods; Stability, distortion, and performance; Audio amplifier cookbook designs; Construction techniques; Diagnostic equipment and testing procedures; Output stage configurations, classes, and device types; Crossover distortion physics; Mirror-image input stage topologies.