# Kit Builders



## hjones4841 (Jan 21, 2009)

Who has built electronic kits, like Heathkit and Knight Kit? I built several over the years. Now the major kit companies are long gone, unable to compete with the major brands. But, boy were they fun!

What did you build, and most importantly - did it work when you turned in on for the first time?

My first was a Knight Kit tube integrated amp when I was 11. Did it work? "Mom/Dad - it smoked!"

Later kits faired much better.


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## GranteedEV (Aug 8, 2010)

hjones4841 said:


> Who has built electronic kits, like Heathkit and Knight Kit? I built several over the years. Now the major kit companies are long gone, unable to compete with the major brands. But, boy were they fun!


Those major kit companies might be gone, but there's definitely others that are around and kicking!


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## needspeed52 (Aug 2, 2008)

GranteedEV said:


> Those major kit companies might be gone, but there's definitely others that are around and kicking!


Grant, could you name a couple?


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## GranteedEV (Aug 8, 2010)

needspeed52 said:


> Grant, could you name a couple?


Well a few places to consider off the top of my head

Hypex 
Class D Audio
Chipamp.com 
TubeDepot 

There's definitely a lot more than that though...!


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## needspeed52 (Aug 2, 2008)

GranteedEV said:


> Well a few places to consider off the top of my head
> 
> Hypex
> Class D Audio
> ...


Thanks Grant, I'm familiar with Class D Audio, I've spoken to Tom about some multi-channel amp modules and kits, nice guy. The more I look at Class D Pro Audio amps the more I'm inclined to go that route, especially the Crown XLS series, I've read nothing but stellar reviews from owners, not many pro reviews though. I see a lot of people are incorporating pro gear into home audio applications with really good results, I don't think I could assemble some of these class D amps cheaper than buying the Crowns.
Jeff


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## GranteedEV (Aug 8, 2010)

needspeed52 said:


> Thanks Grant, I'm familiar with Class D Audio, I've spoken to Tom about some multi-channel amp modules and kits, nice guy. The more I look at Class D Pro Audio amps the more I'm inclined to go that route, especially the Crown XLS series, I've read nothing but stellar reviews from owners, not many pro reviews though. I see a lot of people are incorporating pro gear into home audio applications with really good results, I don't think I could assemble some of these class D amps cheaper than buying the Crowns.
> Jeff


The nice thing about pro amps is economy of scale, which puts there prices right where they "should be" rather than inflated for the five people in the country willing to buy one.

But as an irrational, inherently biased audiophile, I'm sure you know how tempting the Hypex NC400s are. That's the only thing keeping me from picking up an XLS1500 myself.


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## needspeed52 (Aug 2, 2008)

GranteedEV said:


> The nice thing about pro amps is economy of scale, which puts there prices right where they "should be" rather than inflated for the five people in the country willing to buy one.
> 
> But as an irrational, inherently biased audiophile, I'm sure you know how tempting the Hypex NC400s are. That's the only thing keeping me from picking up an XLS1500 myself.


I was unaware of the Hypex NC400 modules and was amazed when I went to the site, it seems that noise and distortion levels of these modules are next to non existent, there seems to be no limit to their applications in the audio market, I like the fact that they cater to the DIY market foremost. I can just imagine some of the exuberant prices of the OEM market from companies that build their amps with these modules from Hypex. The NC400 is truly a remarkable product, it sells for 325.00 euros, I believe thats about $404 US. 6 moons did an entensive review of an assembled NCore amp on loan only from Hypex and were amazed with the performance of this I believe 15 lb. amp, they compared it to 100 lb class A and AB amps and the Ncore drove 4 and 2 Ohm loads without breaking a sweat, stability and extremely low distortion seems to the the trademark of Hypex, I'm impressed. Grant I've had a XLS1500 in a cart now for three weeks, I went to pull the trigger so many times then you do this Hypex thing, thanks.....
Jeff


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## Jef Bardsley (Jul 16, 2012)

hjones4841 said:


> Who has built electronic kits, like Heathkit and Knight Kit? I built several over the years. Now the major kit companies are long gone, unable to compete with the major brands. But, boy were they fun!
> 
> What did you build, and most importantly - did it work when you turned in on for the first time?


Sitting behind me on a shelf are two Dynaco MKIIIs. Haven't fired them up in about 25 years, I'm sure they'd need some work. Especially since they were last used as guitar amps, and one of them puts over 700 volts on the plates*. Tube life is under two hours, but the distortion is glorious!! The PAS 3 is in the attic.

My first kit was a 15 watt, stereo, Lafayette Radio integrated amp. It worked, but as I recall, I was disappointed to find the two channels didn't sound quite the same.


* DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!! You can melt the glass. Seriously. One of my more foolish Darwin Award moments.


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## hjones4841 (Jan 21, 2009)

I remember the Dynacos. Never owned one, but knew several who did. True classics.


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## Bullitt5094 (Mar 5, 2012)

FWIW, I'm using the XLS 1000 to power a DIY sub with two opposed 15" drivers. It's awesome. I'm using one channel to power each of the two drivers and it's being fed from B&K 317 and EQ done with a BFD. With this amp a 4 ohm load, it gets loud for 7.1 HT use and sounds great when I go back to 2.1 to listen to music. I was going to leave my Velodyne in the room and use it for 2.1 but honestly, the DIY sealed sub with the Crown sounds better especially after being EQed through the BFD.


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## Big Dave (Jan 26, 2012)

A couple of years ago I rebuilt and modified a Dynaco Pas3x preamp. I used it to drive my 300b SE amp set up to which I built from scratch. To tell you the truth there are very few modern amps that could keep up with them.


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