The Audiophile's Project Sourcebook: 80 High-Performance Audio Electronics Projects [Paperback]

G. Randy Slone (Author)

Book Description

Series: TAB Electronics | Publication Date: October 30, 2001

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; and, 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! It includes: 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; and, homemade test equipment.

Editorial Reviews

Review

From New Literature Section:

The clear, illustrated schematics and instructions provided in this book allow audio enthusiasts to build high-quality, high-power electronic audio components and testing equipment. The author gives easily comprehensible explanations of the electronics at work, as well as a practical foundation needed for experimentation and modification of existing voltage emplifiers, balanced input driver/receiver circuits, graphic equalizers, and effects circuits. (Poptronics )

From the Back Cover

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

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 361 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill/TAB Electronics; 1 edition (October 30, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071379290
• ISBN-13: 978-0071379298
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #426,428 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

101 of 102 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lovely coverage of top-end DIY analog audio, July 28, 2002

By 

Shuvam "shuvam" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Audiophile's Project Sourcebook: 80 High-Performance Audio Electronics Projects (Paperback)

First, my background as a reviewer. I love listening to music, and I like
dabbling with electronics kits and a soldering iron. I have an engineering
education, but I understand the bare minimum basic electronics. And the
only test equipment I own is a digital multimeter. My review of this book
should be seen in the context of my background. This book is not "right
for everyone;" you need to know at least as much basic electronics as
I do. Another contextual factor is that this book is only one part of
"what you get." What you also get is the author's constant email-based
guidance, and his Website from where you can buy PCBs and components.

The author assumes you know what a transistor or an opamp is, for
instance. The book also expects you to have _built_ some circuits
before. The book discusses many opamp-based circuits, all the time
expecting that you can recognize an opamp-based unity-gain inverting
buffer when you see one. It _never_ gives you IC pinouts of the
ICs it uses in its circuits.

The author has strong opinions, something I really value. I've always
learnt the most from people with strong opinions, provided they show me
how they have arrived at those opinions. Randy Slone's opinions about
potentiometers and tone controls in preamplifiers (pages 77 to 80),
or on "valve sound" on page 126, are worth passing around to all
brand-conscious audiophiles with more money than good sense (plenty
of them around).

The book's standards of good performance are superlative, i.e. the "good"
designs here are probably comparable to the best designs commercially
available, in terms of raw audio quality.

The author comes from the Scientific School of Audio System Performance
Analysis (SSoASPA). He believes that if two amps with similar specs sound
different, it doesn't indicate the presence of subjective, unmeasurable
attributes --- it merely means that we are not performing the right tests
for the right parameters.

The author's writing style is conversational, laced with humour, and easy
to read. From page 49: "Some audiopiles ... believe the least number of
components (and the greatest percentage of gold plating) in the signal
path will ultimately provide the highest quality of undiluted sonics."

I'll touch upon a few specific chapters --- the reader can always
get the actual Table of Contents from Amazon's Webpage. Chapter 2,
"Beginning at the beginning", focuses on balanced to unbalanced signal
connections, and then discusses stepped attenuators. Both these are
among the latest "purist" fads, with questionable benefits in most
cases. The chapter concludes with an ultra-brief discussion on digitally
controlled potentiometers. Chapter 5 is a short chapter dedicated to
headphone amplifiers, both opamp-based and fully discrete. Chapter 6
is a long chapter on power amplifiers, with some very high-performance
ready-to-build designs. Chapter 10, "General construction information,"
is an excellent coverage of hum, grounding, and such other obscure issues
which often ruin the performance of actual amps built from flawless
circuit designs. The other sections of the chapter covers PCB fabrication
and heatsinks.

Where the book ends, the author's personal interaction begins. Over
the last few months, I've asked the author dozens of questions, and
have been rewarded with insightful, courteous, and friendly replies
each time. This follow-up "service" from someone so knowledgeable adds
enormously to the value of the book.

Could I have asked for anything more from a book which wants to cover
all aspects of the audio home-building scene?

1. The book does not touch even the "D" of digital audio. The issue of a
super-stable clock alone is worthy of a few circuits and a
fair amount of experimentation; Randy Slone's no-nonsense fad-busting
exploratory style would have suited it well.

The amateur constructor might need DACs, ADCs, sampling rate
converters, digital audio level meters, an input selection circuit
for switching among digital inputs, or an SCMS copy-bit modifier.
The absence of digital audio is the biggest gap in the book.

2. There are no super-quiet high-gain signal amplifier circuits
of the kind needed for MC turntable cartridges. A good pre-preamp amplifying
sub-milliVolt signals would have plugged a gap for vinyl lovers on
a budget.

3. Cabinet construction, front panel design and building, fitting of
jacks and connectors, selection of passive components like reed
relays and rotary switches, etc, all have subtle issues. A better
coverage of these issues would have been very useful.

4. Some circuits for testing audio equipment, e.g. a sine wave generator,
a high-Q notch filter for harmonic distortion analysis, a capacitor
meter, etc., would have been useful.

5. I would have liked an entire chapter devoted to control circuits for
controlling the controls of a preamp, e.g. the input selection,
volume, balance controls, etc. Designing very low-noise,
low-distortion solid-state signal switches and super-clean electronic
potentiometers is tricky.

All said and done, would I buy this book again, knowing all these gaps?
Answer: YES! In fact, I'm buying a couple of copies to gift to friends.

All in all, an excellent book, and a must for any amateur or professional
designing or building audio systems. And if Randy Slone chooses to write
the "Audiophile's Digital Audio and Controls Projects Sourcebook" someday,
I'll be waiting, cheque in hand!

34 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Response to Bill Fiorucci (Hazelwood, MO (St. Louis County), November 14, 2004

By 

AudioLover "russ2222" (Washington State) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Audiophile's Project Sourcebook: 80 High-Performance Audio Electronics Projects (Paperback)

I have to comment here on Bill Fiorucci (Hazelwood, MO (St. Louis County) review shown below. It is so unfortunate that people like Mr. Fiorucci can condemn Mr. Slone's amplifier designs without ever once listening to one. I have known Mr. Slone for over 4 years and I can attest to the fact that the designs he presents in his books are his own original topologies (unless stated otherwise). I have heard numerous types of Mr. Slone's amplifiers and I can tell you straight up that these amplifiers have astonishing sonic excellence and I would put them up against any amplifier class; solid-state or vacuum tube. I am no stranger to high-end audio and neither are several of my friends and associates. In "every" case once a person has the priviledge of auditioning the amplifiers they immediately find they have a new reference amplifier. I have also auditioned Mr. Slone's fully discrete Class A preamplifier and I can tell you I was not prepared for the sonic experience I got. In a word: spectacular. Furthermore, I have shown the amplifier to two high-end speaker manufacturers as I was curious as to how the amplifiers would sound to "expert speaker builders". In both cases the fellows said "I have heard detail and resolution coming out of my speakers I have never heard before." One of the fellows had a McIntosh amp that he used as his reference, and he later e-mailed me telling me the Slone amplifier "blew the Mac away". I am 100% serious here. The detail, resolution, transparency, realism and sheer power of these amps can only be experienced. If someone resorts to writing unsubstantiated, rude and hateful reviews (like Mr. Fiorucci did) without even having the decency to build up one of the amplifiers and actually listen to it, then he does a great injustice to Mr. Slone's hard-earned and well deserved reputation. I understand there are over 2,000 of Mr. Slone's amplifiers in circulation in one form or another "out there" and in every review I have ever read on the internet from people who have actually LISTENED to the amplifiers, the reviews are all positive and many times overwhelming so. My advice is to do your own homework by going a search in the Audio Forums and read for yourself. Better yet, go listen to or build-up one of these amazing amplifiers for yourself. You will be utterly convinced, and will hear what a truly high-end amplifier can deliver. Pure science, pure audio.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I built my own amplifiers using this book and..., February 3, 2003

By 

F. W. Hoge "Skeptical Reader" (Michigan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Audiophile's Project Sourcebook: 80 High-Performance Audio Electronics Projects (Paperback)

I found the entire experience to be fantastic. Using Randy's books I built two OPTI-Mos designs from the ground up using only the books and a little email advice from Randy. I consider myself to be an audiophile and the two 200W mono block amplifiers I built based on Randy's topology sound as good as any B-class amplifier I've ever listened to. And that includes amplifiers costing up to as much as [a lot of money]. I honestly did not expect that to be the case.

Randy, was great help both on the phone and via e-mail when I experienced difficulties. You can also buy kits through his website if you are not confident with designing your own amplifiers from the ground up. I highly recommend this book to any one who wants to experience premier audio quality on a fixed budget.

Note that the book concentrates primarily on signal processing equipment between the source and the speakers. There are many designs for Amplifiers, Preamplifiers, Tone Controls, Equalizers, etc... But there isn't really anything on how to build CD players or other source equipment. If Mr. Sloane ever publishes such a book. I will most certainly absolutely buy it.