Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

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!

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.

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.

This book covers pretty much every kind of audio circuit you could wish to build. I find Randy's writing style very easy to read and the pedagogical tone of the book makes sure that everything is explained down to almost the last detail (although you do need some knowledge of electronics). Minimalist audiophiles probably will find heresy lurking in the pages, particularly Randy's views on sonic `accuracy' versus `niceness'. That said, Randy does provide a discrete preamp and his position on tubes vs solid state appears to have softened somewhat compared to earlier views expressed in the `High Power Audio Ampilifier Construction Manual'. Indeed his OPTI-MOS design actually tries to simulate the soft clipping inherent in many tube circuits, and it also doesn't try to drive the distortion in to the three zero's range (although it is still `low' by any standard). I am little surprised that Randy doesn't present a one box 6 channel home theatre power amplifier design (although perhaps people don't consider this `audiophile').
I found the discussion of active crossovers perhaps slightly over simplistic (I don't recall any mention of the phase characteristics of the drivers themselves). However, as with the rest of the book I think it is a good springboard to more sophisticated systems. Also quite a bit of the information in the power amp and power supply sections can be found in the power amp book (although there is a new discussion of power supplies for signal processing systems - a good read). There is also a really useful chapter on creating balanced and unbalanced lines as well as stepped attentuator resistance tables.
All in all I've had a lot of fun reading the book and have learnt a lot.

I have purchased three books by Randy Slone and have found all of them to be fascinating reading. Even though I am a novice with respect to amplifier design and construction, I feel that I will now be able to attempt one of the designs in the books. I did read all three of the books a few times though before feeling competent. Some of the technical books I have read are way over the top for a novice like me, these are not. Although I have not spoken with Randy Slone personally, I have sent a few E-mail messages. Randy has always responded and is keen to give any further information.
If you are not sure what a resistor colour code is you may need to do some more reading/research before wading in at the deep end.
In summary .... Easy to understand, good overview of the basics/advanced, nice construction tips, diagnostics (important) and some circuits at the end of the books to keep you amused.
You could end up with a nice high quality amp and have saved money as well !!

This book really sets the standard for other books dealing with building audio equipment.
The projects listed are straight forward with operational description and pcb layouts as well as the schematics.

The author clearly sets what the goals of an ideal amplifier should be (debunking any predominant myths that come along with such bold statements) and leads the reader to various designs and projects following the goals.

The numerous projects listed are all described very well (some with pcb layouts), and Randy provides many options to choose from building your ideal audio system.

I built his opti-mos design and the sound is pure harmony, like nothing else I've ever heard before (I had a couple bumps along the way but Randy is extremely helpful providing answers via email).

You can be sure that if you have a design question regarding an audio equipment, you'll find the answer in this book.

Randy has done a wonderful job of compiling a tremendous amount of information and high quality schematics in one book. "Source" in the title of this book is apply named. I thoroughly enjoy the nearly A-Z coverage of Audio circuits and the high degree of common sense descriptions that go along with them. If you are an Audio Hobbiest, then you should not be with out this book.

If so, you need this book. Better yet, buy all three listed here at Amazon as I did. Randy's easy to read writing style makes learning about electronics and amplifiers fun, as any hobby should be. Granted, this book will not make you a electrical engineer but it will open your eyes to the inner workings and design of amplifiers in general.

The book contains many projects as indicated by it's title. Randy's Seal Electronics offers these projects in kit form. I purchased his Opti-Mos kit. Talk about ease of assembly. And, if you have a problem he is as close as the telephone. "What does the amp sound like", you ask? For my ears, AWESOME!!

So there you have it. A great project sourcebook with readily available kits for a true hands on learning experience and
as an added bonus you even get to speak with the author.

This is a smaller and more project-oriented version of this author's earlier book on building solid-state audio amplifiers. The amplifiers in this book are "plain vanilla" Class B direct-coupled transistor amplifiers, which will provide reasonable performance for utility or musical instrument use, but due to the lack of precision-matching of semiconductors and the "more-is-better" approach to using NFB, these are not going to compete in sound with Krell or Threshold. It's delusional to think otherwise.

Rather than a clean sheet of paper engineering effort walking the reader through all aspects of these designs, this is basically a presentation of a completed design as "the one true amp". I believe this author basically cookbooked these himself from works by Hood and others.

More effort is made in this volume to explain the etching of printed circuit boards. It's my belief that this is inherently an unpleasant and messy task and that the PCB era coincided with the near-death of hobby electronics in the U.S. for precisely that reason: much of the renaissance in audio hobbyist equipment building is soley due to the re-popularization of vacuum tube amplifiers built using 1950s techniques. (No ferric chloride involved.)

Personally, I think this type of amplifier is more effectively bought than built today, but if what he has is what you want, it will probably work reasonably well and is at least built from common parts. Don't delude yourself that these are truly a high-end product: compare them to mass-production amplifiers costing a little more than the retail price of all the parts and you won't be disappointed.

I bought this book after my great experience with Slone's High Power Audio Amplifier Construction Manual. This is a fantastic book if you want to build your own amplifier "accessories", such as headphone amps, preamps, equalizers, and other types of signal processing devices. There is an interesting circuit for a phase-linear filter, which I built and works beautifully. It splits the audio signal up between the pre-amp and power amp into low, midrange, and high frequency spectrums. This avoids the phase shifts associated with conventional speaker crossover networks.
You'll need a power amp for each frequency spectrum, but that's no problem. You'll have so much fun building your own amps that you'll have plenty of them laying around. The resulting sound is absolutely fantastic.