With guitar amps I'll think maybe if I throw some mouse turds, a desicated roach and some dirt from the vacuum cleaner in there I'll get it rght but with hifi I know I'll be temped by tantalum resistors, foil in oils, a drop in regulated heater board... Best stay away. Even with great self control it's impossible to resist quality iron, I know the GBP kills someone w/ dollars but even so check out the cost for a set of Williansons: ~$1800!Aurora wrote:Not necessairly - unless you buy into all the BS about esoteric components - by some of the more singel minded referred to as REAL HiFi.........rp wrote: Hifi just eats your money up.
but - it's not cheap, either....if you look carefully around teh DIYAuduo, you'll find quite a number of posters that refrain from all the mumbo jumbo, and still get very good results. A good tube amp won't necessearly cost very much more to build than some of the more hefty guitar amps presented here.
http://www.sowter.co.uk/classic-amplifi ... ormers.php
15 years ago I got myself a nice used Linn Sondek, Naim 250/102, Spendor SP1/2 system and stopped tinkering with hifi, store bought or homebrew, ever since.
few last notes to the OP, most of 'that sound' you want is in the speakers - the closest you'll get these days w/o too much invested are some 80s Rogers - LS2, LS6, LS7, Studio 1s. These are BBC school and designed flat rather than for bass and treble dazzle (ie mid-range suckout) like most contemporary stuff. They were still applying the philosophy of a large baffle and a carefully tuned resonant box. There's good new stuff around but it gets pricey if you want toneful accuracy and something other than mini monitors - of which I once read the sound described as the aural equivalent of looking through binoculars the wrong way.
If you wish to avoid DIY and tubes find an old Naim Nait 2 and Rogers LS2 mounted on 28" stands 10-12" from the rear wall. You'll have some rich sweetness without old bloat. Good luck.