" said:

10%! Not likely. If you choose to not use the overweight faceplates and
such, you can save money, but the components themselves are more expensive
for the DIYer than for the mass producer. There are some DIY groups that
pool their money to get better pricing on projects they have interest in,
but overall you can't build an amp or preamp for substantially less than a
competently designed one that's mass produced. Naturally they will sound
indistinguishable from each other, again assuming competent design.


I think I can build a Wavac for less than 10% retail :-)

Come to think of it, the parts cost of a Levinson or Krell is probably
about 10...20% of retail.
Schematics are available on the net, if you're not able to design one
yourself.

--

"Audio as a serious hobby is going down the tubes."
- Howard Ferstler, 25/4/2005