Hi!
This is a slideshow of the TAO AMP.
The AMP10 from www.41hz.com is the actual guts.  I spent about two or three weeks on this project all told.   I worked on my days off and after work sometimes.

The light bulb is my cut rate soft-start system that slows down the rush of electrons that stoke the capacitators.  I'm sure that the amp could work fine without it.  It's actually part of the test process to put the bulb in line to keep the amp from pulling too much current if there is a short.   That way things don't start burning!

I drew out the "plans" on a post-it note.  The volume control and some of the switches are scrounged.  Also scrounged is all the lumber.

It's up on legs with the heavy (!) transformer slung undernieth to dampen vibrations.  I doubt a human could hear the diference if it was vibrating or not but you never know (unless you test!).  Also by being up on legs, you can easily dust underneith it! The legs are hardwood walnut and just about choked my table saw. The transformer lives in a custom vacuum molded holder.

There are two inputs, one is gold plated rca jacks and the other is a 3.5 inch jack.  I thought that since it I would be mostly using it with my N95 it should be an easy hook up for that.  The switch on the forehead is the selctor switch.  The volume control, scrounged from a subwoofer is in the mouth.   On the left lower part of the face is the mute switch and on the right lower part is the on/off button that is snubberized.  Snubberizing protects from transient power spikes.

The "face" plate is my partner, Tao's face.  I took a mold using alginate and plaster, then made a plaster positive and finally used my homebrew vacuum former to pull a mold.  I put a washer over the lips to make a nice spot for the volume control.  Thanks Tao!

The 5 way speaker bindng posts are on each side.  I have moved so much stereo equipment around in my life that I am just tired of all the inputs and outputs on the back!  This time everything is available from the front or sides. 

Instead of painting it I used contact paper.  I wanted it to look different.  Boy did I succeed!

This is really just a mock up of the final.  I will probably halve the volume of the case.

How does it sound?  Well, let me just say that is the most sublime, clear, uncolored sounding amp I've ever heard.  I never knew what fidelity was before getting a decent pair of speakers.  Now I can't live without it.

On my list of things to do is to buy a decent volume control as well as cleaning up the routing of everyghing inside.

Here's a short video of me testing the amp before it went into the box.  It gives you a good idea of how small this thing really is and considering how good it sounds , it's really amazing.

Turn up your speakers!

This was video was shot on my Nokia N95 phone.  It has a pretty good camera but it's still just a phone.