Burning AMPBurning Amp is an annual celebration of audio systems made by their owners. But in 2014 they will only be appearing at the East Bay Mini Maker Faire. Projects can range from battery-powered headphone amps that fit in an Altoids tin to huge vacuum tube powered systems that cover a tabletop. Most electronics these days warn you that they contain “high voltages” but up until the 1960’s many major manufacturers offered consumers the chance to wire up kit versions of their best-selling components (often with 600 Volts or more under the hood!).

6896815330_1e01b2d75a_z

Here’s my father wiring up a Dynaco preamplifier (that still works 50 years later).  There is still a huge community of Makers on sites like DIYAudio creating beautiful, fantastic sounding speakers, amplifiers and even turntables and digital components.  Come get inspired to wire up a desktop amplifier…or something more elaborate like Nelson Pass’s car-sized Kleinhorn speakers.131450=4536-ScreenHunter_01 Aug. 27 08.54