DIY Audio - Cloning and Cloners

Cloning and Cloners

Another common practice in the DIY audio community is to attempt to "clone" or copy a preexisting design or component from a commercial manufacturer. This involves obtaining a lawful public version of, or lawfully reverse engineering, the circuit schematics for the design, and/or even the publicly available PCB layouts. Such a "clone" will not be a perfect copy since different brands and types of parts (often newer parts) will be used, and mechanical aspects of construction will likely differ. However, the circuit or other distinguishing features should be close to the original.

There are many reasons for wanting to recreate an existing design. The design might be historically important and/or out of production, so the only way to obtain the component is to build it. The design might be very simple so copying it is easily done. The commercial product might be very expensive but its design known, so it may be built for far less than it cost to be purchased. The original design may have some sentimental value to the person building the recreation, and the design built for the memories in one's past. The copy may be made to test or evaluate design concepts or principles in the original.

As an example, a well known "clone" includes amplifiers using high power integrated circuits, such as the National Semiconductor LM3875 and LM3886. The use of a high power IC as part of a quality audio amplifier was popularized by the 47 Labs Gaincard amplifier, and thus the DIY amplifiers using power ICs are often called "chipamps" or "Gainclones."

Usually cloning additionally involves improving or tweaking (see above) the original design, potentially by using more modern components (in the case of discontinued designs) or higher quality parts.