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About Read Research

With over fourteen years experience of designing and building audio equipment, and an appreciation of production techniques and CE certification, Read Research can be trusted to deliver the goods. Sometimes it's hard to get hold of decent designs that use parts that are easily available and affordable to hobbyists and small run builders in the UK. I hope to change that. My aim is to provide this community with resources for their own high-quality audio equipment. Audio equipment that is soundly engineered and high performing, using commonly available, value for money quality industrial parts and single-sided, novice-friendly boards.

My design philosophy is that I consider failure modes and try to avoid the possibility of damage to the equipment itself as well as any connected equipment wherever possible, also that if any setup is required that it does not put the equipment into any danger. I see so many popular designs (especially power amplifiers) that fail to meet these criteria. Then I look at how I can maximise performance without going overboard on complexity, consideration is given to working with all kinds of source and load impedances. On a practical side I also think about making the board logical and easy to build, attention to detail such as trying to orient all polarised parts the same way, ensuring adequate space around components, and just taking the time to make the board look neat. I believe that something that sounds good will also measure well, but I do not believe that something that measures well will definitely sound good. I always listen to my designs and invite others to do so. I strongly believe in designing things to last and to be easily serviceable should the need arise.

TurnMeUp!

I support the TurnMeUp! campaign to bring the dynamics back to recorded music.

Latest News

16-Nov-2009: New 150W ultra quality, complementary MOSFET power amp design (see pic below) in final stages of testing.

Amp PCB preview

01-Dec-2009: Working on amp protection design, gets rid of turn-on thump and protects against DC faults with no non-linear components added to the signal path.

20-Dec-2009: Another new power amp design, in early stages of development. This one aims to allow you to make an amplifier that is as compact as possible, efficient yet simple to wire up and great sounding.

04-Jan-2010: Ordered the prototype transformer for a simple switch mode power supply design I'm developing for amplifiers.

24-Jan-2010: Picked up some meaty IGBTs in the CPC sale, plan is to scale up the 160W n-channel MOSFET amplifier into a 350W sub-woofer amp using a pair of these devices.

Plan for the coming weeks is to convert the PDF info into normal web pages, speaker testing guide has now been converted.

In early February I hope to have a PCB milling machine up and running. This will allow me to start selling boards made to order with quick turnaround and at a low price. I am also considering making boards to customer supplied layouts and small parts such as front and rear panels.