Just search for "kits" here and you'll find a bunch of posts. Bottlehead, Welborne Labs and Audio Note immediately come to mind. I have used a pair of Welborne Laurels -- now discontinued in favor of their DRD amps -- for years and love them.

What kind of speakers do you have; how large is your listening area; and what sorts of music do you like, and at what volumes? The answers to those questions may influence what you get. Others may disagree, but even with sensitive speakers, 2A3 amps, which put out c. 3 to 3.5W, have never had enough oomph for me, so unless you report that you have very sensitive speakers and listen exclusively to solo or small acoustic ensembles at low levels in a small space, I'd suggest a 300B amp (c. 8W). But even then, we've got to make sure your speakers are SET-friendly.

• System w/ Welborne Laurels

• Transcendent Sound

Having built two Foreplays -- one from a kit, the other a clone -- I'm a fan of Doc B. However, his new SEX amp outputs about 2W, so you've got to be real careful about what speakers you mate it with. Doc's suggestion to use it to drive a pair of computer speakers (i.e., very, very nearfield listening) looks intriguing.

What speakers are you going to be mating your SEX with (if you don't mind me getting personal)?

• S.E.X.

• Pi Studio 2 Construction Pix

I'm going to go with either the 1 or 2 Pi bass reflex. The towers would be nice, but I just don't have the skill (or tools) to do them justice. I'm going to have a local cabinet shop cut the wood for me, and if the price is right have them do the assembly.

I'm really interested in building the Pi speakers, so I can see how my Cayin TA-30 sounds in SE mode. Since I've had the Cayin, I have only run it in PP (35W) with my Maggies......Colin

• Audio Electronic AE-25 Kit