Rating: 
Summary: This is the best book I've ever seen on audio amplifiers
Review: I can not speak highly enough of this book. If you want to build your own amps, modify an existing amp, or just learn a lot of electronics all related to audio, this book is worth its weight in gold. The author even sells kits, parts, circuit boards, transformers, capacitors, etc. in the back of the book.Although I am now an electronic engineer, I wasn't when I built my first audio amplifier kits back in the 70's. And although this is not written for someone without any knowledge of electronics, I wish I could have read it 25 years ago when I was just beginning to learn; it would have been more helpful than most classes I've taken. The author quite systematically and accurately goes through every stage of audio amplifiers, and even talks about the bizarre stuff: the "magical" capacitors, tubes, expensive wire, etc. By the time you're done with this book you can have the best sounding amplifier in town for less money than some people spend on speaker wire, and you'll understand how it works and why. After reading the book I had a question and I e-mailed the author. He wrote me back a very detailed letter the very next day! Also, this is a big book with 476 pages with high quality print and lots of very clear schematics. Whether you're a weekend hobbyist or an electronic engineer designing audio power amplifiers, you will find immense amounts of extremely valuable information in this book. I can't recommend it high enough.
Rating: 
Summary: Understand the Science of Audio Power Amplifers.
Review: I designed this book for audiophiles and electronics hobbyists who want to build their own high-quality audio power amplifiers. The designs contained herein are not just mediocre amplifiers; they are audiophile-quality designs, with the majority capable of significantly superior performance in comparison to commercially available amplifiers. My philosophy is simple: If you're going to invest the time and expense to build audio power amplifiers, why not construct projects of exemplary performance? This textbook is for those who have been discouraged by the apparent schism between audio professionals and extravagant esoterics. It is designed to help anyone experience the ultimate in sonic quality at a reasonable expense. The concepts and principles presented are not subjective, mythical, or traditional; they are scientific and extensively supported with provable analyses. Many readers will be pleasantly surprised at the low cost involved with even the best audio power amplifiers.
Rating: 
Summary: Useless unless you know a lot about electronics
Review: I found that unless you've taken courses in basic electronics (transistors, diodes, amplifiers) which is basically 3rd year undergrad EE classes, you won't understand the book as easily. It has sample circuits in the back and covers some fundamental steps to creating an amplifier (making your own PCBs) but I find that the author assumes too much (you already know a lot about electronics and non-linear circuits).
Rating:
Summary: An excellent book and the author stands behind his work!
Review: I found the book to be very informative and mercifully it's without the particle physics and electric field theory that tend to drag down many books about solid state electronics. The author assumes some basic knowlege of electronics on the part of the reader and he also assumes some background in building electronic devices. (In my case, he may have assumed too much!) I liked his sometimes light-hearted approach to the audio electronics business and I thought the book was fairly easy reading. As with many other technical books, I think the reader will get more out of the book if he or she has a project in mind or in progress. I built one of the more basic amplifier projects from "scratch" using the printed circuit artwork provided in the book. I had a few problems with my project which were my own fault but the author was more than helpful in getting me on the right track through a series of e-mail exchanges. He was truly interested in getting my amplifier to work and the results were amazing to say the least. The amplifier appears to be every bit as good as he says it will be in the book. Considering the amount of information contained in the book, it's quite a bargain.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent book!
Review: I have built power amplifiers for over 30 years and have never found a manual so clear, explicit and honestly written as this. What I found especially refreshing was the complete demystification of the usual mumbo-jumbo one finds so often in manuals like this. Right through the book Mr Slone cuts through all the hype with clearly reasoned logic and makes the subject refreshing and even funny in parts - all without sacrficing the science of the matter. Persons completely new to the subject may be a bit disappointed in some areas - such as the assumption that one can read circuit diagrams etc. - so this may not be a good start for the really green novice. For persons familiar to the subject, it is a treasure. Mr Slone also has a web site - sealelectronics.com - which can supply all the parts, circuit boards etc. Full marks for an excellent production, Mr Slone.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book
Review: I have found this book to be great, I have used a few of the designs and they work for me, I've built several Guitar amplication devises, and sold them to friends for the price of materials. If you have a basic knowledge of Electronics, and wish to experiment with the designs, this is the book for you....
Rating:
Summary: A No Nonsense approach to High Quality Audio!
Review: I have read the complete book and enjoyed the very readable and informative content. It is nice to know that someone has approached Audio with a large degree of common sense. The book is very readable and anyone with a minimum of electronics background will gain alot of information in a short amount of time. I highly recommend this book if you have the slightest interest in Audio Amps and especially if you want to build your own high quality Amps! Not to mention the savings in $$$.
Rating:
Summary: Great text, well writen, full of good information.
Review: I purchased Randy Slone's "High-Power Audio Amplifier Construction Manual" three years ago. I have read it and enjoyed it and re-read it numbers of times. I have put together a number of circuits that are listed in this book and have been pleased with the performance of all of them.
I am a third year electrical engineering student and have found that this text is more practical and better written than my University texts that cost five times as much. The ideas are explained thoroughly and all aspects of audio amplification are covered in depth. The amplifier stages are all discussed and as well as the concepts involved.
The engineering design rule for an amplifier is summed up as a "wire with gain", i.e. the ideal amplifier should not distort the input signal in any way. This rule is the basis for all designs in this book. Slone talks about class A and class B amplifiers objectively, and discusses the operations of both design styles objectively.
This text does require some basic electrical theory to fully grasp the ideas. The concepts are explained very well, but I would recommend picking up an electrical devices text as well (covering active and passive components, bode diagrams, transistor theory) to compliment this book if you do not have an electrical background. Unfortunately, good texts are hard to find on this subject.
If you are truly interested in a well written, objective textbook on how to build high power audio amplifiers then this is the book for you.
Finally it appears that there have been some customer reviews that have taken to bashing the author as well as class B amplifier designs in general. I believe that this is due to the fact that book is mainly about solid state amplifiers. All of the reviews bashing the book come from what appear to be vacuum tube "technofundamentalists" as one reviewer puts it. Take those reviews with a grain of salt as they are trying to turn this into a rant forum against all things solid state.
Rating:
Summary: Unusually useful...
Review: I shall keep this short and sweet. This book is not a "hobby" projects book - it has many advanced ideas. All the aspects of amplifiers I could think of are looked at scientifically and in depth. Everything from: what sounds good and why, to advanced short circuit protection are discussed. The analysis of designs is based around a minimalistic attitude to maths, with the emphasis being on a "good" circuit. This is, from an engineers, point of view both helpful and frustrating. I would recommend this book as it enables a good understanding of amplifiers without getting too bogged down in the technicalities. At all points, however, these technicalities are pointed out, and hence good appreciation is achievable.
Rating:
Summary: A great construction manual for excellent amplifiers
Review: I will be honest in that I have only built two of Slone's amps to this point, but the performance of them has been utterly astonishing (for the price). I am sure I could go out and spend some money and get equal or better performance but if you are a competent electronics hobbyist you should have no problem matching expensive amps in terms of performance with a VERY limited budget. Not to mention there is a lot of pride that comes with making your own. This book is well laid out and steps you through the stages of the "standard" Lin topology of audio amplification. Mr. Slone goes into great detail on how each stage works and performs but please note you should be familiar with electronics going in, as this is NOT a beginner's book, but rather a book made for those with some experience wanting to expand their knowledge.
To the potential buyer: I highly recommend this book if your interest lies in building relatively inexpensive high quality TRANSISTOR BASED amplifiers. If your preference is the vacuum tube sound then simply go buy a vacuum tube amp book. I am sure Randy would agree with me on that. What you should not expect out of this book is a thorough background on electronics. For that you will need other books.
I would just like to respond to some of the negative reviews below. I respect everyone's opinions but much of what is said below is a lie about this book. Most importantly though I want to make sure potential customers understand that at NO point in ANY of Mr. Slone's books does he denigrate the use of or the users of vacuum tubes or any other alternative methods of audio amplification technology. What he does do is tell you the facts. In fact, he promotes the use of your own opinion throughout his books, even going so far as to say that the beauty of building these yourself is that you CAN do whatever you want. In any case, I think it is wrong to potential Amazon customers to read how terrible Mr. Slone is for denigrating mainstream audio when actually he doesn't. The fact is that transistors are more transparent to the audio signal than vacuum tubes (Remember, a perfect amplifier in general would have the exact same signal at the input as the output with only a higher amplitude). Whether the transparency of solid state is good or bad is COMPLETELY up to you and all in your listening preferences, as Randy Slone makes clear throughout this book.
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