My college stereo amp was a Heathkit. It had one IC, for the phono preamp. My brother built the same amp, and found the leftover IC socket when he finished. Hea

My college stereo amp was a Heathkit. It had one IC, for the phono preamp. My brother built the same amp, and found the leftover IC socket when he finished. Heathkit support was great: "If you didn't toast the IC soldering it in, you'll surely toast it desoldering it just to use the socket. Does the amp work?" It did. My Dad built my high school Heathkit phonograph as I watched. I only understood his caution after he died: I found six years of correspondence with Heathkit before he got his first tube amp working. If you build a car from parts you're dividing the value by four. If you build a loudspeaker from parts you're multiplying the value by four. Follow someone else's well-regarded plans, and get out one-and-done rather than making this a hobby. That's the sweet spot these days for anyone wanting to build their own audio equipment.