First time I designing amp with simulator, I think if simulator show lowest distortion it will sound nice. Right now, I only have a scope. I predict the implementation is only rise the distortion a bit, because of inaccurate model and parasitic components. But it is not sound nice.
After I tried different value of resistor emitter on VAS transistor, it can sound nice. I reduce open loop gain a bit and I think the distortion rise a bit, too.
Simulator data:
THD 20kHz, 107W rms/8 Ohm 0.008238%
Slew rate 64V/uS.
Dont be racist. If it measure good, it is good. If it is good in listening test, it is good. I dont care about brand and where they come from, even it come from alien
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ION seems to make mostly guitar amps. I can't find that they even have a WEB site. Good tip to know they are decent.
Of course, a great amp,or a terrible amp can be made anywhere. The bias in the market right now is that for the most part, products comming out of China are of very poor quality. They built this bad reputation themselves and will have to live with it while they prove otherwise. It took a while for Japan to prove otherwise. It took Korea a while. VietNam is just now proving it. Mexico is moving into the big leauges. India has a way to go, but is working on it. Part of why it takes so long is all of us buying by sales price, not by total cost of ownership. We buy the $10 POS that lasts a year instead of the $20 quality that lasts a lifetime. So, what is an emerging economy going to build? WHAT THEY CAN SELL of course.
My real beef with a lot of products out of China is the sample is perfect and the next million are garbage. I call that fraud. If WE buy quality, they will make quality.
Of course, a great amp,or a terrible amp can be made anywhere. The bias in the market right now is that for the most part, products comming out of China are of very poor quality. They built this bad reputation themselves and will have to live with it while they prove otherwise. It took a while for Japan to prove otherwise. It took Korea a while. VietNam is just now proving it. Mexico is moving into the big leauges. India has a way to go, but is working on it. Part of why it takes so long is all of us buying by sales price, not by total cost of ownership. We buy the $10 POS that lasts a year instead of the $20 quality that lasts a lifetime. So, what is an emerging economy going to build? WHAT THEY CAN SELL of course.
My real beef with a lot of products out of China is the sample is perfect and the next million are garbage. I call that fraud. If WE buy quality, they will make quality.
I do care.
If it breaks down in less than a "good value" lifetime and there are no spare parts imported with the equipment and it is designed to be "throw it in the bin, rather than being repairable" then it is a FAILURE.
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Most stuff we routinely buy from China is cr@p that does not last. I am mostly not talking about electronics, but electronics are not exempt from this. Most stuff that is plated is plated so thin it goes bad quite quickly, especially if it is something for the bathroom. It looks nice in the store, but does not last. One of the best examples is bathroom soap dispensers.
BUT, this is not the fault of the Chinese per se. Companies that have stuff made in China dictate the quality they want, still given the much lower cost of labor. It has little to do with the ability of the folks in China to make good stuff.
Finally, there are good examples of really good stuff from China. The Parasound audio equipment is a very good example.
Cheers,
Bob
The majority of the problems in swtichmode power for audio have been solved already by the Telco switchmode manufacturers (Delta, Alpha, Eltek, Emerson) who design thier more expensive SMPS to power EMI sensitive loads with low noise and with a large battery in parrallel so a large capactive load isn't an issue. Current designs are a software controlled single switching stage with above 96% efficiency, .99pf, EMI to VDE/FCC levels, softstart, with well filtered inputs and outputs.The OEM cost level per watt is above that most audio equipment manufacturers could afford for inclusion in thier designs, but the control software, IC's. and power devices, packaging techniques (a big part of EMI noise control is the mechanical layout of switching and filtering sections) etc will filter down to audio equipment as the move to switchmode continues.
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Bob, may-i told a personal story ?
I had ordered from a Chinese manufacturer a set of mouse pads (very special high-slide model Teflon coated) from my design and Specifications. It was because it is near impossible, nowadays, to get any positive responses from manufacturers in my country:-(
No price limitations, no bargain asked.
The first 1000 pcs. were perfect and sold very soon. So, we ordered a second set of 5000 pcs. They were looking good at reception and we began to sell them... until some of our customers signal a defect witch appeared with time.
After verification, they had changed the original glue between slides for something strong as honey.
We asked them a refund or replacement, their best offer was for an other order at half the price. The pad were all thrown to the trash can and it was the end of this business: I will never make business with a Chinese company for my products any more.
The last trace of this story: RexWare.fr and: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Oo8P6ulqow
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tick,
Yes, but as you probably know, they require very extensive circuitry to pre-charge and discharge the battery and cap loads. This is not easy or cheap. Then there is the false economy of spending $10 to save $5 in electricity.
If we were to look to the future, what I see is battery packs with simple cheap trickle recharge. Battery technology is moving very fast due to market demands. This is already done in transportation where a battery charges a super-cap. The cap provides the dynamic load. ive the chemist about 5 more years for the air-sulpher or other battery technologies to be manufacturable. The chemistry works.
Yes, but as you probably know, they require very extensive circuitry to pre-charge and discharge the battery and cap loads. This is not easy or cheap. Then there is the false economy of spending $10 to save $5 in electricity.
If we were to look to the future, what I see is battery packs with simple cheap trickle recharge. Battery technology is moving very fast due to market demands. This is already done in transportation where a battery charges a super-cap. The cap provides the dynamic load. ive the chemist about 5 more years for the air-sulpher or other battery technologies to be manufacturable. The chemistry works.
You want all things are cheap but high quality? It is almost impossible
. You get what you paid. Because you want all things are cheap then many companies paid cheap to Chinese, Vietnamese, Indonesia labor. And then you blame them all....Even Apple was manufacturing iphone at Chinese company (Foxconn), and several it's labor commit suicide
The main problem in all this is because it is a low cost item, the repair costs are not low cost(sometimes a good % of the initial investment), which results in through-away goods. Also a lot of stuff is smt which is not so easy to repair. Once the short warranty period has expired, the item is deemed to be a possible through-away, if a fault occurs.
Cheap is the imperative, I joke, there are no more corners left in Asia as they cut them all off.
In the last 5 years I worked for a lighting ballast mfg, the job was to undercut Philips at their own game and sell the low cost crap to Philips lighting divisions cheaper that they could do it themselves using their own Advance brand. A viscous circle, counting pennies trying to under cut each other. The kicker was that they imposed a 5 year warranty on the mfg, that way they did not hold this responsibility and just passed the buck back to the mfg. My records showed that a good % of the product did not last the warranty period. I had some big corp's, like Johnson Controls write me personally a letter saying that their billion $ company have instructed all divisions to never source products using the ballasts that the co I was working for. A joke really, I was only working as a warranty tech and had zero control over quality. It did not even fizz the co. upper management nor the contract mfg = next sucker. Well sales fell off and I eventually lost my job last year, but the crap still continues... = just the way it goes these days, so much for my Motorola QA training
In the last 5 years I worked for a lighting ballast mfg, the job was to undercut Philips at their own game and sell the low cost crap to Philips lighting divisions cheaper that they could do it themselves using their own Advance brand. A viscous circle, counting pennies trying to under cut each other. The kicker was that they imposed a 5 year warranty on the mfg, that way they did not hold this responsibility and just passed the buck back to the mfg. My records showed that a good % of the product did not last the warranty period. I had some big corp's, like Johnson Controls write me personally a letter saying that their billion $ company have instructed all divisions to never source products using the ballasts that the co I was working for. A joke really, I was only working as a warranty tech and had zero control over quality. It did not even fizz the co. upper management nor the contract mfg = next sucker. Well sales fell off and I eventually lost my job last year, but the crap still continues... = just the way it goes these days, so much for my Motorola QA training
Ironic the discussion of quality and reliability of Chinese made products. My Behringer crossover just died. Guess that is the hint I should build one myself. The good Dr. has of course covered this in detail.
Ballasts, Yea, I put up 6 twin 40W fixtures in my workshop. Half the time they would not all turn on. Replaced all the ballasts with GE. 100% reliable.
Ballasts, Yea, I put up 6 twin 40W fixtures in my workshop. Half the time they would not all turn on. Replaced all the ballasts with GE. 100% reliable.
Not going to bother repairing the Behringer. The only "quality" component is the chassis. Maybe the transformer is salvageable. I can do a much better job of power and ground layout.
I actually did put in T8 ballasts and all new T8 bulbs. GE bulbs too as Sylvania's last about as long as brand X. I will take Mexico quality over China any day.
I will PM you on brand advice. I want to put in all new fixtures in my wood shop and the junk at the big orange and blue stores is all junk. It is kind of a hint when they will sell you the complete fixture for $9 and a decent ballast costs $16. Problem is, you go to the jobber supply house and they want $60 for the same sheet metal and the $16 ballast.
I actually did put in T8 ballasts and all new T8 bulbs. GE bulbs too as Sylvania's last about as long as brand X. I will take Mexico quality over China any day.
I will PM you on brand advice. I want to put in all new fixtures in my wood shop and the junk at the big orange and blue stores is all junk. It is kind of a hint when they will sell you the complete fixture for $9 and a decent ballast costs $16. Problem is, you go to the jobber supply house and they want $60 for the same sheet metal and the $16 ballast.
tvrgeek,
Just buy the cheap fixtures for the sheet metal and tear out the guts! Use better ballast and you have a better mouse trap for less. A pain I will agree but what are the alternatives? Today it seems that led lighting in the way to go, you just need multiples to cover a larger space. I hate fluorescent lighting, in the past I paid big bucks for high intensity color corrected fluorescent fixture but why do that today? And those compact fluorescent bulbs just bother the heck out of me, I hate those lights, I'll stay with incandescent or change to the newer led lights and skip those slow lighting replacements any day.
Just buy the cheap fixtures for the sheet metal and tear out the guts! Use better ballast and you have a better mouse trap for less. A pain I will agree but what are the alternatives? Today it seems that led lighting in the way to go, you just need multiples to cover a larger space. I hate fluorescent lighting, in the past I paid big bucks for high intensity color corrected fluorescent fixture but why do that today? And those compact fluorescent bulbs just bother the heck out of me, I hate those lights, I'll stay with incandescent or change to the newer led lights and skip those slow lighting replacements any day.
I usually use one cool and one warm in a fixture. Looks strange when you look up, but the color is good.
I see the LED retrofits, but the price is still too high and the temp of the retro's is too high. Slick trick is they use half the power because all the light goes down and is not wasted on the fixture. I wish they made retrofits with several times the output. Give me 40W of LED!
I see the LED retrofits, but the price is still too high and the temp of the retro's is too high. Slick trick is they use half the power because all the light goes down and is not wasted on the fixture. I wish they made retrofits with several times the output. Give me 40W of LED!
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