"As mentioed the sound stage is awesome.
I have some recordings that the music envelops you, where the sound comes far left and far right of the speakers.
Some of my friends think i have a surround sound system."
inmrio,
Thanks, I am hearing a little of what you said already about the sound stage! I can't wait for this to break in and fill in. It's liquid sounding and very dynamic already, just need it to break in and this could be a great little amp. It does have a nice layered, properly timed presentation already. Just need it to break in and get that fuller bloom soundfield.
I've got the bug now, I picked up a Lepai amp yesterday, I should get it in 7 to 10 days. Can't wait, it's had some good reviews for only $20.
I have some recordings that the music envelops you, where the sound comes far left and far right of the speakers.
Some of my friends think i have a surround sound system."
inmrio,
Thanks, I am hearing a little of what you said already about the sound stage! I can't wait for this to break in and fill in. It's liquid sounding and very dynamic already, just need it to break in and this could be a great little amp. It does have a nice layered, properly timed presentation already. Just need it to break in and get that fuller bloom soundfield.
I've got the bug now, I picked up a Lepai amp yesterday, I should get it in 7 to 10 days. Can't wait, it's had some good reviews for only $20.
HI gychang,
Yes, I am also very ill.
Testing out two more amps now! More later on them.
Ok, Try the Toshiba SD-3750 you won't regret it! Another one will come along, I saw that one you missed, you can get a better deal also.
I compared the 3750 to all of the other old toshiba's and it wasn't close! I bought a Toshiba HD DVD Player the HD A-3 on ebay for $55 (was$299) before they lost to BlurRay. The A-3 upconverts WAY better than those cheap upconverting dvd players out there. The 3750 also beat it for sound, the HD A-3 sounded great, lots of detail but couldn't match the 3750 in musicality! It really shines using RCA's.
Have a happy Holiday!
Yes, I am also very ill.
Testing out two more amps now! More later on them.Ok, Try the Toshiba SD-3750 you won't regret it!
Another one will come along, I saw that one you missed, you can get a better deal also.I compared the 3750 to all of the other old toshiba's and it wasn't close! I bought a Toshiba HD DVD Player the HD A-3 on ebay for $55 (was$299) before they lost to BlurRay. The A-3 upconverts WAY better than those cheap upconverting dvd players out there. The 3750 also beat it for sound, the HD A-3 sounded great, lots of detail but couldn't match the 3750 in musicality! It really shines using RCA's.
Have a happy Holiday!
Hi gychang,
I bought that MkII board and after a DC-coupling mod it is very very nice IMO. Very nice. Before the DC-coupling mod it was also good, but the mod gave an extended bottom end and better high frequency. It is the only TA2020 I have ever owned, so cannot compare it to other ones. But it is markedly better than my gainclone and valve amps (the valve amps are not top of the line amps but I thought they sounded pretty good before I got the T-amp, well they still sound good but I like the T-amp better). The DC-coupling mod is very simple and requires no parts, I can describe it if you want to know. I liked it so much I bought 2 more boards, one to make an amp for my brother in law for his 50th birthday, and the other for my wife's PC speakers that I built - I'm going to have to tame the volume on that amp a bit though.
Edit - this board also has a really nice circuit that stops any pops at all when its turned on or off, it is silent. Also, the SMPS (3.5A with adjustable voltage 12V to 14V) he sells really cheap works great with this amp.
Ian
Hi Gychang, solder the L & R input wires to the legs of the 2 big red caps at the back of the PCB near where the 2 LED's are. Solder the input ground to pin 14 of the Tripath IC (pin 14 connects to C13 marked on the top side of the PCB). You can hook the wire straight onto the IC leg and solder it, or solder a wire to the bottom of the PCB onto the leg of C13 that connects to pin 14 of the Tripath. Disconnect the original white plastic input connector. That's it. The SMPS is adjusted by a tiny orange trimpot marked VR1 on the PCB and it is located right next to the terminal block, you don't need to remove the cover to adjust it. Use a small Philips screwdriver to adjust. I adjusted it with and without a load and it seemed fine, with a very stable output voltage. (BTW I really enjoyed your Chang thread and hope to build some with the Pioneer 8" soon).
Hi Marc (Tripath07), thanks for starting this thread, very interesting reading. I too am about to look for a decent FM tuner, as I spend a lot of time listening to the radio, I will keep an eye out for the Sansui 8900ZDB you mentioned. Looking forward to your further thoughts and comparisons of the Hlly Tamp 20 as it breaks in. I have been tempted to get a Charlize but can't quite make myself spring for one yet...I have heard many good things about that amp. Hey it sounds like you now have 6 T-amps, any chance of an Arjen T-amp making up the 07?
Ian.
Hi Marc (Tripath07), thanks for starting this thread, very interesting reading. I too am about to look for a decent FM tuner, as I spend a lot of time listening to the radio, I will keep an eye out for the Sansui 8900ZDB you mentioned. Looking forward to your further thoughts and comparisons of the Hlly Tamp 20 as it breaks in. I have been tempted to get a Charlize but can't quite make myself spring for one yet...I have heard many good things about that amp. Hey it sounds like you now have 6 T-amps, any chance of an Arjen T-amp making up the 07?
Ian.
Ian444 said:
Ian just to let you know my Pioneer B20 with tweeter was not happy with TA2024 clone (amp32). No quite enough power.
I am impressed by Mikasa with 4.5" Pioneer and tweeter combo, more than enough power from t-amp clone in moderate sized room as pictured here.
gychang
Attachments
Hi Ian,
Thanks for the reply! I'm glad you like this thread! I will be posted more listening results soon, I've had a delay. I have now had to move the HLLY T-20 to my master bedroom system now hooked up to a Toshiba SD 3750 and a pair of Paradigm Monitor 3's v3. It has had some down time due to my purchase of another amp that has grabbed my full attention. I am going to start a new thread about it this weekend!
This new amp is now in my basement system with a Tosihba SD 3750 DVD, and my successful project speakers! I bought a pair of Pioneer HPM 900's new in 1983, and about three years ago the surrounds went on the 12" woofers. So that started my PROJECT! I replaced the 12" woofers with NEW Pioneer woofers ( great resolution) freqency response is 16-5000, so you here alot more than the old ones. The old ones probably was 20-2500 or so? Then I never liked the cone tweeter so I replace them with a 1" a soft dome tweeter, and that went really GREAT the stock ribbon tweeter. The stock 4" midrange is perfect so that stayed also. The speakers ended up sounding great, way better than I imagined! It took me longer than I planned because the new woofers were too small for the holes, so I had to build mounting surrounds for the woofers. I will post some pictures this weekend.
I don't think I will be getting the Arjen T-amp at this time, I have too much now. I need to sell some old stuff on ebay to make room for the new stuff.
I'm happy to hear you are going to take a look at the Sansui 8900ZDB! This was the last model year Sansui still had the really good Pre-Amp! Besides the DC Amp in there sounding the closest I've heard to the clarity of a Tripath amp, You will like it because it has a FANTASTIC Tuner! I can pull in stations clear with just a two foot wire. It has a wonderful tuning knob, but also six presets, which is really nice! Also the DB part means it has a Dolbt FM decoder, nice feature, but the tuner is so good I perfer it with no DB. But it's nice to have.
Marc
Thanks for the reply! I'm glad you like this thread! I will be posted more listening results soon, I've had a delay. I have now had to move the HLLY T-20 to my master bedroom system now hooked up to a Toshiba SD 3750 and a pair of Paradigm Monitor 3's v3. It has had some down time due to my purchase of another amp that has grabbed my full attention. I am going to start a new thread about it this weekend!
This new amp is now in my basement system with a Tosihba SD 3750 DVD, and my successful project speakers! I bought a pair of Pioneer HPM 900's new in 1983, and about three years ago the surrounds went on the 12" woofers. So that started my PROJECT! I replaced the 12" woofers with NEW Pioneer woofers ( great resolution) freqency response is 16-5000, so you here alot more than the old ones. The old ones probably was 20-2500 or so? Then I never liked the cone tweeter so I replace them with a 1" a soft dome tweeter, and that went really GREAT the stock ribbon tweeter. The stock 4" midrange is perfect so that stayed also. The speakers ended up sounding great, way better than I imagined! It took me longer than I planned because the new woofers were too small for the holes, so I had to build mounting surrounds for the woofers. I will post some pictures this weekend.
I don't think I will be getting the Arjen T-amp at this time, I have too much now. I need to sell some old stuff on ebay to make room for the new stuff.
I'm happy to hear you are going to take a look at the Sansui 8900ZDB! This was the last model year Sansui still had the really good Pre-Amp! Besides the DC Amp in there sounding the closest I've heard to the clarity of a Tripath amp, You will like it because it has a FANTASTIC Tuner! I can pull in stations clear with just a two foot wire. It has a wonderful tuning knob, but also six presets, which is really nice! Also the DB part means it has a Dolbt FM decoder, nice feature, but the tuner is so good I perfer it with no DB. But it's nice to have.
Marc
Ian444 said:
I got the SMPS working, it is totally silent when playing, very good sound. I run mine at 13V (no heatsink). Mine is making tiny tick-tick sound when it is on standby mode, only can hear when the ear is near within one foot of the unit. Have you noticed it by any chance?
gychang
Hi Ian, gychang,
Ian, thanks for the tip on the 3.5A SMPS, I looked at it and I think I'm going to get one. It looks interesting, and not too much money! I have always felt the power supply has been lacking with these little Class T amps. I saw a really nice one at audio-magus.com, but it was $160, their site was down the other day. I hope this could be the ticket compared to the laptop style?
Looking at it I have no idea how to hook it up though. Does it come with instructions? gychang, it sounds like you just hooked one up, I'm glad it sounds good! When I receive it I may have some questions for you guys on how to hook it up. Hopefully I can figure it out. I'll know how to adjust the voltage though, thanks!
Is it alot better than the laptop style?
Thanks!
Ian, thanks for the tip on the 3.5A SMPS, I looked at it and I think I'm going to get one. It looks interesting, and not too much money! I have always felt the power supply has been lacking with these little Class T amps. I saw a really nice one at audio-magus.com, but it was $160, their site was down the other day. I hope this could be the ticket compared to the laptop style?
Looking at it I have no idea how to hook it up though. Does it come with instructions? gychang, it sounds like you just hooked one up, I'm glad it sounds good! When I receive it I may have some questions for you guys on how to hook it up. Hopefully I can figure it out. I'll know how to adjust the voltage though, thanks!
Is it alot better than the laptop style?
Thanks!
Tripath07 said:
Tripath07: it is much better than laptop style indeed. Absolutely no noise background hum etc. When it is on stand-by it does make a tiny tick-tick sound but u won't be able to hear it if u have any kind of a cover as described above. I am not sure whether it is designed that way.
when u get the power supply unit (I ordered several more...), L-hot AC wire (short wall prong), N-AC ground (larger wall prong), G: no need to connect. V-: "amp ground", V+: hot DC input. Connect AC only and get multimeter out and slowly turn a plastic screw to trim the output DC voltage. I set mine at 13V (no heat sink, would've gone to 14V if I had a heat sink).
gychang
Hi Gychang, I am not sure what you mean by standby mode, do you mean with no music playing? With no music playing I can hear some switching noise from the box when I get within a few inches, more like a soft high frequency buzz, this is just the switching frequency of the unit. Just to be sure, the Arjen Mk II we are talking about is this one that I have? Maybe you have the TA2024 version, as mine came with a heatsink?
http://cgi.ebay.com/MKll-Version-Tripath-TA2020-PCB-25w-CLass-T-amplifier_W0QQitemZ250458576904
BTW thanks very much for the heads up on the Misaka, maybe I will go that way as I really want to use this amp with the new speakers!
Back on topic, I did connect the AC ground to the SMPS just in case of electrical faults in the unit and noticed no side effects (no earth loops etc), but that may depend on the individual system. With the SMPS switched off, I measured 100K ohm between the DC negative terminal and AC ground/chassis. Make sure you cover the AC terminals or put the whole lot in a case, or cover the terminals with silastic to prevent accidental human/pet contact, otherwise someone/something might get fried. Tripath07 the terminals are clearly labeled but if you have any doubt at all I'll post a photo, no problem.
Ian.
http://cgi.ebay.com/MKll-Version-Tripath-TA2020-PCB-25w-CLass-T-amplifier_W0QQitemZ250458576904
BTW thanks very much for the heads up on the Misaka, maybe I will go that way as I really want to use this amp with the new speakers!
Back on topic, I did connect the AC ground to the SMPS just in case of electrical faults in the unit and noticed no side effects (no earth loops etc), but that may depend on the individual system. With the SMPS switched off, I measured 100K ohm between the DC negative terminal and AC ground/chassis. Make sure you cover the AC terminals or put the whole lot in a case, or cover the terminals with silastic to prevent accidental human/pet contact, otherwise someone/something might get fried. Tripath07 the terminals are clearly labeled but if you have any doubt at all I'll post a photo, no problem.
Ian.
Ian444 said:
Ian: Thanks for great tips for guys like me.
When I put the Arjen's SMPS on standby, that is AC is connected and DC output to amp is connected but the amp is turned off, the led flickers about one per second and makes tiny click sound. When the amp is turned on, the sound is great. When I disconnected the DC output wires all together, the SMPS light comes on without flicker and no clicky sound. I am wondering if this is a normal behavior, or due to possible defect. (I did drop the unit as I took it out of the box from excitement...)
I appreciate the suggestion of isolating the AC connection (always safety first...) I have the SMPS connected to Sure TA2024 board (not MKII).
I measured the resistance from AC ground to V- with the unit disconnected from the wall, and it remains "infinity, 1". No measurable resistence, is this normal?
Main thread on the Mikasa build is here:
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=104879&highlight=
my video on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crbljRFoO5w
I played my SMPS connected to Sure TA2024 with the speakers listening to Earl Klugh's CD and sound is devine...
gychang
Hi gychang,
Fantastic youtube speaker/audio system video! Those speakers are very impressive! Great job building them, they are very, very cool speakers. Nice house also. What CD was that, it sounded nice. thanks, I may pick it up. Is it the one you mentioned?
Hey, we may have the same Pioneer Elite receiver? Your's looks just like mine, model VSX-35TX. Another ebay purchase of mine, $152. I really like it for DVD's and CD's, I have it in the master bedroom system. It puts out 106 db audio dynamic range with the digital inputs.
Fantastic youtube speaker/audio system video! Those speakers are very impressive! Great job building them, they are very, very cool speakers. Nice house also. What CD was that, it sounded nice. thanks, I may pick it up. Is it the one you mentioned?
Hey, we may have the same Pioneer Elite receiver? Your's looks just like mine, model VSX-35TX. Another ebay purchase of mine, $152. I really like it for DVD's and CD's, I have it in the master bedroom system. It puts out 106 db audio dynamic range with the digital inputs.
gychang said:
It sounds like a protection circuit is being triggered when it is making the clicking noises. It doesn't sound right. Maybe it would be better to simply put a switch in series in the V+ wire to the PCB to turn the amp on and off, but I have no experience with those boards and do not know how the sleep and mute functions work, I am guessing you have a switch connected to the sleep input, you might need to double check your wiring of the switch.
Yes, sorry, with the amp disconnected from the SMPS the V+ and V- are open circuit, no measurable resistance. I got the 100K with the amp connected to the SMPS. The reason I made the measurement was to see if AC GND was connected to DC negative, if it was directly connected then there could be problems with ground loop hum. Maybe when your extra SMPS's turn up you could replace the one you are using to see if it clicks too. The clicking is not a good thing and I wouldn't let it run like that, maybe best to turn the amp off at the wall AC outlet until you find the problem.
Ian.
Tripath07 said:
Those are my favorite speakers. Korean singer Park HyoShin. Very distinctive voice.
Love my Elite VSX-33TX. Use it mainly watching DVD mainly by my kids. DIY is more fun though...
I put up another youtube with my TA2024 amp. here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFkuxKshWnw
gychang
gychang,
Thanks, are his cd's available to purchase?
I mostly use the Pioneer for watching DVD's in bed with my wife at night. By the way the Paradigm Monitor 3's v3 are awesume! They have an 8" bass/midrange driver, and an 1" pure titanium dome tweeter. I have a second pair of Monitor 3's v3 in my office system with a pair of Definitive Tech. DR7's. Both pairs are hooked up to a Sansui 8900ZDB, one great FEATURE of the 8900ZDB is it has two sets of main speakers that can play at the same time! The combination of these two pairs of speakers sound playing together is wonderful!
More this weekend on the HLLY T-20 break in, sorry again for the delay.
Thanks, are his cd's available to purchase?
I mostly use the Pioneer for watching DVD's in bed with my wife at night. By the way the Paradigm Monitor 3's v3 are awesume! They have an 8" bass/midrange driver, and an 1" pure titanium dome tweeter. I have a second pair of Monitor 3's v3 in my office system with a pair of Definitive Tech. DR7's. Both pairs are hooked up to a Sansui 8900ZDB, one great FEATURE of the 8900ZDB is it has two sets of main speakers that can play at the same time! The combination of these two pairs of speakers sound playing together is wonderful!
More this weekend on the HLLY T-20 break in, sorry again for the delay.
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