Excellent idea. I don't have the requisite skills to do it myself, however I would love to see more options for a the best possible Mono amps. It seems from what I have gathered that the Mono option takes these amps up to a higher level, greater headroom, more power, and still keeping the form factor small, and the costs low. Also would pave the way for utilizing them in active speaker designs.
How about I give you instructions instead
Only soldering one comp leaves doubt, as to, if the ic and the rest have been soldered correctly. It is time consuming hand soldering, thus is why it is done automatically in a production environment. I can not compete against the Asia mfg's, so it is DI all Y or nothing.
Sorry
Rick
I understand, and yes, i will make an attempt or two if someone would be willing to offer some instruction. I guess my next vote would be thick copper to better tolerate fumbling attempts to solder
I'm going to build the decware dna horn, I think a mono version in each speaker could be a really nice solution.
http://media.digikey.com/PDF/Data Sheets/Steward PDFs/DM3312X101R.pdf
or
http://katalog.we-online.de/pbs/datasheet/74279225101.pdf
There are a few others in with same size and specs.
That is a great design and is quite sensitive as Steve Deckert uses a tube amp in each. Not sure if you need 100 watt monoblock in each. In case you haven't seen it, I have a thread on this speaker with sims and Bcmbob prototyped it in XPS foam. It hits 30 Hz for such a compact design. Driver selection is interesting as it was designed for the fancy TB w5-1880 driver but found to work well with budget Aurasound driver (with helper tweeter). More info here http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/full-range/235457-decware-dna-horn.html
In any case +1 on the whole compact pbtl monoblock idea. I am getting into active speakers with miniDSP and inexpensive good sounding monoblock amps would be great to have.
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Great I didn't know that thread! Perfect reading for a Sunday evening. I don't know how much power the pbtl version has driving an 8ohm speaker, I did order the tpa3118 pbtl board from aliexpress just to test them out.
Some designers go for the smallest board they can come up with. Some think it is not necessary
Some like ferrite bead in the output instead of the typical inductors
Some prefer shield sm inductors, some like regular coil on a core
Some said big caps are essential for good sound while others are happy to use smaller size caps.
Different components would affect the layout of the board.
The board does not have to provide flexibility for different configurations, just the "most optimal design" as perceived by the designer
Sorry. I mean performance of the board/amp, not the chip.
That is the idea. Since in the beginning, someone come up with a design but could not afford the initial investment on making the first PCBs. So if there are resources that will cover the expense (including set up fee and the first lot), the designer can move forward and build the amp with his designed board. Mind you the designer still has to pay for the parts and build the amp. But he owns the amp. His contribution will be circulating within the group of the funding member.
I do not think anyone on this thread is interested in taking any designs and make money out of it. We all have day jobs and this DIY thing is just for fun. However, it would be difficult to stop anyone outside of our community to exploit it.
Regards,
Which one is TRend? It's some Tripath? Most people agreed they are way behind the TPA3116. Guess it cannot be changed by mod, if only thats the type of mod which significally changing the sound according to personal taste.
2 Octavia also:
I found YJ better than UCD180 which I had for years, better defined base, female vocals are also a bit cleaner and emotions are better reproduced. Highs seems to be on par. 12V linear PS, ES9023 DAC (Foobar/ASIO), Alpair 7.3 Pencil speakers. UCD is used with HK receiver preamp (in place of its own power stage with all other 'extra' circuits like opamp buffers and tone controls bypassed and generally only volume PGA is left), but YJ still have his famous volume pot so maybe one 'preamp' worth another.
Recently compared with Cary SLI-80 Signature, they are just different, not like one better than other, tubes are maybe more overall pleasant (er... wamer
) but something is missing also. But considering the costs etc YJ is a clean winner except for the looks )I've got both 10p and 10.3m pairs, waiting for boxes CNCed )
It's really amazing how modern technology allows tiny speakers like alpair 7.3 paired with cheap class D amps seriously compete with say huge 4-drivers Focals (2.5 way I guess) which I've also tested YJ with when compared with Cary. In bass department, too! Power handling is different story though... but I don't really need it
It's really amazing how modern technology allows tiny speakers like alpair 7.3 paired with cheap class D amps seriously compete with say huge 4-drivers Focals (2.5 way I guess) which I've also tested YJ with when compared with Cary. In bass department, too! Power handling is different story though... but I don't really need it
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Recently compared with Cary SLI-80 Signature, they are just different, not like one better than other, tubes are maybe more overall pleasant (er... wamer
Wow, I would never thought of comparison like that. I did compare my Melody SP3 mkII (with reissued Tungsol 5881), which I quite like, and got similar conclusion. The YJ and the tube amp sounded different. I prefer the tube amp for human voice for slightly warmer and "more airy" sound. However, the high end is a bit more extended with the YJ and the low end is definitely more punchy.
Regards,
Yes, very similiar to my feeling, you described it very well. Also sounstage on YJ seemed deeper, probably that's also because of high freq extension. But low end on Cary was also quite good, just not as precise but a bit softer and warmer instead. Cary was very comfortable and enjoyable, very 'expensive', YJ on the other hand sounded simpler and 'cheaper' but at the same time more life-like, less 'decorated'
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YJ deluxe board impressions.
Hi guys!
Let me step back to the YJ boards section. We use this board daily, it sings well, but on fortissimos it seems runs out of power (?) for a second (on the modest levels too) Overall this board doesn't like complex music (e.g. Zack Hemsey - Mind Heist) At the point when the symphonic orchestra enters it's sound becomes cloudy and distorted, after few seconds everything becomes clear again. I tried with a 3.5A laptop PS, and with a 12V accu too - the result was nearly the same. I think the weakness isn't on this front. All in all after nearly 50 hours of listening seems this board cannot reach the SQ of IRAUDAMP7 (not to mention the current feedback VSSA amp), although with few instruments it plays very very smooth and musical, it's worth the money.
Has anyone similar experience? I welcome any suggestions.
Thanks
egra
Hi guys!
Let me step back to the YJ boards section. We use this board daily, it sings well, but on fortissimos it seems runs out of power (?) for a second (on the modest levels too) Overall this board doesn't like complex music (e.g. Zack Hemsey - Mind Heist) At the point when the symphonic orchestra enters it's sound becomes cloudy and distorted, after few seconds everything becomes clear again. I tried with a 3.5A laptop PS, and with a 12V accu too - the result was nearly the same. I think the weakness isn't on this front. All in all after nearly 50 hours of listening seems this board cannot reach the SQ of IRAUDAMP7 (not to mention the current feedback VSSA amp), although with few instruments it plays very very smooth and musical, it's worth the money.
Has anyone similar experience? I welcome any suggestions.
Thanks
egra
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Hi McDark,
i refer to the Trends audio amp reviewed here:
Trends Audio TA 10.1 - Class T integrated amplifier - [English]
My speaker Markaudio 12P is single driver and is 92 db sensitive.
I compare it to the YJ board 3 times over the past few weeks and i preferred the Trends on all occasions.
I am surprised at the result after so any positive reviews in this thread and a higher power rating of the YJ board. I tried the YJ board with the 12 V smps supplied with the Trends and another 19V laptop smps .
cheers
i refer to the Trends audio amp reviewed here:
Trends Audio TA 10.1 - Class T integrated amplifier - [English]
My speaker Markaudio 12P is single driver and is 92 db sensitive.
I compare it to the YJ board 3 times over the past few weeks and i preferred the Trends on all occasions.
I am surprised at the result after so any positive reviews in this thread and a higher power rating of the YJ board. I tried the YJ board with the 12 V smps supplied with the Trends and another 19V laptop smps .
cheers
Try a to run it on higher voltages perhaps?
datasheet shows that it will clip badly at around ~8w/8ohms with 12V supplies
furthermore, many over here have commented that the amp plays best at 21V (IIRC)
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I have the trends 10.1. Sounds good indeed. Retired the trends 10.1 for the 31hz amp3 modified. Both are IMHO better than the Yj 2.0 board. I have tried modifying the yj board, but still not to my taste. I then ordered the sure 3110 board, and that is very good. I use the sure for daily listening now. I have also ordered an 3116 board from aliexpress that should sound as good as the 3110 board. I will report as soon as i have listened tot it.
It is indeed entirely possible that it's simply a matter of not enough dynamic headroom.
I don't think anyone have postulated that the amp sounds best at 21V. In fact the opposite that it starts sounding significantly worse at more than 21V. It will most likely (not something I have tested) sound best at around 5V-6V as long as there is sufficient dynamic headroom at such low output power which would generally require either very sensitive speakers or very near field listening environment.
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Thank you hajj!
I tried it. My laptop smps has the following optional output voltages: 15,16,18,20,22,24V. Using 22 or 24V is a bit better, but more clinical, it loses their smooth, tube like character, switch to any other voltages I couldn't hear significant difference. Someone suggested it's worth to replace the output beads with Bourns inductors.
Cheers
egra
That you experience better sound at higher voltages, contrary to almost everyone else, is to me a clear indication that there simply isn't enough dynamic headroom for your speakers and listening level. Try with different more sensitive speakers, moving closer to the speakers, or lower your general listening level. The latter would be the hardest I imagine.
What beads on the YJ amp? To my knowledge the YJ amp does not have beads.