power consumption

tfrei · 1st December 2007, 01:15 AM

I just built my first LM3886 chip amp based on a kit supplied by audiosector.com. It works great. I want to build another one and make it look nice this time.

My question is whether I could use this amp as a power amp to replace a 100w power amp which drives a whole house system that has in-wall speakers in various rooms.

Would this amp be a waste of energy to be "on" all the time? I don't even know how much energy it uses when it is "on" but not driving speakers. Any advice or knowledge on this subject would be appreciated. Thanks.

AndrewT · 1st December 2007, 11:30 AM

Hi,
quiescent power in the chipamp plus losses in the PSU are your consumptions.
A low bias CFP output stage is more efficient. An opamp based front end is more efficient than a discrete. But turning it off is most efficient of all.
You could use two of ESP's circuits to turn off and turn on a power amp when signal is present/not present.

A chipamp to drive a whole house system!
What impedance is presented to each channel of the existing amplifier?

What about individual auto off chipamps at each speaker and use signal or trigger to turn them on/off as needed.
Then you run line level interconnect around the house.

tfrei · 1st December 2007, 10:34 PM

Ok. There may have been some things I have not thought out. Thanks for your reply.

I have to think some more about the whole project.

Thanks again.

-Tom

1st December 2007, 01:15 AM	#1
tfrei diyAudio Member Join Date: Oct 2007	power consumption I just built my first LM3886 chip amp based on a kit supplied by audiosector.com. It works great. I want to build another one and make it look nice this time. My question is whether I could use this amp as a power amp to replace a 100w power amp which drives a whole house system that has in-wall speakers in various rooms. Would this amp be a waste of energy to be "on" all the time? I don't even know how much energy it uses when it is "on" but not driving speakers. Any advice or knowledge on this subject would be appreciated. Thanks.

1st December 2007, 11:30 AM	#2
AndrewT diyAudio Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Scottish Borders	Hi, quiescent power in the chipamp plus losses in the PSU are your consumptions. A low bias CFP output stage is more efficient. An opamp based front end is more efficient than a discrete. But turning it off is most efficient of all. You could use two of ESP's circuits to turn off and turn on a power amp when signal is present/not present. A chipamp to drive a whole house system! What impedance is presented to each channel of the existing amplifier? What about individual auto off chipamps at each speaker and use signal or trigger to turn them on/off as needed. Then you run line level interconnect around the house. __________________ regards Andrew T.

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1st December 2007, 10:34 PM	#3
tfrei diyAudio Member Join Date: Oct 2007	Ok. There may have been some things I have not thought out. Thanks for your reply. I have to think some more about the whole project. Thanks again. -Tom

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