LM3886 & low impeadence loads

[vinodk]

I am looking to buy a gainclone amp with LM3886 chip. Can this handle low impeadence loads? I am planning to drive Martin Logan Motif which has nominal impeadence of 6ohms & minimum of 4 ohms.

[AndrewT]

Hi,
if that 4ohm minimum is true then, yes.
Look at the datasheet and see why you should use an 18Vac or 20Vac dual secondary transformer to power the chipamp.

[wintermute]

I'm running a set of low impedance speakers with my LM3886 chipamp power supply has a 20vac dual secondary transformer.

The amp doesn't break a sweat even with the speakers dipping to impedance lows of 3 ohms. I must say I was rather concerned that the chipamp wouldn't cope but it has done so with ease.

Below is the impedance plot of the speakers, the crossover has evolved somewhat since the first measurements which showed dips on both sides of the impedance peak to 2.7 ohms, now roughly 3 ohms.

Tony.

[AndrewT]

Hi Winter.
One of the worst loads your speaker provides is at 200Hz, ~3.2ohms and ~16degrees of phase.
Very gentle load.

[vinodk]

I am not too good at DIY projects with complexity such as amps. Is there anybody who makes fully assembled gainclone amps for sale as a hobby? Tim Rawson used to do that on Audiogon but it seems he no longer is active. I also have TEAC AL700P amp that I want to get modded but can't seem to find anybody who does the mods anymore.

[wazzy]

I am running a pair of 4ohm nominal speakers and using a dual 22v transformer. Make sure to have a decent heatsink, I am using the tf package so have pretty large heatsinks, it does get pretty warm at high volumes.

[wintermute]

Originally Posted by AndrewT

Hi Winter.
One of the worst loads your speaker provides is at 200Hz, ~3.2ohms and ~16degrees of phase.
Very gentle load.

Thanks Andrew, good to know! I'd never considered the phase, only the impedance (thinking low was bad) Obviously a lot more to it than I thought!!

Tony.