Chip Amps w Built In Heat Sinks

[zenmasterbrian]

I've seen such in hobby books, up to 120W. But never been able to find where to buy them.

They should be nice.

I also question how their distortion figures will compare to the best that can be obtained by discrete components.

I've looked, but does another thread deal with this?

[richie00boy]

I have a feeling you may have been looking at the old ILP modules. They were not chip amps at all, just basic discrete amps potted onto a heatsink. They ceased production over 10 years ago.

[UrSv]

One of the better known modules is the ILP type.

Check here:
http://www.ilpelectronics.com/amplifiers/audio.asp

They are sold by Farnell @ http://www.farnell.com/



Edit: Production still going on AFAIK.

[zenmasterbrian]

Richie, yes, ILP is what they were called.

So what is best to use today?

[richie00boy]

Best? Read around and make your own mind up based on what you believe and complexity of the project and physical aspects. I'm not a fan of chip amps... Some love them...

[zenmasterbrian]

Here is the issue. I read about those ILP's in a book. They looked good because of the built in heat sinks. But I've never seen where I could buy them.

As far as chips, they usually are power tab, or dip.

Of course dip doesn't do much for power.

Power tab? I guess. I'm not sure which ones to go with.

I don't know how they perform compared to the best discrete.

Id prefere built in heat sinks. Maybe except for ILP, there is no such?

[zenmasterbrian]

Those ILP amps look great! Who made them, ILP Electronics?

I've never seen a good picture before.

The pair of big capacitors is probably filtering for the fist and second stage, to give it good power supply ripple rejection?

How well do they work? It seems like they could work as well as anything that could be made discrete?

Not made any more? What does one use now?

[richie00boy]

ILP went bust about 10 years ago, somebody must have bought them out and started selling some of their traditional lines again.

The big caps are simply the PSU smoothing caps. You just need to connect a transformer.

As to their performance, they used to be OK in their day and probably still are. As I said before it's open to debate if they are the ultimate thing to you or not.

[cpemma]

Originally posted by zenmasterbrian
Those ILP amps look great!
Not made any more? What does one use now?

Read the thread, follow the link, they're still available.

http://www.ilpelectronics.com/sales/ilp_direct.asp

The only chipamp I've come across with a built-in sink was the Sinclair Super IC12, from 1971. "Claimed to be capable of 6W RMS".

[zenmasterbrian]

Since the ILP amps are basically discrete, seems like they could be as good as the best discretes??

Since they are made for mass market, they don't have as big a heat sinks as I would like to see.

I think heat sinks are the biggest challenge for building your own high power amp.

I'll read your links.