Sonic T v Amp6

[lewbar]

Inspired by many on these boards I am attempting to build a portable 'boombox' so to speak. I have a pair of Pioneer 10" 3-way car speakers, SPL of 93, so ultimately want to use these. Now I bought the sonic t amp, after reading people who had success with it in a similar application, but it really just doesn't cut it. I knew the sonic didn't put out alot, but I just need more volume.

Would it be possible to put a cheap car amp in as power amp, would that be even be effective/worthwhile? Trying to keep this portable, reasonably priced and with decent battery life so perhaps that isn't the best option. If I were to get an AMP6 basic would that really make much difference? 10-15% improvement? My soldering skills have faded with time so I would have to get someone to build me one. Would replacing the sonic with an amp6 be worth it?

If anyone had any suggestions on where to go from here, I'd love to hear them. Cheers.

[Saturnus]

The sound pressure level wouldn't change if you replaced the t-amp with an amp6, it would still run on the same battery I pressume and the voltage from that dictates the output power.

Getting a car amp would solve the output power question but don't expect very long battery time. Eg, a cheap car amp with 2x100W RMS output would consume about 160W on average at max output which translates to about 3 hours of battery time on a standard 55Ah car battery.

Another and better solution could be to parallel 2 batteries for 24V and use an amp9. That would give you 2x60W RMS (actually 4x60W but you'd only use 2 channels) and use about 35W average at max output power. That would give you just under 5 hours of battery time with just 2 standard 7Ah SLAs paralleled.

The best solution is off course to get more and/or higher sensitive drivers.

[Buckapound]

If you're running the thing off an iPod, be aware that that device has a pretty low output signal. You can get more sound just by bumping up the input level using a portable headphone amp as a preamp. Also, make sure you're running off the line out connection from a dock rather than the headphone out. Better, louder.

I think it also should be possible to change the values of the gain-setting resistors on the board for a little more total gain from the SI. I can't recall seeing this discussed on these forums, but it shouldn't be too hard to figure out.

Also, if your Sonic Impact is unmodified (input + reservoir caps), it will be very bass-shy. Fixing this will add greatly to the perception of volume, and is well worth doing in any case.

--Buckapound

[pekar]

Options

1. Use the SI
Mod the SI T-amp (see link below), and add a capacitor on the power input.
Experiment with different input sources. Some have higher outputs than others.
Consider adding a preamp, and boosting voltage input.

2. amp6basic
Will give a slightly higher output than even a modded SI.
see comparison chart-
http://www.diyaudio.com/wiki/index.p...+Amplification
I like to build my own battery packs from NIMH cells, which allows me to
input a higher voltage by adding more cells. (I'd stick to 10 NIMH cells)
Again, consider the output level of your source.


3. Car amplifier
Pros, potentially MUCH louder.
Cons, low battery life.

4.amp9
I don't have experience with this one yet.

I'd sell the SI, and pursue option 2, or 3, or 4

ps. Be sure your speakers are 4 ohm, if they are 8, you could wire two in parallel per channel and get more volume.