Dayton introduces a Sonic Impact lookalike

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Parts Express March flier has a black rather than silver amp matching the description and appearance of the SI original t-amp.

The price includes wall wart and 3.5 6 ft plug for PC, cd players etc.

Looks like the full package.

I'm never the first to buy anything though.

I'm curious to see what sort of reviews members will have as opposed to the Gen2 Sonic Impact which at least has a redesigned shell and better input hookups (IIRC.)

loninappleton (still using an old Radio Shack SA-155 on my
shop computer.)


:)
 
Well, for $39, I'm going to bite.

I really like the stealth mod for the original T-amp. I bought more expensive T-amps like the Mardis V3, and the KingRex T-20 and I think the stealth mod for the original T-amp sounds just as good and is a lot cheaper.

So I'm going to see if this truly is a T-amp.
 
As a PE product, hopefully it will go into the deal cycle or should.

The original run and previous pricing was in the $24.00 range.


While I never bought the item, I did get one for someone as a give.
Buy.com had them on deal and with free shipping.

Repricing things to target a market will not make me get any.
 
Well I got my Dayton DTA-1 Sonic T-Amp look a like.

I'm very happy to report that that it's almost identical on the outside as well as on the inside to the original.

What I'm trying to say is that if you are a fan of the stealth mod listed here: http://www.michael.mardis.com/sonic/start.html
you won't be disappointed.

It's the same Tripath 2024, same circuit board, same everthing.

The only difference I noticed at first glance is that the speaker wires come out of the top of the board, not the bottom.
Otherwise it's the same.

I've modified 3 of the orginal SI T-amps with the stealth mod to date and am working on 3 more. I will perform the same on the Dayton. Well worth it, in my opinion.

For $39, the cost of the Stealth mod componets, and your time and effort, I don't think you can do better. That's my personal opinion. If their is a better amp that's close to this price, please e-mail me, I want one. (Post what you think it is.)

Sincerely,

Allen...

Who needs wattage when you have full range drivers...
Lowthers
Audio Nirvana
I love them!
 
loninappleton said:
The original run and previous pricing was in the $24.00 range.

The original didn't include a Wall wart, though. And this needs a decent sized one. I bought one of the originals for my wife (and so did my brother-in-law, and we got one for my parents-in-law too). They really sound great. Not as good as my chip amp, but then the feedback resistors in it cost $6/each. In comparison, the original SI is a little cold. Alas, I killed my wife's by trying to mod it (the 1/8" stereo input jack was shot, and I was adding RCA's, it isn't a sturdy PCB).

ranger3 said:
I'm very happy to report that that it's almost identical on the outside as well as on the inside to the original.

It's the same Tripath 2024, same circuit board, same everthing.

Are the input coupling caps the same value? The original SI rolled off below 60hz as they were undersized. That is actually a good thing with the application I have in mind, though the fact that they are cheap 'lytics isn't so grand.

pj
www.wildburroaudio.com
affordable, US made fullrange loudspeaker drivers
 
pjanda1 said:


Are the input coupling caps the same value? The original SI rolled off below 60hz as they were undersized. That is actually a good thing with the application I have in mind, though the fact that they are cheap 'lytics isn't so grand.

pj
www.wildburroaudio.com
affordable, US made fullrange loudspeaker drivers

The input caps are the same. That's why I'm going to mod with the Auri 2.2 caps.


morepower4me said:


Any driver reccomendations for this amp?
Should I be looking for 4 or 8 ohm?

(newbie... be gentle) :xeye:

Audio Nirvana's are good if you can put them in the right enclosure. If you do, you'll get good bass out of them. You can read all about it in the Full Range forum.

Any full range driver is going to be very efficient and thus allowing higher volume levels with this amp.

I would stick with 8 ohm. I put 2 8 ohm full range drivers in parallel for each speaker, and blew up my KingRex T20U. I was playing it loud, and it went up in smoke. I should have know something was up, because right before that it started cutting out here and their.

Allen..
 
I just got my Dayton DTA-1.

I know next to nothing about electronics. But I was going to wet my feet and attempt the "just the caps maam" mod anyway.

Well this board is different than the ones pictured all over the internet for the SI t-amp.

Now I don't know what to do. I think I can handle all the case modding (pot, switch, inputs, output, etc). But I don't know enough to figure out which caps are the inputs.
 

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Thanks! Though that makes the soldering job a little tougher for me. I assumed the input caps where the caps just behind the mini jack input. Changing those would have been way easier for me, oh well.

Tiny aren't they :magnify::xeye:
To remove them just put a small solder blob on the tip of your iron and place it on the cap for a second or two, when you draw the iron away it should be stuck to the solder on your iron. ;)
Or get a solder sucker.... a priceless piece of kit in my opinion!

Good luck
 
I'm glad this discussion is being updated.

I know less electronics than the others here. But the fact there are changes to to the board (?) would produce what effect?

Having just got the thing I have not cracked the case on it.

Can I hear from others what devices you put in the signal path to get some flexibility? My DTA-1 is on a computer. The speakers are single driver Fostex with MLTL and BIB designs.
 
I'm glad this discussion is being updated.

I know less electronics than the others here. But the fact there are changes to to the board (?) would produce what effect?

Having just got the thing I have not cracked the case on it.

Can I hear from others what devices you put in the signal path to get some flexibility? My DTA-1 is on a computer. The speakers are single driver Fostex with MLTL and BIB designs.

Hi loninappleton,
Personally I'm a 'less is best' kind of guy so I don't use a buffer or pre-amp and I too use single driver MLTL's.
The only adjustments I make are within my source or amp with maybe an in-line resistance on the speaker cables to raise the base a little.
between the output of my DAC and the input of the amp are a set of LDR's (lightspeed volume control) and some nice film/foil capacitors.
Perfect! :)
At one time I had no capacitors and DC coupled the two but if you have the DC offset correction circuit you need the caps. (trade off)
 
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How about if we start with something EZ like getting the right sort of battery to replace the wall wart?

I start a lot of how to threads because much of this info is not all in one place.

Plus I would like to get a hardware balance control to test speaker builds A/B.

Software for this (I've been checking) lies in the realm of programmer's toys like special media players. These require a beanie and propeller to get going.

And I am also in the caveman audio "Less is better and least is best" end of the hobby.
 
Lon,

The first thing I would do is replace those input caps. Then you'll get some low bass and start seeing what those BIB's can do! The SI board is not that easy to solder on (without ruining), but caps are cheap and will make a big difference. Batteries are fun too, but big SLA's cost some bucks, and you'd have to build a charger. FWIW, you could solder a balance control right into an IC cable. That would be an easy way to practice soldering, and I bet you could get all the parts for <$10.

pj
 
pj,

I am getting the cold sweats just thinking about soldering things I know nothing about. I reminds me of my failed attempts at Heathkits as a young boy. Those memories never go away.

Also I'm not really a bass hound. Nor do I play things very loud. My source is exclusively audio stream from classical music networks on this setup.

But I would like to make some good cd tests. The DTA-1 looks limited to the input from either a sound card or an 1/8 jack source like a portable player. Is there any way to get around this such as an upgrade to an Oppo dvd player (sort of on my wish list?)


The cheap dvd burner on this rig makes too much of a racket to use it for
playback.
 
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