Dayton introduces a Sonic Impact lookalike

[loninappleton]

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.)

[ranger3]

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.

[loninappleton]

Great.

Please keep the thread going and tell of your progress.
My impression is that it is identical and prob'ly off the same production run.

[Pano]

Yep, that's the old Sonic Impact, for sure.

Nice to see that it lives on.

[ttan98]

Originally posted by panomaniac
Yep, that's the old Sonic Impact, for sure.

Nice to see that it lives on.

The manufacturer must have made many thousands of these, they need to be get rid of or dispose of anyway.

[loninappleton]

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.

[ranger3]

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!

[pjanda1]

Originally posted by loninappleton
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).

Originally posted by ranger3
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

[morepower4me]

Who needs wattage when you have full range drivers...

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

(newbie... be gentle)

[ranger3]

Originally posted by pjanda1


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.

Originally posted by morepower4me


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

(newbie... be gentle)

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..