Interesting, however why do I see so much SMPS like power supplies instead of lineair power supplies for these amps? Are they a specially good match because the tripath amps are so efficient? I ask because it's rather new concept to me. Well that's not true because I have a TA-10 and had a Sonic Impact in the past.
I did some reading here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switched-mode_power_supply
... and when I look at the comparison of a Linear power supply and a switched-mode power supply (at the bottom) I still don't know what is best for the sonics of these amps. What's your view?
I'm afraid I can't help you much here. I'm from the school that believes the type of power supply doesn't affect the sound all that much. If it gives you enough power and you have an adequately filtered amp, it shouldn't matter. If I believed it did, I'd use batteries.
I've read reports that smps are better and I've read reports that linear are better. I've read fairly convincing reports that batteries are better.
But you really have to try them for yourself. If you hear a difference between smps, linear, and battery, by all means, use the one you like best.
Some day, I'll get around to doing blind testing of all three types. In the meantime, I use smps bricks because they are cheap and easy.
-dr_vega
I use battery to power Sure Elect. 2*100W amp, I agree it sounds good, read my report Post 352.
cheers.
I use the sure board together with a unit gain buffer (report to follow).
This setup makes it fairly susceptible to EMR and the Mean Well S-145-24 does emit some stray radiation.
I keep the PSU in the same box as amp and buffer, which might not be a good idea, but is practical to me. I added a division into the box to shield the amp from the PSU. This helped a lot.
A ground plane for the buffer helped, too, and so did cleaning up a ground loop.
Sonically I found voltage to matter more than switch-mode or linear. But I only tested against my lab supply.
The amp likes higher voltages. Or rather I like the amp with higher voltages. But thats with some 20mF near or on the board. I managed to crank up the Mean Well SMPS to almost 30V.
This setup makes it fairly susceptible to EMR and the Mean Well S-145-24 does emit some stray radiation.
I keep the PSU in the same box as amp and buffer, which might not be a good idea, but is practical to me. I added a division into the box to shield the amp from the PSU. This helped a lot.
A ground plane for the buffer helped, too, and so did cleaning up a ground loop.
Sonically I found voltage to matter more than switch-mode or linear. But I only tested against my lab supply.
The amp likes higher voltages. Or rather I like the amp with higher voltages. But thats with some 20mF near or on the board. I managed to crank up the Mean Well SMPS to almost 30V.
Yes however I noticed the voltage is also different than the voltage you used before ... so is it the battery or the voltage from 19 to 24 what made the improvement?
2*1500uF(one in each rail) used by Audiosector; was this a big improvement (I have 2 of these because I upgraded to BG)?
and how do I recognize the input suppresor underneath the board?
are you able to do this with S-145-24 ?
i was wondering it could reach maximum of c.a. 27V, but i'm not sure..
maybe you can directly buy this 30V-8A no-brand SMPS
someone in T-Forum tried this, and got satisfied on its needs..
Yes however I noticed the voltage is also different than the voltage you used before ... so is it the battery or the voltage from 19 to 24 what made the improvement?
what do you mean? 2 sealed 12V batteries in series will give you a norminal voltage of 24-25V, when it(both) is fully charged will give you about 26-27V. You should recharge it when they drop below 24V. When I was using them at 25.2 V in the beginning, it dropped below 24-24.5V after 10 hours usage, not bad.(BTW the sure board can take up to 34V max, 30V on the safe side)
2*1500uF(one in each rail) used by Audiosector; was this a big improvement (I have 2 of these because I upgraded to BG)?
Yes I used similar caps from Audiosector as well, they are quite good.
and how do I recognize the input suppresor underneath the board?
Turn the board over and the 2 black chips located closest to the RCA connectors. Remove them.
you must use good quality polypropylene input caps. 2.2uF or larger.
The Tripath docs say the nominal max voltage for the chip is 36v, absolute max is 40v. I'm running a 2*100W on a 36v smps brick that is actually putting out 36.6v. I believe at least one person on this board is running at 37v successfully. You can run up to 36v without problems, above that you're on your own. Again, higher voltages, if run at high power, require additional cooling.
-dr_vega
oh, I get the new link of the 4*100W amplifier board in sureelectronics. the link is below:http://cgi.ebay.com/4-100-watt-4ohm...0?hash=item518c8987fb&_trksid=p3286.m20.l1116
come on and have a look. some of my friends tell me it is very amazing.
come on and have a look. some of my friends tell me it is very amazing.
Typically nice clean Sure layout. Symmetry seems to be highly valued at Sure.
I wonder why they say in the ad that max voltage is 32V. The silk screen on the board says 26v. I wonder is that is based on a cooling issue. There's nothing visible on that board that would reduce the max voltage from 36v to 32v. Maybe the 5v voltage regular can't go above 32v.
-dr_vega
Accordign to the specification of the voltage regulator LM317 the max
Input-Output Voltage Differential is 40V, so that's not the issue.
4X100 looks better for stock use
The 4X100 amp module looks like the better build to run stock. Better coils, better caps. Watch out for that 75C temp! And with only two channels driven. Might still need a fan. Very fast shipping. I ordered my 2X100 modules on Saturday and received them Tuesday. Nice documentation to show the thermal test.
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The 4X100 amp module looks like the better build to run stock. Better coils, better caps. Watch out for that 75C temp! And with only two channels driven. Might still need a fan. Very fast shipping. I ordered my 2X100 modules on Saturday and received them Tuesday. Nice documentation to show the thermal test.
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The board look exactly like the one they already used for the old 4x100W version, so I'd guess they had a huge overstock of these boards and instead of using this terribly hissing chip, they had before, they build this little Tripath board. This would explain why the silkscreen says 26V, since that was the upper limit for the old board.
I'm just guessing though.
Have fun
To be honest, i have bought one 4*100W by myself. As a freshman , i didn't buy their old 4*100W in the past, so i can't tell more difference between them. But i think this amp module is very worthy at the low price.
PS: why don't Sure produce some amplifiers, but not just the amp board? Maybe it is more popular than these modules.
PS: why don't Sure produce some amplifiers, but not just the amp board? Maybe it is more popular than these modules.
was there a noticeable improvement when upgrading the coils? I don't think anyone's actually posted about the audible differences when using toroids...
I just bought 4*10uH coils from Ebay to upgrade existing coils, on the rational that the resistance of the new(thicker diameter) is much lower, hence output impedance of the amp is lower hence will improve damping factor marginally and perceived sound will have "more/fuller" bass. Some who had changed the coils reported the same observations.
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