My thinking exactly...
I'd like to pack everything into one chassis with switching options and make a high quality class d integrated amp.
Hi Steve
The polydomes have discolored somewhat, but still sound great.
The 6s are very nice speakers, I like all of the Kappa line from the late 80s early 90s.
I agree, biamping works well on them, and have tried it before with other amps on the 8s and 9s.
I am going to try out a few other amps for the bottom end, and the classD amp on the mids/highs.
I actually started out with 9s, then traded up to Deltas in the late 80s. I had to relocate for work, so I downsized to 8s in Santos. My 8s will be going to my brother. I am currently running a set of IRS Betas that I picked up a few years ago. I still have a set of Quantum 5s in excellent condition too, had them since new in the late 70s.
I am going to try the classD amp on the Betas and Q5s when I get a chance.
I really like the sound of that little amp, very revealing and clear.
The modular aspect of it is also cool too.
Hi,
Actually I have a Trends TA10.1 and a preamp PA-10, it sounds very good but sometimes I need more "power".
My speakers are Cabasse Iroise 500, 4 ohms, 92db, 120w nominal, 840w peak.
So I am interested with a board from classdaudio but which one ?
- 600W Class D Power Amplifier, Balanced Input, 2 Ohm ?
- 160W X 2 300W X 1 Class D Audio Power Amplifier ?
- Class D Power Amplifier, 250W X 2, 500W X 1 ?
Do they sound very different ?
I would like deep and strong bass, warm mid-range, smooth high but not too much "upfront" as my speakers are naturally bright.
As I can read, the TAS5615 seems to be the right choice, in my case ? what about the other boards ?
The input will be connected to my Trends Audio PA-10 tube preamp, unfortunately I have no output characteristics (impedance ?). Standard RCA plugs, not balanced.
What do you recommend for a ready-to-go SMPS ? Meanwell 36V or 48V ?
Sorry for my poor english and potentially stupid questions as I am pretty new to DIY audio.
Thanks
Actually I have a Trends TA10.1 and a preamp PA-10, it sounds very good but sometimes I need more "power".
My speakers are Cabasse Iroise 500, 4 ohms, 92db, 120w nominal, 840w peak.
So I am interested with a board from classdaudio but which one ?
- 600W Class D Power Amplifier, Balanced Input, 2 Ohm ?
- 160W X 2 300W X 1 Class D Audio Power Amplifier ?
- Class D Power Amplifier, 250W X 2, 500W X 1 ?
Do they sound very different ?
I would like deep and strong bass, warm mid-range, smooth high but not too much "upfront" as my speakers are naturally bright.
As I can read, the TAS5615 seems to be the right choice, in my case ? what about the other boards ?
The input will be connected to my Trends Audio PA-10 tube preamp, unfortunately I have no output characteristics (impedance ?). Standard RCA plugs, not balanced.
What do you recommend for a ready-to-go SMPS ? Meanwell 36V or 48V ?
Sorry for my poor english and potentially stupid questions as I am pretty new to DIY audio.
Thanks
With 92db sensitivity, any of the Class D amps should have more than enough power. The 160W should be plenty. I have the 250WX2 w/ IR chip. I've posted my opinion on it earlier in this thread. I think it's a terrific amp.
I have the 600W unit, and have been impressed with the overall sound/performance right from the start.
I haven't had a chance to hear their other models, so I cannot make a comparison.
I managed to remove its 4 - .68 ufd output caps without any issues.
The trick is to have a good soldering iron and get the joints hot enough so that you can lift one side of the cap at a time to clear the board, using only minimal force. I used a small screwdriver between the cap and the board to carefully lift up the cap once the solder had been melted enough. If you try to lift it up before the solder has melted enough, it will damage the pads, as others have discovered. After the caps were removed, I cleaned up the excess solder with desoldering braid and then used a small pin vice with an .037 drill bit to carefully clean out the holes.
I ordered some Dayton and Auricaps to try out in the unit, thanks to roby2k for posting the link to the Parts Express site. I will give them some listening time to evaluate, and then later on swap out the electrolytics with Nichicon KW series caps, they are fairly inexpensive and worth a try.
I haven't had a chance to hear their other models, so I cannot make a comparison.
I managed to remove its 4 - .68 ufd output caps without any issues.
The trick is to have a good soldering iron and get the joints hot enough so that you can lift one side of the cap at a time to clear the board, using only minimal force. I used a small screwdriver between the cap and the board to carefully lift up the cap once the solder had been melted enough. If you try to lift it up before the solder has melted enough, it will damage the pads, as others have discovered. After the caps were removed, I cleaned up the excess solder with desoldering braid and then used a small pin vice with an .037 drill bit to carefully clean out the holes.
I ordered some Dayton and Auricaps to try out in the unit, thanks to roby2k for posting the link to the Parts Express site. I will give them some listening time to evaluate, and then later on swap out the electrolytics with Nichicon KW series caps, they are fairly inexpensive and worth a try.
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Thanks, I'll go for the 250W x 2 with IR chip but as I can see, there are two references, are you talking about the 250Wx2 into 4 ohms (125Wx2, 8ohms) ?
Now the transformer.. what do you think of a R-core 2x36V 300VA or 500VA ?
SELECTRONIC ::: L'univers électronique :::
Is it a good idea instead of a toroid 😕
36V should be something around 51V on the output power supply, right ?
Concerning the power supply, I am thinking of this one:
Class D Audio Heavy Duty DC Power Supply - DC Power Supplies - Power Supplies
Softstart (inrush current limiter) between the mains and the transformer highly recommended 😕
Thanks 🙂
Why the Nichicon KWs? I believe the stock electrolytics have ESR/ripple comparable to the Panasonic FM (or FC don't remember), so that's good.
After I tried the .47 film caps from Parts Express I got 2 .68uf Vitamin Q caps on Ebay for pretty cheap, and that took things a step further in my setup...
Good points about the iron.
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Transformer
Its been stated to not exceed 50Vdc, because of chip
Resulting voltage depends on your actual mains voltage(measure) during the whole day
And it depends on trafo regulation, and Va value
Softstart
Inruch current can be high, and tough on bridge rectifers and supply caps
And may blow fuse, which may seem a small issue, but not when you run out of spare fuses, or have to change it in the middle of something
A softstart helps on that
I would choose 2x 30V - 500watt(Va)
NewClassD have a softstart that seems nice
Another interesting option is SMPS400/49 from Hypex, it would probably be cheaper
Thanks for your reply, I think I'll go for a 2x30V 500VA (but 300VA seems to be largely enough for a "normal" use on 92db speakers...) and this soft start module.
So a 230V 3A fuse should be ok ? sorry for the stupid question 🙄
Concerning this DC power supply:
Class D Audio Heavy Duty DC Power Supply - DC Power Supplies - Power Supplies
14'000uF *per rail*, 28'000uF in total... but I'll use only one amp board, so it will be filtered with "only" one rail (14'000uF) or the entire capacitance ?
Any help greatly appreciated 🙂
I have the 600w version and am very happy with it. Let us know how the cap upgrade goes. Also, I'm sure that Class D would leave the caps off so you could just solder yours on. Worth a try...
The Dayton .68 ufd caps are not quite the same type/quality (bypass) as the .47 ufd you have llsted, but I will give the ones they do have in that value a try, as they are fairly inexpensive.
I have heard good things about some of the Auricaps, so I thought I would give them a try as well, even though they do cost a fair bit more. I will check out the Vitamin Q caps as well, have you used them in other projects with success?
Good to hear that the oem electrolytics are decent, if they compare to the Panasonics then for sure all is good 🙂. I had some bad experiences with some fta receiver "brand x" caps, and wasn't sure about the ones that came on the modules.
Thanks wushuliu for all the tips, and to roby2k for pointing out the originator of the post.
I finally ran the TI 160x2 from "Class D Audio" with a 50v supply. I used the Meanwell 48v switcher cranked to 50v. The amp did improve substantially from the higher supply and also from some equalization from a DEQ2496. (Hey it works for me.)
After listening to the amp for several weeks, I had really warmed up to it. I especially liked the bass: deep rolling and effortless effortless even with my inefficient vintage Advent acoustic suspension speakers. With the Meanwell 50v it stayed clean even with some fairly loud sessions. Nearly cold at 30v, the little heatsink got a little warm with the new supply but not uncomfortably hot.
Also i thought I had achieved some good imaging. in short I was pretty happy with it.
Then I got a replacement Sure 100Wx2 (with the fan). I put that back on the 24v Meanwell and figured there would not be much of a difference now that the TI was sounding good.
The moment the first few notes can out of the Sure, I was back in love. The difference was not subtle. I had remembered the Sure as having better imaging and transient response but it went beyond that. The improvement in clarity extended to horns, voices , and drum hits. Now if this Sure 100x2 stays alive, it will be my main amp. Eventually the muscular TI bass response will be used for the woofers, the Sure isn't bad in the bass, but no sense stressing the apparently less hardy Tripath.
After listening to the amp for several weeks, I had really warmed up to it. I especially liked the bass: deep rolling and effortless effortless even with my inefficient vintage Advent acoustic suspension speakers. With the Meanwell 50v it stayed clean even with some fairly loud sessions. Nearly cold at 30v, the little heatsink got a little warm with the new supply but not uncomfortably hot.
Also i thought I had achieved some good imaging. in short I was pretty happy with it.
Then I got a replacement Sure 100Wx2 (with the fan). I put that back on the 24v Meanwell and figured there would not be much of a difference now that the TI was sounding good.
The moment the first few notes can out of the Sure, I was back in love. The difference was not subtle. I had remembered the Sure as having better imaging and transient response but it went beyond that. The improvement in clarity extended to horns, voices , and drum hits. Now if this Sure 100x2 stays alive, it will be my main amp. Eventually the muscular TI bass response will be used for the woofers, the Sure isn't bad in the bass, but no sense stressing the apparently less hardy Tripath.
Scott
No mods, the Sure came yesterday. I took it out of the box and hooked it up. The difference was significant even without the legendary burn in period. I dodged the 2x100 version of the Sure built on the 4x100 big heatsink platform. That is because I already have three corpses of that model.
As for mods, I am inclined to fiddle with the TI first. If this design could be optimized with its extra power and headroom it would be great for those with a penchant for volume. Its really amazing that amps with very low distortion numbers could vary so much in subjective listening quality. The TI sounds clean and powerful until you listen to the Sure which within its power range is striking in presenting an articulate image with excellent instrument separation. Most noticeable is the rendering of tambourines, woodblocks, cymbals, acoustic guitars and textured instruments like horns and saxophones.
With conventional amps, I tend to attribute such differences to damping, slew rate, feedback loop dynamics and phase response. Most D amp tweaks seem to involve the input caps and the output filter e.g. inductor and related caps and resistors. Most of what I have read shows output filters as slightly impacting the frequency response at 10khz and above. I can see bigger input caps fattening the low end slightly. Funny thing is that the TI already has substantial filter toroids compared to the shrimpy ones in the Sure. I may look at the output filter cap changes proposed earlier in this thread.
No mods, the Sure came yesterday. I took it out of the box and hooked it up. The difference was significant even without the legendary burn in period. I dodged the 2x100 version of the Sure built on the 4x100 big heatsink platform. That is because I already have three corpses of that model.
As for mods, I am inclined to fiddle with the TI first. If this design could be optimized with its extra power and headroom it would be great for those with a penchant for volume. Its really amazing that amps with very low distortion numbers could vary so much in subjective listening quality. The TI sounds clean and powerful until you listen to the Sure which within its power range is striking in presenting an articulate image with excellent instrument separation. Most noticeable is the rendering of tambourines, woodblocks, cymbals, acoustic guitars and textured instruments like horns and saxophones.
With conventional amps, I tend to attribute such differences to damping, slew rate, feedback loop dynamics and phase response. Most D amp tweaks seem to involve the input caps and the output filter e.g. inductor and related caps and resistors. Most of what I have read shows output filters as slightly impacting the frequency response at 10khz and above. I can see bigger input caps fattening the low end slightly. Funny thing is that the TI already has substantial filter toroids compared to the shrimpy ones in the Sure. I may look at the output filter cap changes proposed earlier in this thread.
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