Modding the ta2020 amp ?

[onis_uk]

Right im currently building a tripath based on a helder TA202o board
New MKIII Tripath TA2020 PCB 25watt Class-T amplifier on eBay (end time 27-Mar-10 09:29:10 GMT)
i havent even finish it yet and im already planning on how to make it better, as i know most of the components are already quite good but what could i do to make it better ??

i thinking along the lines of the caps and inductors ive found on this site...

Autocostruire il negozio degli autocostruttori

so any ideas welcome !!!!!

[onis_uk]

anyone ........??

[mfong]

I really would encourage you to live with the amp a bit before thinking about modifying it. Arjen and Stephan Fischer ( I think that's the guy's name) did a very good job laying the thing out and maximizing value for money. I'm sure it could be made better, but it might make more sense to do that with a 41hz board than a basically completed amp.

There are better input caps and better coils for the board fwiw and I do think it's interesting to experiment with different power supply options, but the phrase "law of diminishing returns" does come to mind. It's not like the Lepai which can benefit dramatically from various fixes. It's not even like the Sure which sounds very good in stock form, but has some clear issues or areas for improvement.

[Saturnus]

Exactly. The DIY axiom is; Listen, then mod; for a reason.

[Zero One]

Hi Onis. My feeling is that this is an exceptional amp, it simply amplifies what goes in and sends it out in a very pure form, probably the closest I have found to the ideal straight wire with gain concept.

You need to burn it in. it will get better after a few hours running and will continue to improve for probably 100 hrs or so, making changes before that is not a good idea.

There is very little I would consider doing.

1) Mount the amp on a copper ground plane, I have done this and I feel it keeps the circuit noise to the lowest possible level.

2) Try different power supplies, my preference is big SLAs and Extra off board caps, really sweet, but your preferences may be different.

3) Try different speaker and input cables, these small tripaths seem to respond significantly to cable changes.

4) Get the best input source you can, the amp reveals the shortcomings of the input source rather than the other way round, so problems you may hear are more likely input related.

As for the rest of the amp, really unless you have optimised the above issues any changes in the amp will be tail chasing.

No doubt input cap changes may alter the overall signature of the amp but that is really a taste thing and overall I feel folk get very carried away with cap changes to compensate for other issues in the signal stream. In the end unless you are prepared to burn a set of caps in for 100 plus hrs (some take much longer) or so it is very hard to make solid judgements. I doubt that most folk who say this or that cap of the 10 or so they have tried sounds best have bothered to go through a total of 1000 hrs burn in for the caps so it makes it all a bit irrelevant.

Enjoy the amp, she is a natural beauty.

Hope it helps.

[onis_uk]

ok some good pointers there! i have the amp built now, just a few more finishing touches then i'll give her a listen...also i'll post some pictures, because it looks great )