Help to choose the right T-Amps

[GaloDourado]

Hi,
once I got back home I will begin building my first pair of DIY speaker floorstanders. They will be a 2way ML-TL actively amped, using miniDSP as xover and EQ, and miniStreamer as DAC as I'll use laptop to play FLAC only.

Initial plan was to use a second hand Rotel RB956 or RB976 (six channel amp), but after reading a lot of goods things about T-Amps I'm almost decided to go also this route. I'm sure that I will expend more money this way, but I hope SQ will also be better.

Based on what I've read here, Arjen and Hifimediy are the most recomended, but Arjen 2050 are out of stock, so this makes me look at Hifimediy T1 (for 8Ohm woofers) and T2 (for 4Ohm tweeters).


Now questions:
1. SQ wise, TK2050 is better than Rotel RB976 (bass / highs) ?
2. SQ level between T1 and T2 is comparable, or should I go with 2xT2 better?
3. SQ wise, better use SMPS or toroid?
3.1. In case toroid was better, can I connect toroid directly to amps or do I need something more?
3.2. Do I need separate SMPS or toroids (one for each amp) or one only will be ok (for power and noise-free)?

I think it's all by now.

PD: My electronic knowlegde is close to "0"

[whaleman]

Originally Posted by GaloDourado

Hi,
once I got back home I will begin building my first pair of DIY speaker floorstanders. They will be a 2way ML-TL actively amped, using miniDSP as xover and EQ, and miniStreamer as DAC as I'll use laptop to play FLAC only.

Initial plan was to use a second hand Rotel RB956 or RB976 (six channel amp), but after reading a lot of goods things about T-Amps I'm almost decided to go also this route. I'm sure that I will expend more money this way, but I hope SQ will also be better.

Based on what I've read here, Arjen and Hifimediy are the most recomended, but Arjen 2050 are out of stock, so this makes me look at Hifimediy T1 (for 8Ohm woofers) and T2 (for 4Ohm tweeters).


Now questions:
1. SQ wise, TK2050 is better than Rotel RB976 (bass / highs) ?
2. SQ level between T1 and T2 is comparable, or should I go with 2xT2 better?
3. SQ wise, better use SMPS or toroid?
3.1. In case toroid was better, can I connect toroid directly to amps or do I need something more?
3.2. Do I need separate SMPS or toroids (one for each amp) or one only will be ok (for power and noise-free)?

I think it's all by now.

PD: My electronic knowlegde is close to "0"

I'll give you my 2 cents:

I have Arjen's 2050, outstanding in sound. These are monoblocks x2, not available at the moment So I am looking at HifimeDIY too.

IMO, toroid can be better than SMPS, but 0 tech skill, then get the SMPS.

If you get a large enough SMPS, one should be enough unless you are doing completely separate monoblocks. If you go with one T1 and an SMPS that he sells, I think you will come out ahead of the Rotel money wise. This will be a simple setup. Go with the Alps volume control option (not the CRT).

[GaloDourado]

Tks for help Whaleman... and sorry for late reply

It seems that Arjen's are already on eBay again, but price for 4ch is USD160 compared to USD90 for Hifimediy, so I think I'll choose a pair of hifimediy kits (1xT1 + 1xT2) using an Meanwell S-350 for each kit.

I really don't need volume pots in any kit because I plan to use them esctricly as amplifiers with volume control after the miniDSP, but... -sorry for noob question- can I use the volume pots on the amps as gain-controls to match the sensitivity of woofers and tweeters, and this way avoid to use digital attenuation inside the miniDSP (I've read somewhere that SQ goes down a lot when using miniDSP digital attenuation)?

[nigelwright7557]

I wouldnt use the same supply on multiple amps as you can get crosstalk through the supplies.
Use a seperate transformer, bridge, smoothing caps for each amplifier.

[GaloDourado]

Originally Posted by nigelwright7557

I wouldnt use the same supply on multiple amps as you can get crosstalk through the supplies.
Use a seperate transformer, bridge, smoothing caps for each amplifier.

Maybe I did not explain fine in previous post, but that's what I will do, use 1 SMPS for each kit.

[mfong]

I have no direct experience with the Hifimediy, but people seem to be very happy with it.
I have a pair of the Helder tk2050 and highly recommend them. The biggest factor to me is that Arjen is very good about getting back to you.

I have directly compared the Helder to the Sure and the Helder is easily worth the price difference. The Sure is quite good, but the Helder is much more refined (in a good way).

[GaloDourado]

I've decided to go with 1xT1 + 1xT2 + 2xMeanwell 27v

T1 can be delivered with Alps pot, but T2 can not. I will use these pots only initially to match gains, so I hope it will not be a big handicap.

I still need to find 3 items to complete the set, so any advice will be wellcome.
- 01 rear mount USB connector (to feed to miniDSP inside)
- 01 good pot (linear, 10K, mono) to use as "main gain" on the miniDSP
- 01 good input selector (3 inputs)

Tks!