noob question - about the "MKIII Tripath TA2020 PCB"

[steamPunk]

Hi

I bought a MKIII Tripath TA2020 PCB from Arjen Helder and it works fine - very happy with it - but it's not very loud cranked up full

this is probably not surprising because they're old-school 50w SONY SS-2030 speakers that are apparently 8 Ohm (but I'm not sure cos the labels are gone)

when I look at the specs of the TA2020 I read this :

High Power
- 13W @ 8 Ohms, 10% THD+N
- 23W @ 4 Ohms10% THD+N
- 38W EIAJ* VDD=14.4V @ 4Ohm

does it mean that it's only effectively putting out 13w ?

I also see that it's 23w at 4 Ohms and then there's another line with 38w at 4 Ohms - does this have something to do the 14.4V ? is that the power supply ? I'm using a standard 12v adapter but would it be slightly louder if I increased the voltage ?

if not, does anyone know of PCBs like these ones but at least twice as powerful ?

thanks

[Aurality]

voltage would not increase loudness..

The quiet volume is probably down to you pairing it with insensitive speakers, my speakers are rated 95db sensitivity, 8ohm impedance, so goes plenty loud enough for my needs in my system,
but then again, loud is subjective.....there are other T-amps that are more powerful if you need yes, search for TK2050, 100w into 4-ohm I believe. Which Arjen sells a version of also..
however can't see it listed on his auction listing at the moment.


infact there is a long thread about that particular board (TK2050) on this page if you look.



.

[Saturnus]

The two most common reasons for low percieved output from a TA202x based amp has nothing to do with the actual output power but are:

1) You using a low output device like an mp3 player to drive the amp. In that case you have to change the feedback resistors and/or input resistors to something that is suitable for a low output device. 22KOhm and 82KOhm for Rin and Rfb respectively is optimum for e.g. an iPod used as input device.

and/or

2) Your speakers have low sensitivity. They're nothing to do about that, getting a more powerful amp won't help either as it won't cure the underlying problem. Get better or just more sensitive speakers.

[steamPunk]

thanks to both for your replies

At the moment the sound source is a computer so I guess that's probably low level - though I'm working on getting a phono pre-amp so I can use my turntable and horpefully the output will be better

I didn't know about the sensitivity - I think I'll try to get some info about that for my speakers but I don't really have the cash to get new ones

and maybe I'll check out the TK2050 if it's not too expensive

thanks again for all that info

[Aurality]

if it is indeed the low input gain causing the problem..
Arjen sells a tube buffer to use with the amp you have,
which is fairly cheap and will give you more gain and a much better sound..


New product The MKII 12AU7 buffer amp with Tube on eBay (end time 25-Dec-10 06:03:34 GMT)

[steamPunk]

that looks interesting - thanks !

[wwenze]

Most sound cards are capable of 1Vrms or more, how much higher do you need?

Plus, this Tripath's input is biased @ 2.4VDC so you can't increase the input signal by much further. You might have better luck changing the feedback resistor.