I built an AMP1-B from 41Hz.com, and while the sound it generally nice (if perhaos overly polite), the bass performance is terrible. That is, there is no bass. Can anyone make suggestions as to what might help.
I built the amp stock except the 330uF electrolytic caps were replaced with 220uF of higher quailty. The 4.7uF electrolytic input caps were replaced with 4.7F Blackgates. The power supply is essentially this design. The 10000uF on each side is made up of 10 1000uF Panasonic FM caps. The transformer is a 160VAC with 18V secondaries (which rectiries as +/-25.5V.)
As this has burned in for a few hours, the bass has improved a bit, but it is still very weak.
Obvious places to start are with a bigger transformer, more rail capacitance, bigger film caps on the rails, replacing the 220uF's, or something else. Does anyone have any experience which would suggest which place is the best to start?
-d
I built the amp stock except the 330uF electrolytic caps were replaced with 220uF of higher quailty. The 4.7uF electrolytic input caps were replaced with 4.7F Blackgates. The power supply is essentially this design. The 10000uF on each side is made up of 10 1000uF Panasonic FM caps. The transformer is a 160VAC with 18V secondaries (which rectiries as +/-25.5V.)
As this has burned in for a few hours, the bass has improved a bit, but it is still very weak.
Obvious places to start are with a bigger transformer, more rail capacitance, bigger film caps on the rails, replacing the 220uF's, or something else. Does anyone have any experience which would suggest which place is the best to start?
-d
Bgt said:
Put 22uf caps here.
Really? What is the input impedence that the caps need to be so large? The schematic has 3.3uF caps on the input which would suggest that everyone who builds these has worse bass than me, which I can't believe.
As a side question, my preamp has output caps. Is there really any reason for the input caps at all?
Nisbeth said:What's your reference for the comparison? Frequently class D amps are described as being "lean" or "bright" because the amp has much more control over the bass, making it sound as if there is less bass
/U.
No, this isn't lean. This is nothing audble below about 120Hz.
B/t/w, the midrange, compared to a chip amp, is really spectacular.
20k, I mean if you soldered in the proper value.What is the input impedence that the caps need to be so large?
You should have the full spectrum than.
Bgt said:
20k, I mean if you soldered in the proper value.
This is probably a good thing to check first, though I think it is fine.
Using C = 1/(2 * pi * Hz * R), 4.7, or even 3.3uF is plenty.
It's just a coupling cap like any other right? Keep the module from amplifying DC, that means if you're source has very low DC output you can do without them normally but I think the case of the Triphath chip amps you can't because you require a level conversion as well.
It takes alot more than a few hours for black gates to burn in, you're looking at weeks and months!
What if you tried a cheaper cap of same value, non black gate, let that burn in in a few hours and see how it sounds?
You could also experiment more with the values of the snubbers, see what difference that makes.
It takes alot more than a few hours for black gates to burn in, you're looking at weeks and months!
What if you tried a cheaper cap of same value, non black gate, let that burn in in a few hours and see how it sounds?
You could also experiment more with the values of the snubbers, see what difference that makes.
I built an Amp-1B . Stock parts. Supply caps on board are 330uF Nichicon and input R is 20 K and input C is 3.3uF Panasonic.
Sounded good from the first day.
Now it sounds great and the bass has slightly less weight but is very taut.
For comparison I'm using a Creek 5350SE.
I think it is better than the Creek except for the slightly lighter bass. But that is noticeable only when compared. Played loud ( Mission 701 - 89db/watt ) it is really impressive and very clear and detailed. It's a great amp - great value for money.
I don't feel any loss of bass when listening to it on most music.
Supply is +/- 35 V with a 10 A bridge and 2x 10,000uF Samsung capacitors. No low value cap bypassing and no snubberising ! Maybe later on.
No special supply / speaker connecting cables either . All industry standard electrical hook-up wire and I think not very good !
Still sounds extremely good.
Cheers.
Sounded good from the first day.
Now it sounds great and the bass has slightly less weight but is very taut.
For comparison I'm using a Creek 5350SE.
I think it is better than the Creek except for the slightly lighter bass. But that is noticeable only when compared. Played loud ( Mission 701 - 89db/watt ) it is really impressive and very clear and detailed. It's a great amp - great value for money.
I don't feel any loss of bass when listening to it on most music.
Supply is +/- 35 V with a 10 A bridge and 2x 10,000uF Samsung capacitors. No low value cap bypassing and no snubberising ! Maybe later on.
No special supply / speaker connecting cables either . All industry standard electrical hook-up wire and I think not very good !
Still sounds extremely good.
Cheers.
dsavitsk said:I replaced the 220uF rail caps with 470uF Nichicon Muse caps (whic no, do not fit on the board) and the bass is there.
I'm pretty blind! So that's all it was then? Poor choice of local supply caps? You could also try Panasonic FC caps, as big as will fit, anything with a good ripple rating that's low ESR.
I'm finding that weak base = capacitance problem someplace.
Nice PSU design.
classd4sure said:
I'm pretty blind! So that's all it was then? Poor choice of local supply caps? You could also try Panasonic FC caps, as big as will fit, anything with a good ripple rating that's low ESR.
I'm finding that weak base = capacitance problem someplace.
Nice PSU design.
680uf/35V Farnell no 8126771 will fit exactly, there where some 330uf/50v caps on them. I did not have bad bass anyway but I had this hiss problem and the 4kc tone/whistle. The 3.3uf input caps were not the best ones either so replaced with 22uf Sanyo audio caps.
dsavitsk said:I replaced the 220uF rail caps with 470uF Nichicon Muse caps (whic no, do not fit on the board) and the bass is there.
I suppose you are using an external PSU?
In that case, 470uf is the minimum I would use.
It ends up making the role as a reservoir cap (not only bypass), if the PSU is not very near the module.
Yes, bass suffers. As usual.
carlosfm said:I suppose you are using an external PSU?
I'm using your external PSU!
dsavitsk said:I'm using your external PSU!
That PSU has had several uptates.
But still, on the amp board you must use bigger caps.
470uf is a good starting point, but I would use 1,000~2,200uf, snubberized with 0.1R+3.3nf.
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