SI nightmare

[gvr4ever]

Stupid question. I guess I could just email 41hz, but since we're already talking about them. Is the TA2020 chip compatable with 8ohm speakers? They only give ratings for 4 ohms.

I am interested in 41hz amp6 kit. At the same time tho, I also want the SI super t amp to hold me over till I can build a 41hz kit. That and I could always just use it in another room. If they hold up that is.

I'll start another thread asking if anyone has had a super t amp fail on them. I think build quality is to blaim more then the chip, but I could be wrong. The super t amp board looks amazing compared to the baby t amp. Also, for anyone who hasn't read all the post word for word, my t-amp had a burn mark on the board when I opened it up. I was a little disapointed in that. They cost $29. What kind of quality can you really expect. Well, I wanted more then three weeks worth, but..... For that price, you can pretty much expect them to be disposable. They should at least last a year or more or something tho.

[Lostcause]

Originally posted by gvr4ever
Stupid question. I guess I could just email 41hz, but since we're already talking about them. Is the TA2020 chip compatable with 8ohm speakers? They only give ratings for 4 ohms.

I am interested in 41hz amp6 kit. At the same time tho, I also want the SI super t amp to hold me over till I can build a 41hz kit. That and I could always just use it in another room. If they hold up that is.

I'll start another thread asking if anyone has had a super t amp fail on them. I think build quality is to blaim more then the chip, but I could be wrong. The super t amp board looks amazing compared to the baby t amp. Also, for anyone who hasn't read all the post word for word, my t-amp had a burn mark on the board when I opened it up. I was a little disapointed in that. They cost $29. What kind of quality can you really expect. Well, I wanted more then three weeks worth, but..... For that price, you can pretty much expect them to be disposable. They should at least last a year or more or something tho.

8 ohms...no problem at all!

[v-bro]

To gvr4ever or anyone who doesn't know or wants to know that doesn't allready know:
The higher the "ohms" of a speaker the milder it will be for the amp.

A lower value in ohms of the speaker the more power it will suck from the amp and the amp will get hotter.
So any amp "suitable" for 4 ohm loads can handle a value above 4 ohms even more easily, but will deliver less power.
Anything under 4 ohms and the amp may melt.

Preventing this may be possible by connecting the amp to a lower voltage, the same amp may be able to drive 2 ohm speakers on half the inputvoltage....

A bit offtopic maybe, but thought it might help choosing an amp to fit your speakers if you think given specs are not to fit them....
javascript:smilie('')
wink

[gvr4ever]

Originally posted by v-bro
To gvr4ever or anyone who doesn't know or wants to know that doesn't allready know:
The higher the "ohms" of a speaker the milder it will be for the amp.

A lower value in ohms of the speaker the more power it will suck from the amp and the amp will get hotter.
So any amp "suitable" for 4 ohm loads can handle a value above 4 ohms even more easily, but will deliver less power.
Anything under 4 ohms and the amp may melt.

Preventing this may be possible by connecting the amp to a lower voltage, the same amp may be able to drive 2 ohm speakers on half the inputvoltage....

A bit offtopic maybe, but thought it might help choosing an amp to fit your speakers if you think given specs are not to fit them....
javascript:smilie('')
wink

My stock amp did fail using 4ohm bose 101s that I got many moons ago. I wonder if the SI t-amp or the super t amp should have a heat sink on the chip, even tho they don't come with one.

So far, I havn't had a single report of a failing super t amp, and if I get one, it will drive 8ohm 90db speakers. They don't jam, but for music play back, they were loud enough.

How loud can you turn your SI up? I maxed mine out at 10 o'clock on the volume knob, but usually don't push much past 9.

Also, the power supply range that partsexpress gives could be off. The super t amp comes with a 12 watt power supply. From what I've read, some people try and push it as far as they can. Maybe the chip shouldn't get any more power.

[v-bro]

Maybe this earlier thread is interesting:
using ta2021b in the si t-amp

I installed the two modded t-amps in an aluminum casing, connected a slice of aluminum to the casing with pop rivets and clamped it to the chip by two springs soldered on the board) with a blob of heat sink paste on both ends...

What more can you do?
The amp was never even slightly hot(even near the chip).

I may have torturded my amp just to much, but the other ones were operating under the mildest of conditions (read my earlier post...).

Maybe they were built on monday morning, but my experience with other amps with tripath chips (my indestructible audiodigit amp) is better. The sound of the ta2024 (SI amp) chip also fatigued me after a while(where I first was happy with the dynamic qualities). And as an almost 24-7 listener I am still not fatigued by the audiodigit amp which seems to only keep sounding better.

Maybe the datasheet given by tripath is a bit off, there they give free a max. DC voltage of 16 volts! People have accidentally operated an SI amp on 16.5 volts overnight without killing it!(read in a thread on this very forum). Though I would never advise using more than 13.2 volts..

One other fact mentioned before is that tripath admitted to have installed thin leads in the ta2024 chip on some points that will function as a fuse in some cases of faulty operation. My view to this is they made the chip unnecessarely weak this way, what use is it to internally fuse a chip(can't install a new one "just like that") anyway?

Still don't know if this internal fusing is also used in the ta2021b chip or how the lifespan and capabilities of it relate to the ta2024 chip.
Anyone?

"From what I've read, some people try and push it as far as they can. Maybe the chip shouldn't get any more power".
Maybe you should get more power!
Though the super t-amp seems like a cute package, no ta2024 for me anymore!
I understand that sensitive speakers can be very loud on a SI "tea"amp.
So I don't mean that in a mean way gvr4ever;-) quoting you and all that...
But the next project I'll be focusing on is building a http://www.41hz.com amp3 (or latest smaller version with the shielded coils) and connect some horns(that I will cast from a kind of self-invented polycrete). And will build a set of visaton "no box" with one of the amps for a friend....drip...... drip....

It turns out that I was even mistaken on the date of purchase(I discovered reading my post in the thread of the link above) The amps even lived shorter lives than I thought!

I may go a bit far saying this but seen purely as an investment the 3 amps cost me almost the same as the audiodigit(with shipping and import rights) Buying amps made by probably underpaid Chinese craftsmenship(I solely believe they would have done a fine job with less hasty management and/or better chips) does'nt make me feel happy at all, being guilty to that myself.

What would make me feel happy is being able to buy a ready-made and tested ta2021b amp board that is as small as the new amp 3 from 41hz.com! Building casing is easy, c'mon DIY'ers!

[gvr4ever]

I hate China imports as much as the next person, but to purly blaim quality just because it came from China is a joke. Most electronics come from China and many of them hold up.

The bottom line is, the baby SI cost $29. What can you really expect from it? While the cheap t amp can produce some interesting sounds that can't come from my other amps, it lacks bass, and overall, seems to be able to only produce mid range notes. It does high notes too, but something seems a little out of place with trebble. It's good and bad at the same time. If they held up and quality was higher, then they really would be one of the best amps on the market when you take cost in to effect.

I did a lot of reading before I bought one and out of all the reviews I read, 6moons was way off. Too many people over praise the cheap amp.

Untill someone can prove to me that the super t amp will fail in stock form with it's stock power supply, I am going to get that untill I build a 41hz kit.

[v-bro]

It's a joke indeed, except for the word:"craftsmenship", they make excellent quality electronics in China today.

Still I would prefer a ready built and tested, but not encased amp (I find encasing it myself fun, and not very hard) in order to save or get a higher quality for the same money.

Since the super t-amp uses the possibly dubious ta2024 chip, and costs over 100 dollars(aprox. 130 usd?) It gets very near the price of my mc4x100 amp(4x 40 watt 4ohm, not to overwhelming for high sensitivity speakers, is it?) and in the tnt-audio review the standard amp-3 from 41hz was stated to be a clear improvement on even a modded t-amp(dunno'bout a super t though) I would choose something else...

And diy at least a little...

Many choises http://www.tnt-audio.com/ampli/tripath_amps_e.html
This author seems to me a bit more realistic than 6 moons.

If You're interested I can provide you with a die-cast aluminum box to fit the audiodigit amp(and lose the ugly heat sink, just attach the chip to the box). Read my latest post here:http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showt...81#post1009381
There is a 2 channel audiodigit amp with the same chip (taa4100a)
available as well, costing aprox. 40 dollars less than mine!
Boards all built and tested!