I was upgrading the input caps in one and almost got it. One channel had a buzz in it and when I went to double check the work, I lost the pad to connect the cap too.
I was going to swallow my pride and just order the super t amp. Then I went to the bedroom to turn on a 100% never opened one month old SI t amp and it's dead. All it does is make some poping noises out of it.
What gives? Is quality really that bad on them? I broke one on my own, but the other just stopped working on it's own.
I'm having a lousy night.
Be carefull modding your t-amps. One slip and it's all over. Or, they might just stop working on you all togeather. I'm going to see if I can get the untouched one replaced under warranty.
I was going to swallow my pride and just order the super t amp. Then I went to the bedroom to turn on a 100% never opened one month old SI t amp and it's dead. All it does is make some poping noises out of it.
What gives? Is quality really that bad on them? I broke one on my own, but the other just stopped working on it's own.
I'm having a lousy night.
Be carefull modding your t-amps. One slip and it's all over. Or, they might just stop working on you all togeather. I'm going to see if I can get the untouched one replaced under warranty.
Thanks for the tip. Something else happened and I'm not sure what. I had one channel working perfecly and now the whole thing is dead.
I think I just killed it. What I'm more upset about is that the stock SI amp failed. I was getting ready to just order the super t amp, but now I question the quality of the SI. I know that a few can be DOA, but mine (after looking at the recipt) is acualy only about three weeks old.
Anyone buy a DOA super t amp, or had one fail early on them? I know quality of them is better, but is it good enough?
I think I just killed it. What I'm more upset about is that the stock SI amp failed. I was getting ready to just order the super t amp, but now I question the quality of the SI. I know that a few can be DOA, but mine (after looking at the recipt) is acualy only about three weeks old.
Anyone buy a DOA super t amp, or had one fail early on them? I know quality of them is better, but is it good enough?
gvr4ever said:
Since the price is substantially more for Super T, I'm hoping their QC is better for that line of amps. I own a Super T and the fit and finish is very good, and it sounds superb.
If you're not very good with a smoldering iron, you may want to go this route. I'm not slagging you or anything; I knew I'd have smoked a couple of these things myself and after adding up the cost of all the upgrades and accessories, the Super T was a slam dunk.
FWIW: I paid $80.00US for mine, from E-bay.
A little update.
I called up parts express this morning to get a RA# on the busted SI amp and they are going to let me return two power supplies. It turns out that they made a mistake on what power supply is compatable with the SI amp. PN 120-1135 13.5 VCD 1700mA adapter was suppost to be in spec with the SI, but I was told it could power spike. I guess that's what happened with the amp I didn't touch. Not sure. It worked for about three weeks and now all it does is make some popping noises when I turn it on.
Either way, I'm going to get a little over $70 in credit and I'm just going to spend a little more and get the super t amp.
While I had one channel working with upgraded input caps, it sounded amazing. In fact, at the moment, I have a 80s Sansui brick that is rated at 130 watts RMS and the t-amp for a short moment (while working), the SI sounded better.
I can't wait to get the super t amp hooked up to my SACD player. I'll just leave the CD player on repeat and leave the house for the 100 hour break in. It will be my main amp untill I get a 41hz amp6 kit.
I don't want to discurage anyone from modding a SI amp. I'm just new to this micro stuff. It was my first attempt and I came really close to doing the job right. At the same time tho, after finding and buying the correct power supply, taking the time to get parts in and work on the SI amp and still having the stock speaker connectors and mini adapter input, plastic case..... I think it might acually just be worth it to start with the super t amp in the first place. It's $139 new, comes with a power supply, a nice case, and the internals are all upgraded compared to it's baby brother.. You could go to best buy and get a starter POS amp for that and it would sound like crap.
My main comlaint about the baby SI amp, is that it doesn't just come with a power adapter. Too many people are breaking them with the wrong power supply and even after doing my homework, I still bought the wrong power supply(acording to a partsexpress technition). Parts express was really cool about letting me return a busted t amp and two power supplies that I have no use for. Partsexpress rocks!!!!
I called up parts express this morning to get a RA# on the busted SI amp and they are going to let me return two power supplies. It turns out that they made a mistake on what power supply is compatable with the SI amp. PN 120-1135 13.5 VCD 1700mA adapter was suppost to be in spec with the SI, but I was told it could power spike. I guess that's what happened with the amp I didn't touch. Not sure. It worked for about three weeks and now all it does is make some popping noises when I turn it on.
Either way, I'm going to get a little over $70 in credit and I'm just going to spend a little more and get the super t amp.
While I had one channel working with upgraded input caps, it sounded amazing. In fact, at the moment, I have a 80s Sansui brick that is rated at 130 watts RMS and the t-amp for a short moment (while working), the SI sounded better.
I can't wait to get the super t amp hooked up to my SACD player. I'll just leave the CD player on repeat and leave the house for the 100 hour break in. It will be my main amp untill I get a 41hz amp6 kit.
I don't want to discurage anyone from modding a SI amp. I'm just new to this micro stuff. It was my first attempt and I came really close to doing the job right. At the same time tho, after finding and buying the correct power supply, taking the time to get parts in and work on the SI amp and still having the stock speaker connectors and mini adapter input, plastic case..... I think it might acually just be worth it to start with the super t amp in the first place. It's $139 new, comes with a power supply, a nice case, and the internals are all upgraded compared to it's baby brother.. You could go to best buy and get a starter POS amp for that and it would sound like crap.
My main comlaint about the baby SI amp, is that it doesn't just come with a power adapter. Too many people are breaking them with the wrong power supply and even after doing my homework, I still bought the wrong power supply(acording to a partsexpress technition). Parts express was really cool about letting me return a busted t amp and two power supplies that I have no use for. Partsexpress rocks!!!!
I also had the same problem when upgrading the input caps.
One pad went off, So I ended up with one channel working.
I just stopped working on it co'z I might kill the whole thing.
After a week, nothing to do, I totally diconnected everything and traced the board, very tiny path that I found and started soldering carefully from that area and was able to make it all work again, but it now has a wayward looking jumper, but still sounds great.
One pad went off, So I ended up with one channel working.
I just stopped working on it co'z I might kill the whole thing.
After a week, nothing to do, I totally diconnected everything and traced the board, very tiny path that I found and started soldering carefully from that area and was able to make it all work again, but it now has a wayward looking jumper, but still sounds great.
It is amazing what such a cheap amp can do if you get the job done right. For me, I only had a 40 watt gun and it was too hot. I knew it, but I tried using it anyway.
I am going to get this before I attempt anything else. http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=372-120
The parts are so small. Also, I still gotta bash build quality a little. My t-amp board acually had a burn mark on it from the factory.
Here is a pic of the SI t-amp board. http://www.michael.mardis.com/sonic/images/PCB_top.jpg
Here is the super t amp. http://www.michael.mardis.com/sonic/images/superboard1.JPG
Also, if you want to practice, 41hz.com sells practice kits to warm up before working on the real thing. I'm going to attempt the amp6. I'm sure with the right work station, I could get it.
I will probably go back and mess around with that one amp later on. I don't think I killed it for good, but I just need to walk away from it for awhile.
I am going to get this before I attempt anything else. http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=372-120
The parts are so small. Also, I still gotta bash build quality a little. My t-amp board acually had a burn mark on it from the factory.
Here is a pic of the SI t-amp board. http://www.michael.mardis.com/sonic/images/PCB_top.jpg
Here is the super t amp. http://www.michael.mardis.com/sonic/images/superboard1.JPG
Also, if you want to practice, 41hz.com sells practice kits to warm up before working on the real thing. I'm going to attempt the amp6. I'm sure with the right work station, I could get it.
I will probably go back and mess around with that one amp later on. I don't think I killed it for good, but I just need to walk away from it for awhile.
I bought 3 t-amps from thinkgeek. One for my brother, one for a friend and one for me. And as I am a very experienced hobby electronic I just had to modify the cute little thing for me and the friend.
Did the "stealth" mod on both, pre heated the board to 65 degree celsius(very helpful to get the soldering done real quick which saves the delicate components) Both worked like a dream!
None of these amps are still alive today (purchased january 2006!).
One amp I f****d up myself experimenting just to much on it( wanted to know how much it could handle), so I thought "my own fault...".
The friend's amp just quit like that, while he was listening to it (he uses a nicad battery 10.8 volt (measures just over 12 volts-no load) and 8 ohm speakers. This one allready made me scratch the back of my head.
My brothers version (he didn't want it modded 'cause he uses it on his mediocre compu-speakers anyway) passed away a few days ago....The outsourcing to China seems to do the quality no good of these amps!
(God*******,********,**,*****,*******,***!!)javascript:smilie('
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smash
In june I bought a 4x 100watt (4x 50watts contunious with acceptable distortion) amp from autocostruire (Italy) and think much higher of the overall quality of this amp. It's indeed more expensive but if you are considering buying a super t-amp, consider this amp first! I really tortured this amp(shorts between speaker cables, shorts to the housing(ground) connected electrostatic loudspeakers(with a minimum load of 1 ohm!) and haven't managed to wreck it yet! And most of all it sounds(now after 350 listening hours) like a dream!
Did the "stealth" mod on both, pre heated the board to 65 degree celsius(very helpful to get the soldering done real quick which saves the delicate components) Both worked like a dream!
None of these amps are still alive today (purchased january 2006!).
One amp I f****d up myself experimenting just to much on it( wanted to know how much it could handle), so I thought "my own fault...".
The friend's amp just quit like that, while he was listening to it (he uses a nicad battery 10.8 volt (measures just over 12 volts-no load) and 8 ohm speakers. This one allready made me scratch the back of my head.
My brothers version (he didn't want it modded 'cause he uses it on his mediocre compu-speakers anyway) passed away a few days ago....The outsourcing to China seems to do the quality no good of these amps!
(God*******,********,**,*****,*******,***!!)javascript:smilie('
')smash
In june I bought a 4x 100watt (4x 50watts contunious with acceptable distortion) amp from autocostruire (Italy) and think much higher of the overall quality of this amp. It's indeed more expensive but if you are considering buying a super t-amp, consider this amp first! I really tortured this amp(shorts between speaker cables, shorts to the housing(ground) connected electrostatic loudspeakers(with a minimum load of 1 ohm!) and haven't managed to wreck it yet! And most of all it sounds(now after 350 listening hours) like a dream!
Or maybe-by the way- the TA2024 chip is inferior, afterall they didn't make the TA2021B chip(with the same interior configuration) with a different heat-slug for nothing?
If you're interested in a mini-amp I think the http://www.41.com amps are the affordable and probably more rugged ones(that is if you're well capable of soldering it together yourself).
They have a new amp with the TA2021B chip with a footprint that measures only 2x5cm!(that's smaller than an average lighter!).
And a version that measures the same as a SI amp (board) with a rectifier bridge on board, so you only need a simple transformer!
Many sources on the net find this amp sounding better than a super t-amp and it delivers slightly more power!
If you're interested in a mini-amp I think the http://www.41.com amps are the affordable and probably more rugged ones(that is if you're well capable of soldering it together yourself).
They have a new amp with the TA2021B chip with a footprint that measures only 2x5cm!(that's smaller than an average lighter!).
And a version that measures the same as a SI amp (board) with a rectifier bridge on board, so you only need a simple transformer!
Many sources on the net find this amp sounding better than a super t-amp and it delivers slightly more power!
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.
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.
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....
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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
v-bro said: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.
Maybe this earlier thread is interesting:
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=79211&highlight=
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!
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=79211&highlight=
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!
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.
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.
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/showthread.php?s=&postid=1009381#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!
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/showthread.php?s=&postid=1009381#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!
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