Sonic Impact Power Supply-Newbie

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Hello All,

Firstly, in the immortal words of Bugs Bunny,"What a Maroon", that me when it comes to electronics...

I have Altec Lansing Voice of the Theaters for Loudspeakers, and my intension is to Bi-Amp. I have purchased 2 Sonic Impact T-Amps. I have listened to one amp using my laptop as source and i loved the music (using batteries)!!! except for the lack of bass.

I have read all the reviews and these amps are for real!!!

I hope that you will assist me in my quest.

Question: the electronics store arround the corner has Tripplite Power Supplies, are these any good? The sales guy told me i can make them 13.8 Volt by twisting a pot inside and he has a 3 amp version, 4.5 amp version, and 7 amp version. I am thinking about 2 of the 3 amp versions. So agian, are the Tripplite power supplies any good for powering my Sonic Impact T-Amps?

Thanks.
 
Most of the reviews i have read state that the power supply is very important. I want to do a lot of tweaking as i go so that i can educate myself, just for fun. I am fearful of high voltage, so i wanted to purchase a power supply that would sound good and will not have any trouble with. I have not seen a review where they used a Tripplite Power Supply so i was just wondering if they were bad sonically.

As far as the 13.8 V, I am speaking from the 6moons audio review. I do know that this should be the absolute max.

Thank you for your time.
 
Consensus sems to be that that type of switching power supply is about as good as it gets for the t-amps. Two amps seems to be plenty. More than 4-5 and you're in fantasyland. The real money in terms of performance is doing the modifications to improve bass, etc.

I've had the SI runing at 13.8v no problem, although at that voltage a small heat sink is in order--the ones sold for computer memory chips fit perfectly. I've had them thermally shut down at 14.1v, so I know that's definitely over the limit.

Many PSs have a trim resistor that allow you to adjust the voltage. I set mine at 13.2v and it runs great.

--Buckapound
 
Cal: My Altec are A7-8G (515-8G in 828 Cabinets, 902-8B on 511B Horns with 8500 x-overs). The 828 Cabinet are made by me using 3/4 mdf then made pretty by surrounding them with 3/4 oak plywood with the horn section made from cnc cut profiles of mdf layed one on top of each other then covered with 3 sheets of 1/8" masonite to dress up the curve section. The 6 watts from the T-Amp will take them louder than my ears can take.

Buck: O.K., are switching power supplies the type you would find in computers? I happen to have 4 sitting on my desk right now. ASTEC Model SA 145-3435, +12V / 4.2A, +5 / 18.0A, -5V .3A, 12V 0.3A. Can these be used?
 
I thought he might have something like this:

Oops, that's more jacking, sorry.
 

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Hey RGW - big A7 fan myself.

You'll want at least a 2A power supply. It's usually plenty. If you're running dual mono blocks, that's even better.

I'll dig up the little SMPS that I like and use later tonight and post a link. Cheap and good.

Aloha
Pano
 
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Well Shootz! Looks like all the good 12V "line lump" supplies I like are sold out. Too bad.

Anyway, best to stick to 12V for the Sonic, unless you can get some cooling in there for the chip. You can use your PC supplies, but you'll want to make sure they're clean. More filtering won't hurt.

There is a LOT you can do to improve the sound of these little amps. And with your rig, you will be sure to notice it. If you like the sound of the Sonic Impact amps, wait 'til you hear what those chips can really do. I see an AMP6 in your future. Or maybe even a Trends TA-10 :D
 
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