"The Wiener" TPA3118 amplifier card

[paugie]

Getting excited to hear the Wiener!

Wow, lots of us can say that over and over again! Only too glad to know things are going well.
Uh, since my YJblue bit the dust for reasons I can't guess at... I can't help being afraid for the coming Wiener. Just hope I can take care of it well enough.

 

[cogitech]

Wow, lots of us can say that over and over again! Only too glad to know things are going well.
Uh, since my YJblue bit the dust for reasons I can't guess at... I can't help being afraid for the coming Wiener. Just hope I can take care of it well enough.

My YJ blue/black was messed up right from the start. Ran hot as hell and sounded terrible. Tried some mods, but nothing helped.

What we are in for with this Wiener is orders of magnitude better in terms of design, engineering, components, and build quality.

Right, Gary?

 

[paugie]

uh oh! what I was trying to say was, my YJblue could have died due to misuse or ignorance on my part, which even the best parts are not immune to.

 

[gmarsh]

Lets see...

- Design: I think it's half decent.
- Engineering: I'm an EE so I guess that means it's engineered, because god forbid a non-EE with the same skill set would design the same board...
- Components: I think I did an alright job there, there's nothing pushed to its limits or limiting the performance of the TPA chip in any way that I'm aware.
- Build quality: It's hand assembled SMT so it's not gonna be pretty looking, hopefully the 100% testing makes up for that.
- Orders of magnitude: Can't really take 20*log10() of the above as it's pretty much all subjective...

Draw your own conclusions

 

[cogitech]

uh oh! what I was trying to say was, my YJblue could have died due to misuse or ignorance on my part, which even the best parts are not immune to.

True. Just be careful not to let metal objects touch the bottom when it is powered up (don't ask me how I learned this). And also make sure polarity of the power source is correct. Also avoid running around on carpet with wool socks and then fondling it.

Other than that, they are usually pretty resilient, in my experience.

 

[bk856er]

Gerber file for a paste mask will be made available when I order the "production" PCBs - I can bang one out right now for the prototype card, but if I end up making any changes to the card for production it'd make your mask useless.

Sounds like it's almost time for me to order a stencil!

Will PM some info now.

BK

 

[cogitech]

Lets see...

- Design: I think it's half decent.
- Engineering: I'm an EE so I guess that means it's engineered, because god forbid a non-EE with the same skill set would design the same board...
- Components: I think I did an alright job there, there's nothing pushed to its limits or limiting the performance of the TPA chip in any way that I'm aware.
- Build quality: It's hand assembled SMT so it's not gonna be pretty looking, hopefully the 100% testing makes up for that.
- Orders of magnitude: Can't really take 20*log10() of the above as it's pretty much all subjective...

Draw your own conclusions

Orders of magnitude, I say!

Time will tell, of course.

 

[reo]

Oh look, i can see my boards in there somewhere close to the battle station. i think it's that black one.... anxious to try out with proper components installed. yea good work there buddy.

 

[cogitech]

Gary,

My birthday is April 8th.

Just sayin'.

Happy St. Paddy's Day, all! (Can't wait to get a Guinness down my neck!)

 

[cogitech]

And, an important word (or tree) from the friendly Emerald Isle:

Paddy, Not Patty | A Modest Proposal to the People of the New World

 

[mayfly]

Oh Crap - just missed it

Hi Folks,

I joined this group specifically to get more information on GMARSH's design and respond to the threads on it. I've tried all the various TPA3116 amps out there and am somewhat unhappy with each of them. I was overjoyed when I stumbled on the design thread for this amp earlier today. The amp looks perfect! I want several!!

But

I just learned that I've missed the group buy. Arrg!!

so - any chance that you've ordered spare PCB's? Any hope of getting on the train after it's pulled out of the station?

Yours in amplifiers,
Mayfly

 

[gmarsh]

Pretty much all parts ordered are claimed at this point, except for some 10uH inductors and bare PCBs.

Given enough interest I'll bang out another round of these, I'll wait until these are built and mailed out before I do that.

 

[gmarsh]

For people who are building bare PCB's and want to use a paste stencil for assembly, here's the top paste layer. It'll work with both rev1 (ICE Components only) and rev1.1 (ICE or Sagami) layouts.

 

[mayfly]

Pretty much all parts ordered are claimed at this point, except for some 10uH inductors and bare PCBs.

Given enough interest I'll bang out another round of these, I'll wait until these are built and mailed out before I do that.

Sounds good. I'll keep checking back and in the mean time I'll use the audiobah green board.

Thanks for getting back to me!

 

[bk856er]

For people who are building bare PCB's and want to use a paste stencil for assembly, here's the top paste layer. It'll work with both rev1 (ICE Components only) and rev1.1 (ICE or Sagami) layouts.

Done - thank you!

BK

 

[gmarsh]

As of last night, 18 boards mostly built. Waiting on the Digikey order now which has the 4 position DIP switch, trimpots and thermal pads.

 

[reo]

Woa really had the zero smog sucking it all up.
What will the 4 position dip switch function as...

 

[Joel Wesseling]

Wow, Fast work.. Nice work too!

Thanks!

 

[gmarsh]

Woa really had the zero smog sucking it all up.
What will the 4 position dip switch function as...

The 4 position dip switch sets the AMx and MODE pins of the TPA3118, allowing the switching frequency and BD/1SPW mode to be experimented with.

 

[reo]

Thanks, i will try to make the most of that added feature.