Evening all,
Not sure if this should be posted in 'solid state', 'Chip amps' or 'Loudspeakers' or……….., so here we go…..
Anyone have any suggestions as to what (DIY) amplifier to employ for the upper section of my active 3-way design for best sound quality.
The amp will drive a NEO3 PDR above 2.8 kHz. The NEO is nominal 4 ohms and with almost no inductance (further details in PDF here: NEO3 spec (237 kB PDF file)) and takes a maximum power of 50 watts (20 watts RMS) - should be fairly easy to drive.
So something like an airy/detailed/smooth ’30+ watt something’ would probably be good. My main objective is best possible sound - don’t care about component count, frefab PCB, or cost (within reason that is). Due to my plans of integrating speaker and amps tubes and class A is not options
Suggestions please
Thanking you beforehand
Not sure if this should be posted in 'solid state', 'Chip amps' or 'Loudspeakers' or……….., so here we go…..
Anyone have any suggestions as to what (DIY) amplifier to employ for the upper section of my active 3-way design for best sound quality.
The amp will drive a NEO3 PDR above 2.8 kHz. The NEO is nominal 4 ohms and with almost no inductance (further details in PDF here: NEO3 spec (237 kB PDF file)) and takes a maximum power of 50 watts (20 watts RMS) - should be fairly easy to drive.
So something like an airy/detailed/smooth ’30+ watt something’ would probably be good. My main objective is best possible sound - don’t care about component count, frefab PCB, or cost (within reason that is). Due to my plans of integrating speaker and amps tubes and class A is not options
Suggestions please
Thanking you beforehand
You are saying that you wish to build powered speaker boxes?
These speakers are rated 10W RMS! Which is quite loud in this frequency range. Go by RMS ratings and you can't go wrong. Honestly, a solid state 10W class A would have best sound and shouldn't produce that much excess heat. Filters can be added to the circuit to help cut bandwidth(and noise) to the responce of this speaker. Looks like a good tweeter though.
Of course DIY means do it YOURSELF. So do what ever works best for your situation.
These speakers are rated 10W RMS! Which is quite loud in this frequency range. Go by RMS ratings and you can't go wrong. Honestly, a solid state 10W class A would have best sound and shouldn't produce that much excess heat. Filters can be added to the circuit to help cut bandwidth(and noise) to the responce of this speaker. Looks like a good tweeter though.
Of course DIY means do it YOURSELF. So do what ever works best for your situation.
I understand that paralleling up output devices can reduce the performance of an amplifier and it makes sense that it would.
But why would it make any difference if the amp was 10 watts or 80 watts on a single output pair, aslong as the devicies are within their limits. Sound wise i cannot see any difference unless increasing voltage can have a detrimental effect to sound quality.
If it should be class A or not is another point. I dont really believe in class A being much better then class B, I just see class A as a waste of power as heat, which could be used as watts, I know some people sware by it and im not going to say its wrong, but its not for me.
Id go with a good class B amp about 60-80 watts etc just incase you need to use it. I know tweeters dont have an awful lot of power going to them but I have heard they can have a lot of transients to deliver which demand high peak power, even though their nominal is quite low.
I have built two DIY amps, one with power for driving the bass and another design of 4 channels for the midrange and tweeters. A similar kind of thing you have want to do, I use Randy slone designs. The tweeters and mid amps are 80watts per chan and sound wonderful. I have never ever fealt the nead to ever make anything else because of how good these sound. The bass amp is about 200watts this sounds good too in the trebble and midrange but its not quite there in comparison to the others.
But why would it make any difference if the amp was 10 watts or 80 watts on a single output pair, aslong as the devicies are within their limits. Sound wise i cannot see any difference unless increasing voltage can have a detrimental effect to sound quality.
If it should be class A or not is another point. I dont really believe in class A being much better then class B, I just see class A as a waste of power as heat, which could be used as watts, I know some people sware by it and im not going to say its wrong, but its not for me.
Id go with a good class B amp about 60-80 watts etc just incase you need to use it. I know tweeters dont have an awful lot of power going to them but I have heard they can have a lot of transients to deliver which demand high peak power, even though their nominal is quite low.
I have built two DIY amps, one with power for driving the bass and another design of 4 channels for the midrange and tweeters. A similar kind of thing you have want to do, I use Randy slone designs. The tweeters and mid amps are 80watts per chan and sound wonderful. I have never ever fealt the nead to ever make anything else because of how good these sound. The bass amp is about 200watts this sounds good too in the trebble and midrange but its not quite there in comparison to the others.
cunningham - While I agree partly on your point on power requirement - is there then any constructions to consider if I derate my power requirement to say 10 watts......
If we are this low - yes I do consider Class-A an option, but which construction? Can you give me any pointers?
Anyone else on suggestions for constructions to consider (Can work from scematic - do not need PCBs)
Henrik
If we are this low - yes I do consider Class-A an option, but which construction? Can you give me any pointers?
Anyone else on suggestions for constructions to consider (Can work from scematic - do not need PCBs)
Henrik
i'm building two DOZ amps from ESP site, the two running on the same heatsink, for the tweets of active speakers,and i plan to use a fan with a thermostat in case the heatsink is getting too hot
but as my tweet is crossed at 3500 Hz, i don't think that they are gonna be any problem.
this amp is simply wonderfull sounding IMO, and is simple to build. (heard from a friend who has built his own active 2-way speakers, and who used it for the tweeter)
although i don't have much experience in the diy world,i make music and listen to studio monitors for 10 years now.
i saw on esp site that the DOZ is very tolerant on the voltage, so you can adjust to the power you need (me choosed 10w)
but as my tweet is crossed at 3500 Hz, i don't think that they are gonna be any problem.
this amp is simply wonderfull sounding IMO, and is simple to build. (heard from a friend who has built his own active 2-way speakers, and who used it for the tweeter)
although i don't have much experience in the diy world,i make music and listen to studio monitors for 10 years now.
i saw on esp site that the DOZ is very tolerant on the voltage, so you can adjust to the power you need (me choosed 10w)
Hi
sounds like a nice idea to have different dedicated amps to each frequency range.
Class A whether ss or tube to the low current demands of the treble range makes sense.
I agree that high peak voltage is required to ensure that the treble unit can react to transients. This is not the same as hi peak power.
Can I suggest another idea?
Build a push pull Class A amp with your chosen continous Class A power. Let's say you try 10W, it needs 1.1amps rms at 9volts rms or 1.5amps peak and about +-18volt rails. Since this is pp Class A Iq is about 750mA and your continuous power draw results in peak output voltage being about the same as continuous output voltage. Now increase the rail volts by 50% to say +-27v and keep the same Iq. Peak voltage on transients has increased to about 22v a gain of about 70% for a power dissipation increase of only 50%. What you have is high Iq class AB that meets the treble requirement at all currents upto 1.5amps in class A & then falls into class B. That is if you can ever push 1.6amps into the capacitive load of a treble speaker at hi freq.
regards Andrew T.
sounds like a nice idea to have different dedicated amps to each frequency range.
Class A whether ss or tube to the low current demands of the treble range makes sense.
I agree that high peak voltage is required to ensure that the treble unit can react to transients. This is not the same as hi peak power.
Can I suggest another idea?
Build a push pull Class A amp with your chosen continous Class A power. Let's say you try 10W, it needs 1.1amps rms at 9volts rms or 1.5amps peak and about +-18volt rails. Since this is pp Class A Iq is about 750mA and your continuous power draw results in peak output voltage being about the same as continuous output voltage. Now increase the rail volts by 50% to say +-27v and keep the same Iq. Peak voltage on transients has increased to about 22v a gain of about 70% for a power dissipation increase of only 50%. What you have is high Iq class AB that meets the treble requirement at all currents upto 1.5amps in class A & then falls into class B. That is if you can ever push 1.6amps into the capacitive load of a treble speaker at hi freq.
regards Andrew T.
Still here...........
and listening with interest.
Just FYI there is another thread on a similar subject http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=45273
and listening with interest.
Just FYI there is another thread on a similar subject http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=45273
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