I got plenty of those small TPA3xxx amps laying around.
While they do get sound out to speakers and will do great for background music, in a critical listening, they lack depth compared to bigger amps.
While they do get sound out to speakers and will do great for background music, in a critical listening, they lack depth compared to bigger amps.
As themselves, sure they sound ok.
But I compared a small D amp like that to a real A/B amp (Bryston) and a better D amp (NuPrime), and the difference was huge. Granted, the price difference was also big!
the soundstage was much wider, the bass had more meat on it, just a much more pleasurable experience.
But I compared a small D amp like that to a real A/B amp (Bryston) and a better D amp (NuPrime), and the difference was huge. Granted, the price difference was also big!
the soundstage was much wider, the bass had more meat on it, just a much more pleasurable experience.
Dear perceval,
Depending on the speaker system, a cheap D-class amplifier will sound poor, but the SB20FRPC30-8+DDVP-20 will sound high quality enough.
SB20FRPC30-8 is a fantastic driver.
Depending on the speaker system, a cheap D-class amplifier will sound poor, but the SB20FRPC30-8+DDVP-20 will sound high quality enough.
SB20FRPC30-8 is a fantastic driver.
It looks interesting and I like your Youtube vids demonstrating the sound.
I'm just a little sad that it's Qts isn't a bit higher for use in an open baffle.
I used to be into building complicated speaker cabinets, like TL's, back-horns, etc. but no longer 😒
@nandappe Thanks for the information. The speakers sound like they have great midrange from what I can here in your Youtube videos. The bass and treble is harder to tell.
That low cost amp-DAC is interesting older technology. Interesting that it uses no power supply just taking power from the USB input.
I saw that is uses a TPA3130 chip (2 x 15 watts) and the DAC producing "CD quality" 16bit/48khz.
Probably it's that low power TPA chip is why it sounds at least "adequate" as you said.
That Take Five recording does show it has a bit of a too "bright" treble though.
I guess you're too much of a Tube guy to know what new TPA based amps sound good/better? TPA3255 is popular now but it's much more powerful.
It's reminding me a little of the Omega Super 8 XRS
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It's fine for OB as well... An 8" driver will never give enough bass in an OB by itself anyway, they are meant to be supported by other means to get some bass.
On OB?
Expectations must be quite ... low (pun intended!), or the baffle the size of my house! 😀
Expectations must be quite ... low (pun intended!), or the baffle the size of my house! 😀
yep in OB 110x60cm qts 0.8 I suggest you to try
ps I haved buy my first scanspeak on 1986 ....
I am glad you found something you like over the years.
My taste and feel need more. I need to reach 35Hz to feel everything.
No amount of Qts and baffle size will give me that from a single 8".
That's why I would put this driver in a MLTL, as it sims very well... with low end support.
PS. I feel SBA now has the drive to produce very good drivers at reasonable prices. Something many "established" companies have forgotten these days.
My taste and feel need more. I need to reach 35Hz to feel everything.
No amount of Qts and baffle size will give me that from a single 8".
That's why I would put this driver in a MLTL, as it sims very well... with low end support.
PS. I feel SBA now has the drive to produce very good drivers at reasonable prices. Something many "established" companies have forgotten these days.
Yeah, thinking about it more, I've seen a lot in past years some people used drivers like Fostex full rangers in an OB with even lower Qts close to 0.3 that are better suited for back-horn cabinets. A good example is the SEAS W22EX001 used for decades in the relatively famous Linkwitz Orion OB speaker.
So using this driver similarly and adding a bass driver to handle the bass and adding a tweeter to add some air to the top end carefully selected to not mess up the sound of the nice mid-range driver. Years ago I used a Aurum Cantus G2si ribbon tweeter as a "super" tweeter crossed over very high like around 16Khz to augment a high quality, high sensitivity full-range speaker. Hopefully these days there are cheaper tweeters we could use to do the same thing.
If y'all are long time speaker DIY'ers you might remember those expensive PHY-HP KM30 drivers used a simple piezo tweeter, albeit with a fancy custom cast bronze housing.
this driver has a Qts of .34 but it's only being used as a midrange in the Orion OB - not trying to get any bass out of it.
well, there is bass depth and there is speed and how it blends (coherency?) with the other speakers.
Open baffle bass tends to be "fast" sounding and so impresses even if not going super low.
The Betsy 8" in small OB like the Caintuck only sounds optimal/decent by itself placed on the floor tilted up so that the floor enhances the bass - kinda like an extension of the baffle size. That said many people pair them with a powered subwoofer or two either in a sealed cab or OB.
Sure!
I won't be building any regular BR boxes anytime soon. Sealed subs with EQ, and MLTL also work well for "fast, unbloated" bass.
And going OB, nice arrays of 6.5~8" drivers each side will do wonder, much better than a single 15", or something like X's SLOB with the SBA on top.
16kHz XO, eh? been a while since my ears reached that high! 🙂
well you're not the only one. I think this may be part of why some FR drivers are so popular.
Have you tried the Wild Burro Betsy?
I don't know what this means? 🤔
The Betsy on Caintuck Open baffles sound very good, I have a set since I’m the Canadian audition site.
Eric
Eric
Sorry, I have never seen or heard of Wild Burro Betsy.
It is not talked about at all in Japan.
I have listed the 7"-8" full-range driver that I have heard in order of my preference.
TangBand W8-1808 > SB Acoustics SB20FRPC30-8 > TangBand W8-1772 > MarkAudio CHR-120 > Visaton BG20(adding magnet) > Fostex FE206NV > Sica Z004950 > Visaton BG20(original) > Fostex FE206S